1266 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 4, 1924 
Part II 
It was a great supper, and Joe Strong 
did full justice to it. His long tramp 
over the hills had given him what the 
hired man called an “appetite like a 
horse.” He even permitted grandfather 
to scrape out the last remnant of that 
fragrant hash and put it on his plate. 
Joe could not catch the evidently face¬ 
tious remark which grandfather made as 
he scraped the yellow hash dish, but the 
hired man roared it at him: 
“Old man says boys and dogs clean up 
the plates.” 
As the hired man explained it, Joe had 
some difficulty in determining whether he 
was considered a boy or a dog, and this 
only served to heighten the distrust which 
the deaf man felt toward the hired man. 
Orandfather finally pushed his chair back, 
sighed with the satisfaction of a well- 
filled man, and roared some remark at 
Joe. The school teacher brought her pen¬ 
cil and paper and explained as well as 
she could. It seemed that grandfather 
had just told his famous story of the boy 
who visited the farmer. When he went 
home he said the living was good, because 
they only made one full meal while he 
was there. It seemed that what he con¬ 
sidered a full meal was an occasion 
when they ate up all there was on the 
table. 
You can imagine perhaps how all these 
things affected the deaf man—unused to 
such a gathering, -and quite puzzled as to 
what it all meant, and whenever he 
glanced toward the stove he caught the 
evil eye of that hired man fixed upon 
him. At least in the dim light of the 
loom the eye seemed evil and seemed firm¬ 
ly fixed. In truth it was a kindly eye, 
but nature had tied a knot in one little 
muscle so that what was meant as a 
kindly and sympathetic glance seemed to 
the deaf man a malignant and offensive 
leer. If Joe could have talked with this 
man on equal terms he would quickly 
have discovered his kindly character, but 
sitting in the silence in the dim light, 
amid these strange surroundings, he could 
only get the worst possible impression. 
And it was the same with that supposed 
fixed glare. The hired man had no de¬ 
signs upon Joe Strong’s life or money. He 
really was not looking at Joe at all. He 
had fairer game in mind; he was worship¬ 
ping the school teacher afar off, and he 
had to look at her around a corner as. 
one may say. You may have noticed 
how, at times, some of these cross-eyed 
men are apparently looking toward one 
point of the compass while in reality their 
vision is directed at a point 30 degrees 
to one side! I remember once on a rail¬ 
road train I saw a man apparently star¬ 
ring hard at my daughter—with what 
seemed a most offensive expression. He 
kept it up. and I was about to credit 
him with the worst of motives when I 
saw that he was badly cross-eyed. His 
eyes seemed pointed at the young wo¬ 
man, but in reality he was looking out 
of the window, making a very harmless 
study of the landscape. 
I am just giving you 
idea of what may crowd 
the deaf under such 
Joe Strong found in that farmhouse. His 
eyes were accustomed to the bright elec¬ 
tric lights. His wife and friends were 
usually with him to explain strange 
things. Here in this rather dim light 
amid these strangers it is not to be won¬ 
dered that imagination pictured all sorts 
of terrors and dangers on the mind of the 
deaf man. And two things added to the 
terror. Old grandfather, through his in¬ 
terpreter, the school teacher, seemed de¬ 
termined to know Joe’s business, how 
much money he had, and whether he car¬ 
ried it around with him. And then the 
visitors. Two rough-looking, bearded men 
walked in and made themselves at home. 
They were neighbors in their working 
clothes. They had been cutting corn all 
day, and now they had come to talk 
with the hired man about butchering a 
hog—for this black-haired giant was a 
master of the art of killing hogs as pain¬ 
lessly as a knife can do it. Not knowing 
anything about all this, you can imagine 
what Joe Strong had in mind when he 
saw the hired man take a murderous- 
looking knife from the pantry and pro¬ 
ceed to put a razor edge on it w r ith a little 
oilstone! He had this weapon in his 
hand, and made several very suggestive 
upward thrusts with it while those 
crossed eyes were fixed upon Joe. though 
he was really looking at the neighbors. 
These rough men seemed to enjoy this 
lesson in the gentle art of stabbing a 
man. One of them made some remark 
and looked at Joe as people often will 
when they think they have said some¬ 
thing out of the usual order. To a man 
with good ears this scene would have 
been entirely harmless. To the deaf man 
it was a tragedy. For the moment he 
seemed transported to the Spanish moun¬ 
tains—into some den of desperate brig- 
ands. Many a deaf man goes through 
such experiences, and he gets small cred¬ 
it for carrying himself with reasonable 
dignity. 
Finally the hired man and the two 
strangers went outside. Grandfather’s 
head had nodded several times. The 
school teacher bad gone to her room, and 
something of an 
into the mind of 
conditions as 
there was no one to act as interpreter. 
