Spake As a Dragon (24 page)

“
You’re right Nate, and we
have to find shelter fast. We can’t last much longer.” Wait, what
is that smell? There it is again. “Smell that Nate. Don’t you smell
that?”

Nate looks at Luke as if Luke were
crazy.

“
Smoke, Nate. That’s smoke
I smell. The wind is blowing smoke from a fire toward us that’s got
to be coming from the Babb farm. Come on Nate, hold on just a
little longer, it can’t be too far now.”

Back in the lead Luke urges his horse
on. Nate is right, even the horses know they cannot last much
longer, “Come on,” Luke says to his mount while kicking his heels
into her side. Slowly the horse begins to move. One step then
another, the line to Goldie tightens and she begins to move also.
‘How far can they stay on their feet,’
thinks Luke? He
stares into the blinding snow –
‘is that a light I see in the
distance, yes there it is again, it is a light!’
Turning in the
saddle he hollers at Nate and points with his finger, “There’s the
farm Nate, we’ve made it – hold on for just a few more
minutes.”

Luke stops at the hitching rail in
front of the house, slides from his horse and stumbles through the
deep snow to the front door. He barely has the energy to pound on
the door, ‘whomp, whomp, whomp,’ each strike with his fist is
weaker and weaker. He thinks,
‘Does anyone hear me? Oh please, I
have not the strength to pound again!
’ He is beginning to
collapse on the porch as the door begins to open.

“
Lord have mercy!”
Exclaims a young girl opening the door. “You men are almost frozen
to death. Get yourself inside! Sam!” She yells to her brother,
“please help get these men into the house, then put their animals
in the barn. Feed and water them too while you are out there,
please.”

Later Luke and Nate are sitting around
a roaring fireplace, wrapped in quilts and sipping hot parched corn
coffee spiked with a taste of white lighting. Luke speaks first,
“Miss you don’t know how much Nate and I appreciate your
hospitality. If we hadn’t gotten a whiff of your smoke, I’m afraid
we could have plodded by your farm without notice and frozen to
death. Oh, I’m sorry... we didn’t introduce ourselves. My name is
Luke Scarburg and my friend here is Nathaniel ‘Nate’
Scarburg.”

“
Is he your slave, Mr.
Scarburg?”

“
No, certainly not – his
family and my family have always been splendid friends. His Pappy
was a slave on my grandfather’s plantation; however, my father
freed all the slaves when Grandfather died. No, Nate is a free man,
as free as you and I.”

“
Pleased to meet you both.
I am Catherine, and Samuel Junior, my brother, is taking care of
your animals at the barn. My parents Samuel and Eleanor Babb own
this farm.”

“
I must ask Katherine,
what is that substance you are burning in the fireplace? It is
black, and I know by its smell it is not wood. Could I inquire as
to what it is?”

“
Up on the mountain Pa
found these black rocks that burn. We use them to burn in the
fireplace and in our lamps.”

“
Catherine, I have seen
these rocks before at a railroad yard in Columbus, Ohio. I believe
it is called coal. They are beginning to use it to fire the boilers
in the locomotives of the trains, but how do you get them to burn
in an oil lamp?”

“
Father made him a type of
moonshine still out by the barn. Instead of making alcohol, he
heats the black rocks until they form what he calls coal oil. He
extracts the stuff and we use it in our lamps. He has drums full of
it in the woodshed. Works really good, but sometimes the lamps get
awfully smoky. Ma always said she wished we could still get the
whale oil again, but it is near impossible with this War going
on.”

“
Speaking of your parents,
where are your father and mother?”

“
Both of them are upstairs
in the big bedroom. Father was shot when a bunch of outlaws rode
through here right after Christmas. He’s alive, but paralyzed and
cannot walk. The bullet hit his spine. They shot Mother too, but
she comes in and out of consciousness. She occasionally is awake
long enough for Sam and me to give her something to eat and
drink.”

“
How did you and Sam
manage to escape harm?”

