CHAPTER XVI
ARRIVALS IN CAMP
There is something fine in a party of men when no one brags of a fightbrought sternly to victory.
Parky, the gambler, was badly shot through the arm; Bone, the bar-keep,had a long, straight track through his hair, cleaned by a ball of lead.And this was deemed enough of a story when the ten half-frozen men hadsecured the claim to Jim and his that New-Year's morning.
But the camp regretted on the whole that, instead of being shelved athis house, the gambler had not been slain.
For nearly a week the wan little foundling, emerging from the vale ofshadows at the home of Miss Dennihan, lay as if debating, in his grave,baby way, the pros and cons of existence. And even when, at last, hewas well on the road to recovery, he somehow seemed more quiet thanever before.
The rough old "boys" of the town could not, by any process of theirfertile brains, find an adequate means of expressing their relief anddelight when they knew at last the quaint little fellow was againhimself.
They came to Miss Dennihan's in groups, with brand-new presents andwith wonderful spirits. They played on the floor like so manywell-meaning bears; they threatened to fetch their poor, neglectedChristmas-tree from the blacksmith-shop; they urged Miss Doc to start acandy-pull, a night-school, a dancing-class, and a game ofblindman's-buff forthwith. Moreover, not a few discovered traces ofbeauty and sweetness in the face of the formerly plain, severe oldmaid, and slyly one or two began a species of courtship.
On all their manoeuvres the little convalescent looked with gravecuriosity. Such antics he had surely never seen. Pale and silent, ashe sat on Jim's big knee one evening, he watched the men intently,their crude attempts at his entertainment furnishing an obvious puzzleto his tiny mind. Then presently he looked with wonder and awe at thepresents, unable to understand that all this wealth of bottles, cubes,tops, balls, and wagons was his own.
The carpenter was spelling "cat" and "dog" and "Jim" with the blocks,while Field was rolling the balls on the floor and others weredemonstrating the beauties and functions of kaleidoscopes and endlessother offerings; but through it all the pale little guest of the campstill held with undiminished fervor to the doll that Jim had made whenfirst he came to Borealis.
"We'd ought to git up another big Christmas," said the blacksmith,standing with his arms akimbo. "He didn't have no holidays worth acent."
"We could roll 'em all into one," suggested Field--"Christmas, NewYear's, St. Valentine's, and Fourth of July."
"What's the matter with Washington's birthday?" Bone inquired.
"And mine?" added Keno, pulling down his sleeves. "By jinks! it comesnext week."
"Aw, you never had a birthday," answered the teamster. "You was jestmixed up and baked, like gingerbread."
"Or a lemon pie," said the carpenter, with obvious sarcasm.
"Wal, holidays are awful hard for some little folks to digest," saidJim. "I'm kind of scared to see another come along."
"I should think to-night is pretty near holiday enough," said thealtered Miss Doc. "Our little boy has come 'round delightful."
"Kerrect," said Bone. "But if us old cusses could see him sort oflaughin' and crowin' it would do us heaps of good."
"Give him time," said the teamster. "Some of the sickenest crowin' Iever heard was let out too soon."
The carpenter said, "You jest leave him alone with these here blocksfor a day or two, if you want to hear him laugh."
"'Ain't we all laughed at them things enough to suit you yit?" inquiredBone. "Some people would want you to laugh at their funeral, I reckon."
"Wal, laughin' ain't everything there is worth the havin'," Jimdrawled. "Some people's laughin' has made me ashamed, and some hasmade me walk with a limp, and some has made me fightin' mad. Whenlittle Skeezucks starts it off--I reckon it's goin' to make me a boyagain, goin' in swimmin' and eatin' bread-and-molasses."
For the next few days, however, Jim and the others were content to seethe signs of returning baby strength that came to little Skeezucks.That the clearing away of the leaden clouds, and the coming of beautyand sunshine, pure and dazzling, had a magical effect upon the tinychap, as well as on themselves, the men were all convinced. And thecamp, one afternoon, underwent a wholly novel and unexpected sensationof delight.
A man, with his sweet, young wife and three small, bright-facedchildren, came driving to Borealis. With two big horses steaming inthe crystal air and blowing great, white clouds of mist from theirnostrils, with wheels rimmed deeply by the snow between the spokes,with colored wraps and mittened hands, and three red worsted caps uponthe children's heads, the vision coming up the one straight street wasquite enough to warm up every heart in town.
The rig drew up in front of the blacksmith-shop, and twenty men camewalking there to give it welcome.
"Howdy, stranger?" said the blacksmith, as he came from his forge,bareheaded, his leathern apron tied about his waist, his sleeves rolledup, and his big, hairy arms akimbo. "Pleasant day. You're needin'somethin' fixed, I see," and he nodded quietly towards a road-side jobof mending at the doubletree, which was roughly wrapped about with rope.
