University of Virginia Library

3. CHAPTER III.
THE RAFTMAN'S SONG.

The moon rose upon this scene of woodland
revelry, which we have briefly described
at the close of the foregoing chapter, and
gradually the fire-light gave place to its mild
beams. The supper was ended and the men
sat about the lower fire, reclining upon their
bear-skins, listening to the songs which their
companions sang, and there were among
them fine voices and good singers, worth the
listening to.

`Come,boys, let us have our raftman's song,
and then turn in for the night,' said one of
the men who sat nighest the fire, at which he
had a few moments before lighted an Indian
pipe.

`Aye, aye: let us have that song, Whitlock,'
added several voices, taking up the
call upon their comrade. The person addressed
was the same young man who had so
warmly received Griffitt, and who had said
he preferred words to letters, any day. He
was shorter than Griffitt by half the head;
well built, and inclined to be fleshy, but
sinewy and active. His face was round and
cheerful and lighted up good humoredly by a
clear sparkling blue eye. Resolution and
kindness were equally blended in its expres
sion. His dress was a shaggy blanket coat,
a fox-skin cap, deer-skin leggins drawn over
thick moccasins. At his belt, which was of
broad leather, he wore a knife, in a sheath,
and a pouch. In his hand he held a short
rifle, or yager, a piece of deer's hide covering
the lock and pan.

`Why, boys, I am not in voice, to-night,'
answered Whitlock. `I lost it whistling up
hill at a mark.'

`Here's a prescription o' `nongahela 'll
cure it, Ned,' said the man with the pipe, as
he handed him his flask.

`No, no: don't tempt me,' answered the
young man, laughing. `You know I've
made a vow.'

`The next thing you'll make a vow not to
sing,' said one of the men in a tone of reproach.
`It would take a confounded handsome
woman to make me give up liquor.'

`Well, if it is handsome you want, then
Kate Boyd is handsome enough to have made
Adam eat the apple,' said the woodsman,
taking the pipe from his mouth, and knocking
the ashes carefully into the fire. `If
such a fine girl should tell me I must quit
her or quit tobacco, I'd be in a complex

sure; but in the end if she stuck to it cruel,
I'd give 'backer the go by!'

`And so your Kate has made you swear
not to shoot the sun, has she boy?' said a
tall, two-fisted raftsman, who stood leaning
upon an oar in the full fire light, which showed
to advantage his gigantic form and athletic
power of frame.

`She has so, Kirk,' answered Whitlock,
pleasantly, `and I would do this and more
for her, or I would not deserve her!'

`Well, I never saw a woman yet that
would make me turn out o' my path to please
em,' responded the giant gruffly. `She don't
want you to drink because she is jealous.
Women don't want the fools that love 'em to
love any thing else. They are selfish little
animals. I've seed one as would not let a
man keep a dog for fear he'd like it, give me
the woods and freedom, say I!'

`The man who can't love and honor and
try to please a beautiful girl who trusts in
him, and mocks their true love and calls it
selfishness, is not worthy to associate even
with men, and the woods is the fit place for
him,' responded Whitlock, with some emotion,
while his face was flushed.

`Peace, friends, peace,' said Griffitt.—
`You and Kirk, Ned, can never think alike,
so there is no use in grumbling. Come, let
us have the song you was called on to sing.'

`Aye, aye, the song, Ned, the song,' repeated
a dozen voices as if by their union
and noise they would drown the growling of
Kirk, who seemed not much pleased with
the spirited reply of the young man, and stood
frowning and mouthing like a chained bear,
looking as if he would, if he dared, spring
upon him and by blows answer the brave and
gallant speech he had not wit nor grace to
reply to in words.

`Well, my lads, I will sing, but it shall be
the last one to-night. I have not even had
time to say five words to Griffitt.'

`Well, sing us the Raftsman, and you
shall then talk with him about your pretty
Kate as much as you choose,' said two or
three of the younger men, as they drew themselves
along their bear-skins nearer to him,
so that no words of the song should escape
them and that they might the more readily
chime in with his chorus.

`Silence, men. Keep quiet, Kirk: we
don't want your bass,' were the various admonitions
dropped from those around; and
with the moon shining down upon them, the
expiring fires flitting across their figures and
lighting up their rough visages, the river
flashing past, bearing shoreward the hoarse
sounds of the rubbing ice, and the tall trees
standing about like silent sentries, the young
boatman thus began his song. In the chorus
all the voices joined till old Keplin answered
back.

Loud and long did these rough raftsmen
repeat the last chorus till their camp echoed
again. Whitlock had sung with great spirit,
and when the chorus ceased he was warmly
applauded.

That is the song for we woodsmen, boys,'
said the man with the pipe; and I hope that
we shall soon be floating down stream, as it
says, to change our masts for gold!'

`You an't alone, Ben,' answered another.
It was the happiest morning I ever saw when
I woke up three days ago, and saw the ice
breaking! I want to see a meetin-house
again, and a barber's shop, just to feel there
is such things in the world.

`You need preachin' to Paul, as much as
you do shavin', for you ha'nt got your beat
in the camp for swearin',' said Ben. I believe
you could stand here and swear at that
oak there till you would split it right through
the heart! It takes you to swear some.'

`I don't swear only when I'm up, boys,
and then it's agin natur to speak like a parson.'

`If I was your sweetheart,' said Whitlock,
`I would make you take an oath, Ben, not
to swear!'

