Latest / The Boy Scout Book of Campfire Stories / Chapter 12: The Story That the Keg Told Me by Adirondack (W. H. H.) Murray

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Chapter 12: The Story That the Keg Told Me by Adirondack (W. H. H.) Murray · The Boy Scout Book of Campfire Stories

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Speaker 1: Chapter twelve of The Boy Scout's Book of Campfire Stories.
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Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by David Gore, The Boy
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Speaker 1: Scout's Book of camp Fire Stories, Chapter twelve, The Story
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Speaker 1: that the keg Told Me by Aderondack Murray more formally
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Speaker 1: known as William Henry Harrison Murray. Editor's note. The author
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Speaker 1: is Aderondack Murray because he, more than any other man,
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Speaker 1: rediscovered for the past and present generation, the wonderful Aderondack Woods.
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Speaker 1: We are grateful to mister Archibald Rutledge for having shortened
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Speaker 1: this story, and to mister Murray's publishers, De Wolf and
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Speaker 1: Fisk Company for permission to print it in the abbreviated form.
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Speaker 1: The editor. It was near the close of a sultry
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Speaker 1: day in midsummer, which I had spent in exploring a
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Speaker 1: part of the shoreline of the lake where I was camping,
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Speaker 1: and wearied with the trip I had made, I was
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Speaker 1: returning toward the camp. The lake was a very secluded
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Speaker 1: sheet of water, hidden away between the mountains, not marked
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Speaker 1: on the map, whose very existence was unsuspected by me
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Speaker 1: until I had a few days before accidentally stumbled upon it. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: in all the world, there is hardly another sheet of
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Speaker 1: water so likely to escape the eye, not only of
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Speaker 1: the tourists and of the sportsman, but also of the
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Speaker 1: hunter and the trapper. Day by day, as I paddled
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Speaker 1: over the lake or explored its shores, the conviction grew
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Speaker 1: upon me that the place had never before been visited
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Speaker 1: by any human being. The more I examined and explored,
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Speaker 1: the more this belief grew upon me. The thought was
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Speaker 1: with me. But on this afternoon, as I was paddling
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Speaker 1: leisurely along, my paddle, struck some curious object in the water.
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Speaker 1: I reached down and lifted it into the boat. It
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Speaker 1: was a keg Amazed, I sat looking at this proof
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Speaker 1: that my lake was not so unknown as I had
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Speaker 1: supposed it to be. Where had it come from, How
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Speaker 1: did it get here? Who brought it? And for what purpose?
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Speaker 1: These and similar questions I put to myself as I
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Speaker 1: paddled onward toward my camp. After having built my camp fire,
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Speaker 1: I seated myself with my back against a pine. It
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Speaker 1: was then that my gaze fell on the keg which
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Speaker 1: I had brought up from the boat and had set
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Speaker 1: on the ground across the fire from me. I sat
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Speaker 1: wondering where it had come from, and what had become
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Speaker 1: of him who must once have handled it. It may
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Speaker 1: be that I was awake, it may be that I
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Speaker 1: was asleep. But as I was thus, looking steadily and
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Speaker 1: curiously at the keg, it seemed to change its appearance.
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Speaker 1: It was no longer a keg. It was a man,
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Speaker 1: a queer little man. He was, with strange little legs
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Speaker 1: and the funniest little body and the tiniest little face. Then,
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Speaker 1: standing bold upright and looking at me with eyes that
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Speaker 1: glistened like black beads, the miraculous keg man opened his
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Speaker 1: mouth and began to talk. I desire to tell you
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Speaker 1: my story, it said, the story of the man who
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Speaker 1: brought me here, why he did it, and what became
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Speaker 1: of him, how he lived and died. The earliest remembrance
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Speaker 1: I have of myself is of the Cooper's shop where
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Speaker 1: I was made. Although I look warm now, I can
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Speaker 1: recall the time when all my staves were smooth and clean,
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Speaker 1: so that the oak grain showed clearly from the top
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Speaker 1: to the bottom of me, and my steel hoops were
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Speaker 1: strong and bright. The cooper made me on his honor,
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Speaker 1: and took a deal of honest pride in putting me together,
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Speaker 1: as every workman should in doing his work. I remember
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Speaker 1: that when I was finished, and the cooper had sanded
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Speaker 1: me off and oiled me, he set me up on
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Speaker 1: a bench and said to his apprentice boy there that
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Speaker 1: keg will last till the judgment day, and well on
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Speaker 1: toward night. At that I wondered at that. One day,
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Speaker 1: a few weeks later, a man came into the shop
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Speaker 1: and said, have you a good, strong keg for sale?
