Spake As a Dragon (25 page)

Samuel Babb

“
Sir, I beg you, I cannot
accept your terms. Nate and I are bound for Alabama. We are not
able to carry Catherine and Sam, Jr. with us. It is too dangerous.
Sir, you must have relatives or even neighbors that can be of
assistance?”

“
Master Scarburg, I have
none! My oldest son Charles was killed at Gettysburg
too.”

Luke muttered, “I’m sorry sir, but
after I was captured I knew none of the Yankee’s by
name.”

“
He had volunteered as a
hospital orderly. Albeit for the North he felt it his Christian
duty to assist in any way he could help the wounded. I have no
close relations in South Carolina. I had one close friend Riley
Walker, but he must be plumb nigh on eighty or ninety years old
now, if he be still alive, and sir, as ye probably surmised during
your trek across these beautiful Cumberland Mountains, I have no
neighbors. I’m sorry to put thee in this dire situation, but sir, I
have no one else to rely on. Thee, I’m sure was surely Heaven sent.
I plead thee accept my request and care for my children. Stay here
with us until spring and when the snow melts ye can continue thou
journey. This will give thee time to consider my
request.”

Luke tries to explain again that he
and Jake are in no position to assume the duties he requests. He
points out the simple fact that Mr. Babb is not dying and as far as
he can tell, is not apt to do so anytime in the near future.
Obviously, Mr. Babb is not going to take ‘no’ for an answer – after
a couple of back and forth arguments Luke relents and accepts his
fate as the benefactor of Mr. Babb’s farm and children.

If sometime in the future word is sent
to him in Alabama that Mr. and Mrs. Babb have passed away, he
agrees to return, settle the estate and make arrangements for the
care of his children. Mr. Babb heaves a sigh of relief, settles
back on his pillow as though a tremendous burden has been removed
from his shoulders.

Back downstairs sitting around the
fireplace Luke calls to Catherine in the kitchen asking her if she
would bring him a Bible. She takes her father’s bible to Luke. Luke
opens it and is surprised at all the notes and notations up and
down various pages. She tells Luke their big Bible serves as a
record of the Babb family, going back a number of generations.
Certainly the notations go back to their time in South
Carolina.

He sees nothing that gives him a hint
to the meaning of the Biblical passage over the Meetinghouse door.
Placing the bible down he walks to the front floor, the blizzard is
subsiding. He and Nate can be moving on in a couple of
days.

Sam, Jr. bursts through the front door
nearly knocking Luke down. Sam dusts snow from his coat and slaps
his hat against his leg, “Darn, this is a mean’un. Worst I’ve ever
seen, but gentlemen I got your horses and the burro stabled, rubbed
down, watered and fed. Sorry, ‘bout the door.”

Following Sam is the finest hound that
Luke or Nate has ever seen. It trots across the floor and plops
down in front of the fire. Luke and Jake both stare at the hound.
This obviously is a coonhound with powerful, mobile shoulders; the
ears are large compared to the head; his upper lip is hanging well
below the lower jaw; the forelegs are long, straight and lean; it
is a medium to large hound, weighing somewhere between 45 to 50
pounds they guess; its tricolor coat is white with black and brown
swatches. What a magnificent dog thinks Luke.

No one speaks; Luke walks to the
fireplace, and begins to rub the hound’s head. “Catherine, could
you please fetch me a rag, I need to dry this hounds coat. He was
covered in snow and is lying here soaking wet.”

As Luke rubs the dog dry Catherine
asks, “I see you admire Kentucky Lead, Sam’s coonhound?”

“
Kentucky Lead? That’s an
unusual name, but you say ‘admire’? Catherine, I more than ‘admire’
this dog - this IS a coonhound. I have never seen one better in
fact I do not believe I can even identify this breed. Have you ever
seen such a fine hound, Nate?”

