“Grandpa! Grandpa!” I yelled, running up the trail toward the house. I slammed through the front gate, and when I didn’t see him in the front yard or up on the porch, I ran around back toward the barn.
I sure hoped he was back from Hamp’s by now.
When I got to the backyard, Grandpa stood next to the barn, raking through some dried brush. He looked up when he saw me.
I was almost out of breath but managed to have just enough left to say, “Somebody jus’ shot at us!”
Huck and Henry James came running up behind me panting.
Grandpa leaned on his rake and asked, “What in tarnation ’r’ you talkin’ ’bout, Elsie Mae?”
“Jus’ now, we was out in Hollow Log Pond, and we heard somethin’ in the bushes, and at first I thought it might be an animal, and I looked ’round but couldn’t see nothin’, and turns out there was two men hidin’ in the woods. They was whisperin’, and then they yelled, and then we heard a gun go off.”
“A gun?” Grandpa asked. “Are ya sure ’bout that?”
Grandpa didn’t seem nearly as concerned as I thought he should be. Didn’t he believe me?
“What’d they look like?” Grandpa asked as he began pulling the rake through the brush again.
“Well, we didn’t actually see ’em,” I said, looking over at Henry. “Ya know how dark Hollow Log Pond is, Grandpa.”
“That I do,” Grandpa said. “It’s black as pitch in there. Likely they was some fools down from Waycross comin’ to hunt. Folks do it all the time. Fact last month a coupla fellows got themselves stuck in the muck in there, and the sheriff had to come git ’em out.
“So more’n likely it was somebody that don’t know no better who got themselves lost and ended up in that good-fer-nothin’ pond. Y’all and that dog of yers probably scared ’em half to death.”
Henry James stepped forward and spoke up. “Scared them half to death? I don’t think so, sir. I ain’t mean no disrespect, Uncle Zeke, but I was so scared I think I almost caught a glimpse of Glory.”
Grandpa chuckled.
“Grandpa, I don’t think it’s nothin’ to laugh ’bout,” I said. “I think they wanted to scare us cuz they’re up to somethin’ no good. I could jus’ feel it.”
I felt Huck sitting at my side, and I reached down and scratched him on the head without even taking my eyes off Grandpa, hoping Grandpa’d somehow realize the importance of what had just happened.
“Yeah, Uncle Zeke,” Henry James spoke up again, “I know yer not supposed to, but I’d swear on a stack of Holy Bibles that those fellas were trouble.”
“Ya think they might could be the hog bandits?” I asked.
“I doubt that,” Grandpa said. “Wouldn’t make much sense fer the hog bandits t’be over in Hollow Log Pond in the middle of the day shootin’ at a coupla a young’uns and a dog. Even so,” Grandpa said, nodding his head toward us, “y’all better stay away from that pond then because ya don’t need no more trouble. Huck’s gittin’ into ’nough trouble fer all three of ya.”
“Oh no!” I said. “What’d he do now?”
“Well, ’sides the fact that I heard he like to almost kilt yer aunt Millie earlier t’day, yer grandma found the laundry that she hung up behind the barn early this mornin’ scattered all over the yard.”
I wondered when Huck had had the chance to do that.
“Is Grandma mad ’bout it?” I asked.
“Well, she ain’t too happy ’bout her favorite dress that’s got holes in it that no doubt match Huck’s teeth.”
I gave Huck a sideways look—the kind of look that Mama gave me when I came home late for supper or forgot to do one of my chores.
“Don’t fret too much though,” Grandpa said. “Ya know yer grandma. She’ll git over it, but I’d keep a better eye on Huck if I was you, or she might jus’ make ya keep ’im tied up.”
Tied up? I couldn’t let that happen. Huck needed his freedom just like I did. I’d have to be sure he didn’t get into any more trouble.
“I reckon it’s jus’ ’bout time to eat,” Grandpa said, getting back to work. “Why don’t ya young’uns go on and find yerself somethin’ t’do till then?”
Huck, Henry James, and I headed back around toward the front of the house.
“And stay away from Hollow Log Pond,” Grandpa called after us. “If yer grandma hears y’all got people shootin’ at ya, she’ll keep ya on a shorter leash than the one she wants to put on Huck.”