CHAPTER IV.
WHAT AH FE DOES NOT KNOW.
Thus admonished by the practical-minded Olly, Gabriel retiredprecipitately to the secure fastnesses of Conroy's Hill, where, over aconsolatory pipe in his deserted cabin, he gave himself up toreflections upon the uncertainty of the sex and the general vagaries ofwomanhood. At such times he would occasionally extend his wanderings tothe gigantic pine tree which still towered pre-eminently above itsfellows in ominous loneliness, and seated upon one of its outlyingroots, would gently philosophise to himself regarding his condition, thevicissitudes of fortune, the awful prescience of Olly, and thebeneficence of a Creator who permitted such awkward triviality anduselessness as was incarnate in himself to exist at all! Sometimes,following the impulse of habit, he would encroach abstractedly upon thelimits of his own domain, and find himself under the shadow of his ownfine house on the hill, from which, since that eventful parting with hiswife, he had always rigidly withheld his foot. As soon as he would makethis alarming discovery, he would turn back in honourable delicacy anda slight sense of superstitious awe. Retreating from one of theseinvoluntary incursions one day, in passing through an opening in alittle thicket of "buckeye" near his house, he stumbled over a smallworkbasket lying in the withered grass, apparently mislaid or forgotten.Gabriel instantly recognised it as the property of his wife, and asquickly recalled the locality as one of her favourite resorts during theexcessive mid-day heats. He hesitated and then passed on, and thenstopped and returned again awkwardly and bashfully. To have touched anyproperty of his wife's, after their separation, was somethingdistasteful and impossible to Gabriel's sense of honour; to leave itthere the spoil of any passing Chinaman, or the prey of the elements,was equally inconsistent with a certain respect which Gabriel had forhis wife's weaknesses. He compromised by picking it up with theintention of sending it to Lawyer Maxwell, as his wife's trustee. But indoing this, to Gabriel's great alarm (for he would as soon havesacrificed the hand that held this treasure as to have exposed itscontents in curiosity or suspicion), part of that multitudinous contentsoverflowed and fell on the ground, and he was obliged to pick them upand replace them. One of them was a baby's shirt--so small it filled thegreat hand that grasped it. In Gabriel's emigrant experience, as thefrequent custodian and nurse of the incomplete human animal, he wassomewhat familiar with those sacred, mummy-like enwrappings usuallyunknown to childless men, and he recognised it at once.
He did not replace it in the basket, but, with a suffused cheek and anincreased sense of his usual awkwardness, stuffed it into the pocket ofhis blouse. Nor did he send the basket to Lawyer Maxwell, as he hadintended, and in fact omitted any allusion to it in his usual account toOlly of his daily experience. For the next two days he was peculiarlysilent and thoughtful, and was sharply reprimanded by Olly for generalidiocy and an especial evasion of some practical duties.
"Yer's them lawyers hez been huntin' ye to come over and examine thatthere Chinaman, Ah Fe, ez is jest turned up ag'in, and you ain't no wharto be found; and Lawyer Maxwell sez it's a most important witness. Andwhar' bouts was ye found? Down in the Gulch, chirpin' and gossipin' withthat Arkansas family, and totin' round Mrs. Welch's baby. And you agrowed man, with a fammerly of yer own to look after. I wonder ye ain'tgot more _sabe_!--prancin' round in this yer shiftless way, and you ontrial, and accused o' killin' folks. Yer a high ole Gabe--rentin'yerself out fur a dry nuss for nothin'!"
Gabriel (colouring and hastily endeavouring to awaken Olly's femininesympathies): "It waz the powerfullest, smallest baby--ye oughter get tosee it, Olly! 'Tain't bigger nor a squirrel--on'y two weeks oldyesterday!"
Olly (outwardly scornful, but inwardly resolving to visit the phenomenonnext week): "Don't stand yawpin' here, but waltz down to Lawyer Maxwelland see that Chinaman."
