human
Evenin', Mr. Gwynne.
gpt
Good evening,
human
I've been follerin' you fer quite a ways, observed the unknown.
gpt
Guess you don't remember me. My name is Stain, Isaac Stain.
human
I remember you quite well, said Kenneth, stiffly.
gpt
May I inquire why you have been following me, Mr. Stain?
human
Well, I jest didn't know of anybody else I could come to about a certain matter. It has to do with that feller, Lapelle, up yander in Trentman's place. Fust, I went up to Mrs. Gwyn's house, but it was all dark, an' nobody to home 'cept that dog o' her'n. He knowed me er else he'd have jumped me. I guess we'd better mosey away from this place. A good many trees have ears, you know.
gpt
Seems that Violy is right smart taken with this Lapelle feller, he observed.
human
Well, I thought I'd oughter tell her ma what I heerd about him to-day. Course, everybody's heerd queer things about him, but this beats anything I've come acrosst yet. Martin Hawk's daughter, Moll, come hoofin' it up to my cabin this mornin' an' told me the derndest story you've ever heerd. She came to me, she sez, on account of me bein' an old friend of Rachel's, an' she claims to be a decent, honest girl in spite of what her dodgasted father is. Everybody believes Mart is a hoss thief an' sheep-stealer an' all that, but he hain't ever been caught at it. He's purty thick with Barry Lapelle. Moll Hawk sez her dad'll kill her if he ever finds out she come to me with this story. Seems that Barry an' Violy are calculatin' on gettin' married an' the old woman objects. Some time this past week, Violy told Barry she wouldn't marry him anywheres 'cept in her own mother's house. Well, from what Moll sez, Barry has got other idees about it.
gpt
Go on, Stain. What did the girl tell you?
human
I don't believe it, Stain, broke in Kenneth.
gpt
She would not lend herself to a low-down trick like that.
human
They say she's terrible in love with Barry, an' gosh only knows what a woman'll stoop to in order to git the man she's set her heart on. Why, I could tell you somethin' about a woman that was after me some years back,--a widder down below Vincennes,--her husband used to run a flatboat,--an', by cracky, Mr. Gwynne, you wouldn't believe the things she done. Chased me clean down to Saint Louis an' back ag'in, an' then trailed me nearly fifty miles through the woods to an Injin village on the White River. I don't know what I'd have done if it hadn't been fer an Injin I'd befriended a little while back. He shot her in the leg an' she was laid up fer nearly six weeks, givin' me that much of a start. That was four years ago an' to this day I never go to sleep at night without fust lookin' under the bed. Some day I'll tell you all about that woman, but not now. I'm jest tellin' this to show you what a woman'll do when she once makes up her mind, an' maybe Violy ain't any different from the rest of 'em.
gpt
Nevertheless, Viola is not that kind, asserted Kenneth, stubbornly.
human
She may be in love with Lapelle, but if she has made up her mind to be married at her mother's house, that's the end of it. See here, Stain, I've been thinking while you were talking. If there is really anything in this story, I doubt the wisdom of going to Mrs. Gwyn with it, and certainly it would be a bad plan to speak to Viola. We've got to handle this matter ourselves. I want to catch Barry Lapelle red-handed. That is the surest way to convince Viola that he is an unworthy scoundrel. It is my duty to protect my--my sister--and I shall find a way to do so, whether she likes it or not. You know, perhaps, that we are not on the friendliest of terms.
gpt
Yep, I know, said Stain.
human
You might as well know that I am on their side, Mr. Gwynne. Whatever the trouble is between you an' them two women, I am for them an' ag'in you. That's understood, ain't it?
gpt
It is, replied Kenneth, impressed by the hunter's frankness.
human
But all the more reason why in a case like this you and I should work hand in hand. I am glad you came to me with the Hawk girl's story. Hawk and his crew will find me waiting for them when they come. They will not find their job a simple one.
gpt
I guess you'll need a little help, Mr. Gwynne, said Stain, drily.
human
What are you goin' to do? Call in a lot o' these dodgasted canary birds to fight the hawks? If you do, you'll get licked. What you want is a man er two that knows how to shoot an' is in the habit o' huntin' varmints. You c'n count on me, Mr. Gwynne, if you need me. If you feel that you don't need me, jest say so, an' I'll go it alone. I don't like Martin Hawk; we got a grudge to settle, him an' me. So make your choice. You an' me will work in cahoots with each other, or we'll go at it single-hand.
