“Thankee, stranger,” said Tom. “I’ve no ’casion. I’ve been drovin cattle roun in the Territory; and I knows that ar yell of theirn. So I thought I’d jist cum and see what they was cuttin up. I’m down on all sich fixens. Allers tole the boys so. Tom Thorpe’s fur a far fight, says I.”
Mr. Bradford tried to convince him that the inhabitants of Kansas wished to be peaceable, just, and kind in their dealings with the Missourians, and with all men; and that there was no need of a “fair fight,” and no excuse for ruffian violence. And Kate threw in an argument now and then, to aid her husband. But Tom Thorpe had the idea firmly fixed inside his shaggy head, that a “far fight” was somehow necessary for the honor of Missouri, though he was unable to explain why. The mighty drover rolled the quid in his mouth, passed a huge hand through his thick mass of hair, and strode out into the darkness, repeating, “Tom Thorpe’s down on all sich fixens.” As he walked along, he muttered to himself, “That ar’s an almighty smart woman. What a fetchin up she must a had! No such fetchin up in our diggins. I’m pro-slave, myself. But them ar free-soilers use a feller all up. I swar, I bleeve they’re more’n half right. I’ll be darned if I don’t.”
Meanwhile, the inmates of the cabin were canvassing his merits. As he passed out of the door, Katie said, “There goes an honest kind heart, under that rough exterior!”
“A little foggy about right and wrong,” replied her husband; “but with instincts like a powerful and generous animal.”
“That’s owing to his ‘fetchin up,’ as they say, rejoined Kate. “What a man he might have made, if he had been brought up under free institutions!”
“Bless your generous soul!” ejaculated John. “But tell me now truly, Katie, don’t you begin to be sorry we ever came to Kansas?”
She raised her eyes to his, and said calmly, “No, John; never. The more I know of those Missouri ruffians, the more deeply do I feel that it is worth the sacrifice of many lives to save this fair territory from the blighting curse of slavery.”
“True as steel! True as steel!” exclaimed John, giving her a hearty kiss. “How manfully you stood by me!”
“How womanfully, you mean,” she replied, smiling.
“I assure you, Kate, it required more courage to refrain from seizing my rifle, than it would have done to discharge its contents among those rascals. Though we stand pledged to avoid bloodshed, I verily believe I should have broken my pledge, if your voice had not pleaded all the time, ‘Don’t, John! Don’t!’”