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Speaker 1: He put the question in such a half spiteful, half
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Speaker 1: suspicious way, that I eyed him curiously, and a very
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Speaker 1: peculiar man I saw. He was not more than forty
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Speaker 1: years old, of good height, and strongly built. He was
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Speaker 1: a gentleman, evidently, although his face was darkly tanned and
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Speaker 1: his clothes were old and threadbare. His mouth was small,
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Speaker 1: his lips were thin and had a look of being
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Speaker 1: drawn tightly over his teeth. His chin was long, his
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Speaker 1: jaws large and strong. His hair was thin and brown.
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Speaker 1: But the remarkable feature of his face was his eyes.
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Speaker 1: They were blue gray in color, small and deeply set
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Speaker 1: under his arching eyebrows. How hard and steel like they were,
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Speaker 1: and restless as a rat's. And what an intense look
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Speaker 1: of suspicion there was in them, a half scared, defiant look,
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Speaker 1: as if their owner felt every one to be his enemy. Ah,
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Speaker 1: what eyes eyes they were. I came to know them
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Speaker 1: well afterward, and to know what the wild, strange light
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Speaker 1: in them meant. But of that, by and by, have
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Speaker 1: you a good, strong keg for sale? He shouted to
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Speaker 1: my master, who turned round and looked squarely at the questioner.
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Speaker 1: Yes I have, mister Roberts. Do you want one? Yes,
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Speaker 1: returned the other. But I want a strong one. Strong?
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Speaker 1: Do you hear? Here's a keg, said my master, tapping
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Speaker 1: me with his mallet that I made with my own
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Speaker 1: hands from the very best stuff. It would last as
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Speaker 1: long as steel and white oak staves will last. The
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Speaker 1: price was paid with a muttered protest, and Roberts hoisted
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Speaker 1: me under his arm and bore me from the shop.
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Speaker 1: As we hurried along, I noticed that my new master
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Speaker 1: spoke to no one, and that people looked at him
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Speaker 1: coldly or wonderingly. At last we came to a common
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Speaker 1: looking house, set back from the road, with a very
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Speaker 1: high fence built around it, and a heavy padlock on
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Speaker 1: the front gate. There were great, strong wooden shutters at
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Speaker 1: every window. My master entered the house and set me
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Speaker 1: down on the floor. Then went to the door and
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Speaker 1: locked it, drawing two large iron bars across it. He
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Speaker 1: went to every window to see if it was fastened.
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Speaker 1: Carrying a candle in one hand and a great bludgeon
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Speaker 1: in the other, he examined every room, every closet, the attic,
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Speaker 1: and the cellar. After this he came back to me,
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Speaker 1: set me on a table, started one of my hoops,
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Speaker 1: and took out one of my heads from a cupboard.
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Speaker 1: He got a large sheepskin, and with a pair of shears,
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Speaker 1: fitted me with a lining of it. Must say that
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Speaker 1: he did it with cleverness, and he seemed well pleased
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Speaker 1: with his work. When he had done all this, he
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Speaker 1: brought his bludgeon and laid it on the table beside me.
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Speaker 1: Also he laid there a large knife. Then he went
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Speaker 1: to the chimney and brought an ash pail, which was
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Speaker 1: full of ashes. From the cupboard. He brought an earthen
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Speaker 1: jar from under the bed. He fetched a bag from
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Speaker 1: the cellar. He returned with a sack, all damp and moldy.
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Speaker 1: When he had all these side by side near the table,
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Speaker 1: he sat down. Then out of the ash pail he
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Speaker 1: took a small pot, and having carefully blown the ashes off,
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Speaker 1: he turned at bottom upward on the table. And what
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Speaker 1: do you think was in it? Gold coins, some red
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Speaker 1: and some yellow, but all gold. He emptied each of
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Speaker 1: the other receptacles, and out there flowed heaps of gold coins,
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Speaker 1: almost without number. How they gleamed and glistened, how they
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Speaker 1: clinked and jingled, And how the deep and narrow eyes
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Speaker 1: of my master glittered, But how the lips drew apart
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Speaker 1: in a wide smile. It was a fearful sight to
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Speaker 1: see him playing with the gold, and to hear him
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Speaker 1: laugh over his treasure. It was dreadful to think that
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Speaker 1: a human soul could love money so, and he did
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Speaker 1: love it madly, with all the strength of his nature.
