The big man paused to fill and light his pipe. “And what next?” asked Harry King.
“Except for enough food and water to last us up the trail you came, I packed nothing back to the wagon, and so had room to bring a few of their things up here, and there may be some of your own among them––they said something about it. We hauled the wagon as far as a good place to hide it, in a wash, could be found, and we covered it––and our tracks. But there was nothing left in it but a few of their utensils, unless the box they did not open contained something. It was left in the wagon. That was the best I could do with only the help of the young woman, and she was too weak to do much. It may lie there untouched for ten years unless a rain scoops it out, and that’s not likely.
“I showed the young woman as we came along where her father lay, and as we came to a halt a bit farther on, she went back, while her mother slept, and knelt there praying for an hour. I doubt any good it did him, but it comforted her heart. It’s a good religion for a woman, where she does not have to think things out for herself, but takes a priest’s word for it all. And now they’re here, and you’re here, and my home is invaded, and my peace is gone, and may the Lord help me––I can’t.”
Harry King looked at him a moment in silence. “Nor can I––help––but to take myself off.”
“Take yourself off! And leave me alone with two women? I who have foresworn them forever! How do you know but that they may each be possessed by seven devils? But there! It isn’t so bad. As long as they stay you’ll stay. It was through you they are here, and 205 close on to winter,––and if it was summer, it would be as bad to send them away where they would have no place to stay and no way to live. Lad, the world’s hard on women. I’ve seen much.”
Harry King went again and stood in the open entrance of the shed and waited. The big man saw that he had succeeded in taking the other’s mind off himself, and had led him to think of others, and now he followed up the advantage toward confidence that he had thus gained. He also came to the entrance and laid his kindly hand on the younger man’s shoulder, and there in the pale light of that cloudy fall morning, standing in the cool, invigorating air, with the sound of falling water in their ears, the two men made a compact, and the end was this.
“Harry King, if you’ll be my son, I’ll be your father. My boy would be about your age––if he lives,––but if he does, he has been taught to look down on me––on the very thought of me.” He cast a wistful glance at the young man’s face as he spoke. “From the time I held him in my arms, a day-old baby, I’ve never seen him, and it may be he has never heard of me. He was in good hands and was given over for good reasons, to one who hated my name and my race––and me. For love of his mother I did this. It was all I could do for her; I would have gone down into the grave for her.
“I, too, have been a wanderer over the face of the earth. At first I lived in India––in China––anywhere to be as far on the other side of the earth from her grave and my boy, as I vowed I would, but I’ve kept the memory of her sweet in my heart. You need not fear I’ll ask again for your name. Until you choose to give it I will respect 206 your wish,––and for the rest––speak of it when you must––but not before. I have no more to ask. You’ve been well bred, as I said, and that’s enough for me. You’re more than of age––I can see that––but it’s my opinion you need a father. Will you take me?”
The young man drew in his breath sharply through quivering lips, and made answer with averted head: “Cain! Cain and the curse of Cain! Can I allow another to share it?”
“Another shares it and you have no choice.”