University of Virginia Library

18. CHAPTER XVIII.

On a clear frosty morning, the Caution arrived at
Perryville. Ralph had been up for some hours in
anxious expectation of reaching it. Before the boat
touched the bank, Ralph leaped on shore with the
hand who carried the line.

A negro, no other than Sam, the boot-black, who
was looking out for a chance of carrying a traveller's
trunk to the Boon House, and thereby earning a
quarter, lifted an old straw hat from his head with
one hand, and drawing the other across his mouth
asked—

“Any baggage, Master?”

“Yes, yes—I've a trunk aboard. Where does
Mr. Lorman live. Do you know Mr. Coil?”

“Mr. Coil?—yes, Master, knows him well—an'
he knows me like a book; he keeps the Boon House
—I tends there 'lection days. Shall I carry your
baggage there, Master?”

“How far is it?”

“Right up there, Master—soon as you get to the
rising you'll see the sign itself—General Boon—
swinging.”

“Here, come show me. Where's Mr. Lorman's?”

“Maybe more 'an a mile off, Master, down the
river.” Sam estimated the distance by the remembrance

of the walk he had taken there for Dr. Cake,
for which he had only been paid in pills.

“Can I get a horse at Hearty's?”

“Hearty's? O! Mr. Coil's—yes, Master, I 'spect
so.”

“Show me the way there,” said Ralph, walking
hastily before Sam, who followed in a shuffling trot,
saying—

“Soon git there, Master; 'ta'n't far off.”

“Is Mr. Lorman's family well?”

“Yes, Sir, I b'lieve so. That's the Boon House,
Sir,” exclaimed Sam, pointing to it.

“Here,” said Ralph, giving him a piece of money,
“bring my trunk from the boat. Mr. Beckford's
trunk.”

“To the Boon House, Master?”

“Yes, yes!” replied Ralph, as he hurried towards it.

Without observing any person or thing around
him, in his desire to get a speedy conveyance to Mr.
Lorman's, Ralph entered the bar room of the Boon
House, and there beheld Hearty, behind the bar, in
the very act of taking his bitters before breakfast.

“Hearty, my old friend, how are you?” said
Ralph, with emotion, as he advanced towards the
landlord.

“Ay, by the Powers, it is him!” exclaimed the
host of the Boon, placing his glass with emphatic
delight on the bar. “Are ye hearty now, Mr.
Ralph?—We've been expecting—Give us your
hand.” Hearty had left the bar, and grasped

Ralph's hand. “I'd rather shake your hand, Mr.
Ralph, than any living hand anywhere, bating my
brother's that's dead.”

“How's Mr. Lorman and his family, Hearty?—
Let me have a horse, can you not?”

“What for?”

“To go there.”

“To go there! Ay, by the Powers, you've missed
it;—they're gone!”

“Gone, Hearty!” ejaculated Ralph, throwing himself
in a chair.

“Ahem! ahem! The young gentleman alludes to
the Lormans. They went yesterday, Sir,” remarked
a personage of large proportions, who was seated
in the corner. He proved to be Mr. Bongarden, who
had called in to take his morning bitters with the
landlord. “Yes, they went yesterday. Mr. Davidson
was compelled to go, and they had promised to
visit the lower country with him. Mr. Davidson,
Sir, (addressing Ralph,) to my certain knowledge,
has lately received a great many letters from Washington
City,—I speak knowingly, Sir, for, ahem! I
have the honour, Sir, of being the postmaster of
Perryville,—I don't tell these things publicly, but I
may speak them privately to you and capting Coil—
the capting is my particular friend. As I was observing,
Sir, Mr. Davidson has lately received many
letters from head quarters,—I wish you to observe
gentlemen, that I prophesy something of consequence
will turn up some of these days in the political world.

As I was observing, in connexion with these letters
from head quarters, Mr. Davidson has received many
letters from the south. Things are not very clear
there. I suspect I know how to put this and that
together. Something will turn up—I say nothing—
but, mark my words, something will turn up, you
may depend upon it, capting Coil, and young gentleman—I—I
myself, Sir, an humble individual in this
community—if I have any honours—any office of
responsibility and trust—I did not seek it—Sir, I
abide by republican principles—it sought me—I myself,
Sir, undertake to prophesy that something new
will —”

Ralph was all worriment at Bongarden's talk, but
he did not like to interrupt him. He looked several
times at Hearty, wondering he was a listener so
long, but he observed him most intently engaged in
mixing a glass of liquor. It was evident Hearty was
paying the postmaster very little attention. Ralph,
notwithstanding his shiness, could not stand the postmaster's
second prophecy. He therefore interrupted
him by asking the landlord—

“When did they go, Hearty?”