Nate shakes his head. Catherine
continues telling them about the hound. “When Father lived in
Carolina his nearest neighbor was old Riley Walker. Mr. Walker had
an English Foxhound and Father had a hound he called ‘Carolina
Lead’, anyway, as the story goes Father and Mr. Walker crossed
their two breeds which resulted in the breed you see lying here in
front of the fireplace. Father has always just called them Walker
Coonhounds. He’s been raising them for years now. We have eight or
ten more out in the barn. They are good hunting hounds at least
that’s what coon hunters say about them. The only thing I can tell
you about them is their bark – every one of them seems to be
different – when Father lets them run over the mountains hunting I
can recognize which hound has treed a ‘coon by the sound of their
baying. We just narrowed Kentucky Lead’s name to
‘Kentuck’.”

“
Walker coonhounds huh?
Well, I never!”

Leaving the Walker hound sleeping
snuggly beside the fire Catherine invites Luke and Nate into the
dining room for a good home-cooked meal. Nate provides coffee for
some honest to goodness real coffee – it has been a long time since
the Babb’s have enjoyed coffee with their meals. As they sit at the
table sipping the coffee suddenly, the tranquil evening is
shattered by the startling sound of a pistol being
fired.

From upstairs, two gunshots ring out.
It seems to come from the bedroom...Luke ascends the steps two at a
time, Catherine, Luke, Nate and Sam, Jr. burst into the room to
find Mrs. Babb covered in blood, she is dead.

“
Mother...mother! Luke she
is gone.” Luke moves over to the bed and checking her pulse
confirms Catherine’s outburst. Her mother is indeed dead. She turns
to her father, “Father! Oh Father!”

Luke’s pistol Mr. Barr used to shoot
his wife and himself is lying next to him on the bed. Luke turns
and tries to comfort Catherine. She sobs hysterically, “Why?
Why...why would he do this?” Luke does not answer he hands the will
her father had written earlier to Catherine. With tears streaming
down her cheeks, she reads the piece of paper.

“
Catherine, your father
was a proud but stubborn, strong- willed man. He did not want to
burden you and Sam, Jr with the responsibility of caring for the
two of them constantly for the rest of your lives. He told me he
and your mother would consume you and your brother of your own
lives and rob you of your future. He did not want that. He said you
both deserved to grow up, have your own families and be happy. He
also told me to tell you not to be sad, but be happy for now both
of them were once again young, dancing and holding hands
again.”

“
Did he not realize they
were no burden, they were my mother and father – he had no right,
no right!” She said staring at her dead father. “Luke you had no
right either – you shouldn’t have kept this from me!”

“
Catherine this will was
your father’s decision – I was merely carrying out his wishes. I
had no idea this was going to happen tonight. I expected their
passing would be years from now. If I had any idea, I would not
have left my .44 hanging on the bedpost. When your father requested
I remove my gun, he must have already had this is mind. I was just
a means to his end.”

“
What are Sam, Jr. and I
to do now? I’m scared Luke – what are we to do?”

“
Do not worry, as I
promised your father, you and Sam, Jr. will be taken care
of.”

Nate turns to Luke, “Take these two
young folks back downstairs and lets me take care of this...I’ll
come get y’all whens I’s got this straighten up.” Whispering to
Luke he adds, “You knows I’s taken care of dead folks fer a long
time now, they’s ain’t soldiers, but I’ll lay’em out real
nice.”

A little while later Nate comes down
and announces to Catherine and Sam, Jr. they can come back
upstairs. Nate had cleaned both bodies, changed the bed linens,
dressed Mr. and Mrs. Babb in their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and
had them lying on their beds in a very presentable manner. He had
positioned candles around the room and made the death of the
children’s parents as bearable as possible.

Luke and Nate seat themselves in the
corner of the bedroom and allow Catherine and Sam to grief in
silence for the rest of the night. At daybreak, Luke walks over to
Catherine, places his hand on her shoulder, “It’s time to say
good-bye – I’ll give you a few minutes then you and Sam, Jr. go
downstairs and Nate and I will take care of your
parents.”

