United States or Central African Republic ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Vanderwiller? Did you get badly hurt?" "Hullo!" grunted Toby. "Ain't you Hen Sherwood's gal?" "I'm his niece," she told him. "Can I help?" "Well, I dunno. I got a wallop from one o' them logs when we was breakin' that jam, and it's scraped the skin off me arm " "Let me see," cried Nan, earnestly. "Oh! Mr. Vanderwiller! That must be painful. Haven't you anything to put on it?"
"You're sure handy, Sissy," he said, rising and allowing her to help him into the shirt again and on with his coat. "Now I'll hafter toddle along or Tim will give me a call-down. Much obleeged. If ye get inter the tam'rack swamp, come dry-foot weather, stop and see me an' my old woman." "Oh! I'd love to, Mr. Vanderwiller," Nan cried. "The swamp must be full of just lovely flowers now."
It was while the Blackton drive was near Pine Camp that Nan became personally acquainted with old Toby Vanderwiller. It was after dinner that day that she met Margaret and Bob Llewellen and the three went down to the river bank, below the bridge, to watch the last of the Blackton drive.
Vanderwiller!" she said. "I am glad to see you! And how is your wife and Corson?" He looked down at her reflectively, and for a moment did not say a word. Then he swallowed something and said, jerkily: "An' you're the one that done it all, Sissy! The ol' woman an' the boy air as chipper as bluejays. An' they air a honin' for a sight on you." "Yes. I haven't been over lately.
He was in the middle of the shaking morass waist deep in the mire, and clinging to one of the small hanging limbs of the uprooted tree. "Hickory splits!" ejaculated Tom, stopping the team. "It's old Tobe himself! Did you ever see the like!" Just why old Toby Vanderwiller was clinging to that branch and did not try to wade ashore, neither Nan nor Tom could understand.
He was certainly a scarecrow figure after his submersion in the mud; gut Nan did not feel like laughing at him. The escape had been too narrow. "Guess the Almighty sent you just in time, Tom, my boy," said Toby Vanderwiller. "He must have suthin' more for the old man to do yet, before he cashes in. And little Sissy, too. Har! Henry Sherwood's son and Henry Sherwood's niece.
It was plain to Nan, hiding in the bushes and watching the old man's face, that he was dreadfully tempted. Working as hard as he might, summer and winter alike, Toby Vanderwiller had scarcely been able to support his wife and grandson. His occasional attacks of rheumatism so frequently put him back. If Raffer took away the farm and the shelter they had, what would become of them?
In the first place, when she reached the little farm on the island in the tamarack swamp, old Toby Vanderwiller was not at home. His wife greeted the girl warmly, and Corson was glad to see her. When Nan spread the check before him and told him what it was for, and what he could do with so much money, the crippled boy was delighted.
"Ef you know which side of your bread the butter's on, you'll side with me," he said. "We don't often have butter on our bread, an' I ain't goin' ter side with nobody," grumbled Toby Vanderwiller. "S-s!" hissed Raffer. "Come here!" Toby stepped closer to the rattletrap carriage. "You see your way to goin' inter court an' talkin' right, and you won't lose nothin' by it, Tobe." "Huh?
This impressed Nan Sherwood as being very pitiful, for she was of a sympathetic nature. And it showed that Corson Vanderwiller, even if he was simple-minded, possessed one of the great human virtues, gratitude.
Word Of The Day