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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35147-8.txt b/35147-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..45e2ac7 --- /dev/null +++ b/35147-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9187 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Maid of the Kentucky Hills, by Edwin Carlile Litsey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Maid of the Kentucky Hills + +Author: Edwin Carlile Litsey + +Illustrator: John Cassel + +Release Date: February 2, 2011 [EBook #35147] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + + A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS + + BY EDWIN CARLILE LITSEY + + Author of "The Man from Jericho," etc. + + + _ILLUSTRATED BY + JOHN CASSEL_ + + CHICAGO + BROWNE & HOWELL COMPANY + 1913 + + COPYRIGHT, 1913 + BROWNE & HOWELL COMPANY + + _Copyright in England + All rights reserved_ + + PUBLISHED, NOVEMBER, 1913 + + THE PLIMPTON PRESS + NORWOOD, MASS, USA + + + + + TO + SARA + OF THE SUNNY HAIR + + + + +[Illustration: _I knelt on the tree, bent down, and took her upheld hand +in mine._] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER ONE IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE + +CHAPTER TWO IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE AGAIN + +CHAPTER THREE IN WHICH I FIND A LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS + +CHAPTER FOUR IN WHICH I MEET A DRYAD + +CHAPTER FIVE IN WHICH I SAY WHAT I PLEASE + +CHAPTER SIX IN WHICH I MEET A SATYR + +CHAPTER SEVEN IN WHICH THE SATYR AND I SIT CHEEK BY JOWL + +CHAPTER EIGHT IN WHICH I PITCH MY TENT TOWARD HEBRON FOR THE SPACE OF AN +AFTERNOON + +CHAPTER NINE IN WHICH I SIT UPON A HILLTOP AND REFLECT TO NO ADVANTAGE + +CHAPTER TEN IN WHICH I SPEND A PLEASANT HOUR AND HEAR SOME NEWS + +CHAPTER ELEVEN IN WHICH OTHER CHARACTERS COME INTO OUR STORY + +CHAPTER TWELVE IN WHICH I ATTEND AN ORATORIO + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN IN WHICH I SUFFER FOUR SHOCKS, THREE OF THE EARTH AND +ONE FROM THE SKY, AND FIND ANOTHER MAID A-FISHING + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN IN WHICH YET A FIFTH SHOCK ARRIVES, AND ROUNDS OUT THE +DAY + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN IN WHICH THE HISTORIAN UNBLUSHINGLY SHOWS HIMSELF TO BE +A HUMAN + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN IN WHICH MUCH ADDED LIGHT IS SHED UPON MISS BERYL DRANE, +BUT ONLY A GLIMMER UPON MY PROBLEM + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN IN WHICH I ENTERTAIN SERIOUSLY A CHIVALROUS NOTION TO +MY GREAT DETRIMENT + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN IN WHICH I DESCEND INTO HELL + +CHAPTER NINETEEN IN WHICH THE SATYR AND THE NARRATOR BECOME VERY DRUNK, +AND THE LATTER IS LIFTED TO EARTH AGAIN + +CHAPTER TWENTY IN WHICH I VIEW AN EMPTY WORLD, ACT A HYPOCRITE, AND HEAR +A CONFESSION OF LOVE + +CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE IN WHICH, STRANGE TO SAY, TIME PASSES. ALSO I RECEIVE +THREE WARNINGS, AND WITNESS AN UNPARALLELED EPISODE IN THE SMITHY OF +BUCK STEELE + +CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO IN WHICH I SPAR WITH DEATH + +CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE IN WHICH, THOUGH THE WORLD IS STILL A VOID, THERE +IS THE SHINING OF A GREAT LIGHT + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR IN WHICH I VANQUISH A DEMONIAC, AND ENTER INTO GLORY + + + + +A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE + + +When a man of thirty who has been sound and well since boyhood suddenly +realizes there is something radically wrong with him, it amounts almost +to a tragedy. + +It was mid-March when I became convinced that I was "wrong." Near the +close of winter I had developed a hacking cough with occasional chest +pains, but with masculine mulishness had refused to recognize any +untoward symptoms. I was not a sissy, to let a common cold frighten me +and send me trembling to the doctor. I began to lose flesh and grow +pale, whereas I had been of fine frame, and decidedly athletic. Then I +discovered a fleck of crimson on my handkerchief one day after a hard +coughing spell. I got up from my desk with unsteady knees and a chilly +feeling down my spine, and went to 'Crombie. He was generally known as +Abercrombie Dane, M. D., but we grew up hand in hand, as it were, and +so--I went to 'Crombie. He was a fine, big animal; head of a Hercules +and strength of a jack and sense like Solon. A rare man. + +I told him my tale shamefacedly, for I realized now I had acted a fool, +and that maybe my day of grace had passed. He knew I was scared, for he +was sensitive, in spite of his bulk and seeming brusqueness. There was +pity in his eyes before I finished, and I had to grapple with myself to +keep the moisture out of mine, his sympathy was so real. + +Then I silently gave him the handkerchief, with the telltale stain. + +He looked at it absently, and rubbed it gently with the tip of one big +finger. + +"My son," he said--it was an affectionate form of address which he +nearly always employed--"you are starting a colony." + +His deep voice was very steady. + +"A _what_?" I demanded. + +"Bugs," he replied, laconically, and looked me squarely in the eyes. + +"_Bugs!