A Dream of Empire | Page 4

flora of his vicinity
so far overcame offended formality, that he also got down on his knees
and directed his imperfect vision to the pungent specimen. The two
men, each an oddity, presented a ludicrous picture as they knelt on the
grass, their heads almost in contact, and their long noses only a few
inches above the object of their scrutiny.
"Yes, Virginia snakeroot, and I couldn't expect it to sprout up in this
open place. This is a different thing from the Seneca rattlesnake-root;
there's more cure in an ounce of this than in a pound of that. I'll wager
five shillings to a sixpence that I can name you nine out of ten of the
medicines and dyestuffs growing on this island."
"If that is the case," said the Irish recluse, scrambling to his feet, "I
shall be glad to avail myself of your knowledge. There are many vines,
shrubs, and trees flourishing here, the names and qualities of which I
greatly desire to learn and many herbs which perhaps--"
"I'm your man, neighbor; I'm your man. There are three things which I
calculate I do know by experience: the first is fish, the second is game,
and the third is yarbs."
"What is the third?"
"Yarbs. Anything that grows wild. I'm acquainted with pretty much
every critter that has seed, flower, leaf, bark or root. I fish a good bit,
and I doctor a good bit."
"You doctor, fish and hunt," repeated Blennerhassett, his attention now
completely captured; "I myself prescribe simple remedies and I am
fond of the sports you mention, though a defect of vision interferes
with my shooting."
"If you like," proposed Byle, "we will prowl around this very afternoon
and study physic together. I call the wild woods God's apothecary
shop."
Blennerhassett was convoyed to the depths of the island forest, where

the strangely assorted pair conversed intimately on the virtues of
pleurisy-root, Indian physic and columbo. Byle discoursed on the high
price of ginseng, and the new method of preparing that specific for the
Chinese market; recommended the prompt use of succory to cure a
snake bite, and the liberal application of green stramonium leaves to
heal sores on the back of a horse. He advised Blennerhassett to acquire
an appetite for custard apples, which, he said, regulated the bowels.
On returning from the excursion, Blennerhassett hurried into his library,
lugging a basket filled with botanical specimens; and Byle prepared to
leave the premises. Before starting, he beckoned the gardener, who
sulkily responded to the sign. The pertinacious visitor was proof
against repulse. No social coolness could chill his confiding ardor. He
took Peter's arm, and with a backward jerk of the head declared
interrogatively:
"The Mogul is sort of queer, isn't he? A screw loose somewhere, eh?"
"Well," responded Peter cautiously, "yes and no; he is queer and he
isn't queer. He has plenty of book learning and plenty of money, and a
fool can't get much of either. Folks say he has every kind of sense but
common sense."
"At first he didn't want to be sociable. I asked him a civil question
about a public matter, and he shut up like a clam. Now can you tell me,
as man to man, why the deuce that hunk of beef is put to soak in that
puddle, up at the head of the island?"
Peter chuckled in the contemptuous manner of a practical man, without
sympathy for speculative genius.
"That's one of his chemical experiments. The man is always up to
something of the kind. The carcass of a dead 'og was dug up on the
place, and his Honor noticed that it had turned into something like
tallow, and he takes the notion that the water here has power to change
flesh into solid fat--hadipocere, he calls it--which he thinks may be
used to make candles."

Byle listened to the solution of the lean-meat mystery with waning
attention, for before the explanation was concluded his roving eye
caught glimpses of an apparition more interesting than the gardener's
dry sarcasm. He discerned, through openings in the boscage fringing
the river bank on the Ohio shore, an object like a scarlet flag flying
rapidly along.
"Greased lightning! What strange bird is that coming down the river
road? A woman on horseback, sure as Easter flowers! Two of 'em, one
in red and one in black. Don't they make them animals cut dirt? I
wouldn't miss this sight for a hogshead of tree-honey. Why, it beats a
Pittsburg horse-race on the Fourth of July!"
"Oh, it's mamma! It's mamma and Miss Evaleen coming back from
Marietta," shouted Dominick.
A gang of colored men, led by Honest Moses, poled an unwieldy scow
to the Ohio shore, took the dashing equestriennes on board and ferried
back