CHAPTER V.
Birt had always been held in high esteem by the men at the tanyard. Suddenly, however, the feeling toward him cooled. He remembered afterward, although at the time he was too absorbed to fully appreciate it, that this change began one day shortly after he had learned of Nate’s departure. As he went mechanically about his work, he was pondering futilely upon his friend’s mysterious journey, and his tantalizing hopes lying untried in the depths of the ravine. He hardly noticed the conversation of the men until something was said that touched upon the wish nearest his heart.
“I war studyin’ ’bout lettin’ Birt hev a day off,” said the tanner. “An’ ye’ll bide hyar.”
“Naw, Jube - naw!” Andy Byers replied with stalwart independence to his employer. “I hev laid off ter attend. Ef ye want ennybody ter bide with the tanyard, an’ keer fur this hyar pit, ye kin do it yerse’f, or else Birt kin.
I
hev laid off ter attend.”
Andy Byers was a man of moods. His shaggy eyebrows to-day overshadowed eyes sombre and austere. He seemed, if possible, a little slower than was his wont. He bore himself with a sour solemnity, and he was at once irritable and dejected.
“Shucks, Andy! ye knows ye ain’t no kin sca’cely ter the old woman; ye couldn’t count out how ye air kin ter her ter save yer life. Now,
I
’m obleeged ter attend.”