“Here,” said Hearty, addressing Ralph in reply,
and handing him the glass he had been mixing; “take
this. You're from a place where they boast of their
drinks. Even Moran thinks he's great shakes at it;
and so he is of a morning, for his hand shakes like
the devil. Here, Mr. Ralph, take this, it will comfort
you—I understand—take this, I want your judgment

on it. I call it a cocktail of the first water—
yes, and by the Powers, of the first whisky too.”

“Thank you, Hearty, thank you; I have no taste
for liquors in the morning,” said Ralph.

“But I tell you, Mr. Ralph, this will give you a
taste. O! by the Powers, do you remember the
ride we took, when your cousin like to have killt the
pair of us?”

“Where is Henry, Hearty?”

“Gone to the devil, Mr. Ralph.”

“Where is Mr. Lorman, where is Ruth?”

“They're gone the same way, by the Powers.”

“Why, Hearty, I don't understand you, what do
you mean?”

“Mean! why I mean they've all gone down the
river.”

“Ahem! young gentleman,” said the Postmaster,
rising from his chair, and addressing Ralph. “Excuse
me for interrupting you, Capting, but I must go,
I have some letters to write to Washington City.
Young gentleman, you are welcome to our town, I
should be happy, sir, to see you at my store, at the
post-office, of which I have the control. I am the
Postmaster, you have been made aware, sir, and
while you stay in town—What's the gentleman's
name, Capting Coil?”

“Beckford, Mr. Ralph Beckford, he is”—

“While you stay in our city, Mr. Beckford,” continued
the Postmaster, “I shall be happy, sir, to see
you at the post-office. I have there, sir, as you of

course know—this is a considerable town—I have
there papers from all parts of our country, sir, particularly
from Washington City—and you are welcome,
sir, to call at the post-office, and look over
them while you stay in our city, sir. Good morning,
sir.”

“Good morning, sir,” replied Ralph, rising.

“Ay, my dear sir,” said the Postmaster, as he got
by the door, turning towards Ralph, “are you just
from the east?”

“Yes, sir, directly.”

“Any news there, sir, any political news?”

“None that I heard of, sir,” replied Ralph.

“Ay, is it possible?” said the Postmaster taking a
step towards the door, and then adding—“its strange
how fast, among the initiated, transactions of importance
travel, while the rest of the world, though ever
so intelligent, I cast no reflections, young gentleman—it's
from position, it's from position—remain in
total ignorance. Mark my words, we'll have news
of great matter soon,” and the Postmaster, planting
his cane firmly on the steps of the porch, to assist his
descent, departed.

“Hearty, did Miss Ruth Lorman leave yesterday?”
asked Ralph.

“By the Powers, yesterday! you just missed
them—its a million of pities. They expected you,
but you see Mr. Davidson got letters, and he was
compelled. Never mind, drink your cocktail, and
don't grieve at it. You're welcome to the Boon

House. You can stay, you see, three or four weeks
in our town, till I show you everything, and make
you acquainted, and then you can follow them, for I
know they'll expect you.”

“What did they say, Hearty?”

“Say! they didn't say anything, that I know of;
but they left letters with young Mr. Bennington.
By the Powers, you'll like him—now I tell you, Mr.
Ralph, this is a whole soul place, you'll like the Kentuckians.
By the Powers, do you remember the
ride we took in the carryall, when we both got spillt
by that chap—Master Henry, as Miss Murray always
called him. I tell you, Mrs. Coil wonders she
didn't take a younger man; she might have had the
pick of all creation. But, you know, there's no accounting
for taste. That puts me in mind of the
cocktail. What do you think of it?”

“I like it, Hearty, very much,” said Ralph;
“Ruth, Miss Lorman was well?”

“Well! to be sure she was, and she was mighty
glad to see Miss—Mrs. Davidson. He's a man that
spends money like dirt, but, by the Powers, he is rather
old.”

“Where can I find Mr. Bennington, Hearty?”

“Why he lives up in the big house you saw to
the right of this, as you came down. You'll see him,
I tell you, Mr. Ralph, time enough. He always stops
in at the Boon House as he goes to the post-office,
and he goes there every morning just after breakfast.
If you go after him, by the Powers, you might find

him gone, and if you stay here, you'll be sure to find
himself.”

“Hearty, I am a most unlucky fellow!”

