Christmas Eve on Lonesome | Page 5

may not know
it, but three times since thet long-legged jay-hawker's been gone you
hev plainly--and if my ears do not deceive me, an' they never hev--you
have plainly called me 'Captain Wells.' I knowed yo' little trick whilst
he was hyeh, fer I knowed whut the feller had come to tell ye; but since
he's been gone, three times, Misto Richmond--"
"Yes," drawled Bill, with an unction that was strangely sweet to
Mayhall's wondering ears, "an' I do it ag'in, Captain Wells."

"An' may I axe you," said Mayhall, ruffling a little, "may I axe
you--why you--"
"Certainly," said Bill, and he handed over the paper that he held in his
hand.
Mayhall took the paper and looked it up and down helplessly--Flitter
Bill slyly watching him.
Mayhall handed it back. "If you please, Misto Richmond--I left my
specs at home." Without a smile, Bill began. It was an order from the
commandant at Cumberland Gap, sixty miles farther down Powell's
Valley, authorizing Mayhall Wells to form a company to guard the Gap
and to protect the property of Confederate citizens in the valley; and a
commission of captaincy in the said company for the said Mayhall
Wells. Mayhall's mouth widened to the full stretch of his lean jaws, and,
when Bill was through reading, he silently reached for the paper and
looked it up and down and over and over, muttering:
"Well--well--well!" And then he pointed silently to the name that was
at the bottom of the paper.
Bill spelled out the name:
"Jefferson Davis" and Mayhall's big fingers trembled as he pulled them
away, as though to avoid further desecration of that sacred name.
Then he rose, and a magical transformation began that can be likened--I
speak with reverence--to the turning of water into wine. Captain
Mayhall Wells raised his head, set his chin well in, and kept it there. He
straightened his shoulders, and kept them straight. He paced the floor
with a tread that was martial, and once he stopped before the door with
his right hand thrust under his breast-pocket, and with wrinkling brow
studied the hills. It was a new man--with the water in his blood changed
to wine--who turned suddenly on Flitter Bill Richmond:
"I can collect a vehy large force in a vehy few days." Flitter Bill knew
that--that he could get together every loafer between the county-seat of

Wise and the county-seat of Lee--but he only said encouragingly:
"Good!"
"An' we air to pertect the property--I am to pertect the property of the
Confederate citizens of the valley--that means you, Misto Richmond,
and this store."
Bill nodded.
Mayhall coughed slightly. "There is one thing in the way, I opine.
Whar--I axe you--air we to git somethin' to eat fer my command?" Bill
had anticipated this.
"I'll take keer o' that."
Captain Wells rubbed his hands.
"Of co'se, of co'se--you are a soldier and a patriot--you can afford to
feed 'em as a slight return fer the pertection I shall give you and yourn."
"Certainly," agreed Bill dryly, and with a prophetic stir of uneasiness.
"Vehy--vehy well. I shall begin now, Misto Richmond." And, to Flitter
Bill's wonder, the captain stalked out to the stoop, announced his
purpose with the voice of an auctioneer, and called for volunteers then
and there. There was dead silence for a moment. Then there was a
smile here, a chuckle there, an incredulous laugh, and Hence Sturgill,
"bully of the Pocket," rose from the wagon-tongue, closed his knife,
came slowly forward, and cackled his scorn straight up into the teeth of
Captain Mayhall Wells. The captain looked down and began to shed his
coat.
"I take it, Hence Sturgill, that you air laughin' at me?"
"I am a-laughin' at you, Mayhall Wells," he said, contemptuously, but
he was surprised at the look on the good-natured giant's face.
"Captain Mayhall Wells, ef you please."

"Plain ole Mayhall Wells," said Hence, and Captain Wells descended
with no little majesty and "biffed" him.
The delighted crowd rose to its feet and gathered around. Tallow Dick
came running from the barn. It was biff--biff, and biff again, but not nip
and tuck for long. Captain Mayhall closed in. Hence Sturgill struck the
earth like a Homeric pine, and the captain's mighty arm played above
him and fell, resounding. In three minutes Hence, to the amazement of
the crowd, roared:
"'Nough!"
But Mayhall breathed hard and said quietly:
"Captain Wells!":
Hence shouted, "Plain ole--" But the captain's huge fist was poised in
the air over his face.
"Captain Wells," he growled, and the captain rose and calmly put on
his coat, while the crowd looked respectful, and Hence Sturgill
staggered to one side, as though beaten in spirit, strength, and wits as
well. The captain beckoned Flitter Bill inside the store. His manner