IV
The Sanger Witch
The Sanger Witch dwelt in the bend of the creek, And neither could read nor write; But she knew in a day what few knew in a week, For hers was the second sight. "Read?" said she, "I am double read; You fools of the ink and pen Count never the eggs, but the sticks of the nest, See the clothes, not the souls of men."
--Cracked Jimmy's Ballad of Sanger.
The boys set out for Caleb's. It was up the creek away from the campground. As they neared the bend they saw a small log shanty, with somepoultry and a pig at the door.
"That's where the witch lives," said Sam.
"Who--old Granny de Neuville?"
"Yep, and she just loves me. Oh, yes; about the same way an old henloves a Chicken-hawk. 'Pears to me she sets up nights to love me."
"Why?"
"Oh, I guess it started with the pigs. No, let's see: first about thetrees. Da chopped off a lot of Elm trees that looked terrible nicefrom her windy. She's awful queer about a tree. She hates to see 'emcut down, an' that soured her same as if she owned 'em. Then therewuz the pigs. You see, one winter she was awful hard up, an' she hadtwo pigs worth, maybe, $5.00 each--anyway, she said they was, an' sheought to know, for they lived right in the shanty with her--an' shecome to Da (I guess she had tried every one else first) an' Da hesqueezed her down an' got the two pigs for $7.00. He al'ays does that.Then he comes home an' says to Ma, 'Seems to me the old lady ispretty hard put. 'Bout next Saturday you take two sacks of flour andsome pork an' potatoes around an' see that she is fixed up right.'Da's al'ays doin' them things, too, on the quiet. So Ma goes withabout $15.00 worth o' truck. The old witch was kinder 'stand off.'She didn't say much. Ma was goin' slow, not knowin' just whether togive the stuff out an' out, or say it could be worked for next year,or some other year, when there was two moons, or some time when thework was all done. Well, the old witch said mighty little until thestuff was all put in the cellar, then she grabs up a big stick an'breaks out at Ma:
"'Now you git out o' my house, you dhirty, sthuck-up thing. I ain'ttakin' no charity from the likes o' you. That thing you call yourhusband robbed me o' my pigs, an' we ain't any more'n square now, sogit out an' don't you dar set fut in my house agin'.
"Well, she was sore on us when Da bought her pigs, but she was fivetimes wuss after she clinched the groceries. 'Pears like they souredon her stummick."
"What a shame, the old wretch," said Yan, with ready sympathy for theRaftens.
"No," replied Sam; "she's only queer. There's lots o' folk takes herside. But she's awful queer. She won't have a tree cut if she can helpit, an' when the flowers come in the spring she goes out in the woodsand sets down beside 'em for hours an' calls 'em 'Me beauty--me littlebeauty,' an' she just loves the birds. When the boys want to rile herthey get a sling-shot an' shoot the birds in her garden an' she justgoes crazy. She pretty near starves herself every winter trying tofeed all the birds that come around. She has lots of 'em to feed rightout o' her hand. Da says they think its an old pine root, but she hasa way o' coaxin' 'em that's awful nice. There she'll stand in freezin'weather calling them 'Me beauties'.
"You see that little windy in the end?" he continued, as they cameclose to the witch's hut. "Well, that's the loft, an' it's full o' allsorts o' plants an' roots."
"What for?"
"Oh, for medicine. She's great on hairbs."
"Oh, yes, I remember now Biddy did say that her Granny was a herbdoctor."
"Doctor? She ain't much of a doctor, but I bet she knows every plantthat grows in the woods, an' they're sure strong after they've been upthere for a year, with the cat sleepin' on them."
"I wish I could go and see her."
"Guess we can," was the reply.
"Doesn't she know you?"
"Yes, but watch me fix her," drawled Sam. "There ain't nothin' shelikes better'n a sick pusson."
Sam stopped now, rolled up his sleeves and examined both arms,apparently without success, for he then loosed his suspenders, droppedhis pants, and proceeded to examine his legs. Of course, all boyshave more or less cuts and bruises in various stages of healing. Samselected his best, just below the knee, a scratch from a nail in thefence. He had never given it a thought before, but now he "reckonedit would do." With a lead pencil borrowed from Yan he spread a hueof mortification all around it, a green butternut rind added theunpleasant yellowish-brown of human decomposition, and the resultwas a frightful looking plague spot. By chewing some grass he made ayellowish-green dye and expectorated this on the handkerchief which hebound on the sore. He then got a stick and proceeded to limp painfullytoward the witch's abode. As they drew near, the partly open door wasslammed with ominous force. Sam, quite unabashed, looked at Yan andwinked, then knocked. The bark of a small dog answered. He knockedagain. A sound now of some one moving within, but no answer. A thirdtime he knocked, then a shrill voice: "Get out o' that. Get aff myplace, you dirthy young riff-raff."
Sam grinned at Yan. Then drawling a little more than usual, he said:
"It's a poor boy, Granny. The doctors can't do nothin' for him," whichlast, at least, was quite true.
There was no reply, so Sam made bold to open the door. There sat theold woman glowering with angry red eyes across the stove, a cat in herlap, a pipe in her mouth, and a dog growling toward the strangers.
"Ain't you Sam Raften?" she asked fiercely.
"Yes, marm. I get hurt on a nail in the fence. They say you kin gitblood-p'isinin' that way," said Sam, groaning a little and trying tolook interesting. The order to "get out" died on the witch's lips. Hergood old Irish heart warmed to the sufferer. After all, it was ratherpleasant to have the enemy thus humbly seek her aid, so she muttered:
"Le's see it."
