CHAPTER XVI
WHEN CRAWLEY LOST HIS HEAD
Teddy did not move, nor did Dolph. They could not have done so, evenhad they wanted, so enthralled did that strange scene hold them.
No one looked toward the window, fortunately, and consequently thepresence there of the two peeping canoe boys was not discovered.
Of course, this sudden coming of Crawley upon the scene had created adiversion. The girl started up with a little cry of grief, as thoughbewailing the possible finish of her pleasure. Hearing all this, Amos,too, ceased to draw his bow across the strings, and as the musicabruptly ceased, he opened his eyes.
“Go on, consarn ye!” exclaimed Crawley, in a voice that fairly trembledwith eagerness, “keep right along wid yer fiddlin’ I tell yer. Don’tyer _dar’_ ter stop jest thar—finish that piece like ye was a-doin’!By glory! ain’t I been a-tryin’ ter git the second part o’ thatTraveler tune this ten months, an’ allers swingin’ right around interthe fust half agin. Go on, boy, play it all ther way through, I tellsyer! I’m jest fairly wild ter hear how she goes. By gum—but ye _kin_make thet ole fiddle o’ mine talk some. Ye jest fair seem ter burn thestrings wid yer bow. I ain’t never herd sech music. Go on! Go on, boy,play!”
Crawley was so excited that he fairly shouted these words at Amos,who hardly understood what it all meant, but sat there with his bowupraised, staring.
Teddy came very near laughing out loud at the singular coincidence. Heremembered hearing his father tell of an old Italian professor of musicin Cincinnati, Tosso by name, who, whenever he played this favoriteselection in public used to tell a humorous story in connection with it.
This was to the effect that once upon a time he was riding horsebackthrough the backwoods of Arkansas, and asked for accommodations overnight of the owner of a cabin, who was sitting on a bench sawingaway at a fiddle. So while he kept on going over and over the samemelody, in his rude way, he shook his head as if he did not like to beinterrupted, and just took time to say he had no room or food to spare;after which he harked back, and began the same old strain over andover.
Thereupon the music master had asked for the loan of the batteredfiddle a few minutes, and he would show him how the Arkansaw Travelershould be played all the way through. The settler’s delight wasunbounded. He declared the traveler must stay over night, even if heand the old woman had to sleep in the loft; and he was welcome to allthe food and whiskey they possessed; for he said that for ten years hehad been constantly trying to catch onto that second half, which alwayseluded him.
So history sometimes repeats itself.
Amos finally seemed to comprehend what was wanted, and that he was notto be made a victim of violence. With a satisfied grin, he once moretucked the end of the old fiddle under his square chin, and began todraw the bow squeakingly across the taut strings, presently startingoff upon the desired tune.
And when he jumped from the first to the second part it was simplyamazing to watch the manner of the greasy old game poacher.
His face lighted up with ecstacy, his hand twitched, as if drawing thebow back and forth, the fingers of the other worked convulsively asif engaged in touching the strings, while even his moccasined feetstarted to tread a measure—so great is the power of music over thehuman soul.
Teddy wondered what effect this new peculiar incident might have uponthe relations existing between Amos and his captors.
Would Crawley allow his gratitude to the boy to interfere with thescheme which he and Big Gabe were endeavoring to put through?
Remembering that Gabe would have to be reckoned with in the matter, andthat no love of music was apt to sway him from the course he had mappedout, Teddy felt very doubtful on this score.
Crawley would not let the boy stop playing when he reached the end ofthe tune.
“Play her some more, boy, play her frequent-like! I’ve been awaitin’ter git thet same chune complete so long now, seems like I never couldhear it enuff. It’s great, that’s what, ain’t it, Sallie, girl? Don’tyer feel glad now to see yer ole dad lookin’ so happy like? Play on,Amos, play right along! Don’t ye _dar’_ stop—it’d be nigh as much asyer life was wuth to disapp’int me now.”
And Amos played, with a humorous look on his face, and perhaps a slywink in the direction of the girl, who had resumed her former raptpose, with her chin buried deep in the cup of her hand.
Crawley could not have been drinking, at least to excess, so it was notliquor that influenced him; but as the music proceeded, his feet beganto move in unison, and his arms took to swinging. Almost before Teddyrealized it, the bulky form of the trapper was gyrating around theroom; he was so wrought up that he could not keep still.
Crawley had a pretty hard name among the loggers, and those who soughtthe pelts of the various wild animals of the Northern pines. He wasknown as a quarrelsome man, and a fighter who had wrought more or lesstrouble wherever he roved—in the camps of timber cruisers, among thelumberjacks, and with other trappers; but he certainly did not looklike a dangerous citizen at that particular moment, while circlingaround the shanty, snapping his fingers, trying to keep on whistlingthe recovered air, so as to impress it on his memory, and otherwiseconducting himself after the manner of a happy, carefree squatter,regardless of the morrow.
While Teddy was trying to make up his mind as to what the eventualoutcome of this strange situation might be, he saw another form appearin the doorway.
Big Gabe Hackett!
