The Jack-Knife Man

m going to let you do something you never did before, and that I wouldn't let many boy

means of that to the State of Iowa. He was preparing to take the shanty-boat down the river to George Rapp's place. His provisions were aboard, the rag of a sail lay ready to raise should the w

s," said Buddy out of

et down river if he didn't have somebody to steer for him. Now, you let me push that skiff into the wate

ther end of the boat where the long sweep was held with its blade suspended in the air, the handle caught under a cle

he said, "just as soon as I fix you the way they

otted one end about Buddy's waist, cut off a gene

ratively. "I don't want

lor-man couldn't think of steering a great

er stood, holding his end of

oller like that. Ain't I told you we must keep

nt to be tied!"

Just as soon as I get this boat out into the river, I'm going to be tie

ked at him

ou?" h

, he ain't trying to fool you, Buddy. No, sir! You can just believe what Uncle Peter says, with all

lor-man!" said the boy. "And you sai

skiff oars, but first I've got to row this boat out into the river a way

drop back. He meant the shanty-boat to float sweep first-it was all the same to her-and he fastened the painter of the skiff to the shanty-boat's stern, and edged his way along the narrow strip of wood that marked the division bet

en he lashed Buddy's oar to a small iron ring. The boy could take a few steps and splash the water with the oar wi

d upstream, was an aid in that it swept the floating ice toward the Illinois shore, leaving Peter's course clear, and an occasional dip of the sweep was sufficient to k

hing the water with the blade of his oar, but

a bit bigger, Uncle Peter is going to teach you how to row a boat, and a

ng to steer a bo

g to-day," said Peter. "S

ing shelter, go from there to the potter's field, any more than he could let her boy go to the county farm. While the smart reporter was wondering whether the power of the press, in his article "Pass Her Along," had warned Lize Merdin to take the road to some other town, and while Dr. Roth was telling of the shanty-boatm

the full current. There was no other large boat on the river. Here and there a fisherman pulled at his oars in a heavy skiff, or moved slow

till bearing their covering of sleet. Peter could hear the gun-like slap of board on board coming from where some m

d chop his own wood

d he say

inally his sharp eyes made them out below the railway embankment-two black specks crouched over a small, yellow blaze.

to Peter's ears distinctly. Then the boat slipped past George Rapp's stable, with its bold red brick front, and as he passed the door, Peter could hear for an instant the scrape of a horse's hoof in the stall, although the boat was a good half mile out in the river. Beyond the stable was the low-lying canning factory, and the row

r's boat it looked like the dead corpse of a town, but he knew every street of it, and he knew Life, with its manifold business of work and play, was

n, Buddy," said Pete

without interest. He

them whilst your-whilst this boat goes floating down this river as calm and peaceful as if the day of judgment had come and gone again. It's funny! Probably there ain't man or woman in that

s of a planing-mill drowned the rumble of the oatmeal mill. A long passenger train hurried along the river bank like a hasty worm, and stopped, panting, at the water tank, and went

uldn't know. We wouldn't hardly care at all. The folks in it ain't nothing to us at all, right now. And yet, if I go into that town, I'm interested in every one of the folks I meet, and it makes me so

ime. He ate two apples and eight crackers, and

s like a good place to fish. Maybe you'll catch a whale. Y

ked Buddy so suddenly t

that, but your ma ain't hungry. She ain't going to be hungry or cold or wet any more, so don't you bother y

for no model, Buddy. You want to grow up and be-I'll explain when you get older. I want you to grow up to be a goo

codger?" a

ss-" Peter began. "I guess you could eat

the levee guarded the fields, and now swinging back to the Illinois bottom-land. For the boy the scene held little interest; for Peter it was a new chapter of an old story he loved. Here a giant sycamore he had known since youth had been blackened and shortened by lightning; there an elm, falling, had created a new sand-bar on which willows were already finding

suggested boats. For the rest of the afternoon Peter doled out pieces of the pile of driftwood on the deck, and they went over the side as boats, Peter naming each after one of the river steamers, until Buddy himself said, "This is the War Eagle, Uncle Peter," or "This is the Long Annie. She'll splash!" Peter did not grudge his firewood; th

Peter fed the boy again. Little as he k

a treat such as boys don't often have. You see that great, big, white moon up there? I'm going to let you go to bed outdoors here, so you can look right up at that moon and blink your eye

to go to sleep

hink we'd float right past it, but she floats along up there, like a sort of shanty-boat up in the sky, and the stars fol

the cabin door and brought out an armful of nets and blankets and a

s some bed! I hope that moon

said Buddy. "But

has to have somebody to watch that moon and tell him if she blinks, and you can

ucked him in the blankets. "Uncle Peter,

eter, but Buddy said n

looking out over the water and thinking his own strange thoughts. Now and then he stooped and arranged the blanket over Buddy's shoulders, and now and then he knelt and dipped water from the river with his cupped hand to po

when the shanty-boat slipped into the mouth of the slough that cut George Rapp's place, and floated more slowly down the narrow winding water until the soft grating of sand on the

e boy's slumber, and sat beside it, warming his hands and feet, until the sun lighted the east.

Uncle Peter," he sai

from here, and he has more pigs than you ever heard of, and horses, and cows, and chickens, and turkeys, and guinea-hens, and I don't know what all, and I dare say he's wondering why

eys," said Bu

Peter. "So we'll hurry

then, with the sudden changefulness of a small b

a to wash my f

thin brown hand o

and how cold and wet and tired in the leg, and hungry you was? Well, Buddy, your ma was awful sorry you was so tired out and all. I guess

cried," s

rip that she didn't know what was to be the end of. That's what she cried for, because she had to

id Buddy

ected, and she says to me, in a way, so to speak, 'Uncle Peter,' she said, 'here's Buddy, and he

prompted. "And hor

horses and turkeys and the things in the world. So she went away, and she wou

atisfied. "Let's go see the pigs

uff to the time he stopped for him at the farm-house again, late in the afternoon, and bore him back to the boat, with

t his jack-knife to shape a wooden spoon. The boy, raising his head, watched him

That's so! I forgot it

the bunk and leaned over the bo

hat 'Our Father' goes, so we'll get along the best we can 'til I go up to the farm again and I find out for sure. You

Jane," rep

s. Potter,"

he pigs, and the horses, and the cows

arm to put them in, although it ain't customary. T

the boy suddenly, "w

his mouth again to tell the boy the truth, but he heard the sigh of sa

never did take it back, never! It stands against him to this day, bu