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Speaker 1: He would take up a coin and look at it
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Speaker 1: as a father might look upon the face of a
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Speaker 1: favorite child. Ah Me, twas dreadful. He would take up
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Speaker 1: a piece and say to it, thou art better to
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Speaker 1: me than a wife, And to another thou art dearer
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Speaker 1: than fi mother Ah, Such blasphemy as I heard that night,
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Speaker 1: how the sweet and blessed things of human life were derided,
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Speaker 1: and the things that are divine and holy sneered at.
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Speaker 1: At length he fell to counting his gold, and for
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Speaker 1: a long long time he counted until his hand shook
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Speaker 1: and his eyes gleamed as if he were mad. When
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Speaker 1: he had counted it all, he jumped from his seat,
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Speaker 1: shouting like a maniac. Sixteen thousand, six hundred and sixty
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Speaker 1: six dollars. Again and again he shouted this in wild triumph.
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Speaker 1: After a while he sobered down, and in sight of me,
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Speaker 1: he began to pack away his treasures, carefully, caressingly, as
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Speaker 1: a mother might lay her children to sleep. When I
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Speaker 1: was full to the brim with shining gold, he put
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Speaker 1: my head on, fitted the upper hoopon snugly, and then
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Speaker 1: put me in the bed. The great knife he slipped
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Speaker 1: under the pillow. Then, blowing out the light, he lay
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Speaker 1: down beside me with one arm thrown about me. So
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Speaker 1: the miser, clasping me to his heart, fell asleep. Day
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Speaker 1: after day, night after night, this self sane performance was repeated.
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Speaker 1: My master did little work indeed, he did not seem
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Speaker 1: eager to increase his store, but merely to hold it safely.
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Speaker 1: But about this he was so anxious that he was
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Speaker 1: in a fever of excitement all the time. For days
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Speaker 1: he would not leave the house. Never was he free
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Speaker 1: from the fear of losing his money. And this suspicion
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Speaker 1: had poisoned his whole life, had made him hate his
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Speaker 1: kind mind and lose all belief in the love and
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Speaker 1: the goodness of God that he once professed. One day
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Speaker 1: in summer, he left the front door open. I was
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Speaker 1: drowsing when suddenly I heard him give a frightened yell.
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Speaker 1: In the doorway stood a man and a woman. The
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Speaker 1: man was the village pastor, and the woman, I soon
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Speaker 1: learned was my master's wife. For a moment, my master
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Speaker 1: stood looking angrily at them. Then he said, abruptly, why
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Speaker 1: did you come here? John said the woman, your child, Mary,
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Speaker 1: is dying, and I thought that you her father would
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Speaker 1: want to see her before she passed away. Her voice
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Speaker 1: choked and her breast heaved with sobs. Dying is she
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Speaker 1: said my master brutally. I don't believe it. You are
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Speaker 1: simply after my gold. You might as well get away
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Speaker 1: from here, he added, with a threatening look. John returned
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Speaker 1: the woman, great tears coming to her eyes. I never
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Speaker 1: in my life lied to you. Mary is dying, and
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Speaker 1: I could not let her go without giving you a
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Speaker 1: chance to see her. Last night, in her delirium, she
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Speaker 1: begged for you. She wants you, John, she wants to
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Speaker 1: say good bye to you. But my master remained unmoved.
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Speaker 1: The sinister look in the eyes, the doggedness of the
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Speaker 1: face did not change. He stared at them. Then he
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Speaker 1: shouted in frenzy, you lie. You want my money. Everybody
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Speaker 1: wants it, everybody loves it. There isn't an honest man
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Speaker 1: in the world. All are thieves, all are lovers of gold.
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Speaker 1: I know by your looks that you love it, he
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Speaker 1: went on. And you can't fool me by your tears
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Speaker 1: and your preaching. You get out of this house, he
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Speaker 1: suddenly shrieked, or I will kill you, both of you.
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Speaker 1: He swore a terrible oath, and stepped back to seize
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Speaker 1: the heavy bludgeon on the table. The woman cried out
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Speaker 1: in fear and turned away, weeping, but the parson stood
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Speaker 1: his ground. John Roberts, He said, thou art a doomed man.
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Speaker 1: The lust of gold that destroys so many is in THEE,
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Speaker 1: strong and mighty, and only God can save thee. Nor
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Speaker 1: he against thy will repent, or thou shalt perish in
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Speaker 1: a lonely place on a dark night with none to
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Speaker 1: help thee, or hear thy cries, and all thy gold
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Speaker 1: shall perish with thee. So saying, he turned and slowly
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Speaker 1: left the house. For a moment, my master stood glaring
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Speaker 1: at the retreating forms of those who had come to
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Speaker 1: him as friends, but whom he had treated his enemies.
