The Jack-Knife Man

awaken him, for an uneasy sense of discomfort gradually opened his eyes, and he found his knees aching and his whole body chilled and stiff. He climbed the fence into the farm-house yard. He had no

tter's petticoats, he would have left where it lay, but not knowing this he made a makeshift turban by knotting the corners, and drew i

day's wages before Mrs. Potter got out of bed. The exercise warmed him, but he kept one eye on the top of Mrs. Potter's kitchen chimney, looking for the thin smoke signal telling that breakfast was under way. The pile of sto

said the hungry Peter, "but I've got folks on my hands, and I've got to see to th

oor cautiously and peered in, ready to retreat should his entrance be inopportune. The woman was lying where he had left her, still in her wet clothes, and the cabin was icy cold. The boy, when

said, and reached

at still clinging to a strand. As she moved her head the hat moved with it, giving her a drunken, disreputable appearance. She talked rapidly and angrily, repeating the names of men, of "Susie" and "Buddy," stopping to sing a verse of a popular

scal!" he said, gathering

r leg. You oughtn't to stand on a tabl

ceasing his tears at once. "I like to f

ike that sort of a boy to me. Does your ma act fun

said

cheeks convinced him she was delirious with fever. Her hat, askew over one ear, gave Peter a feeling of shame for h

you off with this hat, because it's getting a

ne arm, and with the other fist struck Peter full in the face, so that

t," he said reprovingly; "I

! You can't come any of that over me! You took Susie,

r from the bunk, bu

e placed entirely wrong. I ain't the man you think I am at all. I'm the man

ooked at hi

Buddy?" s

Mama," said Buddy pro

scal!" cried Peter.

the floor. The woman seemed satisfied when she heard the boy's voice, and closed her eyes, and Peter took the opportunity to kindle the fire and start the breakfast. He cooked the omelet

l go! I'll go! That's what I get for being decent. You know I 've been decent since yo

ughing fit threw her back against the pillow,

. Don't I feed her plenty? Don't I dress her warm? Ain't she going to school li

going to take nobody whilst I'm in this boat, and you can make your mind up to th

let Ma try to carry you again. Your poo

said Buddy, "

Buddy. Ma can't carry you another step. God knows when I get to R

"for you ain't well. Try lying still, and I'll go right to town and g

om the Society. You took my Susie, and you want

o the bunk and ran her hand through his white kinks o

d. You can depend on that, I'm going to town, now, and I guess I'd better leave Buddy right here, for you'll be more comfortable knowing where

re. He wished to take no chances with the woman in her present state. He even too

aling that g

, nor me, nor your ma, would steal anything. Your ma's sick and don't know what she's doing, but she don't mean no real harm. I

. Involuntarily he glanced at Widow Potter

s plumb full!" he said disgustedly. "I've got to go up and see what's the mat

them all locked-which was a bad sign, unless she had gone to town while he was in the shanty-boat-but he knocked on the k

, Peter Lane

Peter a

grain and then hitch up and fetch a doctor as fast as he can be fetched. I might have laid here for weeks, you 're that unreliable. I'll put the barn key on the kitchen table, and when the doctor comes I'll be in my

es as rapidly as he could, feeding the stock and the chickens and milking the cows. He had eaten part of the omelet Buddy had commenced, but he thought it only right he should have a satisfying drink

, the new doctor who had come from Willets to build a practice in the larger town, happened to be in his offi

r her to have nobody to run them, but, if I was, I'd get a sort of nurse-woman t

t Mr. Potter?" a

and my boat is right near the widow's place, and I do odd chores for

inner being one of those plump, useful creatures that are wil

s house, to a shanty-boat you'll see there, and take a look at the woman I've got in it. So far as I can make out she's a mighty sick woman. I'll try to get

drive out

do her some harm if I wasn't there." The business Peter had to transact took him to George Rapp's Livery, Sale and Feed Stable, and by good luck he found George in his stuffy, o

it would be just the worst thing to go south at all. It ain't the right air for my lungs, and when you got to talking about chinchillas going out of fashion, I seen it wasn't worth the risk. Wha

ollars for the boat," laughed Rap

ybe I could raise what money I need to outfit, one way or another, but I can't afford to pay a caretaker to take care of that boat whilst

o start north?" as

k over a map and see where Labrador is before I start out. I thou

r all winter. All I want is to get her down to my place right away befo

or my trip I'll have to be round town more or less this winter, and as your place is a long w

ver as leave her there all winter. I want her down there when the ducks fly north. I'll give you five dollars extra for

er regretfully. "It upsets my plans, but I got to have some ready cash. If the wind shifts you

" said Rapp. "You can put off your trip. Seems li

eter. "Maybe I can trap muskrats or somet

hire a room from Mrs. Potter, if that lady would permit, and have the sick woman cared for there, or he might, have her brought to town and lodged somewhere, if any one would take her in. There was no hospital in Rive

n and beans, condensed milk and canned goods, sugar and other necessities, and then let his eyes wander over the grocer's shelves. He had about decided to buy a can of green gage plum

aracter, had been run out of Derlingport, the next town up the river, and ordered never to return under pain of tar and feathers. "The gay girl hit the ties in the direction of Riverbank at a Maud S. pace, yanking her young male offspring after her by the arm," wrote the reporter, "and when last seen seemed intending to favor River-bank with her soc

den oranges glowed in a box, near the door, and chose half a dozen and laid them beside his other purchases. These too were for the sick woman. Then he selected a

horse still stood in the bam-yard, and Peter put up hi

he bad off?" he asked w

hopping around like a toad in a skillet already, and she sent orders by me that you are to come and sleep in the kitchen, to be handy if she has a relapse in the nigh

n I've got to get started down river this aftern

. The doctor gave the boy and the cabin one glance and had Peter classed as one of the shiftless shanty-boatmen before he had pulled off his fur gloves. Then he t

e is dead

eyes stared at t

ed. "My wife? Why,

he has been dead an hour, at least. A weak heart, overtaxed, I should say. What do

. "It ain't nobody's fault but mine. I ought to have gone for you las

ere shanty-boatman. Here he could be severe, who had to be suave and politic with better people. He told Peter brutally that the woman had not been properly cared

e death had shocked him, he gave way to no outburst of sorrow such as might be e

een able to do anything. Probably not much after all. But if you don't

all unconscious, was rowing his table

t the boy on my hands, ain't she? I guess I

half an hour later, he shook

mself. "'Left the boy on my hands!' Poor boy

ed child as soon as the door was closed, and he did not see how

you and Uncle Peter just sort of snuggl