CHAPTER III
UNCLE JABEZ HAS TWO OPINIONS
Dr. Davison came, found that Jerry's leg was not broken, left liniment,some quieting medicine to use if the patient could not sleep, and wentaway. Still Uncle Jabez had not returned from town.
Dinner had been a farce. Ben, the hired man, was fed as usual; but Ruthand Aunt Alvirah did not feel like eating; and, considering his fever, itwas just as well, the doctor said, if the patient did not eat until later.
Jerry Sheming was a fellow of infinite pluck. The pain he had enduredduring his rough ride in the automobile must have been terrific. Yet hewas only ashamed, now, that he had fainted.
"First time I ever heard of a Sheming fainting--or yet a Tilton, Miss," hetold Ruth.
"I don't believe you belong near here?" suggested Ruth, who sat besidehim, for he seemed restless. "I don't remember hearing either of thosenames around the Red Mill."
"No. I--I lived away west of here," replied Jerry, slowly. "Oh, a longways."
"Not as far as Montana? That is where Jane Ann comes from."
"The girl I helped through the car window?" he asked, quickly.
"Yes. Miss Hicks."
"I did not mean really West," he said. "But it's quite some miles. I hadbeen walking two days--and I'm some walker," he added, with a smile.
"Looking for work, you said?" questioned Ruth, diffident about showing herinterest in the young fellow, yet deeply curious.
"Yes. I've got to support myself some way."
"Haven't you any folks at all, Mr. Jerry?"
"I ain't a 'mister,'" said the youth. "I'm not so much older than you andyour friends."
"You seem a lot older," laughed Ruth, tossing back her hair.
"That's because I have been working most of my life--and I guess livin' inthe woods all the time makes a chap seem old."
"And you've lived in the woods?"
"With my uncle. I can't remember anybody else belongin' to me--not verywell. Pete Tilton is _his_ name. He's been a guide and hunter all hislife. And of late years he got so queer--before they took him away----"
"Took him away?" interrupted Ruth, "What do you mean by that?"
"Why, I'll tell you," said Jerry, slowly. "He got wild towards the last.It was something about his money and papers that he lost. He kep' 'em in abox somewhere. There was a landslide at the west end of the island."
"The island? What island?"
"Cliff Island. That's where we lived. Uncle Pete said he owned half theisland, but Rufe Blent cheated him out of it. That's what made him sosavage with Blent, and he come pretty near killin' him. At least, Blenttold it that way.
"So they took poor Uncle Pete into court, and they said he wasn't safe tobe at large, and sent him to the county asylum. Then--well, there wasn'tno manner o' use my stayin' around there. Rufe Blent warned me off theisland. So I started out to hunt a job."
The details were rather vague, but Ruth felt a little diffident aboutasking for further particulars. Besides, it was not long before UncleJabez came home.
"What do ye reckon your Aunt Alvirah keeps that spare room for?" demandedthe old miller, with his usual growl, when Ruth explained about Jerry."For to put up tramps?"
"Oh, Uncle! he isn't just a _tramp_!"
"I'd like to know what ye call it, Niece Ruth?" grumbled Uncle Jabez.
"Think how he saved Jane Ann! That car was rolling right down theembankment. He pulled her through the window and almost the next momentthe car slid the rest of the way to the bottom, and lots of people--peoplein the chairs next to her--were badly hurt. Oh, Uncle! he saved her life,perhaps."
"That ain't makin' it any dif'rent," declared Uncle Jabez. "He's a trampand nobody knows anything about him. Why didn't Davison send him to thehospital? The doc's allus mixin' us up with waifs an' strays. He's gotmore cheek than a houn' pup----"
"Now, Jabez!" cried the little old lady, who had been bending over thestove. "Don't ye make yourself out wuss nor you be. That poor boy ain'tdoin' no harm to the bed."
"Makin' you more work, Alviry."
"What am I good for if it ain't to work?" she demanded, quite fiercely."When I can't work I want ye sh'd take me back to the poor farm where yegot me--an' where I'd been these last 'leven years if it hadn't been foryour charity that you're so 'fraid folks will suspect----"
"Charity!" broke in Uncle Jabez. "Ha! Yes! a fat lot of charity I'veshowed you, Alviry Boggs. I reckon I've got my money's wuth out o' youback an' bones."
The old woman stood as straight as she could and looked at the grim millerwith shining eyes. Ruth thought her face really beautiful as she smiledand said, wagging her head at the gray-faced man:
"Oh, Jabez Potter! Jabez Potter! Nobody'll know till you're in your coffinjest how much good you've done in this world'--on the sly! An' you'll letthis pore boy rest an' git well here before he has to go out an' hunt ajob for hisself. For my pretty, here, tells me he ain't got no home nor nofriends."