The timber cruiser strode into the cabin, his red face filled with bothastonishment and anger.
Plainly the weird strains of the “Arkansaw Traveler” did not appealto any emotion in _his_ soul. Music might have charms to soothe thesavage, but it failed to awaken any responsive chord in the breast ofthis giant of the pine woods.
Crawley had now seized upon his child, and was holding her to him whilemaking ungainly attempts to keep time with the rhythm of the music.Sallie actually smiled for the first time since Amos had entered theplace; and it was a smile that lighted up her elfin features until inthe boy’s mind they looked almost angelic.
Imagine the disgust of the scheming Big Gabe to come rushing into thecabin and discover such a remarkable thing as this going on.
His heavy voice sounded above the music, and the beat of Crawley’s feeton the floor.
“Stop it! Say, Crawley, hev ye gone clean crazy? What sorter kerryin’on d’ye call this here, anyhow? Quit it, I say and act sensible. Hoydye ’spect we’re a goin’ ter work out our game if ye play the big baby.Stop fiddlin,’ boy!”
Amos, of course, obeyed, and with the inspiration of the music gone,the traveler also ceased capering around the room.
He did look a little shame-faced as he turned upon his confederate; butat the same time there was a triumphant glow in his eyes as he burstout with:
“Why, hang it, Gabe, the boy kin play Arkansaw _all the waythrough_—what d’ye know about thet? Here I been jest wild ter ketchthe hang o’ thet second half fer a coon’s age. P’raps yer don’t jestunderstand what thet means ter me, Gabe. Blame yer games—what do Ikeer, so long’s I lerns thet chune. Why, I’d risk my bones ter git holdof it.”
“Wall, if ye keep on a goin’ like I seen ye jest now, chances be ye’llresk more’n yer bones; fer I’ll be tempted ter fill yer full o’ holes.What d’ye think I’ll stand fer, Crawley? I ain’t playin’ this game ferthe fun of it. Money talks, and purty loud too, sometimes. Now’s one o’’em. S’pose ye let all this monkey-shine business drop fer the present,an’ play the game fer what it’s worth. Put that fiddle down, boy, dratye, and don’t tech it agin, ’less ye want ter feel the heft o’ my hardfist. Crawley, come with me, back ter whar we was lyin’ in ambush.”
Big Gabe spoke in a determined way, and evidently possessedconsiderable power over his weaker-willed companion. For Crawley,although scowling, took a step forward, as if to obey.
It was then that little Sallie caught hold of the hand of her roughfather, and sought to detain him. She understood
what these men had inview, and taking advantage of the temporary softening of her parent,due to the power of the music on his soul, he hoped she might persuadehim into refusing to take part in the attempted abduction of themillionaire’s son.
“Stay here with me, daddy, won’t you?” she pleaded. “He knows ever somany more tunes, and he’ll play ’em all, if ye wanter hear ’em, won’tyou, Amos? Don’t go out again, please don’t? Let Big Gabe alone; he’llonly get you into trouble. Stay here with your little Sallie, won’tyou, daddy?”
The man seemed to hesitate. He looked doubtfully in the face of thechild, whereupon Hackett broke out in harsh language. He also made asuggestive motion with the Marlin repeating shot gun, which he hadtaken possession of; and whatever the spasm of better feeling that haddominated Crawley lately, it was speedily vanquished by his love ofgain.
He suddenly muttered some words, and flung the detaining hand of hischild from him. The conflict between the elements making up his naturehad not lasted long.
So Crawley, with a scowl toward Amos, as though blaming the boy forbringing about all this trouble, strode out of the door after hiscompanion, and the two in the cabin were left alone again.
Teddy had pulled his companion down alongside him before this happened;indeed, when Hackett first appeared upon the scene; for he feared lestthe restless eyes of the big timber cruiser, like unto those of thered fox which he had often been compared with for craftiness, mightin roving around, discover the two who were peeping in at the smallwindow, and trouble of a serious nature ensue.
While Teddy did not actually fear the rascal, still, he believed itwise to remain hidden from those they meant to hoodwink, as long aspossible, at least.
Indeed, it was still a question in Teddy’s mind whether or not Big Gabehad discovered their presence. He was as cunning as the fox itself, andmight have refrained from betraying any evidence of his discovery, butonce beyond range of the boy’s vision, was apt to start some shrewdflank movement calculated to encompass their capture.
Under these conditions Teddy considered it the part of wisdom to crouchdown in the shadows and wait for some little time, until they could bepositive the men had returned to their ambush.
They could hear Amos and Sallie talking, as though they had becomegreat friends in the short time they had known each other; though Teddyguessed that the magic fiddle had drawn them both together, more thananything else.
He had swept his eyes around the interior of the cabin when firstpeering in through the little window, and beyond a few rusty traps,some furs used for sleeping purposes, a few moth-eaten blankets andseveral cooking utensils, it did not seem to contain much else, yetthings were as clean as Sallie could make them, and even a broomfashioned from twigs showed that the child swept the old floorregularly.