Pole Baker: A Novel
William Nathaniel Harben
eBook
(Library Of Alexandria, Jan. 8, 2019)
THE planter alighted from the dusty-little train under the crumbling brick car-shed at Darley, and, turning his heavy hand-luggage over to the negro porter, he walked across the grass to the steps of the Johnston House. Here he was met by Jim Thornton, the dapper young clerk, who always had a curled mustache and oiled hair smoothed flatly down over his brow. âOh, here you are, right side up, Captain Duncan!â he cried, cordially. âYou canât stay away from those level acres of yours very long at a time.â âNo, Jim,â the short, thick-set man smiled, as he took the extended hand; âas soon as I heard spring had opened, I got a bad case of homesickness, and we left Florida. My wife and daughter came a week ago. I had to stop on business in Jacksonville. I always like to be here in planting season; my men never seem to know exactly what I want done when I am away. Jim, Iâve got a lot of fine land out there between the river and the mountains.â âI reckon you have,â laughed the clerk, as he led his guest into the hotel office. âThereâs a neighbor of yours over there at the stove, old Tom Mayhew, who runs the big storeâMayhew & Floydâsâat Springtown.â âOh, I know him mighty well,â said Duncan. âHow are you, Mayhew? What are you doing away from your beat? I thought youâd be behind that counter such fine weather as this.â âTradeâs dull,â said the merchant, who was a tall, spare-made man, about sixty-five years of age, with snow-white hair and beard. âFarmers are all at the plough, and thatâs where they ought to be, Duncan, if they expect to pay anything on their debts this fall. I had to lay in some stock, and ran down to Atlanta day before yesterday. My young partner, Nelson Floyd, usually does the replenishing, but the books got out of whack and I left him to tussle with them; heâs got a better head for figures than I have. Iâve just sent to the livery-stable for a horse and buggy to take me out; how are you going?â âWhy, I hardly know,â answered the planter, as he took off his straw hat and wiped his bald head with a silk handkerchief. âI telegraphed Lawson, my head overseer, to send somebody to meet me, and I was just wonderingââ âOh, youâll be attended to all right, Captain Duncan,â said the clerk, with a laugh, as he stood at the register behind the counter. âPole Baker was in here last night asking if you had arrived. He said he had brought a buggy and was going to drive you back. You will make it all right if Pole sobers up long enough to get out of town. He was thoroughly âhow-come-you-soâ last night. He was in Asqueâs bar raising holy Cane. The marshal ordered Billy to close at twelve, but Pole wouldnât hear to it, and they came in an inch of having a fight. I believe they would if Mrs. Johnston hadnât heard it and come down. Pole has more respect for women than most men, and as soon as he saw her at the door he hushed up and went to bed.â