The shoemaker : $b A powerful picture of nature, adapted from Hal Reid's famous drama of the same nameHarper, Olive
General
The shoemaker : $b A powerful picture of nature, adapted from Hal Reid's famous drama of the same name
Harper, Olive
Abduction -- Fiction; Fathers and daughters -- Fiction; Shoemakers -- Fiction; West (U.S.) -- Fiction
“Come on, boys; come quick! Scoot, you wolves, and get a lamb from the
nearest flock! Don’t stand there looking, but scoot. I’ve got enough
with me for one good square meal all ready, and the rest will be easy.
Mike, you get on my cayuse. We can’t wait.”
“What is it, Mike? Have you turned your ankle? Let me see it. No saying
a word, but take off your boot, and quick,” said Helen, in the most
matter-of-fact business sort of way. Then she deftly felt the injured
foot and, with a quick wrench that made the strong man pale to the
lips, she said:
“Why, Mike, it was dislocated. No wonder it hurt. Now I’ll bandage it
the best I can until we get to civilization again.”
With a long strip of cloth which she carried in a little bag hung
to her waist, Helen bandaged the foot while the others looked on in
wonder, all wishing the ankle his own. Then Mike was kindly forced to
mount the horse, and Shoshone outdid himself in consideration for Mike.
As Dan and Snakes started for the lamb, Helen called them and told
them the place was at the head of the small gulch on Bald Knob. Then
she hurried Shoshone and Mike along, her own feet seeming tireless,
although she had been tramping over the mountains all day long, and
hungry.
“Whenever the Injuns come around as thick as they have been lately,”
said Mike, “the game gits scarce at once. I think as how the critters
has a way of telling each other that it ain’t healthy for them to stay.
Animals know lots more than we think. And they know that we don’t
bother much with them so long as there is fat yearlings to eat for the
asking. So when the Injuns come back from one of their jaunts, the
critters just mosey off, each one telling the other that it ain’t safe
to stay.”
“I think you are right, Mike, and I have thought it so, too. But now we
will be all right. I haven’t had a bite since yesterday.”
Shoshone turned pale and hastily took the knapsack from his back, but
Helen refused to touch a thing until they were all at the claim.
“Vamose, vamose, boys!” cried Shoshone to the others, who were going as
fast as the nature of the ground would permit toward a ranch down the
valley. “Hurry up, you catamounts! Come, and keep coming till there’s
enough grub for a month. The Angel is starved--that’s what!”
Scarcely had the ringing voice of Shoshone ceased reverberating through
the ravine than Helen and Shoshone saw the frail form of little Loney
come flying down toward them. With all his feeble strength, he cried:
“Help! Help!”
“Why, Loney! what is the matter?” asked Helen, taking the panting child
in her arms. “Speak, child, speak!”
“Mr. Goldberg! Mr. Goldberg!”
“What’s wrong, Loney?” asked Shoshone, filled with apprehension, for
he knew how ignorant the old man was of life in this region, and he
thought, in one brief instant, of dozens of dangers he might have run
into through his ignorance--from a nest of mountain-lions to a cave-in
of his tunnel.
“He is dead! He is dead!”
“Dead!” said Helen. “Dead! How?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account