“I know it, foolish! And I ain’t goin’ to tell him till I git ready. It might be five minutes, or mebbe five years, he’ll have to wait; and till he knows you won’t know either. And that’s all of that!”
Uncle Eb chuckled. Douglas spread his hands in resignation. Steve glowered, then half grinned.
“Might a-knowed it,” he muttered. “Sassy as a red squir’l, ain’t ye? Ye won’t never git no better.”
And with that the question was dropped. Ensued a scramble, ending in the confinement in burlap sacks of four spitting, spatting felines; a donning of hats and coats, a closing up of stove-draughts, and a wobbly progress by Steve to Uncle Eb’s waiting wagon. There he was enwrapped in a huge quilt. Uncle Eb clambered in and encased his legs in the horse-blanket. The horse started at once. And up the road slowly traveled the old man and his new foster-son, with dead Nigger Nat’s muzzle-loader leaning stark and grim between them.
Behind them, swinging easily along the frozen road, walked the man and the maid, their faces reddening under the sharp kiss of the wintry air. Once, and once only, they paused to glance back at the abandoned house. Then they trudged on, silent.
At length the wagon stopped. The Clove road had ended, and the horse now stood in the true Traps road, heading westward. Up that way waited Uncle Eb’s home. Eastward opened the Gap, and beyond lay the great Outside. This was the parting of the ways.
And here Steve spoke out, man to man.
“Hamp, I’m a-trustin’ ye. But a feller never knows. If ever Marry should come a-crawlin’ back into here, sorry an’ shamed, then look out! I’ll be a-comin’ after ye wuss’n I ever went after Snake, an’ I’ll come a-shootin’. Tha’s all. Good luck to the both o’ ye.”
“You won’t be coming after me, lad,” Douglas answered steadily. “We’ll both be coming back to see you in the spring, whether Marion’s name then is Dyke or Hampton. And I’m leaving with you, as a pledge and a present—this.”
Into the space between the two riders he swung his shotgun. Then he gripped Steve’s hand and stepped back. The youth stared at his new gun as if the heavens had opened before him. Even when Marion climbed up and kissed him farewell he seemed dazed by the wonder of actually possessing such a weapon. Uncle Eb grinned dryly and gave Douglas an approving nod.