At the Foot of the Rainbow by Gene Stratton-Porter

Author:Gene Stratton-Porter [Stratton-Porter, Gene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Xist Publishing
Published: 2015-05-14T07:00:00+00:00

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Chapter VI THE HEART OF MARY MALONE

"This is the job that was done with the reaper,

If we hustle we can do it ourselves,

Thus securing to us a little cheaper,

The bread and pie upon our pantry shelves.

Eat this wheat, by and by,

On this beautiful Wabash shore,

Drink this rye, by and by,

Eat and drink on this beautiful shore."

So sang Jimmy as he drove through the wheat, oats and rye accompanied by the clacking machinery. Dannie stopped stacking sheaves to mop his warm, perspiring face and to listen. Jimmy always with an eye to the effect he was producing immediately broke into wilder parody:

"Drive this mower, a little slower,

On this beautiful Wabash shore,

Cuttin' wheat to buy our meat,

Cuttin' oats, to buy our coats,

Also pants, if we get the chance.

By and by, we'll cut the rye,

But I bet my hat I drink that, I drink that.

Drive this mower a little slower,

In this wheat, in this wheat, by and by."

The larks scolded, fluttering over head, for at times the reaper overtook their belated broods. The bobolinks danced and chattered on stumps and fences, in an agony of suspense, when their nests were approached, and cried pitifully if they were destroyed. The chewinks flashed from the ground to the fences and trees, and back, crying "Che-wink?" "Che-wee!" to each other, in such excitement that they appeared to be in danger of flirting off their long tails. The quail ran about the shorn fields, and excitedly called from fence riders to draw their flocks into the security of Rainbow Bottom.

Frightened hares bounded through the wheat, and if the cruel blade sheared into their nests, Dannie gathered the wounded and helpless of the scattered broods in his hat, and carried them to Mary.

Then came threshing, which was a busy time, but after that, through the long hot days of late July and August, there was little to do afield, and fishing was impossible. Dannie grubbed fence corners, mended fences, chopped and corded wood for winter, and in spare time read his books. For the most part Jimmy kept close to Dannie. Jimmy's temper never had been so variable. Dannie was greatly troubled, for despite Jimmy's protests of devotion, he flared at a word, and sometimes at no word at all. The only thing in which he really seemed interested was the coon skin he was dressing to send to Boston. Over that he worked by the hour, sometimes with earnest face, and sometimes he raised his head, and let out a whoop that almost frightened Mary. At such times he was sure to go on and give her some new detail of the hunt for the fifty coons, that he had forgotten to tell her before.

He had been to the hotel, and learned the Thread Man's name and address, and found that he did not come regularly, and no one knew when to expect him; so when he had combed and brushed the fur to its finest point, and worked the skin until it was

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