Thus by trade and harmless dicker, such as I have described, Mr. Hayward added to the earnings of the ferry and our little farm. Of the last the soil was rich beyond belief from the overflow of the river, but in dickering for the land, this drainage, Mr. Hayward pointed out to the seller, might lessen its value, because of the baleful effect on the health of those who worked it. Having, however, obtained possession of the farm at a fair price, it turned out different from what he had thought.
"The overflow," he was in the habit of saying afterward, "far from proving injurious, is really beneficial in this, that it purifies and sweetens the earth, which would otherwise become clogged with malarial germs. This in addition to greatly enriching the soil." Thus his fears, as it often happens in trade, proved groundless once the bargain was struck and resultant benefits clearly seen.
This farm Mr. Hayward and I looked after unaided, save in the middle summer, when possibly some patch of grain was to be gathered and threshed. Mostly we cultivated corn, as being a sure crop, and afterward affording fodder for the cattle and much choice material for mattresses, as I have explained. As our work took us some distance from the landing, where we could not hear the bell on the farther side of the river, Mrs. Hayward contrived a way out of the difficulty, and very cunningly, we thought. To do this, she caused a flagstaff to be erected near the house, and here, when there was a call for the ferry, she gave us notice by hoisting a signal. If a foot passenger, meaning me, the flag was white; if a team or horseman, and requiring the big boat and Mr. Hayward's presence, red was used. Supplementary to these, she raised a black flag to tell us it was time for dinner or supper. Black, she would say, was most appropriate for this, because of our great appetites, and indeed we were never lacking in this respect. Going to and from the ferry when working in the field we considered a rest, so that we came in time to look forward with considerable strife to see which flag, the red or the white, was raised by the sweet lady, our mistress, at the house.
CHAPTER XLVIII
THE CARRIERS
At night, when supper was over and Mr. Hayward had some leisure to look about, he was in the habit of saying that the man who built his house, whoever he might be, would not have ruined himself had he made the ceiling a log or two higher.
"Nor can I see, for the life of me," he would add, as he surveyed our narrow quarters, "why he cut the logs so short, when the forest is full of fine timber he could have had for the taking."
Off the main room, and there was but one, we built a kitchen, and beside it a sleeping-room. This was thought by some of the neighbors to indicate growing pride and a striving after luxury, though the addition sloped to the ground so fast that the side next the eaves did not afford room for one to stand upright. This inconvenience, however, we did not much regard, a little stooping now and then not doing any one harm. The attic over the main room was mine, to do with as I pleased, save some small space set apart for seed-corn and things of that kind in winter. It was reached, and deftly enough, by a ladder of stout poles, which answered the purpose perfectly, and had the great merit, moreover, of taking up little or no room. My bed occupied one corner, and lying outstretched my nose would have scraped the shingles had it been an inch or two longer. These shingles were neither black walnut nor cottonwood, as you may think, but oak clapboards split and shaved in the old way, before shingles were known in the new country. If they did not always keep out the water, it did not enter in any great quantity, and by using a little calculation one might avoid it entirely.
The room was greatly to my fancy, and I have never seen one I liked so well. If in summer it was sometimes hot, because of proximity to the roof, air might always be obtained from the window at the end; and as for light and ventilation, this and the crevices in the roof afforded all that any reasonable person could desire. What was best about it, though, was its nearness to the wind and rain. For lying upon my bed, the patter and swash of the water sounded directly in my face, and when the wind pushed and crowded about the house it was not at some far-off place, but in my very ears. Such volume and artfulness of sound, too, words cannot describe, each log and crevice of varying size answering back some note of its own to pouring rain or driving wind. Nowhere else, indeed, have I heard, or ever will, such symphonies; for these things belong to our youth, and come not in like freshness to the mind or wearied body of more mature years.
It was the river, however, that attracted me most, for there was no end to its beauty and variety. In rain and sunshine, it made no difference, it kept its way, changing with every cloud and breath of air, always offering some new and better view. Of the ferry, Mr. Hayward, discarding all the devices of our competitors, adopted in their place a method better than them all; and in this I will not except the McDuffs, who made so much of their new-fangled power and patent steering-gear. Nothing could be more picturesque, either, than our device. For going up the river a little way, Mr. Hayward attached a stout wire to a great tree that grew on an island there, and uncoiling the wire, brought it down, and connected it to a rope fastened to each end of the great boat. Drawing this rope taut at the prow, the latter pointed up the stream, and so, loosening the craft from the shore, the current carried it swiftly to the other side. Of all Mr. Hayward's methods for saving labor and cutting down expenses not one exceeded this, I thought. To prevent the wire dragging in the water, it was upheld by buoys, and these always facing about in the direction the great boat was going, added to the beauty and animation of the scene. These devices were the subject of much ridicule at first, and more especially on the part of the McDuffs, but on trial, the community coming to regard them with favor, the subject was not referred to again.