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Speaker 1: Then he rushed for the door and locked it. After
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Speaker 1: that he lifted me tenderly upon the table, laughed softly,
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Speaker 1: patted me with his hands, and stroked me caressingly. My gold.
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Speaker 1: He kept repeating, my precious, precious gold. And as night
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Speaker 1: came on, he poured out the gold and counted the
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Speaker 1: glittering pieces again and again. He counted his treasure until
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Speaker 1: deep midnight had settled over all. But when he awoke
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Speaker 1: in the morning, he was very nervous. All day long,
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Speaker 1: he neither opened the door nor unbarred the shutters. All
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Speaker 1: the while he kept muttering to himself, as if planning
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Speaker 1: some crafty plot. I could not know what all this
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Speaker 1: might mean, but I caught enough of his talk to
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Speaker 1: understand that he was more than ever suspicious of losing
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Speaker 1: his money, was fearing all mankind more and more, and
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Speaker 1: was trying to devise some scheme whereby he could find
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Speaker 1: a place where no one could molest him or try
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Speaker 1: to steal his gold. They will get it. Yet, he
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Speaker 1: kept saying, unless I can go where no one can
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Speaker 1: find me, then he would curse his kind. At last,
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Speaker 1: after hours of muttering and tramping back and forth in
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Speaker 1: the darkened house, he suddenly seemed to find his decision.
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Speaker 1: I shall never forget the terrible expression of evil triumph
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Speaker 1: on his face as he paused before me and shouted,
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Speaker 1: I'll go go where they can never find me. I
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Speaker 1: want to be alone with my money, where I can
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Speaker 1: spread it out and see it shine. I will go
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Speaker 1: where there is not a man. After my master had
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Speaker 1: said that, he made no further remarks, but he began
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Speaker 1: with eager haste to pack a few things for his journey.
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Speaker 1: He put me in a sack in which I could
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Speaker 1: neither see nor hear what was happening, and that was
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Speaker 1: all I knew for many a day But all the
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Speaker 1: while I felt myself being carried, carried, carried. One day
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Speaker 1: I realized that I had been put in a boat.
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Speaker 1: Then we went on and on, day after day. Finally
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Speaker 1: the boat was stopped and I was carried ashore. Then,
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Speaker 1: for the first time in many a long day, I
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Speaker 1: was taken from the bag again. I saw the world
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Speaker 1: about me. But how different were my surroundings from those
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Speaker 1: of my old home. Where was I I was on
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Speaker 1: the very point of land off which you found me
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Speaker 1: this evening. For the first few weeks of our stay
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Speaker 1: on the shores of this lonely lake, things continued almost
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Speaker 1: as they had been at home. The gold was my
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Speaker 1: master's single thought. He seemed happy, almost joyous, in the
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Speaker 1: thought that he and I were at last out of
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Speaker 1: the reach of men. Most of his time was spent
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Speaker 1: looking at his gold. Every morning and every evening he
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Speaker 1: would take me down to that point yonder where the
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Speaker 1: sun shines clearly, and there would pour the treasure out
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Speaker 1: in a great pile. He always did this exultingly, and
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Speaker 1: his greatest pleasure was to play with the yellow coins,
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Speaker 1: to count them over and over, and to laugh himself
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Speaker 1: in a satisfied way. But after a time, I could
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Speaker 1: see that a change was coming over my master. He
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Speaker 1: grew grave and quiet. No more as he poured out
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Speaker 1: his gold did he chuckle and laughed to himself. All
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Speaker 1: his movements seemed listless. He counted his money less frequently,
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Speaker 1: and when he did so, it was in a half
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Speaker 1: hearted manner. One day I even saw him go away
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Speaker 1: and leave the yellow heap lying on the sands. At last,
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Speaker 1: one day he came packed the gold in me put
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Speaker 1: in my head with the greatest care. Moreover, when he
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Speaker 1: went back to the camp, he left me there on
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Speaker 1: the beach. I felt very strange and lonely, and the
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Speaker 1: night seemed long. Indeed, at last the daybreak came, and
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Speaker 1: glad I was to see it. But it was not
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Speaker 1: until near sunset that my master came down to the
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Speaker 1: point where I was. His face was as I had
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Speaker 1: never seen it before. It was the countenance of a
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Speaker 1: man who had suffered much, and who was still suffering.
