Author: Oliver Optic
Category: Adventure
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CHAPTER X.
WHAT SIM GWYNN WANTED TO SEE ME FOR.
Sim Gwynn was hungry, and that was the greatest misfortune which couldpossibly happen to him. He was growing rapidly, and consumed a vastamount of food. I pitied him, as I did any one who was kept on shortallowance, and I hastened to the house as quickly as I could, in orderto relieve what was positive suffering on his part. I intended to obtainthe food at home if possible; if not, to purchase it at the store.
Captain Fishley had probably harnessed the horse himself, for he and thesquire had gone away. I went into the house. No one was there but Flora.Mrs. Fishley had gone, with her husband, to sun herself in the smiles ofthe senator. She never liked to be left at home when there was anythinggoing on. In the buttery I found plenty of cooked provisions; for,whatever else may be said of the Fishleys, they always had enough toeat, and that which was good enough. "Short provender" had never beenone of my grievances, and I pitied poor Sim all the more on thisaccount.
Mrs. Fishley had evidently given the distinguished visitor credit for alarger appetite than he possessed after his debauch the night before,and there was at least a pound of cold fried ham left. I took a paperbag, and put into it half the meat and as much cold corned beef as wouldhave fed me for two days, with a plentiful supply of biscuits, crackers,and brown bread. I filled the bag full, determined that Sim should haveplenty to eat for once in his life. Thus laden with enough to fill thestomach that had "nothing in it," I returned to the swamp.
I need not say that the hungry runaway was glad to see me. I pushed offthe raft, and poled it over to the fallen tree, where we should not bedisturbed by any possible passer-by. Sim looked piteously sad andsorrowful; he glanced wistfully at the paper bag, and seemed to begrudgeevery moment of delay. At the tree, I took out the contents of the bag,and spread them on the log. Sim's eyes dilated till they were like apair of saucers, and an expression of intense satisfaction lighted uphis dull features.
"Go in, Sim," said I, as soon as I had spread the table for him.
"Thank you, Buck! You are a good fellow," replied he, warmly. "I knowedyou'd help me, and that's what I wanted to see you for."
I thought it would be cruel to interrupt an operation so agreeable tohim as that of eating, and I asked no questions. He looked grateful, andsatisfactorily demonstrated that the proof of the pudding is in theeating. Though I was amused at his greediness, and enjoyed his appetitealmost as much as he did himself, I did not wish to embarrass him; and,mounting the fallen tree, I walked upon its trunk so far from him thatit was not convenient for him to speak to me. He had it all his own way;for I think it is mean to watch a hungry boy when he is eating, or totake note of the quantity he consumes.
From my position I could see the stream, and the pile of lumber overwhich I had moralized. I could not help thinking that something must bedone with those refuse logs and boards. I cannot exactly explain how itwas, but that pile of senseless lumber seemed, in some indefinitemanner, to connect itself with my affairs at the house. The thrashing Ihad just received from my two masculine tyrants assured me that I was nomatch for both of them. In a word, it was strongly impressed upon mymind that I could not stay in Torrentville much longer.
I had a taste for river scenery. Every night, when I went for the mail,I used to see the steamboat on the river; and I often thought I shouldbe "made" if I could make a trip in her. Ever since my brother wrotethat he should take us down to New Orleans in the fall, I had lookedforward with intense joy to the voyage down the river. In a smaller waymy raft had afforded me a great deal of pleasure on the waters of theswamp, though the swift current did not permit me to embark on thestream.
Perhaps the decided course of Sim Gwynn in leaving his disagreeablesituation had some influence upon my reflections. I had often thought ofdoing the same thing myself, and only my poor sister had prevented mefrom acting upon the suggestion. I had some money now. Why could I notgo, and take her with me? But I had not enough to pay our fares to NewOrleans, and there was no other place to which I could go. Besides,Captain Fishley would not let us go. If we went by any publicconveyance, he could easily stop us.
"I have it!" I exclaimed, in a tone so loud that Sim was disturbed inhis interesting occupation.
He started from his seat, and looked at me, with his mouth filled withfood, his jaws suspending their pleasing occupation.
"Did you speak to me, Buck?" he called.
"No," I replied, walking towards him.
I looked at him, and realized that he was beginning to weary of histask. Doubtless he felt it to be a duty to eat all he could; but he hadalready disposed of the major part of what I had brought him, and wasstill struggling manfully with the balance.
"I heard you say, 'I have it,'" added Sim, jumbling the words throughthe food in his mouth.
"Well, I have it."
"So have I. That's the best meal of victuals I've had for a year. I'msorry I can't eat no more."