“Well, Mr. Ralph, when I look at you, and then at
myself, and find we're so far away from home, I
somehow don't think we're from home at all. I
never—”

“Where is my cousin Henry, Hearty?”

“Now I tell you, Mr. Ralph, if I was you I'd
never call him cousin in all my born days, though
he is your blood relation. You see he like to have
run over you, and, by the Powers, he like to have
done for me—I shall never get over it. You know,
I fell right on my head down that gully, and ever
since that time I never could stand the liquor I did
before—my head must have got cracked in some
way or other to let it in.”

“Why, Hearty, you look very well.”

“O! by Thunder! I feel so, and I look according;
but, you see, since I can't stand the liquor,—so
much of it—and Mrs. Coil being all the time about,
she's so good a soul, and so given up to me, that
most spare odds and ends she comes in and talks,
and she has, seeing, you see, since that tumble that
I can't stand so much, she has a kind of persuaded
me, with sheer kindness and tender words, not to
take so much.”

Hearty's tongue might have run on till it was
tired. Ralph scarcely paid any attention to him,
but sat with his arms folded and head down, saddened

by the disappointment of not seeing Ruth.
Hearty, however, was interrupted by the entrance
of Dr. Cake, who greeted the landlord, saying:

“Good morning, Captain Coil. I say, how is the
good landlady, this morning?”

“Very well, Doctor—how is it with yourself?”

“I feel a little aguish this morning: these chilly
mornings, I say, predispose the constitution that
way. I say, Captain, if you should feel chilly these
mornings—I say, the least chilly—I have a prescription
that—”

“O! I've felt chilly these two or three mornings,
Doctor; but a little bitters—”

“Ay, I understand—I say, if any of the little ones,
Captain—I mean—Mrs. Coil's well, you say? Good
morning.”

The Doctor proceeded to the porch, and awaiting
a moment till he caught Coil's eye, he beckoned to
him.

Hearty stepped to the side of the Doctor, when
the disciple of Galen drew him to the end of the
porch, and asked—

“Who is that gentleman in there, Captain? He's
a fine-looking young man, I say.”

“Yes; that's the gentleman—I've known him
since he was so high”—holding out his hand about
three feet from the floor. “That's Mr. Beckford,
who is to marry Miss Ruth; and folks say, and, by
the Powers, I believe, he might have got the other.”

“What other, Captain?”

“Why, Mrs. Davidson to be sure.”

“It a'n't possible! Why she was very rich, I
say, wasn't she?”

“You may say that, Doctor Cake, and tell no
lie.”

“I say, Captain Coil,” remarked the Doctor,
“Miss Ruth is, doubtless, a very fine young lady, I
say—a most superior woman, sir. That unfortunate
affair between Mrs. Bongarden and Miss Judson,
and the talk of that little lying Ferret, that
Miss Lorman's brother fought, I say, that affair
made some of the citizens think Miss Judson and
myself had something to do in those contemptible
reports. But, Captain Coil, I say—I assure you—I
say, sir, on my honour, that I remember once, very
distinctly, I was taking tea with Miss Judson, I say,
before that most unfortunate misunderstanding between
Mrs. Bongarden and her, and we both spoke
in the—I say—most exalted terms of Miss Ruth.
Ferret's boy she whipped most severely with her
own hands for it. You've heard it said he left—I
say—Judson's for a whipping he got. To be sure,
I say, that a little slight circumstance happened—I
say—between Miss Lorman and myself, when she
first came here, that might afterwards have prevented
any sociability between us; but I do think—
though, I say—I have no claims upon Miss Lorman,
yet I do say, that I think Miss Judson and myself
might have been—I say—invited to her house when
her eastern friends were here. It's a matter, I say,

of no consequence in the world, I say, Captain; for
myself I care nothing—but, sir—I say—Captain
Coil, my principles are such that this aristocracy,
sir—Captain—is inconsistent with the principles of
our government.”

“By jingo, Doctor Cake, I pretend to be a politician;
being once that they nearly made a sheriff
of me; but what's government got to do with inviting
people to your houses?”

“Well, well—I say—Captain, understand me; I
make no complaint. I say, you tell me this gentleman
might have got the other, hey? Well—I say—
there's no accounting for taste.”

“Your right Doctor—you are right, by the Powers,
I said that myself this morning. Come in and try
a cocktail of my invention; made of whisky and
some other things. I'll put it for the fever and ague
against your prescription.”

“Ay—I say—Captain, has it medical qualities?
then I'll try it.”