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Speaker 1: He came to me, paused before me, and said, for
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Speaker 1: thee thou curst gold, I have wasted my life and
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Speaker 1: ruined my soul. For some time he stood thus looking
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Speaker 1: at me. Then he began to walk up and down
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Speaker 1: the strip of beach, wringing his hands and beating his breast. Oh,
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Speaker 1: if I could only do it, he kept saying, If
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Speaker 1: I could only do it, If I could, there might
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Speaker 1: be hope even for me. Lord help me to do it,
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Speaker 1: Lord help me. After many hours of this, which I
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Speaker 1: knew to be mental torment for my poor master, when
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Speaker 1: he was exhausted in body and in mind, he came
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Speaker 1: back along the sands toward me. To my astonishment, he
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Speaker 1: knelt down beside me. He placed his hands together. He
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Speaker 1: lifted his face skyward. My master prayed, Lord of the
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Speaker 1: great world. He said, come to my aid, or I
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Speaker 1: am lost in thy great mercy. Save me here where
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Speaker 1: no man may hear. Hear thou my cry, Thou, Lord
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Speaker 1: of heavenly mercy, lend me thine aid. He paused, and
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Speaker 1: over his face I seemed to see the dawning of
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Speaker 1: a deep peace. He rose to his feet, lifted me,
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Speaker 1: and bore me down to the boat. Then he slowly
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Speaker 1: paddled away toward the center of the lake, repeating his prayer.
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Speaker 1: At last he checked the boat. Then, having looked toward
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Speaker 1: the sky, he said, in a low, sweet voice, Lord,
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Speaker 1: thou hast given me grace and strength. At that he
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Speaker 1: lifted me high above his head. There was a crash,
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Speaker 1: as if pieces of wood were falling together, and my
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Speaker 1: eyes opened with a snap. My fire had smoldered down.
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Speaker 1: The keg, heated by the fire, had tumbled inward and
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Speaker 1: lay there in a confused heap. What a queer dream,
22:40
Speaker 1: I said to myself. I was really beginning to believe
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Speaker 1: that these things had happened. I rose to my feet
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Speaker 1: and stepped down to the edge of the lonely water.
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Speaker 1: I am not ashamed to say that my blood was
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Speaker 1: chilled at what I saw as I looked across the lake.
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Speaker 1: Within twenty feet of where I had found the keg,
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Speaker 1: there was a boat with a man sitting motionless in it.
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Speaker 1: When that mysterious canoe appeared on the bosom of the
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Speaker 1: lonely lake, I thought that I was looking upon a
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Speaker 1: vision of a spectral nature. In spite of all my
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Speaker 1: belief that I was alone on this remote beach, there
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Speaker 1: sat the man in the boat, only a few rods
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Speaker 1: off shore. He was a mirage, as silent as the
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Speaker 1: very lake itself. A few eerie moments passed, then the
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Speaker 1: boat began to move slowly toward me, gently propelled by
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Speaker 1: a skillful paddle. As it approached the light of the
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Speaker 1: full moon. Streaming upon it made it easy for me
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Speaker 1: to study its occupants. Near the bow, I could discern
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Speaker 1: a hound crouching in the stern sat the paddler, his
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Speaker 1: rifle across his knees. Hullo, oh the camp there, shouted
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Speaker 1: the man in the boat. HALLO. I called, glad enough
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Speaker 1: to find that my strange visitor was no apparition. The
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Speaker 1: canoe came ashore. I greeted the boatman, and together we
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Speaker 1: walked up toward the camp, the hound following us in
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Speaker 1: a leisurely fashion. There I replenished the fire. Then for
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Speaker 1: a moment the stranger and I stood and looked at
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Speaker 1: each other. He was over six feet in height, but
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Speaker 1: so symmetrically proportioned in his physical stature that great as
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Speaker 1: it was, he was neither awkward nor ungainly. But for
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Speaker 1: the fact that his eye had lost its earlier brightness,
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Speaker 1: and that his hair was sprinkled with threads of gray,
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Speaker 1: it would have been impossible to believe that he had
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Speaker 1: reached three score years and ten, for his form was
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Speaker 1: still erect, his step elastic, and his voice clear. And strong.
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Speaker 1: His features were regular and strong, giving proof of the
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Speaker 1: man's self reliant and indomitable character. Years, perhaps a lifetime
25:09
Speaker 1: of activity in the woods and on the legs, had
25:12
Speaker 1: bronzed the man from beneath heavy eyebrows looked, eyes gray
25:18
Speaker 1: in color and baffling in depth. The man's whole appearance
25:22
Speaker 1: attracted me singularly. Thank ye for your welcome, mister, he began.