“
I was in the barn milking
and Sam was in the house and hid as the shooting took place. Father
came out on the porch and I could hear the talking getting real
rough. The riders raised their voice pretty loud and I suppose an
argument arose that’s when they shot Father. Mother ran out of the
house and they shot her too. We were too far away to hear what was
being said, but Father later said they wanted money. After the
shooting Sam stayed in the closet and I hid underneath the hay in
the barn until they left. The only thing Sam said he could remember
was the jingle of the outlaw’s spurs as he walked across the
room.”

“
Did your father offer any
resistance to those thugs.”

“
No, Father is a member of
the Religious Society of Friends and doesn’t believe in
violence.”

“
Quaker? You mean he is a
Quaker? What about the white lightening we had with our coffee? Did
he make it himself? I always thought your religion refrained from
strong drink?”

“
We believe in plain
speech and dress, are opposed to slavery and war, and the refusal
to swear oaths, there is nothing against drinking in our beliefs.
However, many Friends abstain from the use of spirits of all kinds.
Father, however,” she puts her hand to her mouth to mask her laugh,
“believes in the Biblical verse from First Timothy,
‘Drink no
longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's
sake...”

“
Wine? Wine, you say girl?
That is hard liquor your father makes. That stuff must be one
hundred-fifty proof, at least! Does he sell it too, or use all of
it for ‘thy stomach’s sake’?”

Laughing again, Catherine responds, “I
must admit it is not wine, but Father does not make it either. Each
summer he carries a few of the Walker hounds down into Tennessee
and trades with a man named John or Jack, I think his last name is
Daniels. I understand he has a large still that he runs somewhere
back in the hills next to a large cave. Mr. Daniels uses the spring
water from the cave to make Father’s spirits. He always returns
with a thirty-five gallon barrel of his ‘wine’ he has swapped for
the bunch of Walkers he carried with him. He works on his stomach
with the contents of that barrel until he can return the next
summer.”

“
All right, enough of your
father’s trading deals. If I may ask,” inquires Luke, “How old are
you and Sam?”

“
Sam is fifteen and I will
be eighteen my next birthday.”

“
I understand from your
religion you are against the War, but I don’t think the military,
either North or South would care. Have they tried to impress Sam
into the Army?”

“
Yes, Father obtained an
exemption for Sam, Jr., by paying the Yanks a fee of $500. The
tribute keeps Sam from being conscripted into the Army, but the
Conscription Officer comes by regularly to forcibly haul him off to
the Yankee Army anyway. When we see him coming we hide Sam to keep
them from getting him.

Father moved here from South Carolina
to practice his religion in peace, and we were doing so until this
awful War began. I can see by your clothes you all are Yankees, but
I have to be honest, we side with the South; although, we do not
take any active part in the War.”

“
May we go upstairs and
pay our respects? We’ll talk more about this later.”

Walking into the room Luke notices,
there are two beds. In one lies Mr. Babb and his wife rests in the
other. The room is illuminated with a coal oil lamp sitting on a
table between the two beds. A small fireplace supplies
heat.

“
Father, are you awake? We
have visitors. Are you well enough to speak with them? This man is
Luke Scarburg and the other is Nate Scarburg.”

“
Yes daughter, bring them
closer to the light. Thou are welcome in my humble home Sirs. I am
Samuel Babb I consider it an honor to meet you both. Thee are to
stay and partake of our hospitality as long as thy deem necessary.
I can hear we are in the midst of a great storm, surely thee have
not traveled down the mountain in this dreadful
weather?”

Reaching to grasp Mr. Babb’s hand,
Luke utters, “It is a pleasure Sir to meet you. We thank you for
giving us shelter from this storm. I’m sure you and your family
have saved us from a terrible frozen demise, and yes we have
traveled from the far side of the mountain.”

“
Daughter, find seating
for these two gentlemen, I must hear of their
adventures.”

For a while, Luke and Nate sit and
tell Mr. Babb and Catherine, about their exploits beginning with
the Battle of Gettysburg, over six months earlier. Sometimes they
laugh and at other times they have a tear come to their eye.
Finally, Luke says, “That’s enough for now about Nate and me. How
about telling us about your family.”

