Upon this scene Marie came, still crying. She had always been an
impulsive young woman, and now she forgot that Lovin Child had not seen
her for six months or so, and that baby memories are short. She rushed
in and snatched him off the ground and kissed him and squeezed him and
cried aloud upon her God and her baby, and buried her wet face against
his fat little neck.
Cash, trundling a wheelbarrow of ore out to the tunnel's mouth, heard a
howl and broke into a run with his load, bursting out into the sunlight
with a clatter and upsetting the barrow ten feet short of the regular
dumping place. Marie was frantically trying to untie the rope, and
was having trouble because Lovin Child was in one of his worst
kicking-and-squirming tantrums. Cash rushed in and snatched the child
from her.
"Here! What you doing to that kid? You're scaring him to death--and
you've got no right!"
"I have got a right! I have too got a right!" Marie was clawing like a
wildcat at Cash's grimy hands. "He's my baby! He's mine! You ought to
be hung for stealing him away from me. Let go--he's mine, I tell you.
Lovin! Lovin Child! Don't you know Marie? Marie's sweet, pitty man, he
is! Come to Marie, boy baby!"
"Tell a worl' no, no, no!" yelled Lovin Child, clinging to Cash.
"Aw--come to Marie, sweetheart! Marie's own lovin' little man baby! You
let him go, or I'll--I'll kill you. You big brute!"
Cash let go, but it was not because she commanded. He let go and stared
hard at Marie, lifting his eyebrows comically as he stepped back, his
hand going unconsciously up to smooth his beard.
"Marie?" he repeated stupidly. "Marie?" He reached out and laid a hand
compellingly on her shoulder. "Ain't your name Marie Markham, young
lady? Don't you know your own dad?"
Marie lifted her face from kissing Lovin Child very much against his
will, and stared round-eyed at Cash. She did not say anything.
"You're my Marie, all right You ain't changed so much I can't recognize
yuh. I should think you'd remember your own father--but I guess maybe
the beard kinda changes my looks. Is this true, that this kid belongs to
you?"
Marie gasped. "Why--father? Why--why, father!" She leaned herself and
Lovin Child into his arms. "Why, I can't believe it! Why--" She closed
her eyes and shivered, going suddenly weak, and relaxed in his arms.
"I-I-I can't--"
Cash slid Lovin Child to the ground, where that young gentleman picked
himself up indignantly and ran as far as his picket rope would let him,
whereupon he turned and screamed "Sunny-gun! sunny-gun!" at the two like
an enraged bluejay. Cash did not pay any attention to him. He was busy
seeking out a soft, shady spot that was free of rocks, where he might
lay Marie down. He leaned over her and fanned her violently with his
hat, his lips and his eyebrows working with the complexity of his
emotions. Then suddenly he turned and ducked into the tunnel, after Bud.