25:29
Speaker 1: I shouldn't have dropped in on ye at this unseemly hour,
25:33
Speaker 1: but the line of your smoke caught my eye as
25:36
Speaker 1: I was turning the point yonder. I didn't expect to
25:39
Speaker 1: find a human being on these shores. I axe your
25:43
Speaker 1: pardon for coming in on you, but I have memories
25:46
Speaker 1: of this spot that made me think strange things when
25:49
Speaker 1: I saw your camp. I am John Norton, the trapper,
25:54
Speaker 1: and who might you be, young man? I am Henry Herbert,
25:59
Speaker 1: I replied, but just call me plain Henry. Well, Henry
26:04
Speaker 1: began the old trapper. I am going to call you
26:07
Speaker 1: that when men meet in the woods, they don't put
26:11
Speaker 1: on any airs. I have been in these woods sixty
26:15
Speaker 1: two years, and they have been a home for me
26:18
Speaker 1: from my father and mother are gone. And I have
26:21
Speaker 1: never had wife nor child of my own. And I
26:25
Speaker 1: have heard of you, Henry. You be no stranger to me.
26:29
Speaker 1: For ten years back. I've heard how you like to
26:32
Speaker 1: travel the woods in the waters by yourself, learning things
26:37
Speaker 1: that nature does not tell about in crowds. I have
26:41
Speaker 1: heard too, that you be a good shot, and you
26:44
Speaker 1: know the ways of outwitting the trout and the pickerel.
26:49
Speaker 1: Hearing about you this way, I knew some day that
26:52
Speaker 1: I would come across your trail, but I never thought
26:56
Speaker 1: to run again you to night, for I'd no idea
27:00
Speaker 1: that mortal man knowed this lake. Save me, save me,
27:04
Speaker 1: and that other. The old man paused, seated himself on
27:09
Speaker 1: the end of a log, and gazed into the fire
27:12
Speaker 1: with a solemn look on his face. I did not
27:16
Speaker 1: feel like breaking in on his meditations, whatever they might be.
27:21
Speaker 1: I was silent out of deference to his memories this lake.
27:27
Speaker 1: John Norton said at length, this lake is a strange place.
27:33
Speaker 1: I have been here for eleven years. No other place
27:37
Speaker 1: in all this wide country makes me feel as this
27:40
Speaker 1: place does. Again, he fell into a reverie. I meanwhile
27:47
Speaker 1: busied myself with supper, and as soon as this was prepared.
27:51
Speaker 1: The two of us enjoyed it as only woodman can.
27:56
Speaker 1: If you know me, I said, we are no strangers
27:59
Speaker 1: to each other. For I know you who draws the
28:02
Speaker 1: steadiest bead with a rifle. Who is the best boatman,
28:06
Speaker 1: who ever feathered paddle? And who as honest a man
28:10
Speaker 1: as ever drew breath? Who but John Norton, whom I
28:16
Speaker 1: have always been wanting to meet. No man could be
28:19
Speaker 1: as welcome to my camp. Well, well, laughed the old man.
28:26
Speaker 1: When you're at home, you must be one of them
28:28
Speaker 1: detective fellos. I see, we aren't no strangers to each other.
28:33
Speaker 1: And if while in these woods, Old John Norton can
28:36
Speaker 1: teach you any trick of hunting or fishing or trapping,
28:41
Speaker 1: be sure he will do so for the welcome you
28:44
Speaker 1: have given him. So we sat on either side of
28:49
Speaker 1: the fire silent for a few moments. Then the old
28:52
Speaker 1: trapper said, I am thinking of the things that happen here.
28:57
Speaker 1: Long years agone, strange things have come to pass on
29:02
Speaker 1: this very point. It is eleven years this very night
29:08
Speaker 1: that me and the hound slept here, and a solemn
29:11
Speaker 1: night it was too God, a heaven man, What is there?
29:17
Speaker 1: The old man's startled ejaculation brought me to my feet,
29:20
Speaker 1: as if a panther were upon me. Glancing at the
29:23
Speaker 1: spot he had indicated by look and gesture, I beheld
29:27
Speaker 1: only the shattered portion of the keg. Not knowing what
29:31
Speaker 1: to make of the trapper's excited action, I said that
29:35
Speaker 1: that is only a cag I picked up in the
29:37
Speaker 1: lake this evening. John Norton rose in silence to his
29:43
Speaker 1: feet and went over to where the stays lay. One
29:48
Speaker 1: of these he picked up and held contemplatively in his hand.
