"Do you think I was born with so short a
memory, you scamp? Where are those nights on the way to Romney when you
covered me with your overcoat to keep me from freezing in the snow? Where,
for that matter, is that march in Maryland when Big Abel and you carried me
three miles in your arms after I had dropped delirious by the roadside? If
you thought I'd joke you about this, Pinetop, all I can say is that you've
turned into a confounded fool."
Pinetop came back to the fire and seated himself upon the flour barrel in
the corner. "'Twas this way, you see," he said, breaking, for the first
time, through his strong mountain reserve. "I al'ays thought I'd like to
read a bit, 'specially on winter evenings at home, when the nights are long
and you don't have to git up so powerful early in the mornings, but when I
was leetle thar warn't nobody to teach me how to begin; maw she didn't know
nothin' an' paw he was dead, though he never got beyond the first reader
when he was 'live."
He looked up and Dan nodded gravely over his pipe.
"Then when I got bigger I had to work mighty hard to keep things goin'--an'
it seemed to me every time I took out that thar leetle book at night I got
so dead sleepy I couldn't tell one letter from another; A looked jest like
Z."
"I see," said Dan quietly. "Well, there's time enough here anyhow. It will
be a good way to pass the evenings." He opened the primer and laid it on
his knee, running his fingers carelessly through its dog-eared pages.
Pages:
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419