Ralph Grangers Fortunes | Page 5

actin' the gentleman with me. Where be you goin'?"
"Somewhere's down below; I don't know exactly where."
"Got any money?"
"A little. I'm going to hunt work; then I'll soon make more. I sha'n't stay in the mountains."
Jase drew forth a greasy leather wallet and extracted a five dollar bill, which he eyed reflectively as if forcing himself to make up his mind, then suddenly handed it to Ralph, who thanked him but shook his head.
"Dang it! Let me loan it to you then. Didn't you as good as save my life? Look, Clell wants you to take it, don't you, Clell?"
The little fellow laughed, seized the bill from his father's hand, and tossed it towards Ralph, saying:
"Take it; take it. I like 'oo, Walph."
Ralph felt another rising in his throat as he stooped to pick up the note; but he could not bring himself to the point of accepting so great a favor from one of the Vaughns.
"I--I really don't need it," said he. "Hold on! Jase! Do hold up a minute."
"Can't, old feller," called back Jase, who had suddenly spurred his mule into a trot when he saw the note in Ralph's hand. "Pay me when you get back, if you'd rather."
"But I say! I can't keep this money----"
"Good by," came floating back on the breeze. "I don't know nothin' 'bout no money. Take good care of yourself."
Then Jase, boy, and mule, whipped round a crook of the road and were seen no more.
Ralph's first impulse was to throw the bill away. But sober second thoughts prevailed, and somewhat reluctantly he placed it with the rest of his slender stock of cash.
"Jase means well," thought he, resuming his tramp. "I don't know that either of us are to blame 'cause our families have been at outs for so long. When I get to making something I'll send it back."
All that day Ralph trudged manfully on. At times grief would be uppermost in his heart when he thought of the way in which his grandfather had treated him.
Once, as he passed a cabin where a boy of about his own age stood washing his hands on the porch, and he caught a glimpse of a cheerful interior, with dinner smoking on the table, he felt very homesick. He wished he was back, preparing his grandpa's noonday meal.
As he did not feel hungry he did not stop anywhere until about sunset, when he walked up to a double penned house that looked roomy and hospitable. Several dogs ran out barking.
"Here, you Boss! Git out'n thar, Louder! Pick up a stick and frail the nation outn 'em, boy."
A tall, shock headed, awkward man had come onto the porch and was making these remarks with great vigor but entire good nature. The dogs subsided, and Ralph ran lightly up the steps.
"Come in. Take a chair by the fire. What mought your name be these hard times?"
"I'm Ralph Granger, from over about Hiawassee Gap."
"Son of old Bras?"
Ralph assented, when the shock headed man called to his wife, who was sifting meal for the supper:
"Tildy this must be one of your kin folks." Then, turning to Ralph, "My wife was a Granger; one of the Gregory branch. Well, tell us all about yourself. Don't mind the children, they always are in the way, anyhow."
Ralph, finding that he was among friends, related briefly the events of the day and wound up by again expressing his detestation of the feud. Mr. Dopples, for that was the shock headed man's name, nodded approval.
"We mountain folks live too much outn the world," said he. "What you goin' to do?"
"Anything honest, to make a living. I'm not going to stay in these parts though."
"If you've any notion of goin' down about Columbia, I can direct you to a friend of mine as lives there. Comes up here every summer to fish and hunt. Got lots of coin, and is always wantin' me to go down there and take a regular town spree with him. Oh he's a sight!"
"What is his name? I don't suppose he would care anything about me. He never heard of me, anyhow."
"Name is Captain Shard; he keeps a big livery stable. You just tell him you're a friend of mine, and I'll bet my steers agin a coon skin you're at home straight."
Soon after supper Ralph was shown to his bed in a shed room at the rear of the house. In the mountains the people go to bed and rise early from habit.
Before eight o'clock a sound of heavy breathing could be heard from every room. Under the floor the very dogs were steeped in dreams of coon and 'possum hunting.
Suddenly Ralph awoke, feeling a pressure on his chest. The room was not so dark but that he could detect a shadowy figure at the bedside.
A prickly