Samuel begins, “Sir I am against
violence, but,” shutting his eyes as in prayer finally opens them
and says, “Thank you for smiting those vile villains.” Mr. Babb
quotes:

‘
To do justice and
judgment
is
more acceptable to the LORD than
sacrifice.’ Proverbs Chapter 21, Verse 3.

“
It appears those heathens
received justice and judgment at thou hands – thank thee my
friends.”

Samuel tells Luke and Nate of his life
in South Carolina. As a young lad, the settlement in which his
father and mother lived was filled with Friends of the Society. The
Meetinghouse was usually filled with believers; however, as he
began to grow older the place gradually began to change. More and
more non-believers moved into the town. The weekly Meetinghouse
known as the Jacob Ingram House of the Lord, some called it the
Damascus House of the Lord, was hardly filled on meeting
day.

“
Stop! Stop Mr. Babb, what
was the name of your Meetinghouse?”

“
Uh, twas the Jacob Ingram
Meetinghouse, or some called it the Damascus House of the Lord,
why? Yee know it?”

“
Where did you live in
South Carolina Sir?”

“
We had a small place on
Mink Creek close to a settlement called Scarlettsville, there was a
mill there too. It was called the Scarburg Mill. Yee name be
Scarburg, is it not? Is there some connection?”

“
Connection? A connection
indeed Mr. Babb, the Meetinghouse you speak of was constructed by
my great-grandfather Jacob Ingram! He is my mother’s grandfather!
My other great-grandfather John Scarburg built the very mill of
which you speak. My father and mother are from Scarlettsville also,
but they later moved to Alabama. Isn’t this a mysterious world or
what?”

“
Yes indeed, the mysteries
of God are an amazement.”

Mr. Babb continued, “When we lived in
Scarlettsville and met at the John Ingram Meetinghouse the Friends
always questioned why a particular Bible scripture was engraved on
the inside wall over the door, it read:

‘
And Ahaz took the
silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the
treasures of the king's house, and sent
it for
a
present...’

“
Mr. Scarburg, ye say your
parents are from Scarlettsville too. Were they Quakers? Did anyone
ever tell ye what that passage meant or why someone saw fit to
engrave it over the door? I have all ways assumed it referred to
one’s soul or spirit that our God sends to be with Him when our
earthly life is finished.”

“
It is a mystery to me too
Mr. Babb. I suppose your thoughts on the verse could be correct,
but no, no my parents did not attend the Scarlettsville
Meetinghouse. They were just plain old Southern
Baptists.”

“
Sir would thee please
remove thou firearm resting there on thy hip, our religion forbids
violence.”

Luke unbuckles his Colt .44 and hangs
the holster over the corner headboard post of Mr. Babb’s
bed.

“
Good, now would thee
please sit down on the edge of my bed, I would like a few words of
import with thee.” Speaking to Catherine, he requested she go
downstairs and prepare their guests a proper supper. Jake follows
closely behind Catherine as she leaves the bedroom.

“
Ma,” he says pointing
toward Mrs. Babb’s bed, “will never recover and I am worse than
useless. My darlin’ girl and brave boy will always have to tend to
us both. That’s a fearsome burden to put on them. I’m askin’ ye to
promise if something was to happen to me and Ma I want my children
taken care of. Ye being from Scarlettsville are most like family,
and God has allowed ye to find our humble farm. Your presence here
today has got to be God’s divine will. Please get a piece of paper
and pen from my desk and write what I will say to thee.” Luke did
as requested and wrote the following:

February 10,
1864

Laurel County,
Kentucky

I Samuel Babb, being of
sound mind, state this be my last will and testament, I do request
all my debts be settled and request Ma and me be buried up behind
the house in the grove of Dogwood trees, if possible, if not, we
feel our Heavenly Father will find our remains on that great
judgment day. Further, I do hereby give all my worldly goods to
Luke Scarburg. My farm and all the livestock will be his too. I
request that my daughter Catherine and son Samuel, Jr., both under
the age of consent will remain under his care until the age of
twenty-one, then upon his discretion, all my worldly goods will be
returned to them.