Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-08-03
CHAPTER XXI.
The Boy At The Spring.

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active gossips of the town. The Ma
jor was silent, Pointer was Sphynx,
Governor GRANGE held the secret and
the discreet widow put hushstamp
upon the Indian fighter" The pen
etrative Willetts knew that some-
thing must have occurred, but he
could get no further than the thresh-
hold of it; and there was but one
thoroughly disgusted man who had,
either remotely or otherwise, contri-
buted to the affair-the farmer who
haG furnished the Major with horses.
Early next morning he sent field
hand to the railway station to get a
daily newspaper, being so anxious
that he could not wait for his regular
budget, the weekly. He even strobe
forth from his unfinished breakfast
to meet the man on the road. Seiz-
ing the paper he leaned against a
tree, to give himself more comfort in
his expected enjoyment, and began to
search eagerly for the welcome news
of the Carpetbagger's death. His eye
swept column after column; he shift
ed his position and continued his
search; a painful look settled upon
his face. and crumpling the paper, he
threw it upon the ground and stamp
ed upon 1t.
Dave" said he, II want you to go
right up to town this minute and
fetch them horses back. But come to
the house first with me. I want to
write a letter to Reynolds"
He was but poorly equipped to ex-
press his feelings with a pen. but his
daughter was abundantly able, hav-
ing gone through a school taught by
a maiden lady of sour aspect; so she
served as a transmitter Of the old
mans wrath. Sir" he began, with
instructions to make the word heavy
and insulting, 'Sir, when a man tells
me he will do thing expect him to
have obtained horses under false pre-
lenses. And I want to say that man
who would so work on my confiding
nature is not much better than Car
petbagger. I made a speech in your
favor at the barbecue down on the
bayou. / said you were a man OF the
people, our redemption, and so on. I
would have swum a river to vote for
you, but the Lord forbid that I should
do 1t now. You send me them horses
as fast as you can. They have never
been known to balk, but there's no
telling what they will do after you
have handled them. Major, I know
your father and 1 could not have be-
lieved it of you. / did not know 1t
was in your blood to deceive man at
a time when it was easy to work on
his feelings. This is all 1 have got to
say, or ever will have to say to you.
Send me them horses"
The season had sobered and brown
ed; the flowers were dead and the
leaves on. the fig-trees in the gardens
were dusty. The town was drowsy with
the heat, and many of the well-to- do
folk had gone to the springs in the
hills, but the legislature was still busy
or pretended to be, grinding out new
measures and repeating older ones.
The seasons first bale of cotton had
come in-the premature advance Of
the coming crop, picked here and
there in the fields-and was hauled
about town on a decorated wagon,
driven by a negro with the plume Of
an iron weed in his hat, to the noise
of a bell, vigorously rung by boy
who sat at the tail Of the vehicle. This
was done every year, but it always
was an important event, cotton being
the basis Of all prosperity and the ia
brio Of antebellum aristocracy. The
merchant, hearing the bell, rushed to
his door to gaze out; the lawyers
lounging about the court-rooms left
their musty proceedings to look from
the windows, and even the sprinkling
cart, driven by an official" and
therefore an unaccommodating man,
turned out that the cotton wagon
might pass.
The election was drawing near and
the wire-workers were busy. News
was daily brought in from all parts
of the state and every one looked for
ward to the day of reckoning, sure to
come. For a time after the affair be-
meath the magnolias in his garden,
the Governor kept himself more at
home, not that he was apprehensive
of unusual danger, for the word
fear" had been omitted from the
lexicon Of his youth and had not been
inserted in the unabridged dictionary
of his political life, but because he ap-
peared more than ever to worry un-
der the trials of office and the annoy
ances Of the "log-rollers" who daily
beset him. Often they swarmed about
the house, knowing or feeling that his
time was short, and therefore hoping
to push their selfish schemes to frui-
ton before his fall, but Jim turned
them away with the warning to stay
away, as the Governor was very busy
Occasionally at the cooling end OF the
day, the old man would go out for a
quiet walk, choosing a way that led
into the country. He took great peas
ure in looking upon the ripening
crops. Sometimes. preserving a strict
incognito, he would walk beside la
borer, going home from his toll, and
would talk TO him as one who under
stood and sympathized. Once at a
spring by the roadside, he came upon
& half-grown boy, sitting thoughtful-
" upon a stone. The Governor sat
down and opened up a conversation
with him.
"Do you live far from here?" he
asked.
over yonder." the boy answered.
rubbing his sun-browned cheek.
II suppose your folks are all in
terested in the coming election?'
81 reckon so, but don't pay much
attention to it. I'm trying to learn
something, so 1 won't have to dig in
the ground all my lifetime"
"Ah," said the Governor, that's