Had he been the victim of a hoax, and were the verses not original? No; they were distinctly original, local in color, and even local in the use of certain old English words that were common in the Southwest. He had before noticed the apparent incongruity of the handwriting and the text, and it was possible that for the purposes of disguise the poet might have employed an amanuensis. But how could he reconcile the incongruity of the mercenary and slangy purport of the missive itself with the mental habit of its author? Was it possible that these inconsistent qualities existed in the one individual? He smiled grimly as he thought of his visitor Bowers and his friend Jack. He was startled as he remembered the purely imaginative picture he had himself given to the seriously interested Bowers of the possible incongruous personality of the poetess.
Was he quite fair in keeping this from Jack? Was it really honorable, in view of their wager? It is to be feared that a very human enjoyment of Jacks possible discomfiture quite as much as any chivalrous friendship impelled the editor to ring eventually for the office-boy.
See if Mr. Hamlin is in his rooms.
The editor then sat down, and wrote rapidly as follows:
DEAR MADAM,You are as right as you are generous in supposing that only ignorance of your address prevented the manager from previously remitting the honorarium for your beautiful verses. He now begs to send it to you in the manner you have indicated. As the verses have attracted deserved attention, I have been applied to for your address. Should you care to submit it to me to be used at my discretion, I shall feel honored by your confidence. But this is a matter left entirely to your own kindness and better judgment. Meantime, I take pleasure in accepting White Violets present contribution, and remain, dear madam, your obedient servant,
THE EDITOR.
The boy returned as he was folding the letter. Mr. Hamlin was not only NOT in his rooms, but, according to his negro servant Pete, had left town an hour ago for a few days in the country.
Did he say where? asked the editor, quickly.
No, sir: he didnt know.
Very well. Take this to the manager. He addressed the letter, and, scrawling a few hieroglyphics on a memorandum-tag, tore it off, and handed it with the letter to the boy.
An hour later he stood in the managers office. The next number is pretty well made up, he said, carelessly, and I think of taking a day or two off.
Certainly, said the manager. It will do you good. Where do you think youll go?
I havent quite made up my mind.
CHAPTER II
Hullo! said Jack Hamlin.
He had halted his mare at the edge of an abrupt chasm. It did not appear to be fifty feet across, yet its depth must have been nearly two hundred to where the hidden mountain-stream, of which it was the banks, alternately slipped, tumbled, and fell with murmuring and monotonous regularity. One or two pine-trees growing on the opposite edge, loosened at the roots, had tilted their straight shafts like spears over the abyss, and the top of one, resting on the upper branches of a sycamore a few yards from him, served as an aerial bridge for the passage of a boy of fourteen to whom Mr. Hamlins challenge was addressed.
The boy stopped midway in his perilous transit, and, looking down upon the horseman, responded, coolly, Hullo, yourself!
Is that the only way across this infernal hole, or the one you prefer for exercise? continued Hamlin, gravely.
The boy sat down on a bough, allowing his bare feet to dangle over the dizzy depths, and critically examined his questioner. Jack had on this occasion modified his usual correct conventional attire by a tasteful combination of a vaqueros costume, and, in loose white bullion-fringed trousers, red sash, jacket, and sombrero, looked infinitely more dashing and picturesque than his original. Nevertheless, the boy did not reply. Mr. Hamlins pride in his usual ascendency over women, children, horses, and all unreasoning animals was deeply nettled. He smiled, however, and said, quietly,
Come here, George Washington. I want to talk to you.
Without rejecting this august yet impossible title, the boy presently lifted his feet, and carelessly resumed his passage across the chasm until, reaching the sycamore, he began to let himself down squirrel-wise, leap by leap, with an occasional trapeze swinging from bough to bough, dropping at last easily to the ground. Here he appeared to be rather good-looking, albeit the sun and air had worked a miracle of brown tan and freckles on his exposed surfaces, until the mottling of his oval cheeks looked like a polished birds egg. Indeed, it struck Mr. Hamlin that he was as intensely a part of that sylvan seclusion as the hidden brook that murmured, the brown velvet shadows that lay like trappings on the white flanks of his horse, the quivering heat, and the stinging spice of bay. Mr. Hamlin had vague ideas of dryads and fauns, but at that moment would have bet something on the chances of their survival.
I did not hear what you said just now, general, he remarked, with great elegance of manner, but I know from your reputation that it could not be a lie. I therefore gather that there IS another way across.
The boy smiled; rather, his very short upper lip apparently vanished completely over his white teeth, and his very black eyes, which showed a great deal of the white around them, danced in their orbits.
But YOU couldnt find it, he said, slyly.
No more could you find the half-dollar I dropped just now, unless I helped you.
Mr. Hamlin, by way of illustration, leaned deeply over his left stirrup, and pointed to the ground. At the same moment a bright half-dollar absolutely appeared to glitter in the herbage at the point of his finger. It was a trick that had always brought great pleasure and profit to his young friends, and some loss and discomfiture of wager to his older ones.
The boy picked up the coin: Theres a dip and a level crossing about a mile over yer,he pointed,but its through the woods, and theyre that high with thick bresh.
With what?
Bresh, repeated the boy; THAT,pointing to a few fronds of bracken growing in the shadow of the sycamore.
Oh! underbrush?
Yes; I said bresh, returned the boy, doggedly. YOU might get through, ef you war spry, but not your hoss. Where do you want to go, anyway?
Do you know, George, said Mr. Hamlin, lazily throwing his right leg over the horn of his saddle for greater ease and deliberation in replying, its very odd, but thats just what ID like to know. Now, what would YOU, in your broad statesmanlike views of things generally, advise?
Quite convinced of the strangers mental unsoundness, the boy glanced again at his half-dollar, as if to make sure of its integrity, pocketed it doubtfully, and turned away.
Where are you going? said Hamlin, resuming his seat with the agility of a circus-rider, and spurring forward.
To Green Springs, where I live, two miles over the ridge on the far slope,indicating the direction.
Ah! said Jack, with thoughtful gravity. Well, kindly give my love to your sister, will you?
George Washington didnt have no sister, said the boy, cunningly.
Can I have been mistaken? said Hamlin, lifting his hand to his forehead with grieved accents. Then it seems YOU have. Kindly give her my love.
Which one? asked the boy, with a swift glance of mischief. Ive got four.
The one thats like you, returned Hamlin, with prompt exactitude. Now, wheres the bresh you spoke of?