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"Your Obedient Servant, "R. SHEAFFER, General Commanding." "They 'll be here," said D'ri. "They 'll be here jest es sure es God 'fore daylight, mebbe. But I can't fight er dew nothin' till I 've tied some vittles." "You shall have supper," said the baroness, who, without delay, went to the kitchen herself with a servant to look after it.
We set sail in a schooner one bright morning, D'ri and I and thirty others, bound for Two-Mile Creek. Horses were waiting for us there. We mounted them, and made the long journey overland a ride through wood and swale on a road worn by the wagons of the emigrant, who, even then, was pushing westward to the fertile valleys of Ohio.
"Come another step," said he, "an' I'll let the moonlight through ye." They knew he meant it, and they stood still. "Come for'ard one et a time," said D'ri, "Drop yer guns 'n' set down. Ye look tired." They did as he commanded, for they could see he meant business, and they knew he had the right to kill. Another man came along shortly. "Halt! Who comes there?" D'ri demanded,
I cal'lated I did n't want no more slidin' over there 'n Canady." After a little snicker, he added: "Hed all 't wus good fer me the las' time. 'S a leetle tew swift." "Gets rather scary when you see the bushes walk," I suggested. "Seen whut wus up 'fore ever they med a move," said D'ri. "Them air bushes did n't look jest es nat'ral es they'd orter.
"Have courage!" I called as they went away. I was never in such a fierce temper as when, after they had gone above-stairs, I could hear one of them weeping. D'ri stood quietly beside me, his arms folded. "Whut ye goin' t' dew with them air women?" he asked, turning to the young man. "I beg you will give me time to consider," said his Lordship, calmly, as he lighted a cigarette.
"Ray," said he, soberly, after a little silence, "when ye see a bear lookin' your way, ef ye want 'im, alwus shute at the end thet's toward ye." There was no better bear-hunter in the north woods than D'ri, and to lose a bear was, for him, no light affliction. "Can't never break a bear's neck by shutin' 'im in the hin' quarters," he remarked. I made no answer.
I found the door, and D'ri flung our "duds" into the darkness that lay beyond it. Then he made down the ladder, and I after him. It was pitch-dark in the cellar a deep, dank place with a rank odor of rotting potatoes. We groped our way to a corner, and stood listening. We heard the tramp of horses in the dooryard and the clinic of spurs on the stone step.
"A likely pair o' gals them air no mistake." "But I think they made me miss the bear," I answered. "Ray," said D'ri, soberly, "when yer shutin' a bear, ef ye want 'im, don't never think o' nuthin' but the bear." Then, after a moment's pause, he added: "Won't never hev no luck killin' a bear ef ye don' quit dwellin' so on them air gals."
Of my history there is not much more to write, albeit some say the best is untold. I had never such a heart of lead as went with me to my work that afternoon. What became of me I cared not a straw then, for I knew my love was hopeless. D'ri met me as I got off my horse at the Harbor. His keen eye saw my trouble quickly saw near to the bottom of it.
Lights were now flashing near. I could see little hope for us, and D'ri, I thought, had gone crazy. He ran at the oncomers, yelling, "Hey, Rube!" at the top of his lungs. I lay low in the brush a moment. They rushed by me, D'ri in the fore with fending sabre. A tawny hound was running in the lead, his nose down, baying loudly.
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