The Riflemen of the Ohio: A Story of the Early Days along "The Beautiful River"Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
General
The Riflemen of the Ohio: A Story of the Early Days along "The Beautiful River"
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Juvenile fiction; Ohio River -- Juvenile fiction
"An' that bein' the case," said Shif'less Sol, "I'm hopin' that the rest
o' you will agree to our layin' quiet here in the thicket all day.
Besides, sech a long rest would be a kindness to me, a pow'ful lazy
man."
"It's the wisest thing to do," said Henry. "Even by daylight nothing but
chance would cause so faint a trail as ours to be found."
It was settled. They lay there all day, and nobody grew restless except
Paul. He found it hard to pass so much time in inaction, and now and
then he suggested to the others that they move on, taking all risks, but
they merely rallied him on his impatience.
"Paul," said Long Jim, "thar is one thing that you kin learn from Sol
Hyde, an' that is how to be lazy. Uv course, Sol is lazy all the time,
but it's a good thing to be lazy once in a while, ef you pick the right
day."
"You don't often tell the truth, Saplin'," said Shif'less Sol, "but
you're tellin' it now. Paul, thar bein' nuthin' to do, I'm goin' to lay
down ag'in an' go to sleep."
He stretched himself upon a bed of leaves that he had scraped up for
himself. His manner expressed the greatest sense of luxury, but suddenly
he sat up, his face showing anger.
"What's the matter, Sol?" asked Paul in surprise.
The shiftless one put his hand in his improvised bed and held up an oak
leaf. The leaf had been doubled under him.
"Look at that," he said, "an' then you won't have the face to ask me why
I wuz oncomf'table. Remember the tale you told us, Paul, about some old
Greeks who got so fas-tee-ge-ous one o' 'em couldn't sleep 'cause a rose
leaf was doubled under him. That's me, Sol Hyde, all over ag'in. I'm a
pow'ful partickler person, with a delicate rearin' an' the instincts o'
luxury. How do you expect me to sleep with a thing like that pushed up
in the small o' my back. Git out!"
As he said 'Git out,' he threw the leaf from him, lay down again on his
woodland couch, and in two minutes was really and peacefully asleep.
"He is shorely won'erful," said Long Jim admiringly. "Think I'll try
that myself."
He was somewhat longer than the shiftless one in achieving the task, but
in ten minutes he, too, slept. Paul was at last able to do so in the
afternoon, when the sun grew warm, and at the coming of the night they
prepared to depart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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