"Uh-huh!" grunted Uncle Jabez, and stumped away to the mill, fairly beatenfor the time.
"He grumbles and grunts," observed Aunt Alvirah, shaking her head as sheturned to her work again. "But out o' sight he's re'lly gettin'tender-hearted, Ruthie. An' I b'lieve you showed him how a lot. Oh, myback! and oh, my bones!"
Before supper time a man on horseback came to the mill and cried a warningto the miller and his family: "Look out for your stables and pigpens.There's three beasts loose from those wrecked menagerie cars at thecrossing, Jabez."
"Mercy on us! They ain't bound this way, are they?" demanded Uncle Jabez,with more anxiety than he usually showed.
"Nobody knows. You know, the piece of woods yonder is thick. The menageriemen lost them an hour ago. A big black panther--an ugly brute--and a lionand lioness. Them last two they say is as tame as kittens. But excuse me!I'd ruther trust the kittens," said the neighbor. Then he dug his heels inthe sides of his horse and started off to bear the news to other residentsalong the road that followed this bank of the Lumano River.
Jabez shouted for Ben to hurry through his supper, and they closed themill tight while the womenfolk tried to close all the shutters on thefirst floor of the cottage. But the "blinds" had not been closed on theeast side of the house since they were painted the previous spring. AuntAlviry was the kind of housekeeper who favored the morning sun and italways streamed into the windows of the guest room.
When they tried to close the outside shutters of those windows, one had abroken hinge that the painters had said nothing about. The heavy blindfell to the ground.
"Goodness me!" exclaimed Ruth, running back into the house. "That oldpanther could jump right into that room where Jerry is. But if we keep abright light in there all night, I guess he won't--if he comes this way atall."
It was foolish, of course, to fear the coming of the marauding animalfrom the shattered circus car. Probably, Ruth told herself before theevening was half over, "Rival's Circus and Menagerie" had moved on withall its beasts.
Uncle Jabez, however, got down the double-barreled shotgun, cleaned andoiled it, and slipped in two cartridges loaded with big shot.
"I ain't aimin' to lose my pigs if I can help it," he said.
As the evening dragged by, they all forgot the panther scare. Jerry hadfallen asleep after supper without recourse to the medicine Dr. Davisonhad left. As usual, Uncle Jabez was poring over his daybook and countingthe cash in the japanned money box.
Ruth was deep in her text books. One does forget so much between June andSeptember! Aunt Alvirah was busily sewing some ruffled garment for "herpretty."
Suddenly a quick, stern voice spoke out of the guest room down the hall.
"Quick! bring that gun!"
"Hul-_lo_!" murmured Uncle Jabez, looking up.
"That poor boy's delirious," declared Aunt Alvirah.
But Ruth jumped up and ran lightly to the room where Jerry Sheming lay.
"What _is_ it?" she gasped, peering at the flushed face that was raisedfrom the pillow.
"T
hat cat!" muttered Jerry.
"Oh, you're dreaming!" declared Ruth, trying to laugh.
"I ain't lived in the woods for nothin'," snapped the young fellow. "Inever see that black panther in her native wilds, o' course; but I'vetracked other kinds o' cats. And one of the tribe is 'round here----There!hear that?"
One of the horses in the stable squealed suddenly--a scream of fear. Thena cow bellowed.
Uncle Jabez came with a rush, in his stocking feet, with the heavy shotgunin his hand.
"What's up?" he demanded, hoarsely.
"I am!" exclaimed Jerry, swinging his legs out of bed, despite the pain itcaused him. "Put out that light, Miss Ruth."
Aunt Alvirah hobbled in, groaning, "Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!"
Uncle Jabez softly raised the sash where the blind was missing.
"I saw her eyes," gasped Jerry, much excited. He reached out a graspinghand. "Gimme that gun, sir, unless you are a good shot. I don't oftenmiss."
"You take it," muttered Uncle Jabez, thrusting the gun into the youngfellow's hand. "My--my eyes ain't what they once was."
"Send the women folk back. If she leaps in at the winder----"
Suddenly he raised the gun to his shoulder. It was so dark in the roomthey all saw the crouching creature on the lawn outside. It was headed forthe open window, and its eyes gleamed like yellow coals.
In a moment the gun spoke--one long tongue of flame, followed by theother, flashed into the night. There was a yowl, a struggle on the grassoutside, and then----
"You're something of a shot, you be, young feller!" boomed out JabezPotter's rough voice. "I was some mistaken in you. Ah! it hurt ye, eh?"and he proceeded to lift the suffering Jerry back into bed as tenderly ashe would have handled Ruth herself.
They did not go out to see the dead panther until daybreak. Then theylearned that the pair of lions had already been caught by their owners.