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Read Ebook: In Texas with Davy Crockett by McIntyre John T John Thomas Huybers John Alfred Illustrator
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Ebook has 926 lines and 31607 words, and 19 pages
Mrs. Ellison could make no suggestion; but she, too, disliked the thought of anyone in the village being turned adrift upon the world.
"The very thing!" the squire exclaimed, suddenly. "We will make him clerk. Old Peters has long been past his work. The old man must be seventy-five, if he's a day, and his voice quavers so that it makes the boys laugh. We will pension him off. He can have his cottage rent free, and three or four shillings a week. I don't suppose it will be for many years. As for White, he cannot be much above sixty. He will fill the place very well.
"I am sure the vicar will agree, for he has been speaking to me, about Pe And he will keep on marching against them until they make themselves altogether independent of him and his gang."
Here Walter Jordan arose.
"Let's go inside," said he. "They all seem to be quite interested."
Ned also got up.
"Do you think there will ever be such a thing as the Texas republic?" said he.
Walter shrugged his shoulders.
"It's hard to say. But if the Texans are anything at all like what I hear they are, it wouldn't surprise me if it came about some day."
And so they turned toward the cabin door, and Walter found himself face to face with Colonel Huntley.
THE PLOT
Colonel Huntley had cold gray eyes which, when he chose, had an insult in their every glance. And now, as Walter Jordan's eyes met his, he never stirred from the cabin door. Quietly the lad stood and looked at him; and the cold, valuing eyes were filled with mockery.
"Do you want anything?" he asked, sneeringly.
"I wish to go into the cabin," replied the boy. "Will you kindly step out of the way?"
Colonel Huntley laughed in an unpleasant manner, but did not move.
"I think," said he, "I've seen you somewhere before."
"Perhaps," said the boy.
"You're the son of Carroll Jordan, attorney, at Louisville?" said Colonel Huntley.
"I am," said Walter.
"I knew your father," sneered Huntley.
"If you did," came the boy's swift reply, "you knew one of the finest gentlemen in Kentucky."
The mockery in Huntley's eyes increased.
"That depends altogether on how one looks at it," said he.
When Walter Jordan spoke there was a ring in his voice which Ned Chandler knew well.
"Looked at in the right way," said the lad, "and by that I mean the way in which any fair and honest person would look at it, there can be only one opinion. And that is the one which I have given."
The bullet-headed young man grinned widely, showing a row of strong teeth, with wide spaces between them. He nodded to Colonel Huntley.
"That's talking," said he. "Right to your face, too."
Huntley had a satisfied look in his face; his cold eyes examined Walter from head to foot. Ned Chandler plucked at his friend's sleeve, and breathed into his ear.
"Look out! He's trying to get you into some kind of a muss."
"So," spoke Huntley, and his tones were as cold as his eyes, "you don't consider me either fair or honest, then?"
Walter met the man's look steadily.
Again Huntley laughed his unpleasant laugh.
"You are something of a diplomat," said he. "Or, had I better say, a dodger."
"Why, if I cared to," said Walter, quietly, "I might say almost the same thing of yourself. Put yourself on record--say openly what you mean, and I will give you an answer, plain enough for you or anybody else."
There was a silence after the boy's bold words. Ned Chandler's eyes snapped with delight, for here was a chance for excitement. Colonel Huntley hesitated--not at all because he had not a ready word or act, but apparently because he feared to trust himself. It was his bullet-headed companion who spoke.
"I've heard of your father," said he. "I've been told of the little game he's up to; and I think he's trying to feather his own nest."
Apparently stung to the quick, young Jordan whirled upon the speaker, his hand drawn back for a blow. But he felt an iron clutch on his wrist, and saw the burly chief mate of the "Mediterranean" at his side.
"None of that," said the mate, sternly. "No fighting here. There are women passengers, you know."
The bullet-headed youth had stepped aside at Walter's first swift motion; this left a space in the cabin doorway, and seizing the chance, Ned Chandler crowded his friend through and pushed him along the full length of the men's cabin, in spite of his efforts to halt.
"Now," said the light-haired boy, when they finally brought up in an unoccupied corner, "before you say anything, let me tell you what I think." He shoved his hands down into his trousers pockets, and eyed his friend calmly.
"You were a little excited out there," said he, "and maybe you didn't see what I saw."
"I saw that Colonel Huntley deliberately set out to insult me," said Walter, his eyes glinting with anger, his fists clenched.
"That's true," said Ned, coolly. "So he did. And more than that."
Walter looked at his friend, for in his tone he noted a something which attracted his attention.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"The whole thing was arranged," said Ned, nodding his head assuredly. "Those two planted themselves in the doorway to wait for you. Colonel Huntley was to provoke you, and that fellow Barker was to step in at the right moment and pick a fight with you."
Walter threw up his hand and his angry eyes sought the length of the men's cabin.
"Well," said he, his hands tightly clenched, "it's not too late, if he's still of the same mind."
But Ned Chandler shook his head; apparently he did not agree with his friend's present humor.
"I know how you must feel," said he, "to hear your father badly spoken of in a thing like this. He's giving his money and his time and his learning to do a thing which will never bring him a penny of gain. He's sending you on a mission to a distant place like Texas, just because he wants to see right done. And to hear people say things, like those Huntley and Barker have said, is hard to bear. But you must bear it."
"I will not!" said Walter steadily, his eyes still searching the cabin for the two men.
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