Castle Nowhere | Page 9

gone away?'
'Yes; she was my sister, and--and she went away last year,' said the old
man. 'Have a pipe?'
'I should think you would find it hard work to live here.'

'I do; but a poor man cannot choose. I hunt, fish, and get out a few furs
sometimes; I traffic with the Beaver people now and then. I bought all
this furniture in that way; you would not think it, but they have a great
many nice things down at Beaver.'
'It looks like steamboat furniture.'
'That is it; it is. A steamer went to pieces down there, and they saved
almost all her furniture and stores; they are very good sailors, the
Beavers.'
'Wreckers, perhaps?'
'Well I would not like to say that; you know we do have terrible storms
on these waters. And then there is the fog; this part of Lake Michigan is
foggy half the time, why, I never could guess: but twelve hours out the
twenty-four the gray mist lies on the water here and outside, shifting
slowly backwards and forwards from Little Traverse to Death's Door,
and up into this curve, like a waving curtain. Those silks, now, came
from the steamer; trunks, you know. But I have never told Silver; she
might ask where were the people to whom they belonged. You do not
like the idea? Neither do I. But how could we help the drowning when
we were not there, and these things were going for a song down at
Beaver. The child loves pretty things; what could a poor man do? Have
a glass of punch; I'll get it ready in no time.' He bustled about, and then
came back with the full glasses. 'You won't tell her? I may have done
wrong in the matter, but it would kill me to have the child lose faith in
me,' he said, humbly.
'Are you going to keep the girl shut up here forever?' said Waring, half
touched, half disgusted; the old fellow had looked abject as he pleaded.
'That is it; no,' said Fog, eagerly. 'She has been but a child all this time,
you see, and my sister taught her well. We did the best we could. But as
soon as I have a little more, just a little more, I intend to move to one of
the towns down the lake, and have a small house and everything
comfortable. I have planned it all out, I shall have--'
He rambled on, garrulously detailing all his fancies and projects while
the younger man sipped his punch (which was very good), listened
until he was tired, fell into a doze, woke and listened awhile longer, and
then, wearied out, proposed bed.
'Certainly. But, as I was saying--'
'I can hear the rest to-morrow,' said Waring, rising with scant courtesy.

'I am sorry you go so soon; couldn't you stay a few days?' said the old
man, lighting a brand. 'I am going over to-morrow to the shore where I
met you. I have some traps there; you might enjoy a little hunting.'
'I have had too much of that already. I must get my dogs, and then I
should like to hit a steamer or vessel going below.'
'Nothing easier; we'll go over after the dogs early in the morning, and
then I'll take you right down to the islands if the wind is fair. Would
you like to look around the castle,--I am going to draw up the ladders.
No? This way, then; here is your room.'
It was a little side-chamber with one window high up over the water;
there was an iron bolt on the door, and the walls of bare logs were solid.
Waring stood his gun in one corner, and laid his pistols by the side of
the bed,--for there was a bed, only a rude framework like a low-down
shelf, but covered with mattress and sheets none the less,--and his
weary body longed for those luxuries with a longing that only the
wilderness can give,--the wilderness with its beds of boughs, and no
undressing. The bolt and the logs shut him in safely; he was young and
strong, and there were his pistols. 'Unless they burn down their old
castle,' he said to himself, 'they cannot harm me.' And then he fell to
thinking of the lovely childlike girl, and his heart grew soft. 'Poor old
man,' he said, 'how he must have worked and stolen and starved to keep
her safe and warm in this far-away nest of his hidden in the fogs! I
won't betray the old fellow, and I'll go to-morrow. Do you hear that,
Jarvis Waring? I'll go to-morrow!'
And then the Spirit, who had been listening as usual, folded himself up
silently and flew away.
To go to sleep