“You are worth more to me than any man I can hire, and I shall hire you, and pay you all you are worth. Whatever I have done for you I have received back, and more, too, in relief from the care and anxiety of looking up help at critical periods, and in having the best of help, and also in feeling that I had a man in whom I could place confidence, whom the children could love, and who would not teach them any bad habits. More especially do I think of how much father loved you, and only a few days before his death he said to me,—
“‘Jonathan, James’ time will be out next year; don’t lose sight of him when I am gone, and be kind to him for my sake.”
So far was Mr. Whitman from forgetting when James’ time was out, that early in the spring he had written to his brother William, telling him about James, and how much they were all attached to him; that under the instruction of his father he had become a good shot with a rifle, had learned a little of trapping, and to travel on snow-shoes. He then asked him to take him with him a winter trapping, as he was anxious to earn money to buy land.
He received a letter from his brother saying that he would willingly take James, more especially as a Seneca Indian, with whom he had trapped two winters, was dead. That he need bring no traps, except, perhaps, a few small ones, nor lead, nor powder, as these articles could be procured at Pittsburg, nor blankets, for they had enough; and to come on horseback, as he had plenty of hay and grain, for which there was no market, and that he would meet him at Pittsburg the last week in October or the first in November.
Mr. Whitman put the letter in his pocket, and said nothing about it at the time.
When the rye came off they shared twenty dollars each, after returning two bushels to Mr. Whitman.
It was now the twenty-seventh of September, the corn and grain were harvested, and the potatoes nearly dug. It was in the evening, cool enough to render a fire comfortable, and the boys were seated around the hearth, mute, and evidently expectant.
Mr. Whitman went into his bedroom, and returning with a letter in his hand, said,—
“James, you have honorably fulfilled the agreement made with me four years ago, and are now your own man, and to-morrow we will pass receipts. Of course you now want to earn all you can. I know that the desire to own a piece of land and call it your own is eating you up. Bertie says you talk about it in your sleep, and I want to put you in the way of getting it.”
He then told James of the letter he had received from his brother, and put it in his hand. When James had read the letter, he said,—