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In those days the cup overflowed and left several houses on the top of the hill, where their cold skeletons still stand. The road that climbs from the square, which is Thrums' heart, to the north is so steep and straight, that in a sharp frost children hunker at the top and are blown down with a roar and a rush on rails of ice.
Her stepmother and I came to her; I raised her head and put essences to her nose, and Madame van Hunker took off her gloves and rubbed her hands, while my Lady Newcastle, hurrying up, bade them carry her into the house, and revive her by the fire; but Madame van Hunker insisted and implored that she should not be taken indoors, but carried home at once, showing a passion and vehemence quite unlike one so gentle, and which our good host and hostess withstood till she hinted that she feared it might be more than a swoon, since her father and sister were already indisposed.
And then it was that I saw on the black velvet dress worn by the lady a part of a necklace of large pearls the pearls of Ribaumont though I should not have known them again, or perhaps would Nan, save for the wearer. 'Flaunting them in our very faces, muttered poor Nan; and if eyes could have slain, hers would have killed the poor Vrow van Hunker on the spot.
She returned with an air of triumph. "You'll learn to listen to me," she declared. "He says Hunker is low grade. That's why he lets lays on it instead of working it himself. Lars is a fox." "He said that?" "The best there is in it is wages. Those were his very words. Would you put up with Linton and Quirk and the two McCaskeys for wages? Of course not. I've something better fixed up for you."
The interview had been broken up by the sight of the return from Church. Mrs. Van Hunker had had full time to retire to her room and Eustace to arrange himself, so that no one guessed at the visitor he had had. She came down to supper, and a few words and civilities had passed between them, but he had never either seen or heard of her since.
When he was told that his feet must be amputated, he said he hoped he would not get well; what could a working-man do in this hard world without feet? He did, in fact, die from the operation, but not before he had deeded Tiny Soderball his claim on Hunker Creek. Tiny sold her hotel, invested half her money in Dawson building lots, and with the rest she developed her claim.
The officer listened to his caller's recital, and even before it was finished he had begun to dress himself in his trail clothes. "Courteau confessed, eh? And the McCaskeys have disappeared taken French leave. Say! That changes the look of things, for a fact. Of course they may have merely gone back to Hunker " "In de middle of snow-storm? Dis tam de night? No.
"A lay? On El Dorado?" he queried, in frank amazement. "No. Hunker. He says it's a good creek. We're lookin' for a pardner." "What kind of a partner?" It was Linton who answered. "Well, some nice, easy-going, hard- working young feller. Jerry and I are pretty old to wind a windlass, but we can work underground where it's warm." "'Easy-goin', that's the word," Jerry nodded.
Hunker and his companions, with their badges prominently displayed, were on hand at the gates and held the impatient crowd in check. The ticket sellers and ticket takers were kept busy as bees. The stand soon became packed to suffocation, while the temporary seats which had been erected overflowed before either team appeared on the field.
The old air has a wonderful influence over me. I heard it in western camp-meetings and negro-cabins when I was a boy; I saw the 22d Massachusetts march down Broadway, singing the same air during the rush to the front during the early days of the war; I have heard it sung by warrior tongues in nearly every Southern State; I heard it roared by three hundred good old Hunker Democrats as they escorted New York's first colored regiment to their place of embarkation; my old brigade sang it softly, but with a swing that was terrible in its earnestness, as they lay behind their stacks of arms just before going to action; I have heard it played over the grave of many a dead comrade; the semi-mutinous the cavalry became peaceful and patriotic again as their band-master played the old air after having asked permission to try HIS hand on them; it is the same that burst forth spontaneously in our barracks, on that glorious morning when we learned that the war was over, and it was sung, with words adapted to the occasion, by some good rebel friends of mine, on our first social meeting after the war.
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