a month later they were there, and not only there but settled upon fine farms adjoining each other. to be sure they had but very small dwellings to live in, but all were too much pleased with the green meadows, sloping down to the river's edge, and the beautiful forests that crowned the hills that lay in the background, to fret because the walls of their house were made of sun-dried mud instead of stone. they found too many things to be thankful for, to find time to complain of any, and although all things were very rough, and mrs. harwood and mrs. loring wondered a hundred times a day "what they should do," they finally decided, when everything in the little house was arranged to their satisfaction, that they should do very well indeed.
"yes, very well," said mrs. loring, for although she called herself a servant, and was paid as such, she did not feel degraded by it, for she knew she was earning an honest living, and was respected as a friend by her employers, while guy was looked upon almost as a son. he took the same place with the children as that held in their trip across the plains. he worked for their father, and for them, and very hard too, sometimes, but he was still their playfellow, george's guide, gus' friend, little aggie's comforter, and singer of songs, and teller of stories to all. as i have said, he worked hard, for even with a kind, indulgent master, like mr. harwood, much is thrown upon the hands of a willing boy, so guy found there was still fires to light in the morning, water to fetch, wood to chop and carry, cows to milk, and the plough to be followed.
sometimes he grew tired of the dull routine, and would wish himself at the diggings with the young men from st. louis, and then with mr. graham, at the mill, but a glance at his mother, working over the hot stove, or washing at the spring, would render him content, for he would say, "she is happy with all her toil, while i am near, and shall i worry over a little extra work, when it keeps me with her?" and then away to his work he would go with renewed energy, and sometimes mr. harwood would give him a holiday which would quite revive his drooping spirits, and make him strong for weeks.
oh, what holidays these were! off all the children would go to the woods, that in the afternoon were full of sunshine, so warm, so beautiful; the grass would look like shaded velvet beneath them, and the leaves would glance and quiver as if they were fairies frolicking in their best clothes. and such woods as these were, in which to gather wild plums and nuts, and then to lie in the shade and tell fairy stories. "the very trees seem to say them over to us," said aggie, the first day they spent in the woods together. "i am sure there must be something in all these sweet sounds we hear."
"birds' songs," said george, contemptuously.
"no," said aggie, "something more. tell us what it is, guy, you can always tell what the birds and animals say, you even told us what the prairie dogs said, you know."
guy threw himself down on the green grass beside a little brook, and listened, with his eyes fixed on the yellow sands of the little stream.
"the birds are telling me that there is gold in that sand," he said at length, "they tell me there is gold throughout all this wonderful country, in every rock and chasm, and there is one big fellow that is telling me how it all came there. shall i repeat it over to you?"
"oh, yes, yes!" cried aggie, in great glee.
"and let us have no more preliminary fibs," said george, "you are the greatest fellow for them, you know, guy."
"oh, p'shaw!" ejaculated gus, impatient, "let him go ahead!"
"that's just what the birds say," replied guy, throwing himself back on the grass, and smiling gravely. "that big fellow on the bough there tells me he is delighted; that he has at last found one that can understand his language, for he has heard so many ridiculous theories advanced by men with picks on their shoulders and books in their hands, as to what gold is, and how it came on the ground, that he has nearly burst his throat in trying to make them understand the truth, and has then been accused of making a 'senseless chatter.'"
"'and all the time,' says he, 'their chatter was far more senseless than mine, and so they would think if they had heard all of us laugh over their conjectures about a matter we knew all about, for birds have legends as well as men, and there's none better remembered than that of the "enchanted yellow men."'
"thousands of years ago they inhabited the finest portions of this land. they hunted the deer on a hundred hills, and bathed in all the streams of the mountains. their tents were in every valley, and the tracks of their feet on every path. they were the most numerous and powerful people on all the earth, yet none could tell why they were feared, for they had never battled with their neighbors, or shown great courage in the chase. in reality, it was their color alone that inspired awe. they were of the hue of the sun at midday, and their long hair streamed upon the wind like the dead leaves of corn in autumn. from toe to crown they were pure, bright yellow,—as yellow as the buttercups in yonder field.
"ever were they looked upon with awe by their tawny brethren, who thought that the great spirit had set the seal of his special love upon them, and had sent them forth as his chosen people. the yellow men believed the same, for everything they undertook, prospered. none of the surrounding tribes ever showed opposition to them. they could follow the game over any ground, and spear the fish in any stream they chose, so that hunger never entered their wigwams; and in course of time they became so puffed up with their good fortune that they called themselves 'gods,' and the neighboring tribes bowed and worshipped them.
"then the great spirit, who, from his home in the great mountains, had been watching their doings, grew very angry and threatened to destroy them all. but they were so beautiful to look upon, that he decided to try them once more and see if any good remained in them. shortly after this a mighty tribe on the west of the yellow men, crossed over to the east, and took from a small, weak tribe that dwelt there all their lands, and drove them up to the barren mountains, where they could not find even so much as a herb to eat.
"but they were very near the great spirit, and he heard all their woes, and he sent a messenger down to the yellow men bidding them arise, slay the invaders and restore the destitute to their homes again. but they would not, and all those upon the mountains died, and their curses came down, and rested upon the rich and powerful who had refused to help them, and upon the day that the last of the wanderers perished a voice was heard in the tents of the yellow men, and it said, 'as ye refused to leave your lands to aid your brethren, ye shall rest in the ground till strangers shall bear thee hence, and as ye have refused to toil, or bless in your life time, ye shall do both after death. ye shall buy food for the poor, but yet shall the curses of the great spirit follow ye.'
"and even as they listened to these terrible words, flames burst out of the mountains, and rushed over the valleys and plains. as it passed over them each was burnt to a shapeless mass. in thousands of places the earth opened and they sank into their graves. and there the yellow men, in their new forms, waited for thousands of years, and there many of them are waiting still for the pick of the miner to bring them forth into their new life, to curse the wicked and improvident, and to bless the poor and needy."
"there! there! the bird has flown away!" said aggie.
"but he has answered the question that has been puzzling my head for a long, long time," said guy. "and told us, too, that none of us should be inactive and the greater our power to help others the more we should exercise it."
"that's so," said george, "and i suppose we are all like the 'yellow men,' a good deal puffed up with our own conceit. i'll tell you what, suppose we all enter into a contract to do all the good we can, and let guy be the judge of our actions, for after all he is the one that first put it into my head to do any good, you know."
"agreed," cried aggie, while gus said, "it was a jolly good idea." but guy demurred about being judge, thinking with a good deal of shame that he was sometimes as inactive in a good cause as the "yellow men" themselves.
so they sat in the woods talking the matter over until the last rays of the sun fell through the thick leaves and warned them home. then they took their baskets and turned their faces homeward. guy saying, "well then, we are agreed all of us to begin the lives now, to which the 'yellow men' were doomed for their idleness and presumption. henceforth we are to help the weak, oppose the proud and wicked, and strive to do good."
"i will for one," said george, earnestly.
"so will i," echoed gus.
"and so will i, with all my heart!" exclaimed little aggie, just as they stepped out of the woods into the open field. "only look," she added, glancing back, "a bird has followed us out of the woods. i do believe it is the one that told us the pretty story,—and, listen, to what he is singing, 'good bye!' why, i even can interpret that, 'good boy! good bye! guy loring! guy, good bye!'"