Sam was trying amid many groans to expose the disgusting mess he hadmade around his knee, when a step was heard outside. The door openedand in walked Biddy.
She and Yan recognized each other at once. The one had grown muchlonger, the other much broader since the last meeting, but thegreeting was that of two warm-hearted people glad to see each otheronce more.
"An' how's yer father an' yer mother an' how is all the fambily? Law,do ye mind the Cherry Lung-balm we uster make? My, but we wuz greeniesthen! Ye mind, I uster tell ye about Granny? Well, here she is.Granny, this is Yan. Me an' him hed lots o' fun together when I'resided' with his mamma, didn't we, Yan? Now, Granny's the one totell ye all about the plants."
A long groan from Sam now called all attention his way.
"Well, if it ain't Sam Raften," said Biddy coldly.
"Yes, an' he's deathly sick," added Granny. "Their own docther guv himup an said mortal man couldn't save him nohow, so he jest hed to cometo me."
Another long groan was ample indorsement.
"Le's see. Gimme my scissors, Biddy; I'll hev to cut the pant legaff."
"No, no," Sam blurted out with sudden vigour, dreading theconsequences at home. "I kin roll it up."
"Thayer, thot'll do. Now I say," said the witch. "Yes, sure enough,thayer _is_ proud flesh. I moight cut it out," said she, fumblingin her pocket (Sam supposed for a knife, and made ready to dash forthe door), "but le's see, no--that would be a fool docther trick. Ikin git on without."
"Yes, sure," said Sam, clutching at the idea, "that's just what a fooldoctor would do, but you kin give me something to take that's farbetter."
"Well, sure an' I kin," and Yan and Sam breathed more freely."Shwaller this, now," and she offered him a tin cup of water intowhich she spilled some powder of dry leaves. Sam did so. "An' youtake this yer bundle and bile it in two gallons of wather and drink aglassful ivery hour, an' hev a loive chicken sphlit with an axe an'laid hot on the place twicet ivery day, till the proud flesh goes, an'it'll be all right wid ye--a fresh chicken ivery toime, moind ye."
"Wouldn't--turkeys--do--better?" groaned Sam, feebly. "I'm me mother'spet, Granny, an' expense ain't any objek"--a snort that may have meantmortal agony escaped him.
"Niver moind, now. Sure we
won't talk of yer father an' mother;they're punished pretty bad already. Hiven forbid they don't losethe rest o' ye fur their sins. It ain't meself that 'ud bear onyill-will."
A long groan cut short what looked like a young sermon.
"What's the plant, Granny?" asked Yan, carefully avoiding Sam's gaze.
"Shure, an' it grows in the woods."
"Yes, but I want to know what it's like and what it's called."
"Shure, 'tain't like nothin' else. It's just like itself, an' it'scalled Witch-hazel.
"'Witch-hazel blossoms in the faal, To cure the chills and Fayvers aall,'
"as cracked Jimmy says."
"I'll show you some av it sometime," said Biddy.
"Can it be made into Lung-balm?" asked Yan, mischievously.
"I guess we'll have to go now," Sam feebly put in. "I'm feeling muchbetter. Where's my stick? Here, Yan, you kin carry my medicine, an'be _very_ keerful of it."
Yan took the bundle, not daring to look Sam in the face.
Granny bade them both come back again, and followed to the door with ahearty farewell. At the same moment she said:
"Howld on!" Then she went to the one bed in the room, which also wasthe house, turned down the clothes, and in the middle exposed a lot ofrosy apples. She picked out two of the best and gave one to each ofthe boys.
"Shure, Oi hev to hoide them thayer fram the pig, for they're thefoinest iver grew."
"I know they are," whispered Sam, as he limped out of hearing, "forher son Larry stole them out of our orchard last fall. They're theonly kind that keeps over. They're the best that grow, but a trifletoo warm just now."
"Good-by, and thank you much," said Yan.
"I-feel-better-already," drawled Sam. "That tired feeling has left me,an' sense tryin' your remedy I have took no other," but added aside,"I wish I could throw up the stuff before it pisens me," and then,with a keen eye to the picturesque effect, he wanted to fling hisstick away and bound into the woods.
It was all Yan could do to make him observe some of the decenciesand limp a little till out of sight. As it was, the change was quitemarked and the genial old witch called loudly on Biddy to see withher own eyes how quickly she had helped young Raften "afther all thedochters in the country hed giv him up."
"Now for Caleb Clark, Esq., Q.C.," said Sam.
"Q.C.?" inquired his friend.
"Some consider it means Queen's Counsel, an' some claims as it standsfor Queer Cuss. One or other maybe is right."
"You're stepping wonderfully for a crippled boy the doctors have givenup," remarked Yan.
"Yes; that's the proud flesh in me right leg that's doin' the highsteppin'. The left one is jest plain laig."
"Let's hide this somewhere till we get back," and Yan held up thebundle of Witch-hazel.
"I'll hide that," said Sam, and he hurled the bundle afar into thecreek.
"Oh, Sam, that's mean. Maybe she wants it herself."
"Pooh, that's all the old brush is good for. I done more'n me dutywhen I drank that swill. I could fairly taste the cat in it."
"What'll you tell her next time?"
"Well, I'll tell her I put the sticks in the right place an' wherethey done the most good. I soaked 'em in water an' took as much as Iwanted of the flooid.
"She'll see for herself I really did pull through, and will be ablamed sight happier than if I drank her old pisen brushwood an' hadto send for a really truly doctor."
Yan was silenced, but not satisfied. It seemed discourteous to throwthe sticks away--so soon, anyway; besides, he had curiosity to knowjust what they were and how they acted.