There they went!Laddie and the Princess too.I'll never spend another cent on paper dolls,candy,raisins,or oranges.I'll give all I have to help Leon buy his horse;then I'm going to begin saving for mine.
The line closed up,a solid wall of men with sticks,clubs and guns;the dogs ranged outside,and those on horseback stopped where they could see best;and inside,raced back and forth,and round and round,living creatures.I couldn't count they moved so,but even at that distance I could see that some were poor little cotton tails.The scared things!A whack over the head,a backward toss,and the dogs were mouthing them.The long tailed,sleek,gracefully moving ones,they were foxes,the foxes driven from their holes,and nothing on earth could save their skins for them now;those men meant to have them.
I pulled the doors shut suddenly.I was so sick I could scarcely stand.I had to work,but at last I pushed the west doors open again.I don't think the Lord helped me any that time,for I knew what it took--before,they just went.Or maybe He did help me quite as much,but I had harder work to do my share,because I felt so dizzy and ill.Anyway,they opened.Then I climbed the upright ladder to the top beam,walked it to the granary,and there I danced,pounded and yelled so that the foxes jumped from the hay,leaped lightly to the threshing floor,and stood looking and listening.I gave them time to hear where the dreadful racket was,and then I jumped to the hay and threw the pitchfork at them.It came down smash!and both of them sprang from the door.When I got down the ladder and where I could see,they were so rested they were hiking across the cornfield like they never had raced a step before;and as the clamour went up behind me,that probably meant the first fox had lost its beautiful red and white skin,they reached our woods in safety.The doors went shut easier,and I started to the house crying like any blubbering baby;but when mother turned from the east window,and I noticed her face,I forgot the foxes.
"You saw Leon!"I cried.
"That I did!"she exulted,rocking on her toes the same as she does at the Meeting House when she is going to cry,"Glory!"any minute."That I did!Ah!the brave little chap!Ah!the fine fellow!"Her cheeks were the loveliest pink,and her eyes blazed.I scarcely knew her.
"What will father say?"
"If his father isn't every particle as proud of him as I am this day,I've a big disappointment coming,"she answered."If Mr.
Pryor chose to let him take that fine horse,and taught him how to ride it,father should be glad.""If he'd gone into the creek,you wouldn't feel so fine.""Ah!but he didn't!He didn't!He stuck to the saddle and sailed over in one grand,long sweep!It was fine!I hope--to my soul,I hope his father saw it!""He did!"I said."He did!He was about halfway down the lane.
He was where he could see fine."
"You didn't notice----?"
"I was watching if Leon went under.What if he had,mother?""They'd have taken him out,and brought him to me,and I'd have worked with all the strength and skill God has given me,and if it were possible to us,he would be saved,and if it were not,it would be a proud moment for a woman to offer a boy like that to the God who gave him.One would have nothing to be ashamed of!""Could you do it,like you are now,and not cry,mother?"I asked wonderingly.
"Patience no!"said she."Before long you will find out,child,that the fountain head of tears and laughter lies in the same spot,deep in a woman's heart.Men were made for big things!
They must brave the wild animals,the Indians,fight the battles,ride the races,till the fields,build the homes.In the ****** of a new country men must have the thing in their souls that carried Leon across the creek.If he had checked that horse and gone to the ford,I would have fallen where I stood!""Father crossed the ford!"
"True!But that's different.He never had a chance at a horse like that!He never had time for fancy practice,and his nose would have been between the pages of a book if he had.But remember this!Your father's hand has never faltered,and his aim has never failed.All of us are here,safe and comfortable,through him.It was your father who led us across the wilderness,and fended from us the wildcat,wolf,and Indian.He built this house,cleared this land,and gave to all of us the thing we love.Get this in your head straight.Your father rode a plow horse;he never tried flourishes in riding;but no man can stick in the saddle longer,ride harder,and face any danger with calmer front.If you think this is anything,you should have seen his face the day he stood between me and a band of Indians,we had every reason to think,I had angered to the fighting point.""Tell me!Please tell me!"I begged.
