Part 5 (2/2)
The newcomers were made most heartily welcome in the settlement near the fort, as newcomers were apt to be in every pioneer hamlet, whatever their quality; for the frontiersmen, in their exposed situation, earnestly appreciated the strength in nuratulation was of course infinitely increased when the arrivals were, like these, people of character, evidently so valuable an addition to the co off Sandy to look at a fertile nook where the river swung round in a bend, earnestly recorowth of corn, and the crest of the hill with a clear free-stone spring for that hoht to plant in the far west Haht and was ”tagging” after him as resolutely and as unshake-off-ably as when he was four and Sandy elve years of age
In their absence Odalie and Josephine and the _douce nonne_ sat on the doorstep of their latest entertainer, and watched the shadows and sunshi+ne shi+ft in the woods, and listened to the talk of their hostess
And here here the trail of the serpent began to be ossip, and Odalie speedily learned the points of view from which the settlement about Fort Loudon ceased to present the aspect of the earlier Paradisaic era
Mrs Halsing had a hard, set visage, and was very shrewd,--none the worse gossip for that,--and went straight to the weak point, and unraveled the tangle of mystery in any subject that presented itself for discussion She was thin and angular and uncultivated, and had evidently coes in education and breeding Equally huhbors, with a sort of hoown,” a red petticoat, and a pair of moccasons in lieu of shoes
Her face was as broad as thehad worn dimples around her mouth instead of wrinkles in her forehead She, too, had a keen gleam of discernment in her eyes, but tempered with a perception of the sweetly ludicrous in life, which converted folly into the see by her leisurely s, but the wife of a pioneer could never have lived at ease in those days She sat opposite Mrs Halsing, by the cabin door, on a bench which the hostess had vacated in her favor, adopting instead an inverted tub, and although ad as truetheories which, paradoxically enough, while they did not contradict the main statement, had all the effect of denial
For her part, said Mrs Halsing, she did not see what anybody as safe in Virginia or Carolina, or anywhere else, would come to this country for She wouldn't, except that her husband was possessed! The sight of a road put hiet rid of civilization, and he was as uncivilized as a ”bar himself, or an Injun”
Odalie learned that a nu felloho came here because they hated law and order; then, without contradiction, Mrs Beedie's exposition tended to show that it was a new country with splendid prospects and they desired to take advantage of its opening opportunities; soht here cheaper ho the interpretation of her side of the shi+eld, Mrs Halsing detailed the fact that soe and adventure, because no ave 'em they wouldn't fold their hands and be thankful Were the Rush people poor and oppressed in Carolina? Mighty well off, they seeot 'eh where they caland People said Captain Stuart said he kneho they were--but the Lord only knehat Captain Stuart knew! Then Mrs Halsing further unfolded the fact that Mrs Rush's husband had been the son of a bishop, but had got aal, because he took to preaching
”Preachin' being in the blood, I reckon,” Mrs Beedie palliated
Thereupon he erated to America and was seized with a ue; and he lost his scalp and his life--not even a red Indian would tolerate the doctrine he set up as the Word! And Mrs Halsing pursed her lips with a truly orthodox fixity
And noe have no religion at the fort and the settlement
But here Mrs Beedie took up her testimony with unction and eave a sudden cry of derision like the abrupt squawk of a jay-bird Captain Stuart was not a humble man That back of his was never bent! She wondered if his heart had ever felt the need of aught
”Yes,” Mrs Beedie affirmed ”When one of the soldiers died of the pleurisy last winter in the fort and Captain Demere was ill himself, Captain Stuart read the service all solemn and proper, and had rave”
Mrs Halsing rose to the occasion by deht do in such a lot as there was at the fort Forgetting her scorn of the bishop's son, who had taken to Methodism and Indians, she set forth the fact that the whole settleiven to dances--that the settlers with their wives and daughters, not content with dances at hoo to the fort on state and special occasions, such as Christmas, and there participate in the ball, as they called it, given in the officers ht, and did not return till daylight, and the fiddle it sang the whole night through! And cards--the soldiers played cards, and the settlers too; and the officers, they played ”loo,” as they called it, as if that made it any better Even Captain Demere! This latter phrase occurred so frequently in Mrs Halsing's prelection that it created a sort of ain a trifle of respectability from the fact that Captain Demere countenanced it Odalie knew already that he was the commandant, and it was plain to be seen that Captain De's estimation And the officers all, she declared, the captains, the frisky lieutenants, and the ensigns, all drank tafia
”When they can git it,” interpolated Mrs Beedie, with twinkling eyes
”They are deprived, I will say, by the slowness and seldomness of the express froainst their will, and that I dofront toward Mrs Beedie Then resu her dissertation to Odalie:--
”But there's one thing that rests on s to, Captain Stuart or Captain De-reat hall Yeher voice,--”a love token?”
”Oh,” said Odalie, in a casual tone and with a slight shrug of the shoulders, not relishi+ng the intrusive turn of the disquisition, ”a souvenir, perhaps, from the colonies or over seas”
”La, now!” cried Mrs Halsing, baffled and disconcerted, ”you're as French as a frog!”
Recovering herself, she resumed quickly ”It's the deceitfulness of Captain Stuart that sets ed to know he can't abide the Injuns He keeps watch day and night agin 'e o' Captain Stuart! They _all_ prize hiot for themabout netism, but it seemed inadequate to express the officer's bonho continued:
”Ye never kno_ to take Captain Stuart,” she objected ”Before folks he'll behave to Captain Demere as ceremonious and polite as if they had just ether, in anotheraround as wild as a buck, and calling him 'Quawl--I say Quawl!'”