The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1904-11-10
In The Third -
! Watch Of the Night
BY HOMER NJ. PRICE

~ HE old station baggage man put q
scuuie OF coal Ia the big cannon
ball stove, went into the telegraph
once and then returned To the
baggage room.
\ 40. As losing time" he said
wont get here under three hours late.
Did you have any baggage 10 checkY'
We'll. that's why We been waiting
here for the last thirty minutes 1 saio,
with some little impotence.
Excuse me-. said he. -. SnOWed the
train wuz late, and most people SET round
mere in the baggage room on cold nights.
and 1 sposed you wuz dom the same.
Where to- please?'
He adjusted his glasses and looked
clear over them for the pigeonhole OF the
Knoxville checks. and, nnally getting
one, he placed it on my trunk, remark
ing:
Been over to the mines, eh2 Pl rty
cold drivin want it2 Coolest night
we've had this winter. cept one. tnat
wuz the night Ben spillman's mother
come. Know about that ! poseg
NO" said /. 4 never heard OF that;
I'm a stranger here"
We'll, sit down thar by the stove an
I'll tell you about it, If you care 10 near.
Shows you're a stranger in these parts
not to know bout it. Jest think OF it,.
a-lookin for his mother for thirty-hve
year fore she come.
Wait till / light my pipe and put a
trunk agin that door; that wind from the
mountains IS mighty searchin,. / tell
you, stranger its mighty lonesome
round here tonight. Not another pas
senger to go, and none of the neighbors
out visitin and that train way late.
But you want to hear bout Ben and his
mother.
well, Ben wuz here when l took
charge Of the station in 6I-one Of them
awkward. shy boys. always gettin in the
way. but not meanin to. Nobody knOWed
whar he come from just found him here
one day on the platform after the east
raj n I'm "a a q
woman's face that got off. He looked
at all Of EN-, and then turned away
sayin' jest these four words: She said
she'd come He WIZ bout five or six
then, they said, and all kinds of ques-
tiOaing only brought out those four
words, and his name-Ben Spillman. IL
was believed that his mother had
brought him down from the mountains
and had got on a west-bound train.
tellin him she'd be back on the next
eastbound one. 1t wuz just at the break
in up of the war and nobody thought
anything of strangers bein about and
not one OF them ever remembered Of
seein' the mother, The child wuz kinder
weak in his head sarter daffy Ike.
Whether he wuz always chat way, or
the shock Of losin his mother wuz the
cause Of it, nobody never knowed. But
thar he wuz when ] come, the saddest
faced little chap | ever saw, with his
come in, and way down to bass when
the train had gone and his mother hadn't
come.
Some Of the old residenters here said
there had been a big wreck Ip bcuf
Lebanon at the eme the young one
showed up, and that thar wuz two or
three dead ones. one bein' a woman. that
nobody ever lSnowed who they wuz. Tney
lowed maybe twuz his mother. Others
said that some woman wanted 10 get lid
of a crazy child. and give him the slip
but [ never believed that, cause the kind
O mother that would want 10 give her
ma a. hlf NJ
him with such confidence in her True,
he wuznt Just right in his head, but my
experience is that that's the ldnd thar
knows the most bout some things
who's who. Some say it's instinct but
whatever IL IS. the Lord Almighty put IL
thar; so l says. that boys mother wuz
intendin to come back.
"WeI, Squire Heartsill takes the hoy
to his house and he makes himself use
fu bout the place. runnin errands and
sweepin out the furniture store, but no
matter what he wuz doin'. when the
evenin' train from the west gave the
signal for the station here, he came as
fast as he could, and then II the train
wuz late, he would come down and wait
for II; didn't matter whether he d had
any supper or nor. he'd stay here till th"
train come Many a time, when he wuz
kid, I'd tuck him in here behind the
stove ON cold nisht with my "Neic9dt.
while he waited for the train. ] used to
try TO get him to tell me what he wuz
lookin for but he would look so wild
and scared like that l stopped He'd
humble a whole iot that I couldn't un-
derstand, but always ended with, She
said she'd come. If he had dropped on
to sleep when the train would whistle
he'd be sure to wake up, and his eyes
would sparkle and he would go runnn
out on the platform, clappin' his hands
then purity soon, as the train pulled
out I'd see him goin' slowly down the
path 10 the Squire $.
frlr he
wouldn't YOU? But be never did. As he
grew up the Squire wanted to send him
to school, but he wouldn't go ] al
ways thought ii wuz cause the school
he stayed on thar In the shop, and come
TO be purity fair workman. Hie never
had had much talk for ANYBODY. and
after he got to be a man he had less. lie
would 20 for weeks without sayin a
word to a soul. and I believe he would
have forgotten how to talk IL he hadn't
had them four words to say to hisself
every evenin when the train left. lie
never said 'em to anybody: just sad like.
as he turned away, he'd say, She said
she'd come
He made puTty good wages in the
shop and saved his money When he
wuz kid we WIZ real good friends but
as he got older he got more distant to-
ward me. True. he'd nearly always come
come and roll the truck of trunks up TO
where the express car stopped. but he
didn't talk none.
80 matters went on this way year
after year
"One summer night the train WIZ late.
and there wuz no passengers to get on.
and nooooy al the depot lnokin' for any
body TO come, 'cept Ben. He WIZ a
grown up man then. I'd say about thirty.
and he come out and set down on a
truck with me. it had been an awful
hot day and some thunder heads had
gathered up IN the west. Ben set there
and watched the lghtnin without sayin'
a word The train WIZ way late. and by
and by the clouds got to comm closer.
and ! said. Ben. it's goin, 10 storm. Are
you scared OF sturmsY He waited some
time fore he answered. then he said.
No. / amt scared OF anything. except
that she won't come You couldn't get
his mind on Of 1t at all. ! asked him
why he didn't 60 and hunt her for led
saved his money and could travel every
where and find her He said he'd thought
OF that, but then she might come while
he wuz gone. and then she'd feel just
here a lookin' for her He thought he'd
best stay here and wait for her. FOR she
said she'd cOme- I didn't say no .1ore
and We sat thar wstchin the comm
storm. Most an hour passed without a
word and then Ben said suddenly. Don't
the scripture say bout EN- comm IN the
third watch OF the nieht2 IL kind %
startled me, and said Yes bleye 4
does. Well said he. II bleve she u
come some time away in the night.
might be tonight
when the train come. way long in
the mornin' the storm mad burst. and
the ightnin and thunder wuz maxim
things lively. I didn't have anything 10
put on the train and the only thing that