29:53
Speaker 1: The ways of the Lord are past the gnawing immortals,
29:57
Speaker 1: he said. But perhaps in the long run he brings
30:01
Speaker 1: the wrong to the right, and so makes the evil
30:05
Speaker 1: in the world to praise him. Henry said the old trapper,
30:10
Speaker 1: looking keenly at me, I have a mind to tell
30:14
Speaker 1: you the story of the man who owned that cag.
30:18
Speaker 1: A strange tale it be, but a true one, and
30:22
Speaker 1: the teaching of it be solemn. Eagerly I urged him
30:26
Speaker 1: to give me the story, a part of which at
30:29
Speaker 1: least I felt that I already knew. It was eleven
30:34
Speaker 1: year gone, in this very month that I came down
30:38
Speaker 1: to the inlet yonder into the lake. The moon was
30:42
Speaker 1: nigh her full, and everything looks solemn and white, just
30:46
Speaker 1: as it do now, Lord knows, I little thought to
30:50
Speaker 1: meet a man in these solitudes. When I run again
30:53
Speaker 1: what I'm telling you of. I was paddling down this
30:58
Speaker 1: side of the lake when I heard heard the strangest
31:01
Speaker 1: sounds I ever heard, coming out of a bird or beast.
31:05
Speaker 1: Ye'd better believe, Henry, that I sot An listened until
31:09
Speaker 1: I was nothing but ears, But ne'ery a thing could
31:13
Speaker 1: I make out of it. After a while, I said
31:16
Speaker 1: I would try to ambush the creature an find out
31:19
Speaker 1: what mouth had a language that old John Norton couldn't understand.
31:24
Speaker 1: As I got nearer the shore, my boat just drifting
31:27
Speaker 1: in the moonlight, I heard a kind of crawling sound,
31:31
Speaker 1: as if the brute was a trailin himself on the ground.
31:35
Speaker 1: The shake of a bush give me the line on him,
31:38
Speaker 1: and I felt sure that in a minute I could
31:40
Speaker 1: let the lead drive where it ought to go. I
31:43
Speaker 1: had my rifle to my face when, by the Lord
31:46
Speaker 1: O Mercy, Henry, I discovered I'd ambushed a man. An Henry,
31:53
Speaker 1: he continued, the words of the man was words of prayer.
31:59
Speaker 1: Never in my life was I taken so unawares or
32:03
Speaker 1: was so unbalanced as when I heard the voice of
32:05
Speaker 1: that man I had mistook for an animal breakout and prayer.
32:10
Speaker 1: For a minute. The blood stopped in my heart, and
32:14
Speaker 1: my hair moved in my scalp. Then I shook like
32:17
Speaker 1: a man with the chills. I had come that night
32:21
Speaker 1: to being a murderer, Henry. How that man prayed. He
32:28
Speaker 1: prayed for help as one calls to a comrade when
32:31
Speaker 1: his boat has gone down under him in the rapids,
32:35
Speaker 1: and he knows he must have help or die. This
32:39
Speaker 1: man's soul was struggling hard. I tell you the words
32:43
Speaker 1: of his cry come out of his mouth like the
32:46
Speaker 1: words of one who is surely lost unless somebody saves him.
32:51
Speaker 1: It's dreadful for a man to live in such a
32:54
Speaker 1: way that he has to pray in that fashion. For
32:57
Speaker 1: we ought to live, Henry, so that it is cheerful
33:00
Speaker 1: like to meet the Lord, and pleasant to hold converse
33:04
Speaker 1: with him. I sought in my boat till his praying
33:08
Speaker 1: was done. Then I hugged myself close in under the bushes,
33:13
Speaker 1: for I heard him coming down toward the shore. And
33:16
Speaker 1: he did come and come close to me, and in
33:20
Speaker 1: his arms he carried something very heavy. In a moment,
33:26
Speaker 1: I heard him shove a boat out from the bushes.
33:29
Speaker 1: Then getting in, he pushed off into the lake. He
33:33
Speaker 1: held for the center of it, and when he had
33:36
Speaker 1: come nigh to the middle of it, he laid his
33:39
Speaker 1: paddle down and lifted something into the air. This he
33:44
Speaker 1: turned upside down and out streamed into the water, something
33:48
Speaker 1: that glinted in the moonlight. After that he come paddling
33:53
Speaker 1: back for the shore. Myself I kept shy the man
33:57
Speaker 1: that night, but the next morning I went to the
33:59
Speaker 1: stranger's camp. There was nothing in sight but an old,
34:05
Speaker 1: ragged tint sagging at every scene. I called aloud, so
34:10
Speaker 1: that mayhap the man would answer me, but no answer came.
34:15
Speaker 1: I walked up to the tent and drew aside the
34:17
Speaker 1: rotten flap, and Henry there laid a man, senseless before me.