"Yes. Good-morning," said the driver of the rig, a clear-eyed,wholesome-looking man of clerical appearance. "We had a littleaccident. We've come from Bullionville. How long do you think it willtake you to put us in shape?"
The smith was looking at the children.
Such a trio of blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked, unalarmed little girls hadnever before been seen in Borealis; and they all looked back at him andthe others with the most engaging frankness.
"Well, about how far you goin'?" said the smith, by way of answer.
"To Fremont," replied the stranger. "I'm a preacher, but they thoughtthey couldn't support a church at Bullionville," he added, with a look,half mirth, half worry, in his eyes. "However, a man from Fremontloaned us the horses and carriage, so we thought we'd move before thesnow fell any deeper. I'd like to go on without great delay, if themending can be hastened."
"Your off horse needs shoein'," said Webber, quickly scanning everydetail of the animals and vehicle with his practised eye. "It's a longpull to Fremont. I reckon you can't git started before the day aftertomorrow."
To a preacher who had found himself superfluous, the thought of thebill of expenses that would heap up so swiftly here in Borealis wasdistressing. He was poor; he was worried. Like many of the miners, hehad worked at a claim that proved to be worthless in the end.
"I--hoped it wouldn't take so long," he answered, slowly, "but then Isuppose we shall be obliged to make the best of the situation. Thereare stables where I can put up the horses, of course?"
"You kin use two stalls of mine," said the teamster, who liked thelooks of the three little girls as well as those of the somewhat shylittle mother and the preacher himself. "Boys, unhitch his stock."
Field, Bone, and the carpenter, recently made tender over all ofyoungster-kind, proceeded at once to unfasten the harness.
"But--where are we likely to find accommodations?" faltered thepreacher, doubtfully. "Is there any hotel or boarding-house in camp?"
"Well, not exactly--is there, Webber?" replied the teamster. "Theboardin'-house is over to the mill--the quartz-mill, ten miles down thecanon."
"But I reckon they could stop at Doc's," replied the smith, who hadinstantly determined that three bright-eyed little girls in red worstedcaps should not be permitted to leave Borealis without a visit first toJim and tiny Skeezucks. "Miss Doc could sure make room, even if Dochad to bunk up at Jim's. One of you fellers jest run up and ask her,quick! And, anyway," he added, "Mr. Preacher, you and the three littlegirls ought to see our little boy."
Field, who had recently developed a tender admiration for theheretofore repellent Miss Doc, started immediately.
He found old Jim and the pup already at the house where the tiny, palelittle Skeezucks still had domicile. Quickly relating the news of thehour, the messenger delivered his query as to room
to be had, in onelong gasp of breath.
Miss Doc flushed prettily, to think of entertaining a preacher and hisfamily. The thought of the three little girls set her heart to beatingin a way she could not take the time to analyze.
"Of course, they kin come, and welcome," she said. "I'll give 'em alla bite to eat directly, but I don't jest see where I'll put so many.If John and the preacher could both go up on the hill with you, Jim, I'low I could manage."
"Room there for six," said Jim, who felt some singular stirring ofexcitement in his veins at the thought of having the grave littlefoundling meet three other children here in the camp. "I'd give him abunk if Keno and me had to take to the floor."
"All right, I'll skedaddle right back there, lickety-split, and let 'emknow," said Field. "I knowed you'd do it, Miss Doc," and away he went.
By the time he returned to the blacksmith-shop the horses were gone tothe stable, and all the preacher's family and all their bundles wereout of the carriage. What plump-legged, healthy, inquisitiveyoungsters those three small girls appeared as they stood there in thesnow.
"All right!" said Field, as he came to the group, where everybodyseemed already acquainted and friendly. "Fixed up royal, and ye're allexpected right away."
"We couldn't leave the little gals to walk," said the blacksmith."I'll carry this one myself," and, taking the largest of the childrenin his big, bare arms, he swung her up with a certain gesture ofyearning not wholly under control.
"And I'll--"
"And I'll--" came quickly from the group, while six or eight bigfellows suddenly jostled each other in their haste to carry ayoungster. There being but two remaining, however, only two of the mengot prizes, and Field felt particularly injured because he had earnedsuch an honor, he felt, by running up to Doc's to make arrangements.He and several others were obliged to be contented with the bundles,not a few of which were threatened with destruction in the eagerness ofall to be of use.
But presently everything was adjusted, and, deserting the carriage, theshop, and everything else, the whole assemblage moved in procession onthe home of the Dennihans.
A few minutes later little Skeezucks, Jim, and the pup--all of themlooking from the window of the house--saw those three small caps ofred, and felt that New-Year's day had really come at last.
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