So grandfather got one of the children’s 
slates and wrote in large letters: 
“Sleep?” 
Then he gave a good imitation of a 
sleeping man, though the snore was lost 
on Joe. The language was clear, how¬ 
ever, and Joe followed grandfather up¬ 
stairs to a large front room. The old 
man put the lighted candle on the bu¬ 
reau and with many a nod and wave of 
the hands backed out of the room. Joe 
locked tlie door and looked about him. It 
was a front room and looked upon the 
yard and gate. Out in the road Joe saw 
the hired man and the two strangers talk¬ 
ing earnestly. The moonlight glittered on 
the keen knife which the hired man held 
in his hand. It seemed to Joe that one of 
these rough men pointed upward at his 
room, and the others nodded their ap¬ 
proval of his suggestion. Then they sep¬ 
arated. The hired man came in at the 
gate while the others walked down the 
road until they were lost in the shadows. 
If Joe could only have heard the hired 
man whistle as he came through the gate, 
or have seen him standing like a cross¬ 
eyed Romeo beneath the room where the 
school teacher slept, he might have gone 
to bed with pleasant dreams insured, but 
as it was could you blame him for feeling 
that some deep-laid conspiracy was work¬ 
ing out? 
In the large closet Joe found an old 
army musket. ' It did not seem to be 
loaded, but Joe brought it out and put 
it beside his bed. There was a shelf full 
of bottles—apparently household medi¬ 
cine, and the usual collection of odds and 
ends. On the bureau were several books. 
Joe picked up the first one at hand. It 
was “Jane Eyre.” Joe opened it at ran¬ 
dom and as chance would have it, his eye 
fell upon that terrible scene where Jane 
wakes at night to find that hideous figure 
of the insane woman standing near her 
bedside! Strange, is it not. what tricks 
fate will play with the human mind? 
Some calm, beautiful poem at just that 
time would have quieted Joe’s mind and 
given him peace, but that awful scene 
from “Jane Eyre!” 
Joe finally put out his light and de¬ 
termined to sit awake through the night. 
For a while his fears kept him awake but, 
worn out and weary, he finally fell 
asleep. Suddenly he awoke with a start 
and sprang from his chair. The moon¬ 
light streamed in through the window, 
and by its light he saw the door tremble 
and shake, lie could hear no sound but 
by making his way to the door he could 
feel the blows which some one on the out¬ 
side was delivering. A strong shoulder 
was pushing against the door, and an 
excited voice w r as demanding entrance. 
Joe felt the blows on the door, and heard 
dim sounds on the outside. That w T as all, 
but to his mind it fitted in well with his 
fear of a conspiracy to rob or murder 
him. This lonely country place—these 
rough strangers, the knife — what else 
could it mean? He gave no answer to 
the cries on the outside, but dragged the 
bureau across the room and pushed it 
against the door. Finally the blows on 
the door ceased. The gang on the out¬ 
side evidently retired for a conference. 
As Joe waited for the next move he saw 
the top round of a ladder appear at the 
window. It shook as some one mounted 
it, and in a moment the face of the hired 
man appeared—framed in the window. 
He held something hi his hand —some¬ 
thing that glittered in the moonlight, and 
he held it out at Joe! The deaf man 
caught up the old musket and mechani¬ 
cally pulled the trigger. The charge of 
powder within had lain dormant for years 
—forgotten by the family. Now, by some 
strange chance it exploded with a fearful 
report which went bellowing and echoing 
through the great house. The face at the 
window and the ladder disappeared. 
There was a crash on the ground where 
it fell. On the floor by the window in 
the moonlight lay the gleaming thing 
which the hired man had held in his hand. 
Joe picked it up. It was a sheet of white 
paper with ink marks on it. Joe lighted 
the candle and slowly read this note : 
“Please open the door. Grandfather 
has been taken sick and the Jamaica gin¬ 
ger is in the closet of your room. He 
must have it!” 
It was signed by the school teacher. 
There was no other conspiracy. Hash 
and baked apple had conspired to upset 
grandfather. Jamaica ginger was the 
needed policeman to quell the riot and 
Joe was holding up the law! A very 
humble deaf man pulled the bureau awa'v 
and unlocked the door. Mother and the 
school teacher stood outside, a group of 
frightened children behind them and the 
hired man bringing up the rear. The 
fall from the ladder had not injured him. 
The two neighbors came running up the 
road alarmed by the old musket. One of 
them carried a pitchfork—the other a 
gun. 
“Didn’t I tell you so?” pointed the first 
one. “I sized him up as a thief when I 
first put eyes on him! Let’s tie him 
hand and foot.” 
But strange as it may seem the hired 
man came to the rescue. 
“Oh, he’s all right. A fine man. Just 
didn t understand, that’s all.” 
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