The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1890-12-31


before.
"By GeorgeW muttersd Gilbert Bligh,
outside, ''ain't she a plucky little thingi
Well, Isuppose ! may as well go home.
reckon Jack will have TO work out his own
salvation for all Of me. How those black
eyes did snap, thoughln
To Gilberts infinite amusement-some-
what TO his discontinue when he came In
at night from a horseback ride TO the six
mile post-Office, he found Miss Root sitting
at the domestic freside.
ssGil,n said Mrs. Bligh, uneasily, "here's
the school-ma'am-come 10 board out her
week. 1t was Widow Dunn's week by
rights, but they've got the dumb-ager over
there, and 'lowd they'd ruther she'd come
here first. SchOol-ma'am, this is my eldest
son-or leastways my husbands son. /
never had none o. my own, but set deal
o. store by Gilbert and John"
Gilbert Bligh bowed rather awkwardly.
Miss Root rose up and dropped a dainty
little courtesy, like aslim young hazelbush
swayed by the wind.
II hope you don't bear malice,n said she,
half smiling. while soft pink flush rose TO
her cheek. "You see II was absolutely
necessary for me 20 enforce discipline, and
really you were sailing under piratical coli
ors-now, were you notm
II was altogether wrong" said Gilbert
reddening also. II beg your pardon"
(which John has already DONE" said
Miss Root, resuming her seat and her knit
ting work. johns not a bad fellow, after
al, when once you appeal to bis reason and
common sense. We shall get along capitally
after this'
"He hadn't no business to sass the school.
ma'am, said Mrs. Bligh, who was busting
around 70 get out the best china for tea.
sShe sarved him right when she shet him
up In the pantry where the states and the
big dictionary was KEEP. And he won't do
it again; IL he does, he'll get good latherin'
TO hum, that can tell himn
John, who was roasting red apples IN
the hot ashes, chuckled. He knew well,
from long experience, that his step-moth-
er's bark was many degrees worse than her
bite.
me and the schoolma'am are good friends
now,n SAID he. II axe pardon afore all the
boys, and she promised 10 lend me Master
man Ready TO read arter I'm done my sums
at night. Aud, Gil, she knows geometry
and them things like book. And she says
she'll show you without your goin' TO school
and settin' among the boys that is httler
than you be-"
Once more Gilbert colored, but Miss Root
knitted quietly on.
81 shall be glad 10 be OF use" said she.
81 wonder where you learned all this~
remarked the young man, awkwardly.
"I am a graduate OF Tassel College, IN
Rhode Island,n said Miss Root "They lay
special stress on mathematics there"
Gilbert sat down, staring mOodily at the
l.. - sIas-r rfr4e4f
six feet high, and broad shOuldered 10 cor
respond-there she sat, round, rosy and
dimpled, a mere dot Of a woman, yet how
much more she knew than he ddl
ssShe must despise me-" he thought, un-
easily tugging at his rich brown mustache.
''She can't help i'll Such dumb-head as
must seem 70 her. Yet how pretty and
soft-spOken she is"
Poor Gilbertl He was very wretched that
night, because Miss Root knew geometry
and he did not.
Yet what a vague happiness il was to be
under the same roof with her
IfGilbert had only known II, he was fall
ing in love with Emma Root.
The schOOlma am stayed two weeks at the
Bligh farm, because the Widow Dunn's
Eager" stubbornly held on. and toward the
those terrific rain-storms that sometimes
sweep the Western slopes.
81 am going to hitch up old Sorrel and go
after Miss Root" said Gilbert, at noon.
ssThe red bridge foundations are pretty
nigh washed away, aud I'll have TO bring
her around by Plny Point.n
II low it's a good idear," said Mrs.
Bligh, scratching her head with knitting
needle. II m glad you thought ont IT,"
But either ne had miscalculated old SOra
rel's rate Of speed over the muddy roads, or
else the family clock was wrong; for when
he reached the red school-house IL was
closed and locked and Miss Root was gone.
ae drove at railroad rate 10 overtake her,
but Just on the edge Of the river he saw
that he was too late.
The fiimsy timbers OF the bridge had given
way beneath her weight, and she was
struggling I'm the black watersl
sGilbert-oh, Gllbert-save men
Through the rush OF the swollen stream,
the roaring of the wind, her frenzied cry
reached his ears.
He flung of his heavy boots, his clinging
coat and jumped into the river And as ne
did so an ODD fancy eddied across his brain.
Geometry was Of no use here. Mathe-
matics could be OF no avail. II was mans
strength, an experts skill, a hero's heart
that counted now. Yes, he was her equal
more than her equal-at last -.
"Is she deadl Emmai For Heavens
sake, speakm "a
sDeadp' grumbled old Abraham Gaylor,
sNo more'n you be. Look at the color
comm back into her lips. But / say,
though, Il was a narrow squeeze Of il, one
time. That currents powerful strong, and
the bridge timbers was sweeping down on
We AXE a thousand o. brick. It's good
thing We lnowed how TO swim like an otter,
Gil Bligh. Yes, you're safe at homel
brung We both back wrapped In all the
blankets my ole woman had. That's your
own freight you're starin at.n Il
"After all, it was only a drenching,
fright and chill, 1" said Gilbert, that dusk,
as they sat by the fire, when Mrs. Bligh had
gone out to feed the late brood Of chickens,
and Johnny was in the shed trying TO build
a ship that should be like the one described
In "Masterman Ready's" fascinating pages.
Emma shuddered.
81 have been rescued from the veryverge
Of the grave,n said she, sand by you, Gil
bert. Gilbertn looking wistfully up into
his face.
"WenYn
"Wfl-will you teach me TO swim2 You
are so strong, so noble, and / am so weak
and ignorant. Oh, Gilbert, after this you
will be my prince among menr'
"Emma, my love. my darlingl"
That was how it happened. There was no
formal proposal nor acceptance-only these