Part 7 (1/2)
On the other hand, Ree's quiet disposition seemed almost to disappear in the face of hards.h.i.+ps and difficult obstacles. If the cart broke down he whistled ”Yankee Doodle,” while he managed to mend it. If the road was especially rough and their progress most unpleasantly slow, he was certain to sing. Even Jerry could not fail to catch the spirit of his cheerfulness no matter what bad luck they had, and from looking glum, John would change to light-heartedness every time. Ree's smile was a never failing remedy for his blues.
”Time enough to be blue and all put out when you have utterly failed,”
Ree exclaimed one day. ”And if you only make up your mind to it, it is the simplest thing in the world not to fail. If I were the general of an army, I wouldn't own up that I was whipped as long as I had a breath left. Now just suppose that Was.h.i.+ngton had given up at Valley Forge!”
”Well, I want to say that the chap who starts out west thinking he is going on a frolic, will be mighty badly fooled,” John answered. ”I am learning, but it is like the Indian who believed powder didn't amount to much unless it was in a gun; so he filled his pipe with it. He learned a heap.”
”Ho, ho, pardners both!”
The voice came so suddenly to the young travelers, they started and looked around questioningly. With a flying leap from some brush which bordered the road, came an odd looking woodsman.
”Lift my ha'r if ye ain't the nearest bein' kittens of anythin' I've clapped my old goggles on in the emygrant line in all my born days!”
Putting his hands to his sides the stranger laughed uproariously.
”Oh, it's funny, ain't it!” exclaimed John Jerome, witheringly.
”Age is not always a sign of wisdom,” said Ree Kingdom in much the same tone.
”Right ye be, lad; right ye be,” said the woodsman, quieting himself.
”But I swan I'm that glad to see ye so young an' bloomin', both, that it jes does me old eyes good. Where ye bound fer, anyhow?”
The speaker was tall and rugged, his age probably fifty years. A grizzled beard cl.u.s.tered round his face and his unkempt hair hung almost to his shoulders. On his head was a ragged c.o.o.n-skin cap. All his dress was made of skin or furs, in the crudest frontier fas.h.i.+on. He was not a disagreeable appearing person, nevertheless, for his eyes twinkled merrily as a boy's. Each in his own way, Ree and John noted these facts.
”I might say that we are going till we stop and that we came from where we started,” said John in answer to the stranger's inquiry.
”What a peart kitten ye be!” smiled the man, looking at him quizzically.
”To be honest with you, we are going to the Ohio country,” said Ree Kingdom, satisfied that the stranger wished to be friendly.
”Ye've got s.p.u.n.k, I swan!” the fellow exclaimed. ”Don't let me be keepin'
ye though; drive along, we kin swap talk as we're movin'.”
”How far do you call it to old Fort Pitt?” asked Ree.
”Well, it ain't so fer as a bird kin fly, an' its ferder than ye want to walk in a day. If ye have good luck ye'll come on to Braddock's road afore supper time, an' if ye don't have good luck, there's no tellin'
when ye'll get thar. It want such a great ways from here that Braddock had _his_ bad luck. If he _hadn't_ had it--if he'd done as George Was.h.i.+ngton wanted him to, he'd 'a' got along like grease on a hot skillet, same as you youngsters.”
”Hear that John? We will make Fort Pitt in a day or two,” cried Ree.
”Yaas, it was forty odd years ago that Braddock had his bad luck when he b.u.mped into a lot of Injuns in ambush. I was jest a chunk of a boy then, but I've hearn tell on it, many's the time, by my old gran'sire who learned me how to shoot. I was a reg'lar wonder with a gun when I was your age, kittens. I've picked up some since then though! See the knot-hole in that beech way over yonder? Waal, I'm going to put a bullet in the middle of it.”
Taking aim, the stranger fired. ”Ye'll find the bullet squar' in the center,” he said, in a boastful way.
”Shucks!” exclaimed John, who was often too outspoken for his own good.
He raised his rifle and fired. ”There's another bullet right beside your own, mister,” he said.
”Well I swan! So there is!” called out the woodsman in great surprise.