“When I went in the store yesterday to mail your letter to the twins, the men were talking about repairing the mill,” Will announced at breakfast a few days later.
“They say when they plan to start?” his uncle asked.
Will nodded. “They’re meeting there this morning.”
“After you check the trap line, we’ll go on down. I’ll gather up some tools for us.”
It was nearly midmorning when they arrived at the mill. A stack of fresh lumber was piled by the waterwheel, and half a dozen men stood near it. No one spoke as Uncle Jed and Will approached.
“Thought you might need some extra hands on this job,” Uncle Jed said, pushing back his hat.
The men glanced quickly at one another and then looked at the miller. But before he could speak, a young man who looked vaguely familiar to Will stepped forward. His eyes traveled insolently from Uncle Jed’s hat to his dusty boots and back up to his face. “Don’t guess we need your help, but I reckon we could use the boy,” he said.
Will’s heart almost stood still.
Uncle Jed gazed levelly into the younger man’s eyes. “Well, Tom, let me know if you change your mind,” he said quietly.
It was Tom who looked away first, dropping his gaze to Will. “Run on over to the store and tell Pa we need them nails now,” he said.
Why, Tom was Hank’s brother! Will swallowed hard, realizing that Uncle Jed had already turned toward home and now Tom and the other men were waiting to see what he would do.
“My—my uncle needs me. I—I’d better go with him.”
Tom’s lip curled in derision. “Suit yourself,” he said.
Will could feel six pairs of eyes on him as he left. Uncle Jed was passing the spring when Will caught up to him. For a few minutes, neither spoke. Then Uncle Jed said, “You could have stayed. It might have made things easier for you in the long run.”
“I didn’t want to stay,” Will said shortly. He was seething with indignation. Tom Riley had no right to treat Uncle Jed like that, even if he hadn’t been in the war.
Will listened for the sounds of hammering as he approached the mill a week later. He’d wanted Meg to show him the way to the river that afternoon, but he was afraid that if he didn’t go to the pond, Uncle Jed would think it was because of what had happened when they volunteered to help repair the mill. And he’d be right. Will could still feel the men’s eyes boring into his back. He dreaded meeting them again, especially Hank’s brother Tom.
His spirits rose when he didn’t hear any hammering as he drew near the mill. Maybe they’d finished the repairs! But then he saw the little knot of men clustered around the waterwheel.
At first, they didn’t seem to notice him, but when he stood up to cast, he saw the miller glance in his direction. For a few minutes Will kept his eyes fixed on the cork floating on the still water, but then he slowly lifted them and saw the men talking among themselves. Suddenly Tom Riley broke away from the group and headed toward his father’s store, his body stiff with anger. Then, as the others nodded, Mr. Brown left the group and began walking around the pond toward Will.
Puzzled, Will concentrated on the cork again.
“Having any luck?” the man called as he approached.
“No, sir,” said Will. “Not yet.” And not the last three or four times he’d gone there, either.
Giving Will a friendly clap on the shoulder the miller said, “Well, you ain’t been here very long.”
Just then, Will’s cork bobbed and went under. He jerked the line and quickly landed a bluegill.
“Couple more of them, and you’ll be having a fish supper,” said the man.
“Yessir,” Will said, skillfully working the hook from the fish’s mouth. Then, feeling he should say more, he asked, “How’s the mill coming along?”
The man studied his fingernails for a few moments and then sighed. “Not so well. Oh, we’ve got the rotted boards replaced,” he said, following Will’s glance toward the patchwork of new and aged boards on the mill’s exterior. “It’s the works that’s troubling us now. Can’t seem to get that fool wheel turning no matter what we do.”
“That’s a real problem.”
“So it is,” the man said. Then he leaned forward. “But, say—there’s something you could do to help.”
“Something I could do? What do you mean?”
“Your uncle worked for a miller over in Madison County when he was a young man, and I’d like him to take a look at the millworks for me. Would you tell him that?”
Will felt a tug on his line. “Another bluegill,” he said, glad for the chance to collect his thoughts before he answered. Uncle Jed had said to let him know if they changed their minds, but he’d said it to Tom. Tossing his line in again, Will turned to the miller. “I think you’d better send Tom Riley with that message, sir.”
“So that’s the way it’s going to be.” The miller sighed. Then, standing up, he added, “Can’t say that I blame you, though.”
Will watched Mr. Brown walk back around the pond and join the other men. Again he saw them look in his direction and then nod their heads. Finally, they all set off toward Riley’s store. Will sat for what he thought was at least another hour before he gathered up his two bluegills and started home.
“Mr. Brown said he’d like you to take a look at the millworks,” Will told his uncle that night at supper.
“Did you tell him I would?”
“I told him he’d better send Tom Riley out here to ask you.”
“Tom’s a stubborn young man,” Uncle Jed said slowly. “I doubt that Luke Brown can get him to do that.”
Will stared down at his plate. Now he’d ruined everything. And he was just trying to do what he thought Uncle Jed would want.
A little later, while Meg sat on the porch step with the coffee mill on her lap, grinding buckwheat for the next morning’s breakfast gruel, Will carefully filled the oil lamps and trimmed their wicks. Suddenly he spoke. “I don’t see that Tom Riley has much right to look down on your pa for not fighting since he only went to war because the conscriptors got him.” And since he fraternized with the enemy, he added silently, remembering the shiny buckle Tom had gotten by swapping with a Yankee.
Meg shrugged. “He probably hates to think that Pa was smarter than he was about avoiding the conscriptors.”
“Maybe so,” Will said. He sighed, wondering if the miller would be able to convince Tom to come and ask for Uncle Jed’s help.