"You will get hungry again."
"Shall I keep the rest of it?" he asked.
"Certainly; and when that is gone, I will bring you some more."
"Thank you, Buck. I knowed you'd help me, and that's what I wanted tosee you for."
"I think I heard you say that before. Now, Sim, what are you going todo?"
"I don't know," he replied, blankly.
"You have left Barkspear's. Are you going back again?"
"I don't know. That's what I wanted to see you for."
"Haven't you any idea what you intend to do?"
"Not the leastest grain in the world. That's what I wanted to see youfor, you see."
"But you wish to do something."
"I don't care. If I get enough to eat, it don't make no difference tome. I shan't get much to eat if I go back to Barkspear's."
This seemed to be the great question with him. He was willing to workhard for enough to eat. He was not a dandy, and the clothes question didnot trouble him. It was only terrible to be hungry.
"Sim, I'm going to run away myself," said I.
"What, from Fishley's?" he demanded, opening his eyes.
"Yes, from Fishley's."
"Don't they give you enough to eat?"
"Plenty."
"What do you want to run away for, then?" asked he; and, if theprovision question was all right, he did not think there ought to betrouble about any other matter.
"They don't use me well, and they don't use my sister well."
"But they give you enough to eat."
"I would rather be starved than treated like a dog. My brother Clarenceis going to take us away in the fall; but I don't think I can stand ittill that time."
I took off my coat, and showed him one of the wales of the cowhide whichmy tyrants had left upon my arm.
"But they give you all you want to eat," he replied, pulling away therags from his shoulder, and exhibiting some marks like my own. "I don'tmind them things much if they will only let me have something to eat."
Sim was a puzzle to me. He was all stomach. Blows were nothing; food waseverything.
"Where have you been since yesterday?" I asked.
"Laying round, looking for something to eat."
"Sim, we must build a raft," I added.
"What for?" he inquired, opening his eyes, as he always did when hismuddy brain seized an idea.
"To run away on. Do you see those logs and boards?"
"I see them."
"Well, Sim, we can build a big raft, with a house on it,--a place tolive in,--where we can cook, and sleep, and eat."
"Eat!" exclaimed he, opening his mouth wide enough to take in agood-sized leg of bacon.
"Of course, if we live on the raft, we must have something to eat."
"Can we get enough?" he asked, incredulously.
"You shall have all you want."
"Goody!" shouted he.
"You must keep still about it, and not say a word to any one."
"I don't see nobody. I have to keep out of sight, or Barkspear w
illcatch me. I'm bound to him. I shan't tell nobody."
"In a few days we will have the house ready for you to live in; and Iwill bring you all you need to eat."
"That's all I want."
"You can work on the raft, and I will help you all I can."
"I will work from daylight till dark, if I only get something to eat."
I pushed the raft over to the pile of lumber. I was quite excited assoon as the idea had taken full possession of my mind. I was notsatisfied that the plan of leaving Torrentville with Flora, on a raft,was practicable; but I could have the fun of planning and building it;and really this was all I expected to do. If worse came to worst, Icould get away from the town with my sister better by the way of theswamp than by the road. I explained to Sim more clearly what I intendedto do, and how to construct the raft. He was even more enthusiastic thanI was, for the scheme would enable him to help me, and thus pay for theprovisions he consumed. He wanted to go to work at once; but nothingcould be done without an axe, some nails, and other articles which Iintended to procure.
I left Sim with the promise to see him again in the afternoon, andreturned to the house. I was not attending school at all at this time,as the winter term had closed, and the summer one had not commenced, andI had nothing to do but work about the place. I went into the house, andtalked with Flora. I told her what had happened--how I had been whippedby both father and son. She cried, and begged me not to disobey them anymore.
"If they treat me decently, I will do all they tell me, Flora," Ireplied; "but I will not be trodden upon."
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the wagon, and I wentout, in order that I might not be "tackled" before my sister. CaptainFishley gave me an ugly look; but I knew he would not say anythingbefore his brother, and he did not. He told me I _might_ put the horseup, and I did so. But I felt that the day of settlement would come assoon as the squire departed.
At dinner-time I was sometimes required to stay in the store, and I wasdirected to do so on this day. I selected a couple of stoutclothes-lines, a shingling hatchet, and put up two pounds of ten-pennynails. I wrote down the articles on a piece of paper, and carried it,with the five-dollar bill taken from my roll, to the captain. He gave methe change, without knowing who the customer was, and I concealed thearticles in the barn. When I had eaten my dinner, and taken care ofDarky and the pigs, I started for the swamp again, with the goods I hadbought.