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She stood by a big kettle of boiling syrup at the sugar camp, almost helpless in Jimmy's boots and Dannie's great coat. Jimmy cut and carried wood, and Dannie hauled sap. All the woods were stirred by the smell of the curling smoke and the odor of the boiling sap, fine as the fragrance of flowers.
At two o'clock in the morning came a tap on the Malone's bedroom window. "Dannie?" questioned Mary, half startled. "Tell Jimmy!" cried Dannie's breathless voice outside. "Tell him the Kingfisher has juist struck the river!" Jimmy sat straight up in bed. "Then glory be!" he cried. "To-morrow the Black Bass comes home!" "Where did Jimmy go?" asked Mary.
Jimmy's fist flew straight, and the blood streamed from Dannie's nose. Dannie dropped the lines, and straightened. "You " he panted. "You " And no other words came. If Jimmy had been possessed of any small particle of reason, he lost it at the sight of blood on Dannie's face. "You're a domn fish thief!" he screamed. "Ye lie!" breathed Dannie, but his hand did not lift. "You are a coward!
But times this summer, this morning, for instance, when he hadna a drop in three weeks, and dinna want ane, when he could have come wi' me to town, and wouldna, and there were devils calling him from the ground, and the trees, and the sky, out in the open cornfield, it looked bad." The priest's eyes were boring into Dannie's sick face. "How did it look?" he asked briefly.
The fallen leaves rustled about Dannie's feet. The blackbirds above him in chattering debate discussed migration. A stiff breeze swept the fields, topped the embankment, and rushed down circling about Dannie, and setting his teeth chattering, for he was almost as wet as if he had been completely immersed. As the chill struck in, from force of habit he thought of Jimmy.
And it ended by Jimmy being helped to Dannie's cabin, undressed, and put into bed, and then Dannie went over to see what he could do for the nurse. She looked at him searchingly. "Mr. Macnoun, when were you last asleep?" she asked. "I forget," answered Dannie. "When did you last have a good hot meal?" "I dinna know," replied Dannie.
"Not until we get Dannie's consint," answered Mary, and for the first her voice wavered. Father Michael looked his surprise. "Tut! Tut!" he said. "And is Dannie dilatory?" "Dannie is the finest man that will ever live in this world," said Mary, "but he don't want to marry me." "To my certain knowledge Dannie has loved you all your life," said Father Michael.
"I wouldn't be advisin' you to," she said. "Dannie is watching you." Jimmy glanced toward the barn in time to see Dannie's shaking shoulders as he turned from the door. With unexpected patience, he firmly closed his lips and went after a ladder. By the time he had the sinker loose and the line untangled, supper was ready.
Dannie's gaze followed Jimmy's retreating figure until he climbed the bank, and was lost in the woods, and the light in his eyes was the light of love. He glanced at the sky, and hurried down the river. First across to Jimmy's side to gather his rats and reset his traps, then to his own. But luck seemed to have turned, for all the rest of Dannie's were full, and all of Jimmy's were empty.
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