A Tale of the Tow-Path Page 4

  CHAPTER IV.

  CAPTAIN BILL BUYS A HORSE.

  It was a cold, rainy, and impenetrably dark night on the tow-path. Hereand there was a lantern, which, when passed, seemed only to deepen thedarkness.

  Now and then the swish of a tow-line in the water was heard, or theharsh scraping of a boat against another boat or against the timbers ofthe wharf. Men shouted hoarsely to one another or to their beasts.

  Along the muddy tow-path a pair of drenched and miserable horses wereurged by a drenched and miserable boy. To this boy, who was Joe Gaston,it was all like some hideous dream.

  He moved under a constant strain of fear upon nerves alreadyoverwrought, and with incessant physical effort on the part of a bodyalready worn to the verge of exhaustion.

  He found relief for a few moments while he ate his supper. The boat waswaiting below a lock. The captain, who had already eaten, went out onthe tow-path, and Joe's only companion at the table was Blixey.

  When the two had eaten all that was before them, Blixey said: "Well,young un, had enough, eh?"

  "No," replied Joe, "I haven't. I'm hungry yet."

  Blixey rose, and climbed far enough up the cabin stairs to put his headout and make sure that Captain Bill was not on deck. Then he came back,and opening a little cupboard under the dish shelves, took out half aloaf of bread and some cold ham, and set it before the boy.

  "Mum's the word," he whispered. "Don't say nothin', but jes' git aroundit's quick's ye can."

  Joe followed the advice without further delay.

  "Blixey," he said, between his mouthfuls, "you're very good."

  As he ate, the captain's hoarse voice was heard from the tow-path:"Blixey!"

  "What is it, boss?" asked the negro, stumbling up the cabin stairs.

  "Send that young rascal out here!"

  The negro crawled back part of the way down the stairs. There was acertain compassion in his voice as he said,--

  "You'll hef to go, honey, an' right smart, too. I know him."

  So Joe went, and took up again in the blackness of night his dreary,cruel task on the tow-path. He thought it would never end; that the sunwould soon rise at his back, and that he should be kept right on at hiswork through another day.

  But when Port Jackson was reached, at ten o'clock, the boat was tied upfor the night. The horses were put under shelter in a stable near by,and fed. Then the two men and the boy went down into the cabin of theboat to go to bed.

  Under the stern-deck there were two bunks, and no more. These wereoccupied by the two men, so that Joe must sleep on the cabin floor.

  He was given an old quilt, and an overcoat for a pillow. Removing partof his wet clothing, he rolled himself in the quilt and tried to sleep;but sleep would not come to him. His physical and his nervous systemhad undergone so great a strain and fatigue that he could not at oncerelapse into slumber.

  The cabin was shut tight to keep out the storm, but the water found itsway in nevertheless. Little rills ran across the floor, and soaked theold quilt in which Joe was wrapped. The air of the room, which seemedlittle more than a box, became foul and oppressive.

  Visions of his own room at home floated into Joe's mind as he laythere. He saw the spotless floor, the pictures on the walls, the prettycurtains at the windows, the warm, soft, tidy bed. He thought of thedear mother at his side, soothing him, with loving touch and gentlewords, to sweet sleep and pleasant dreams.

  That he wept, then, tears of homesickness, of sorrow, of deep andbitter shame, until he had sobbed himself to sleep, was but evidence ofthe gentle and manly spirit that lay beneath his boy's foolish prideand impetuous will.

  The next morning Captain Bill awakened Joe by pushing him rudely withhis foot.

  "Come, get up here," he shouted, "an' go an' feed them hosses!"

  Joe rose. He was stiff and sore from exposure and exertion. His dampclothing, as he put it on, sent a chill through his whole body.

  He fed the horses, as he was told. After the crew had breakfasted inthe cabin of the boat, the same monotonous round of duty was taken upthat had occupied the day before.

  Rain was still falling, and the cold had increased. The water of thecanal was muddy, and the stream that ran along below it was very high.

  The tow-path was softer and more slippery than it had been the previousday, and walking upon it was more difficult. The boy who drove theweary and wretched horses through the mud and rain was far more tiredand miserable than they were.

  Late in the forenoon the boat reached Ellenville.

  For more than a mile Captain Bill had apparently been on the lookoutfor some one. As they passed under the iron bridge and in toward thelock without meeting any one, the captain uttered a sort of grunt ofdisappointment.

  Just then, however, a man came down the tow-path, leading a gray horse.

  The man was short and stout, with legs that were so bowed that it wasa marvel that they held him up at all. Captain Bill's face lighted upas he caught sight of him. He leaped from the boat to the tow-path, andwent ahead to meet the stranger.

  "Well, Callipers," he inquired, "got a hoss for me?"

  "You bet," replied the man, "an' a powerful good un, too."

  Captain Bill went close to the bow-legged man, bent down to him, andsaid something in an undertone. The man listened and nodded.