After a few minutes Catherine and Sam
began to leave, Luke reaches out and stops Sam, Jr. “Sam, tell me,
I know farmers clear new-ground in the fall getting ready for
spring planting. Did you and your father have such a piece of
ground?”

“
Yes sir, upon the hill we
had begun to clear a spot when the winter snows set in. Its up
there next to that dogwood grove.”

“
Have the trees that were
cut been burnt?”

Sam, Jr. explains that he and his
father had cleared a couple acres of trees, piled them up and they
were going to burn them this winter, but they had not gotten around
to burning them yet. That is exactly the answer Luke is
seeking.

Luke and Nate wrap the two bodies in
quilts carry them outside into the freezing cold. For the next two
days Luke and Nate burn the logs – once the logs are burned and the
ashes cool, with shovels and picks they dig two graves into the
thawed earth the fire created. Nate makes a cross for Mr. Babb and
one for Mrs. Babb.

Once Mr. and Mrs. Babb are buried,
Catherine and Sam, Jr. are led through the deep snow to the burial
plot. Luke takes the Bible turned to the Fourth Chapter of I
Thessalonians and reads:

‘
Then we, which are alive
and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to
meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the
Lord.

The funeral is over it is beginning to
snow once again. Sitting at the kitchen table with everyone, Luke
looks out the window onto the sea of white. “You know Nate our
plans have just taken a turn.”

“
What’s you reckon
Luke?”

Luke began explaining how he thought
just a few days ago the blizzard was subsiding and within a week or
so they should be back on the trail heading to Knoxville. Now it is
snowing again, but snow was not the reason for their postponement
of their journey. Luke and Nate now have two other lives for which
they are responsible.

Catherine is the first to speak saying
in a harsh tone, “Luke and Nate Scarburg you do not have to stay
here with Sam and me, we can take care of ourselves. You don’t have
to feel sorry for us, you two just get on your way to Alabama and
leave us be, we will make out fine. I can see after Sam so don’t
you worry!” She said sarcastically.

“
I’m sorry Catherine, I
did not mean to sound so begrudgingly I am truly glad Nate and I
found your house. Your father said it while he and I talked – he
said it was God’s intent that we stumbled upon your farm during the
blizzard. Your father’s exact words were ‘Heaven sent’. You know, I
now believe he was correct God surely intervened in all our
lives.

“
Say as you will
Catherine, Nate and I will not leave you here alone – in fact, we
will not leave you both at all. It has been a long time since the
both of us have been home. I enlisted in the spring of ’62, it is
now almost the spring of ’64, that has been two years. In all this
time, I have never received a letter from home. I don’t even know
if my family is still alive. If they are, perhaps the letters never
reached me. Nate and I both are deserters – I escaped from a Yankee
prison, but never tried to rejoin a Southern unit and Nate was
actually impressed into the Union Army. He since has learned that
the Yankees have killed his wife and son in North Carolina. His
father, mother and brother live with my mother in Alabama, so what
I am saying is you both are not hindering Nate and me. A few more
months more or less are not going to make a big
difference.”

Luke suggested they wait out the
winter, when spring thaw arrives they will prepare enough land to
plant vegetables, corn and enough hay for horse feed. They will
raise chickens, a hog and tend to the cow. After harvest, they will
load the wagon with provisions and they all, and he emphasized all,
would proceed on to Alabama. Once Sam and Catherine reach the age
of accountability they can return to this farm and live if they so
desire.

“
Luke Scarburg I’m telling
you right here and now, if you make me and Sam leave our farm I
will hate you forever!”

Chapter
Twenty-Eight

SPRINGTIME IN THE
MOUNTAINS

Luke stands at the window looking out
across the vast expanse of white. It is almost the end of March and
the snows never seem to stop. One storm after another blows through
apparently on a weekly timescale. He walks to the back door and
notices Sam, Jr. entering the barn. Luke leaves the house and with
some difficulty stomps through the eighteen-inch snow to join
him.

Once he has conquered the long walk
from the house to the barn he asks, “Sam, tell me something, how do
you people get around in this deep snow when you need to get far
away from the house?”