human
I began to think you never would come back, Nils,
gpt
Didn't I promise you I would?
human
Yes; but people don't bother about promises they make to babies. Did you really know you were going away for good when you went to Chicago with the cattle that time?
gpt
I thought it very likely, if I could make my way.
human
I don't see how you did it, Nils. Not many fellows could.
gpt
The hard thing was leaving home--you and father. It was easy enough, once I got beyond Chicago. Of course I got awful homesick; used to cry myself to sleep. But I'd burned my bridges.
human
You had always wanted to go, hadn't you?
gpt
Always. Do you still sleep in our little room? Is that cottonwood still by the window?
human
You remember how we always said the leaves were whispering when they rustled at night? Well, they always whispered to me about the sea. Sometimes they said names out of the geography books. In a high wind they had a desperate sound, like something trying to tear loose.
gpt
How funny, Nils, said Eric dreamily, resting his chin on his hand.
human
That tree still talks like that, and 'most always it talks to me about you.
gpt
Hadn't we better go back now? Mother will get tired waiting for us.
human
I didn't expect you'd be up so early, Nils,
gpt
Oh, you thought I was a dude, did you? Nils gave him a playful tap which bent the tall boy up like a clasp-knife.
human
See here; I must teach you to box. Nils thrust his hands into his pockets and walked about.
gpt
You haven't changed things much up here. Got most of my old traps, haven't you?
human
If this isn't the stick Lou Sandberg killed himself with!
gpt
Yes; you never used to let me play with that. Just how did he do it, Nils? You were with father when he found Lou, weren't you?
human
Yes. Father was going off to preach somewhere, and, as we drove along, Lou's place looked sort of forlorn, and we thought we'd stop and cheer him up. When we found him father said he'd been dead a couple days. He'd tied a piece of binding twine round his neck, made a noose in each end, fixed the nooses over the ends of a bent stick, and let the stick spring straight; strangled himself.
gpt
What made him kill himself such a silly way?
human
What made him such a silly as to kill himself at all, I should say!
gpt
Oh, well! But his hogs had the cholera, and all up and died on him, didn't they?
human
Sure they did; but he didn't have cholera; and there were plenty of hogs left in the world, weren't there?
gpt
Well, but, if they weren't his, how could they do him any good?
human
Oh, scat! He could have had lots of fun with other people's hogs. He was a chump, Lou Sandberg. To kill yourself for a pig--think of that, now! Nils laughed all the way downstairs, and quite embarrassed little Eric, who fell to scrubbing his face and hands at the tin basin. While he was patting his wet hair at the kitchen looking-glass, a heavy tread sounded on the stairs. The boy dropped his comb.
gpt
Gracious, there's Mother. We must have talked too long.