  Then followed a conversation which no one could hear, except thepersons engaged in it. It ended with Captain Bill's counting out somemoney from a black and greasy leather wallet, and handing the money toCallipers.

  Then one of the captain's horses was unfastened, and placed inpossession of the bow-legged man. The gray took its harness, and itsplace at the tow-line.

  All this time Joe had been busy at the feed-box at the bow of the boat.At this moment he came up and discovered what was going on.

  The gray horse first attracted his attention. There was something aboutthe animal that reminded him strongly of Old Charlie.

  He looked again, and more closely. The horse threw up his head andneighed. It was Old Charlie!

  Joe gave a leap to the side of the boat, another to the tow-path, andin the next instant he was at the horse's head.

  "Charlie!" he cried. "Charlie! Why, Old Charlie, is this you?"

  The beast whinnied, and putting his nose down against Joe's breast,began to rub him in the old way.

  Captain Bill and Callipers looked at each other in open-eyedastonishment.

  "Knows 'im!" exclaimed the bow-legged man.

  "Seems to," replied the captain.

  "Who is 'e?"

  "Don't know 'im. He's a runaway."

  The bow-legged man advanced and looked at the boy more closely.

  "Bless my eyes an' ears!" he exclaimed, drawing hastily back.

  He recognized Joe as the boy who had visited the stable the morning onwhich the horse was stolen.

  "Good-by, Bill!" he said to the captain. "I'm goin'!"

  But at that moment Joe, running quickly, intercepted him.

  "Where'd you get that horse?" he demanded, panting with excitement."Where'd you get him?"

  "I got 'im where 'e grew, sonny, but they aint no more like 'im, so youneedn't go lookin' for one."

  "But I want to know--"

  "You don't want to know nothin'. You go ten' to them hosses,"interrupted Captain Bill. "See where the boat's gittin' to. Mind yourbusiness and stop asking questions."

  "But that horse--"

  "Never mind that hoss. You ten' to business. He's my hoss now!"

  "No, he's not your horse! He's my father's horse. He was stolen from myfather's barn. He--"

  The captain took one step toward the boy, fastened his hand in Joe'scollar, and dragged and pushed him to his post.

  Joe was frightened and cowed. His lips turned white. He dared no longerdisobey.

  He went ahead and resumed his monotonous duties, but in his brain was awhirlpool of rage.

  The rain fell harder than ever; the wind blew in fierce gusts; thetow-path was muddy beyond desc
ription. It was a day on which neitherman nor beast should have labored except under shelter.

  Joe walked as much as possible at Old Charlie's head, urging him gentlyat times, putting his arm caressingly over the beast's drooping neck,or twining his hand in the long, wet mane.

  He talked to the horse, too, in the old familiar way; telling him ofhis troubles, pitying him for his own hard lot, sympathizing with him,until he fancied that tears stood in the horse's eyes. He knew theywere rolling down his own face.

  It was evident that the horse had been on a long journey, though thedistance was not great from the place from which he had been stolen.

  The thief was a crafty and skilful one, and had kept the animal outof the channels of travel, where search would be most likely. Whatadventures he had had, and what other operations he had carried onmeanwhile, no one knew.

  Late in the afternoon, when both boy and horse should have beenrelieved from further work, Old Charlie began to indulge in a habitwhich he had acquired on the farm.

  Whenever he had thought his work too hard, or his hours too long, orthe weather too inclement for further labor, he would stop in histracks and turn his head around to his driver, and stand gazing in muteappeal, until he was urged forward.

  Charlie had never been punished for this. It was not really balkiness,for the horse went on stoutly after a moment's rest. But for thatmatter, Old Charlie had been indulged at home in all sorts of queerways.

  Now, however, the case was quite different. Joe tried to make theseinterruptions as short as possible, so that they should not interfereseriously with the passage of the boat; but the horse's conduct soonattracted Captain Bill's attention.

  "Tryin' to loaf, eh? Well, I'll cure the lazy old beast o' that," hesaid.

  He took a whip from the cabin and tossed it out to Joe.

  "Next time that hoss does that," he said, "whip 'im! Don't let him doit again."

  "No, sir! I--I'll try not to."

  Even as Joe spoke Old Charlie stopped, turned, and looked back at himwith melancholy eyes.

  "Go on, Charlie!" entreated Joe; "that's a good fellow, go on!"

  But Charlie stood still, half-turned in his tracks, in mute remonstrance.It was new business to him, and he had not a favorable opinion regardingit. The leading horse, nothing loath, had also stopped.

  "Whip 'im!" shouted Captain Bill from the boat, which, with itsimpetus, was bearing rapidly down on horse and boy. "Thrash 'im!"

  Joe lifted the whip and let it fall lightly on the horse's back.

  "Get up, Charlie!" he cried; "get up now, quick!"