34:24
Speaker 1: I thought he was dead, and I uncovered my head,
34:28
Speaker 1: but the hound there knowed better, for he began to
34:31
Speaker 1: wag his tail. I went in and found that the
34:35
Speaker 1: man was still breathing. I lifted him in my arms
34:39
Speaker 1: Henry and bore him out of the file air of
34:42
Speaker 1: that tent, taking him down to the warm sunshine on
34:45
Speaker 1: the point. For a long while I thought he was
34:50
Speaker 1: going to die in my arms. He just lay there, lifeless,
34:54
Speaker 1: like a looking across the lake, with eyes half shut.
34:58
Speaker 1: But the sun and the air revived him, and after
35:02
Speaker 1: a long while he stirs and says, old man, who
35:07
Speaker 1: are you who are so kind to me? I tells
35:12
Speaker 1: him I was John Norton, the trapper. I am John Roberts,
35:18
Speaker 1: he says, And I amn't a friend on earth, nor
35:22
Speaker 1: do I deserve one. O man, you cannot understand because
35:29
Speaker 1: you have lived an innocent life. But I am a sinner,
35:34
Speaker 1: a wretched sinner. In my moments here numbered, I will
35:40
Speaker 1: tell you of my crimes. I will confess them, for
35:45
Speaker 1: they lie heavy on my heart. John Norton, I was
35:50
Speaker 1: a miser. I had a heart with a passion for gold.
35:55
Speaker 1: For the evil love of money. I turned my face
36:00
Speaker 1: way from my kind, my wife. I deserted my only child.
36:07
Speaker 1: I refused with curses to see even when she sent
36:11
Speaker 1: for me as she lay dying. John Norton, I gave
36:17
Speaker 1: all for gold, and the more I loved it, the
36:21
Speaker 1: more I hated man. With my dreadful lust. There grew
36:26
Speaker 1: suspicion of every one. All ties of affection were severed.
36:34
Speaker 1: I lived alone, hoarding my gold and gloating over it.
36:40
Speaker 1: At last I fled from the habitations of men, bringing
36:45
Speaker 1: my gold my God with me in a cag here
36:50
Speaker 1: on this lonely shore. I thought to be happy, far
36:54
Speaker 1: from my own kind, far from any danger that my
36:59
Speaker 1: precious treasure be stolen. But John Norton, and a dying
37:05
Speaker 1: man is speaking for all. My counting of the bright
37:09
Speaker 1: gold on the sands here, and my dancing about it
37:12
Speaker 1: as a devil might, laughing and singing. I was unhappy.
37:19
Speaker 1: I knew that God was watching me and was disapproving.
37:24
Speaker 1: I could not but think of my wife and child.
37:29
Speaker 1: The thought of them began to make the gold hateful
37:32
Speaker 1: to me. Ah, Then, old man, I began to pray
37:37
Speaker 1: the Lord to deliver me. It was a bitter struggle,
37:41
Speaker 1: I thought, But at length he rescued me. He gave
37:48
Speaker 1: me strength, John Norton, to overcome the wicked one. He
37:53
Speaker 1: gave me strength to break away from my sin. He
37:58
Speaker 1: gave me strength as night to pour every piece of
38:03
Speaker 1: gold that had been for me both love and life,
38:07
Speaker 1: into the lake. There. I shall never see it more,
38:13
Speaker 1: and I am happy. After that, he lay silent like,
38:21
Speaker 1: looking up at the blue sky. Then his eyes closed,
38:26
Speaker 1: and I thought him sleeping, But suddenly he started up
38:31
Speaker 1: a light, A light. I see a light, then Henry.
38:38
Speaker 1: He sank back into my arms and spoke no more.
38:44
Speaker 1: I hope my passing may be as peaceful as his,
38:48
Speaker 1: and my face as calm as was his. After his
38:51
Speaker 1: battle of life was over, the next day I buried
38:57
Speaker 1: him up yonder under them hemlocks, having no one to
38:59
Speaker 1: help help me, but doing it respectful, like as all
39:03
Speaker 1: such should be done. There he lies Henry, the man
39:08
Speaker 1: who is the owner of that keg John Roberts, the
39:12
Speaker 1: miser who repented before it was too late. Nor do
39:16
Speaker 1: I doubt, he added in his kindly tone, but he's
39:20
Speaker 1: been forgiven by those he wronged. End of Chapter twelve.
39:27
Speaker 1: Recording by David Gore and of The Boy Scout's Book
39:32
Speaker 1: of camp Fire Stories.