I was on the eve of declaring the object of my errand, and soliciting his counsel thereon, when I saw him suddenly rein in, and turn towards me. In the former movement, I imitated his example.
“The road forks here,” said he. “The path on the left goes straight down to Holt’s Clarin’—the other’s the way to my bit o’ a shanty.”
“I shall have to thank you for the very kind service you have rendered me, and say ‘Good-night.’ ”
“No—not yet. I ain’t a-goin’ to leave ye, till I’ve put you ’ithin sight o’ Holt’s cabin, tho’ I can’t go wi’ ye to the house. As I told ye, he an’ I ain’t on the best o’ tarms.”
“I cannot think of your coming out of your way—especially at this late hour. I’m some little of a tracker myself; and, perhaps, I can make out the path.”
“No, stranger! Thar’s places whar the trace is a’most blind, and you mout get out o’ it. Thar’ll be no moon on it. It runs through a thick timbered bottom, an’ thar’s an ugly bit o’ swamp. As for the lateness, I’m not very reg’lar in my hours; an’ thar’s a sort o’ road up the crik by which I can get home. ’Twan’t to bid you good-night, that I stopped here.”
“What, then?” thought I, endeavouring to conjecture his purpose, while he was pausing in his speech.
“Stranger!” continued he in an altered tone, “I hope you won’t take offence if I ask you a question?”
“Not much fear of that, I fancy. Ask it freely.”
“Are ye sure o’ a bed at Holt’s?”
“Well, upon my word, to say the truth, I am by no means sure of one. It don’t signify, however. I have my old cloak and my saddle; and it wouldn’t be the first time, by hundreds, I’ve slept in the open air.”
“My reezuns for askin’ you air, that if you ain’t sure o’ one, an’ don’t mind stretching’ yourself on a bar-skin, thar’s such a thing in my shanty entirely at your sarvice.”
“It is very kind of you. Perhaps I may have occasion to avail myself of your offer. In truth, I am not very confident of meeting with a friendly reception at the hands of your neighbour Holt—much less being asked to partake of his hospitality.”
“D’ye say so?”
“Indeed, yes. From what I have heard, I have reason to anticipate rather a cold welcome.”
“I’deed? But,”—My companion hesitated his his speech—as if meditating some observation which he felt a delicacy about making. “I’m a’most ashamed,” continued he, at length, “to put another question, that war on the top o’ my tongue.”
“I shall take pleasure in answering any question you may think proper to ask me.”
“I shedn’t ask it, if it wa’n’t for what you’ve jest now said: for I heerd the same question put to you this night afore, an’ I heerd your answer to it. But I reckon ’twar the way in which it war asked that offended you; an’ on that account your answer war jest as it should a been.”
“To what question to you refer?”
“To your bisness out here wi’ Hick Holt. I don’t want to know it, out o’ any curiosity o’ my own—that’s sartin, stranger.”
“You are welcome to know all about it. Indeed, it was my intention to have told you before we parted—at the same time to ask you for some advice about the matter.”
Without further parley, I communicated the object of my visit to Mud Creek—concealing nothing that I deemed necessary for the elucidation of the subject. Without a word of interruption, the young hunter heard my story to the end. From the play of his features, as I revealed the more salient points, I could perceive that my chances of an amicable adjustment of my claim were far from being brilliant.
“Well—do you know,” said he, when I had finished speaking, “I had a suspeecion that that might be your bisness? I don know why I shed a thort so; but maybe ’twar because thar’s been some others come here to settle o’ late, an’ found squatters on thar groun—jest the same as Holt’s on yourn. That’s why ye heerd me say, a while ago, that I shedn’t like to buy over his head.”
“And why not?” I awaited the answer to this question, not without a certain degree of nervous anxiety. I was beginning to comprehend the counsel of my Nashville friend on the ticklish point of pre-emption.
“Why, you see, stranger—as I told you, Hick Holt’s a rough customer; an’ I reckon he’ll be an ugly one to deal wi’, on a bisness o’ that kind.”
“Of course, being in possession, he may purchase the land? He has the right of pre-emption?”
“ ’Taint for that. He ain’t a-goin’ to pre-empt, nor buy neyther; an’ for the best o’ reezuns. He hain’t got a red cent in the world, an’ souldn’t buy as much land as would make him a mellyun patch—not he.”
“How does he get his living, then?”
“Oh, as for that, jest some’at like myself. Thar’s gobs o’ game in the woods—both bar an’ deer: an’ the clarin’ grows him corn. Thar’s squ’lls, an’ ’possum, an’ turkeys too; an’ lots o’ fish in the crik—if one gets tired o’ the bar an’ deer-meat, which I shed niver do.”
“But how about clothing, and other necessaries that are not found in the woods?”
“As for our clothin’ it ain’t hard to find. We can get that in Swampville by swopping skins for it, or now an’ then some deer-meat. O’ anythin’ else, thar ain’t much needed ’bout here—powder, an’ lead, an’ a leetle coffee, an’ tobacco. Once in a while, if ye like it, a taste o’ old corn.”
“Corn! I thought the squatter raised that for himself?”
“So he do raise corn; but I see, stranger, you don’t understand our odd names. Thar’s two kinds o’ corn in these parts—that as has been to the still, and that as hain’t. It’s the first o’ these sorts that Hick Holt likes best.”
“Oh! I perceive your meaning. He’s fond of a little corn-whisky, I presume?”
“I reckon he are—that same squatter—fonder o’t than milk. But surely,” continued the hunter, changing the subject, as well as the tone of his speech—“surely, stranger, you ain’t a-goin’ on your bisness the night?”
“I’ve just begun to think, that it is rather an odd hour to enter upon an estate. The idea didn’t occur to me before.”
“Besides,” added he, “thar’s another reezun. If Hick Holt’s what he used to be, he ain’t likely to be very nice about this time o’ night. I hain’t seen much o’ him lately; but, I reckon, he’s as fond o’ drink as ever he war; an’ ’tain’t often he goes to his bed ’ithout a skinful. Thar’s ten chances agin one, o’ your findin’ him wi’ brick in his hat.”
“That would be awkward.”
“Don’t think o’ goin’ to-night,” continued the young hunter in a persuasive tone. “Come along wi’ me; an’ you can ride down to Holt’s in the mornin’. You’ll then find him more reezonable to deal wi’. I can’t offer you no great show o’ entertainment; but thar’s a piece o’ deer-meat in the house, an’ I reckon I can raise a cup o’ coffee, an’ a pone or two o’ bread. As for your shore, the ole corn-crib ain’t quite empty yet.”
“Thanks thanks!” said I, grasping the hunter’s hand in the warmth of my gratitude. “I accept your invitation.”
“This