gpt
We will work together, Stain, said Kenneth, promptly.
human
You know your man, you know the lay of the land, and you are smarter than I am when it comes to handling an affair of this kind. I will be guided by you. Shake hands.
gpt
You should see this Hawk girl again and keep in touch with their plans. We must not let them catch us napping.
human
She's comin' to see me in a day er so. Mart Hawk went down to Attica to-day, him an' a feller named Suggs who's been soberin' up at Mart's fer the past few days. The chances are he's gone down there on this very business.
gpt
Will you keep in touch with me?
human
Yes, sir. If you ain't got anything to do to-morrow, you might ride out to my place, where we c'n talk a little more free-like.
gpt
A good idea, Stain. You are sure nothing is likely to happen to-night?
human
Not till the dark o' the moon, she sez.
gpt
By the way, why is she turning against her father like this?
human
Well, you remember what I was jest sayin' about women,--how sot they are in their ways concarnin' a man? Well, Moll is after Barry Lapelle,--no question about that. She's an uncommon good-lookin' girl, I might say, an' I guess Barry ain't blind. Course, she's an unedicated girl an' purty poor trash,--you couldn't expect much else of a daughter of Martin Hawk, I guess,--but that don't seem to make much difference when it comes to fallin' in love. You don't need to have much book learnin' fer that. I could tell ye about a girl I used to know,--but we'll save it fer some other time.
gpt
I see, mused Kenneth, reflectively.
human
She wants Lapelle for herself. But doesn't she realize that if they attempt this outrage her own father stands a pretty good chance of being shot?
gpt
Lord love ye, that don't worry her none, explained the hunter.
human
She don't keer much what happens to him. Why, up to this day he licks the daylights out o' her, big as she is. You c'n hear her yell fer half a mile. That's how she comes to be a friend o' mine, I happened to be huntin' down nigh Mart's place last fall an' heerd her screamin',--you could hear the blows landin' on her back, too,--so I jest stepped sort o' spry to'ards his cabin an' ketched him layin' it on with a wilier branch as thick as your thumb, an' her a screechin' like a wild-cat in a trap. Well, what happened inside the next minute made a friend o' her fer life,--an' an enemy o' him. You'd have thought any dootiful an' loyal offspring would o' tried to pull me off'n him, but all she done was to stand back an' egg me on, 'specially when I took to tannin' him with the same stick he'd been usin' on her. Seems like Mart's never felt very friendly to'ards me sence that day.
gpt
I shouldn't think he would.
human
When I got kind o' wore out with wollopin' him, I sot down to rest on the edge o' the waterin' trough, an' she comes over to me an' sez she wished I'd stay an' help her bury the old man. She said if I'd wait there she'd go an' get a couple o' spades out'n the barn,--well, to make a long story short, soon as Mart begin to realize he was dead an' wasn't goin' to have a regular funeral, with mourners an' all that, he sot up an' begin to whine all over ag'in. So I up an' told him if I ever heerd of him lickin' his gal ag'in, I'd come down an' take off what little hide there was left on him. He said he'd never lick her ag'in as long as he lived. So I sez to Moll, sez I, 'If you ever got anything to complain of about this here white-livered weasel, you jest come straight to me, an' I'll make him sorry he didn't get into hell sooner.' Well, sir, after that he never licked her without fust tyin' somethin' over her mouth so's she couldn't yell, an' it wasn't till this afternoon that I found out he'd been at it all along, same as ever, 'cept when Barry Lapelle was there. Seems that Barry stopped him from lickin' her once, an' that made Moll foller him around like a dog tryin' to lick his hand. No, sir, she won't be heartbroke if somebody puts a rifle ball between Mart's eyes an' loses it some'eres back inside his skull. She'd do it herself if she wasn't so doggoned sure somebody else is goin' to do it, sooner or later.
gpt
You say there was no one at home up at Mrs. Gwyn's? observed Kenneth, apprehensively.
human
That's queer. Where do you suppose they are?
gpt
That's what I'm wonderin' about. Mrs. Gwyn never goes nowhere, 'cept out to the farm, an' I'm purty sure she didn't--Say, do you hear somebody comin' up the road behind us?
human
I hear no one,
gpt
Well, you ain't got a hunter's ears, said the other.
human
Some one's follerin' us,--a good ways back. I've got so's I c'n hear an acorn drop forty mile away.