"Bress de Lawd! you gwine ter de big house. Not dat I 'grudges cookin' fer you w'eneber you come, but I des wants you ter took a 'tunerty ter advise dat po' chile 'bout she rights en de mar'age question."
After assuring himself that the overseer was out of earshot, Scoville said almost sternly, "Aunt Jinkey, you and Chunk must not say one word of my ever having been here before. It might make your young mistress a great deal of trouble, and I should be sorry indeed if I ever caused her any trouble whatever." Then as he made his way to the mansion he smilingly soliloquized, "I don't know of any other question concerning which I would rather give her advice, nor would it be wholly disinterested, I fear, if I had a chance. At this time to-morrow," he sighingly concluded, "I may be miles away or dead. Poor unsophisticated child! I never was touched so close before as now by her need of a friend who cares more for her than his own schemes."
Chunk following at a respectful distance became aware that the overseer was glowering at him. "Bettah 'lebe yo' min', Marse Perkins," he remarked condescendingly.
"You infernal, horse-stealing nigger!" was the low response.
"Hi! Marse Perkins, you kin growl, but you muzzled all de same."
"The muzzle may be off before many mo' sunsets, en then you'll find my teeth in your throat," said the man under his breath, and his look was so dark and vindictive that even in his elation Chunk became uneasy.
CHAPTER XV
MISS LOU EMANCIPATED
Nature had endowed Scoville with a quick, active mind, and circumstances had developed its power and capacity to a degree scarcely warranted by his age. Orphaned early in life, compelled to hold his own among comparative strangers since childhood, he had gained a worldly wisdom and self-reliance which he could not have acquired in a sheltered home. He had learned to look at facts and people squarely, to estimate values and character promptly, and then to decide upon his own action unhesitatingly. Although never regarded as the model good boy at the boarding-schools wherein he had spent most of his life, he had been a general favorite with both teachers and scholars. A certain frankness in mischief and buoyancy of spirit had carried him through all difficulties, while his apt mind and retentive memory always kept him near to the head of his classes. The quality of alertness was one of his characteristics. In schools and at the university he quickly mastered their small politics and prevailing tendencies, and he often amused his fellow-pupils with free-handed yet fairly truthful sketches of their instructors. As the country passed into deeper and stronger excitement over the prospect of secession and its consequences, he was among the first to catch the military spirit and to take an active part in the formation of a little company among the students. It was not his disposition to be excited merely because others were. Certain qualities of mind led him to look beneath the surface for the causes of national commotion. He read carefully the utterances of leaders, North and South, and to some extent traced back their views and animating spirit to historical sources.
In the year of '63 he found to his joy that he had attained such physical proportions as would secure his acceptance in a cavalry regiment forming in his vicinity. His uncle, who was also guardian, for reasons already known, made slight opposition, and he at once donned the blue with its bluff trimmings. In camp and field he quickly learned the routine of duty, and then his daring, active temperament led him gradually into the scouting service. Now, although so young, he was a veteran in experience, frank to friends, but secretive and ready to deceive the very elect among his enemies. Few could take more risks than he, yet he had not a particle of Mad Whately's recklessness. Courage, but rarely impulse, controlled his action. As we have seen, he could instantly stay his hand the second a deadly enemy, seeking his life in personal encounter, was disarmed.