Gabriel reached the office of Lawyer Maxwell just as that gentleman andArthur Poinsett were rising from a long, hopeless, and unsatisfactoryexamination of Ah Fe. The lawyers had hoped to be able to establish thefact of Gabriel's remoteness from the scene of the murder by somecorroborating incident or individual that Ah Fe could furnish in supportof the detailed narrative he had already given. But it did not appearthat any Caucasian had been encountered or met by Ah Fe at the time ofhis errand. And Ah Fe's memory of the details he had already describedwas apparently beginning to be defective; it was evident nothing was tobe gained from him even if he had been constituted a legal witness. Andthen, more than all, he was becoming sullen!
"We are afraid that we haven't made much out of your friend, Ah Fe,"said Arthur, taking Gabriel's hand. "You might try if _you_ can revivehis memory, but it looks doubtful."
Gabriel gazed at Ah Fe intently--possibly because he was the last personwho had spoken to his missing wife. Ah Fe returned the gaze, dischargingall expression from his countenance, except a slight suggestion of thehabitual vague astonishment always seen in the face of a newborn infant.Perhaps this peculiar expression, reminding Gabriel as it did of thephenomenon in the Welch family, interested him. But the few vaguewandering questions he put were met by equally vague answers. Arthurrose in some impatience; Lawyer Maxwell wiped away the smile that hadbeen lingering around his mouth. The interview was ended.
Arthur and Maxwell passed down the narrow stairway arm in arm. Gabrielwould have followed them with Ah Fe, but turning toward that Mongolian,he was alarmed by a swift spasm of expression that suddenly convulsed AhFe's face. He winked both his eyes with the velocity of sheet-lightning,nodded his head with frightful rapidity, and snapped and apparentlydislocated every finger on his right hand. Gabriel gazed at him inopen-mouthed wonder.
"All litee!" said Ah Fe, looking intently at Gabriel.
"Which?" asked Gabriel.
"All litee! You shabbee 'all litee!' _She_ say 'all litee.'"
"Who's _she_?" asked Gabriel, in sudden alarm.
"You lifee!--shabbee?--Missee Conloy! She likee you--shabbee? Me likeeyou!--shabbee? Miss Conloy she say 'all litee!' You shabbee shelliff?"
"Which?" said Gabriel.
"Shelliff! Man plenty chokee bad man!"
"Sheriff, I reckon," suggested Gabriel, with great gravity.
"Um! Shelliff. Mebbe you shabbee him bimeby. He chokee bad man. Muchchokee. Chokee like hellee! _He no chokee you._ No. Shabbee? She say'shelliff no chokee you.' Shabbee?"
"I see," said Gabriel, significantly.
"She say," continued Ah Fe, with gasping swiftness, "she say you talkeetoo much. She say me talkee too much. She say Maxwellee talkee too much.All talkee too much. She say 'no talkee!' Shabbee? She say 'ash up!'Shabbee? She say 'dly up!' Shabbee? She say 'bimeby plentytalkee--bimeby all litee!' Shabbee?"
"But whar ez she--whar kin I git to see her?" asked Gabriel.
Ah Fe's face instantly discharged itself of all expression. A wet spongecould not have more completely obliterated all pencilled outline ofcharacter or thought from his blank slate-coloured physiognomy than didGabriel's simple question. He returned his questioner's glance withineffable calmness and vacancy, patiently drew the long sleeves of hisblouse still further over his varnished fingers, crossed themsubmissively and Orientally before him, and waited apparently forGabriel to become again intelligible.
"Look yer," said Gabriel, with gentle persuasiveness, "ef it's the sameto ye, you'd be doin' me a heap o' good ef you'd let on whar thetJuly--thet Mrs. Conroy ez. Bein' a man ez in his blindness bows down towood and stun, ye ain't supposed to allow fur a Christian's feelings.But I put to ye ez a far-minded brethren--a true man and a manwhatsoever his colour that it's a square thing fur ye to allow to mewhar thet woman ez ez my relation by marriage ez hidin'! Allowin' it'sone o' my idols--I axes you as a brother Pagan--whar ez she?"
A faint, flickering smile of pathetic abstraction and simplicity, as ofone listening to far-off but incomprehensible music stole over Ah Fe'sface. Then he said kindly, gently, but somewhat vaguely andunsatisfactorily--
"Me no shabbee Melican man. Me washee shirtee! dollah and hap dozen!"