H. C. Bunner

“ What should I say? Would he speak pleasantly to me? Would he talk to me of his strange history? Should we stray into delightful confidences? Could I trust him with certain speculations which I had long nursed concerning the treasures of Captain Kidd? What was before me—the magic vista of romance, or the bitter ignominy of a snub?
The door opened, and the tall figure of Squire Five-Fathom leaned over me. Between his legs I saw the fire on the cabin hearth. All else was a smoky darkness. He looked down at me, and his great dark eyes stared, startled, questioning, out of their deep sockets. ”

“ On the edge of this inlet, among the low trees and underbrush at the base of the high point on which his father's house had stood, old John Gerrit dwelt in his little log-cabin, that had once been the temporary shelter of his father's negroes. He was fifty years old when the sad work of his life was done; and, knowing of no other work for himself, having no other aim in life, he sat himself down to live life out without troubling his neighbors. ”

“ The mansion on Near Point was finished in September, and the two Gerrits went to live in it. Standing at his west window late one afternoon, be looked out and saw a sight that filled him with pride. Middle Point was shorn of every tree, and bristled only with surveyor's stakes. Only the great gaps in the earth showed where the twisted roots had been, and these were growing into larger holes, that marked the sites of houses to be. Up in the streets back of the levee a few light structures had already arisen. Two or three temporary docks stretched out into the quiet blue waters of the harbor. ”

“ I was gently drawing the Squire away when there came one of these falls so tremendous that it seemed as though the house shook in answer to it. We all stood still, and then came a second so awful that our very thoughts stood still, and we were like stunned men for the moment. When we turned our eyes to the window, we saw the line of white for the last time; a fainter sound of falling billows reached our ears, and we saw only the confused turmoil of dark waves where the pier had been.
•⁠•⁠•⁠•⁠•
"Where is the old man?" Garbutt asked, a moment or two later: and we both listened. "Great God! " ”

“ Myndert Gerrit looked longest at Middle Point, now a low table of land with water on both sides. A street—or what was to be a street—ran down its middle, from the water to where, at the mainland, it joined the great road that stretched away through the woods to the river—to the great world—to trade and life and fortune. ”

“ As he stood on the hill to the south-west of his new purchase, Myndert Gerrit saw before him three wooded promontories stretching out into the lake—Near Point to the east, Far Point to the west, and Middle Point, shorter by half than its neighbors, nestling between them, and dividing a large bay into two snug harbors. Middle Point must have been, centuries ago, as long as the others, but it had been fighting a slowly losing battle with the mighty current from the west that swept inward from Far and out again past the end of Near Point. ”

“ And then it will be only a question of time—only a question of time—till they enclose the whole harbor. And then—and then—which is the better site—I ask you on your honor, sir, on your honor as a gentleman, which is the better—this, or that?"
He stretched out his long right arm and pointed to the new town, with an infinite contempt on his fine old face. His eyes glowed; his voice had grown deep and hollow, and firm once more. ”

“ I asserted, with vigor.
"Tappan!" he said; "they ought to know. You aren't mistaken? Say it again!"
His voice had now grown tremulous. He was standing erect, trembling with an excitement that frightened me. As well as I could, I repeated the brief conversation between the mayor of the town and my father. He heard me through, I thought, though his eyes glared straight ahead, as though he heard some distant sound. Then, when I ceased, he turned away from me and fell on his knees by the side of the bed, burying his face in his faded coat. ”

“ Nobody was willing to invest money where it could only lie idle until the completion of the harbor-works gave the new port a positive value. This grieved the old gentleman's soul. He had begun to look upon his father's old house as his own; it seemed a hardship to be kept out of it another year just for the want of a few beggarly thousands of ready money. That was all that he needed. The present owner was ready and willing to sell. He was a prosperous Westerner, who had brought an ailing wife to Gerrit's Gate in the hope that the strong lake winds might strengthen her. ”

“ Gerrit was gone; "I need no inducement to avail myself of the chance of accepting your hospitality; but were I invited to meet that gentleman who has just left, in the hovel of a Pawnee Indian, I would come, if I had to come from the Cape of Good Hope." This praise of my idol so filled my boyish heart that I lay awake half the night, thinking of it.
As the years went on the Squire and Abe took me into their united lives, and we formed a triple alliance. Poor Abe's part in this was but small. ”

“ The great pier on Far Point had crawled out till it stemmed the current and turned it off from the shore. With every stone that should be laid, with every day's work, that terrible stream would be forced further and further out—further and further away from our level shore. ”

“ Hear, if you can, in your thought, the sound of people moving about the streets, of children's voices at play, of clanking anvils, of horses feet on the roadways, of creaking cordage and flapping canvas where your laden ships lie at their docks with their white sails emblazoned by the warm light of the west! ”

“ For when you wake to-morrow you will awake from a dream, your returns shall be water and the wind of the north; your house shall be taken from you, and in a little while you shall have no part or lot in this home of your own choosing—save in six feet of earth above your face. ”

“ As I grew older, and acquired an intelligent comprehension of the hope that was the old Squire's life, I found that Abe had concentrated all the mental powers he possessed on that one subject.
When I was fourteen, the great pier was nearing completion. It ran north eastward from Far Point, and was to be supplemented by a similar structure extending due north from the eastward end of the town. From the mouth of the inlet we watched its daily growth, expectant of an end unforeseen by the builders. ”

“ Every child is something of a snob, and I do not think we can fairly blame the child. We must consider that he has only material standards of comparison; that a fine coat is to him clearly and naturally an object of admiration, while it may take a life-time to learn the beauty of an ethical virtue ”

“ When the Squire ended, he rose, politely.
"Set down, Mr. Gerrit," he said; "set down, sir. We folks out West do business putty lively, but we ain't got to your style of speed yet. This thing ain't to be done quite so quick."
The Squire forced himself to sit down.
"It must be done to-night, Mr. Garbutt," he began.
"It'll be done to-night," said Mr. Garbutt, reassuringly; "but it's got to be done business-like. I can't give you a deed——"
"Your word, your word, Mr. Garbutt," cried the Squire; "your word is quite enough for me!"
"Ef I sh'd die to-night," said Mr. Garbutt, impressively ”

“ Gerrit," he said; and we both drank, and the Squire after us, bowing courteously.
"I don't blame you, Mr. Gerrit," said Mr. Garbutt, lolling back in a great velvet easy-chair, "for buying this piece of prop'ty, as a matter of fancy. It's a first-rate house, an' a good bit of land, I'll say that for it. But as for me, this town ain't live enough for me. Mrs. Garbutt, she mostly goes to bed long about eight or ha'-pas'-eight, an I set here 'n' read Patent Office Reports till I go to sleep. If there's any society here, it ain't took the trouble to root me out." ”

“ Then I can stow your money away 'n' feel that all's business-like 'n' right. How's that?"
The Squire sat down at the gaudy little desk, and tried to write; but his hand trembled so that what he wrote (I have the sheet now) was but a tremulous scrawl that no man could read.
Meanwhile, Mr. Garbutt was addressing me in my capacity of guardian.
"Know your pa, don't I?" he said. "You kinder look after the old man, eh? Got sorter crazy on this business, ain't he? Well, you tell your pa that I'll lock the old man's money up safe for the night, an he can call 'n' get it when he wants to. ”