One by one the men of the Grape Vine settlement returned to save what
they might of their crops, and plough for the next year--Burrs, O'Haras,
Williamsons, and Winns. Yes, Tom had gone to guide the Virginia boys.
All had tales to tell of his prowess, and how he had saved Rutherford's
men from ambush at the risk of his life. To all of which Polly Ann
listened with conscious pride, and replied with sallies.
"I reckon I don't care if he never comes back," she would cry. "If he
likes the Virginny boys more than me, there be others here I fancy more
than him."
Whereupon the informant, if he were not bound in matrimony, would begin
to make eyes at Polly Ann. Or, if he were bolder, and went at the wooing
in the more demonstrative fashion of the backwoods--Polly Ann had a way
of hitting him behind the ear with most surprising effect.
One windy morning when the leaves were kiting over the valley we were
getting ready for pounding hominy, when a figure appeared on the trail.
Steadying the hood of her sunbonnet with her hand, the girl gazed long
and earnestly, and a lump came into my throat at the thought that the
comer might be Tom McChesney. Polly Ann sat down at the block again in
disgust.
"It's only Chauncey Dike," she said.
"Who's Chauncey Dike?" I asked.
"He reckons he's a buck," was all that Polly Ann vouchsafed.
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