Part 10 (1/2)
For half an hour the roar of the conflict was incessant, and its violence indescribable. It was broken now and then by a kindly soul among the elderly women raising a sweet old-fas.h.i.+oned hymn.
Suddenly an exhorter threw his hands above his head and, in a voice that soared above the roar of mourners and their attendants, cried:
”Behold the Lamb of G.o.d that taketh away the sins of the world!”
Quick as a flash came an answering shout from the red-headed man who leaped to his feet and with wide staring eyes looked up at the roof.
”I see him! I see Jesus up a tree!”
A fat woman lifted her head and shouted:
”Hold him till I get there!”
And she started for the red-headed man. There was a single moment of strange silence and the Boy laughed aloud.
His mother caught and shook him violently. He crammed his little fist again into his mouth, but the stopper wouldn't hold.
He dropped to his seat to keep the people from seeing him, buried his face in his hands and laughed in smothered giggles in spite of all his mother could do.
At last he whispered:
”Take me out quick! I'm goin' to bust--I'll bust wide open I tell ye!”
She rose sternly, seized his arm and led him a half mile into the woods.
He kept looking back and laughing softly.
She gazed at him sorrowfully:
”I'm ashamed of you, Boy! How could you do such a thing!”
”I just couldn't help it!”
He sat down on a stone and laughed again.
”What makes the fools holler so?” he asked through his tears.
”They are praying G.o.d to forgive their sins.”
”But why holler so loud? He ain't deaf--is He? You said that G.o.d's in the sun and wind and dew and rain--in the breath we breathe. Ain't He everywhere then? Why do they holler at Him?”
The mother turned away to hide a smile she couldn't keep back, and a cloud overspread her dark face. Surely this was an evil sign--this spirit of irreverent levity in the mind of a child so young. What could it mean? She had forgotten that she had been teaching him to think, and didn't know, perhaps, that he who thinks must laugh or die.
After that she let him spend long hours at the spring playing with boys and girls of his age. He didn't go into the meetings again. But he enjoyed the season. The watermelons, muskmelons, and ginger cakes were the best he had ever eaten.
IX
During the Christmas holidays the father got ready for a c.o.o.n hunt in which the Boy should see his first battle royal in the world of sport.
Dennis came over and brought four extra dogs, two of his own and two which he had borrowed for the holidays.