The Jack-Knife Man

e and one's his soul. He ought to keep both of them nice and sharp and clean. If I been letting my soul get dull and rusty and all nicked up, it's no sign I'm going to let my jack-

ut you will have some day, maybe. I

the ice that covered the slough cracked now and then in long, irregular lines, all telling that the river was rising, and rising rapidly. This meant that the cold snap was merely local and that up the river unseasonably warm weather had brought rains or a great thaw. There was no great danger of a long period of high water so late in the season, for cold waves were sure

either be overwhelmed by one of those great ice hills that pile up when the river ice meets an obstruction or, borne before the tons of pressure, be carried out of the slough with the moving ice and forced down the river for many miles, perhaps, before Peter could work the boat into clear water and find shelter behind some point. The water reached the height of the bank of the slough th

t of all the floating ice of the whole river could not disturb the boat. When the ice moved out of the river in the spring it would pile up in a mountain at the head of the island formed by the slou

Uncle Peter," said the boy in

ittle," said Peter. "A jack-knife is one of the things I've got

e took a slip of paper and a pencil stub. It was his

ff

boots

a

for B.

i

o

n B

ings

. block

read.

increased. Getting settled for the winter had taken most of his time, and while his jack-knife was busy each evening its work was explained by the toys with which Buddy had littered the floor. These were crudely whittle

tter of plain decency for Buddy to retire, and he wouldn't, Peter had compromised by agreeing to whittle a cat if Buddy would go to bed like a little soldier as soon as the cat was completed. The result was a very hasty cat. Peter made it with tw

, as was his way when he was much amused. "That's

id I'd make you a cat, and you say that's a cat,

than anything in the world. He loved to look at the cat. It was the sort of cat that left someth

d been almost white, had, in the few days Peter had had him in charge, turned to a dirty gray. He had not minded Buddy's dirty face and hands-they were normal to a boy-but the soiled tow hair shamed Peter. Even a mother like Buddy's had kept that hair as it should be, and Peter was shocked to

ed a trip to New Orleans or Cuba, and he instantly forgot the cold in building one detail of the trip on another, un

ld be in the second volume. He would be a tramp no more. He would have money and a home and be a respected citizen, with a black

including a shadowy Prince Albert coat and a silk hat, but he thought a Bible and a hymn book, at least, ought to be in the stock of a man that was going to be what Peter meant to be. The A. B. C. blocks on the list were to be the cornerstone of Buddy's educa

d Buddy when he was convinced he cou

like that is enough in one family. Uncle Peter has to keep his eye out

you a funny dog," said Peter, "will you be a good boy and play

d mendacity of youth. He would promise anything. Only the most unreasonable

ted himself on his bunk. He held the wood at arm's length u

acht's prow cuts the water. "S'pose we put his head up like that, hey, like he was laughing at the moon?" Two deft

" laughed Buddy. "Gi

g that ear with this paw, and he's ready to shake hands with this one, and"-two or three quick turns of the knife-"there he is, cocki

at's a funny dog! Now make a

uddy!" said P

keep it, if it ain't too inconvenient. So you stay right here and don't touch the stove or anything, whilst I get in some

was had been frozen in the ice, and Peter pushed his way up to where the slough made a sharp turn. In such places abundant driftwood was thrown against the willows at high water, a

ran after the rabbit, but his foot turned on

ved his mind, and the rubbing he gave his ankle relieved the pain, and he felt better all through when he put his foot to the ground and tried it. He lim

y-boat. Forced by the weight of river ice pressing in at the head of the slough, the slough ice was "going out," and it was going out rap

t the shanty-boat find the mouth of the slough and pass out into the broad Mississippi and, he well knew, he might have a long fight to overtake it. The boat might travel for days jammed in the floating ice, before he could reach it, or it might be crushed against some point or in some cove. What would then be Buddy's fate? What, indeed, mig

himself by clinging to the bushes, and he was wet to the waist. Here and there the bank lay a foot or two higher, and there were no willows, but a tangle of dead grapevines impeded him. In other places the sho

camore, known to all the duck hunters as the "Big Tree." Below the Big Tree the slough widened into a broad expanse of water known as Big Tree Lake. Peter stopped short. In the middle of the lake, knee-deep in water and holding fast to a worn imitation-leather valise from which the water was dripping, stood a man. The shanty-boat, thrown out o

eyes, and all his face but his eyes and a round red nubbin of a nose was hidden by a mat of brown

ud with the slough running along the eastern margin. Through the shallow ice-topped water Peter splashed after the tramp, breaking the ice as he went. Until he was well out in the lake the ice had not

oat off the bar into deeper water. A boat adrift is any one's boat, if he can keep it, and once the boat swung clear of the bar into deeper water the tramp c

ding up one arm to protect his head. He expected the tramp to strike him down with the heavy pike-pole, and he wa

me from great depths, "I'll give you half the vessel. I've been d

hen he was angry, that made h

door. Buddy sat on the floor as Peter had left him, pla

t got no tail, Unc

eat sigh of relief. "He's got a tail, but y

head on one side, one leg raised in the air, was making faces at Buddy. As Peter turned, the tramp put

ughed wi

n, Uncle Peter," h

on the floor. Then he took off his hat and la

o far as The No-Less-Talented-Stranger-Who-Came-Out Of-the-East

y la

aid. "That's

ter's attitude as an invitation to depart. He went inside and seated himself on the edge of the bunk and pulled off first one wet boot

That's a bully name for a little feller. First the Bud,

boys did not fear, and it was plain that Buddy was captivated by Booge's good-nature. But a tramp was a tramp, no matter how captivating, and

yes, indeed! I'm an educated feller, and I figured to teach you, but it s

as no need of making the fellow walk

ou teach hi

good thing for a young feller to know. Soprano or alto, just as you say-o

was trying to guess what sort

oge, "I'll teach him all three. That's libe

Peter. "When I want any

apping his bare foot on the floor he sang. He found, somewhere in his h

ttle baby, the

e baby, and give

ttle baby, the

le baby, and bri

as it droned he made faces at Buddy, screwing up h

cried Buddy enthusiast

ravely, first to Buddy and

gh of that,"

and the tramp standing with his hand in

re the baby, the

the baby, or chea

re the baby, the

e the baby, but g

gh! shout

!" said Booge, exac

ace to laugh!"

satisfied. Booge was satisfied, too. He knew Buddy was bo