  "Oh, whip 'im!" cried the captain. "Give 'im a good un!"

  Again the whip descended lightly on Old Charlie's back; but the horsedid not move. This, too, was new treatment, which he did not seem inthe least to understand.

  By this time Captain Bill was very angry. He seized the tiller, andswept it back till the stern of the boat touched the bank. "Whip thathoss!" he cried, leaping to the tow-path, "or I'll whip you!"

  For an instant Joe stood irresolute; then, with sudden determination,he passed the handle of the whip to the angry man who faced him.

  "I won't," he said slowly, with set teeth; "I won't whip Old Charlie.I'll die first!"

  Infuriated beyond measure, Captain Bill seized the whip and raised itswiftly in the air. Just as it was about to descend on Joe's head andshoulders, the frightened horse, swinging his body around nervously,caught the full force of the blow.

  But it mattered little to Captain Bill. The beast was as much anobject of his wrath as was the boy.

  Again the whip cut the air and curled cruelly about the horse's body.Again and again it fell, while Old Charlie, frightened and tortured,leaped and struggled for release.

  Poor Joe, who was trying alternately to soothe the horse and to entreatthe man who was beating him, felt every stroke of the cruel whip almostas sharply as if it had been inflicted on his own back.

  At last the captain stopped.

  "It'll be your turn next!" he said savagely, throwing the whip towardJoe, and leaping to the deck of his boat.

  The tow-line was pulled taut, and the boat moved on again. The poorbeast, still quivering with excitement and pain, and allowing himselfnow to be led quietly along, showed by the occasional touch of hisnose to the boy's breast or shoulder that he wanted his sympathy andfriendship.

  So they trudged on together, boy and horse, each helping and comfortingthe other,--on in distress and despair, through cold and rain and mud,into the darkness, the dreariness, the frightfulness of another night!

  How they got through that evening until ten o'clock, Joe could neverquite recollect. His memory recalled only a confusion of lights andnoises, of splashing mud and roaring water, of tangled tow-lines andinterfering boats.

  It was only when the horses had been put up for the night, and he wasonce more lying on the wet cabin-floor, listening to the beating of therain on the deck above his head, that he was able to think clearly.How everything that he had done, and all his woes and troubles, rushedbefore him!

  With his prejudice and passion all swept away, he went over in hismind the events of the last three months. His follies and sins becameas plain to him as if they had been committed by another. Slowly butsurely, as he pondered, there came into his mind the irresistibleconviction that he must go home.

  The old and beautiful story of the Prodigal Son came up from the depthsof memory and glowed before him. He would go back, as did the child ofthe parable; but he would go in such repentance and humility as theProdigal Son had never dreamed of.

  He could not wait. He resolved to start at once,--now, in the night, inthe storm, if he could but escape his keepers.

  But there was Charlie,--poor Old Charlie!--who deserved, far more thandid he himself, to escape from the sufferings of the present. How couldhe leave the old horse?

  A thought came into his mind so suddenly that it brought him up on hiselbow. Charlie should help him to escape! He would take the horse homewhere he belonged. They would go back to the old home together.

  Joe lay back for a moment, almost breathless with his scheme. Then,cautiously laying his quilt aside, he rose, put on his jacket, hat, andshoes, and climbed softly up the steep cabin-stairs to the deck.

  The rain had ceased at last, and low in the west a half-moon wasstruggling through the mist of clouds.

  For a moment Joe listened. No sound came from the sleepers in thecabin. Then he leaped lightly to the tow-path. It was not far to thestable where the horses and mules were kept, and he lost no time ingoing there.

  As he opened the door and peered into the darkness of the stable, theheavy breathing of the sleeping animals came strangely on his ears.

  In a near stall, a dim, white shape struggled up and was still. It wasOld Charlie. He recognized his young master with a subdued neigh, andtossed his head impatiently.

  The next moment Joe had untied him, and led him out into the night.

  "We've got a long ride before us, Charlie," he said, standing for amoment at the stable door to transform the halter strap into drivingreins. "It's a long ride; but then, you know, we're going--we're goinghome!"

  Again the horse tossed his head, as if he understood. Joe, catchinghold by the mane, leaped to Charlie's back, as he had done many timesin the dear old days.

  He rode slowly down the little hill to the tow-path, turned in thedirection from which they had come,--the direction in which homelay,--and galloped away.

  Away they went toward the east, with lighter hearts and higher spiritsthan either had known before for many a day. To Joe it seemed that hewas doing no more than his duty in riding away with Old Charlie. He wastoo inexperienced to know that he had no right to seize the horse inthis way, even though the animal was his father's lawful property. Hewas too much confused by his sufferings and excitement, moreover, tohave a nice sense of propriety in such a matter.

  As he passed the boat he had just left, Joe noticed that there wasa light in the cabin window. He
heard a noise there as of somethingfalling. To his ears came distinctly the sound of angry words fromCaptain Bill.