`Make me swear not to swear!' replied
Ben, with a stare of surprise. `But she aint
one of your milk and water gals, not she!
She'd kick me out of the house if I should
stop swearin.' To tell you the truth, boys,
she beats me at it like Joppa!'

At this undisguised confession, all laughed,
and then by a simultaneous movement, the
whole party rose and separated. Some went
to the cabin to turn in, while others first proceeded
to look after their cattle, and see that
all was secure against wolves and bears,
which occasionally paid the camp daring
night visits.

`Whose watch is it to-night?' asked Kirk
the giant, as he turned away from the fire.

`It is mine and Ben's,' answered Whitlock.

`Well, just don't keep a man awake with
any of your singing, as you have done.
Sleep is sleep, and I don't want to be broke
o' mine for any man's fancy.'

`You are a great bear, Kirk, always
growling,' said Ben. `Why don't you play
the amiable sometimes, just for variety?'

`If you don't want to fight, Myers, you had
best keep a quiet jaw,' growled Kirk, as he
slowly walked away towards the cabin.

`That fellow is a giant in body, and a
pigmy in soul,' said Whitlock to Griffitt,
with whom he was left alone near the expiring
embers of the fire, to replenish, which
Ben, who was to stand camp guard had gone
to gather up wood.

`Yes, and it is well he is a coward; or
with his great strength he would be mischievous,
quarrelsome as he is.'

`He is not so much a coward as he is
cautious and cunning. He loves to bully,
and be saucy, because he thinks men fear
him. But let him go, for he don't trouble
me enough for me to do anything else but
laugh at him. Now, Griffitt, come and sit
down here, and let me hear what Kate said,
every word, for you said you had a message
from her.'

None from her other than that I gave you
when I arrived, that she still loved you, and
that you must hasten homeward as soon as
you can.'

`That I will do, be assured,' answered

Whitlock, as they seated themselves together
upon a rocky knoll, over which he had cast
his bears-skin, within a few feet of the fire,
which as the night was growing cold, proved
very agreeable. `Is she as handsome as
ever?'

`More so, if it were possible, Ned,' answered
Griffitt. `She is certainly a very
noble girl, and a treasure you have in her!'

`I know it, I know it, Ringold,' responded
the young lover with a rich color mantling
his cheeks, and the light of pride in his clear,
pleasant eyes. `I wonder that she ever
loved me! and such a poor ignorant dog as I
am—a scape-grace of a school-boy that I
was, that would never take to my book so
long as there was a nest to be robbed, a pond
to paddle in, or ice to slide on. I have seen
the evil of it now, Ringold, and cursed my
folly, that when it was in my power, I would
not study, even so much as to learn to read
or write. I have good reason to say that I
love a letter from the lips rather than the
pen. A poor excuse, that cuts me to the
heart, and brings the blush of shame to my
cheek!'

`I sympathise with you, Ned. But as
Kate knows all this, you need not make
yourself so unhappy about it. I dare say
she loves you the better for it, if the truth
were known; for there is a novelty in it
that a spirited, clever, independent girl, like
Catharine Boyd, would be likely to be
charmed with. She knows so well, too, that
you are intelligent, sensible, generous, and
naturally a gentleman, without books.'

`I can't but feel my inferiority. Then
what would I not have given to have had a
letter from her by you! I would have kissed
her signature, while I devoured her words
like honey. The villains with their rough
beards, and coarse hands, reading their letters
with so much satisfaction, and— By
the beard of my grandfather, I am vexed
and mortified!'

`Speaking of beards. where is Red
Beard?'

`He is with the upper gang in the forest,
at the North Fork. We are looking for
him to-morrow, as we are ready to lay raft in
the cove here.'

`Yes, I see you have begun to lay the
courses, and am glad to find you are so far
advanced.'

`We have sprung to it for the last three
days.'

`How much timber have you got out this
winter?'

`In the three gangs, altogether, not less
than twelve thousand logs, the shortest thirty-five
feet.'

`You have done well. You were about
to speak, and now hesitate, what is it?'

`There is something come over the captain
of late: we see very little of him. What
the matter is, I can't even guess. But he is
silent, and always seems thinking of something
else; and no body hardly does speak
to him, except old Derick, whom he has left
to oversee. I am glad, for my part, he keeps
away.'

`Perhaps he is not well, or has heard of
something that troubles him.'

`I don't know what it is. As to bad news,
he has no family you know; and so far as
we are concerned, our forest work goes on as
well as any body could wish. But Red
Beard has always been a peculiar man.'

`Yes, taciturn, and loving to live alone in
his cabin. But he makes a good overseer of
wood-cutters, or the Land Company would
not employ him.'

`He is as firm and cool a man as ever I
saw; and I know that he fears no living
being. There is something I like in him
with all his apparent ferocity. The men in
the gangs fear him as they do the devil.
Even I would rather not sing a song when he
is in camp. So it is a relief to have him
away. We can breathe freer, and the men
say they can work better, when he is not by.'

`I wish he were here to-night, or at least be
here to-morrow, for I have a parcel for him.'

`Do you want to attach yourself to the
gang again?'

`Yes, for the rafting down.'

`I am glad of that, and so will all the boys
be; for you are a great favorite among us,
Ringold. Derick says that if you could
give up your notion of painting pictures, and
sketching trees, you'd make a man. But he
is very much afraid you'll be spoiled with
your citified genius, as he calls your talent.
He is positive it 'll bring you to no good.'

`Derick is'nt a prophet, that I much fear,
I don't know what he would say if he knew I
had done scarcely any thing but paint this
last winter, answered Griffitt, smiling at his
friend's look of surprise.