_" I cried, feeling the cold hand of Fear at my heart. + +He shut his lips tightly, and nodded three or four times. + +For a few moments I was literally and positively paralyzed. I felt as if +he had pronounced sentence of death. 'Crombie had dropped his eyes, and +his broad, strong face was serious. + +My nature is buoyant, and presently the reaction came. + +"Are they crawlin' yet, Doc?" I asked, a smile struggling to my lips. + +I cannot understand now why I asked that question. Perhaps it was a +foolish attempt at bravado in the presence of a serious fact just +discovered. + +He did not answer. He recognized the query as flippant, and his nature +was deep. He sat looking at the floor a long time, and I did not intrude +again upon his thoughts. But I imagined I felt a tickling beneath my +ribs, as of many tiny feet at work. _Bugs!_ Ugh! + +At last 'Crombie's shaggy head came up. + +"There's a chance--a good chance," he said, and I felt courage spreading +through me like wine, for 'Crombie never spoke hastily, nor at random. + +"Sea voyages and high altitudes wouldn't hurt," he resumed, "but you +haven't the money for them. Still you've got to hike from town, my son. +Change is all right, but pure air and coarse, good food is your cue. The +knob country is not far away. There you'll find all you'd find in New +Mexico or Colorado or Arizona, and be in praying distance of the +Almighty to boot. I know the spot for you, my son. It is a great knob +which stands in the midst of a vast range, and it is belted with pine +and cedar trees. Find or build you a shack on it half way up and stay +there for a year. That's your prescription, my son." + +"It's a devilish hard one to take!" I protested, in my ignorance. + +"Condemned men are not usually so particular as to their method of +escape," he admonished, with a half smile. + +Then he fell to thinking again, with his finger on his eyebrow. It was a +peculiar attitude, which I had never seen in anyone else. I sat still, +hoping he was evolving some pleasanter plan for my redemption. He was +trying to change me into a hillbilly, a savage! I looked at my white +hands and carefully kept nails, at my neat business suit and shining +shoes, and a slow rebellion awoke within me. I had about decided to +ignore 'Crombie and seek more comforting advice, when his rumbling voice +came again. + +"It's mighty good authority which says you can't kick against the +pricks. Don't try it, my son. Before we begin final arrangements I want +to ask you a question. Have you ever heard of the life-plant?" + +I gazed at him keenly, for the query did not savor of sanity. I knew +that his researches in botany almost equalled his skill in medicine, but +in some vague way I suspected a trick. His expression disarmed me. It +not only was genuine, but yearning. I have never seen the same look in a +man's eyes before or since. + +"No; I never heard of it," I replied. "What is it?" + +His answer was spoken slowly and meditatively. + +"From the same source we get our hint regarding the pricks, we read of a +tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Nature is the +mother of medicine. There is nothing in pharmaceutics that has not a +direct origin from vegetable, animal, or mineral life. It is my belief +that there is a remedy for every human ill if we could only lay our +hands on it. This brings us to your case, and the life-plant." + +"Are you giving me straight goods, 'Crombie'?" I demanded, my suspicions +rising again. + +"It is half legend, my son, I'll admit, but I have strong reasons for +believing it does exist. It's an Indian tale." + +"Probably bosh," I muttered, my common sense at bay. + +"I think not," he answered, calmly and soberly. + +"Have you ever seen it?" I challenged. + +"No, but that doesn't disprove it. Listen to me. The life-plant is the +most peculiar growth in nature, and cannot be confounded with anything +else. The principal accessories to its full development are pure air and +sunshine, hence it is found only in the still places of the woods and +valleys. It is exceedingly rare. You might spend a year searching for it +under the most favorable conditions, and find only one specimen. Again, +you might find none. So far as science has gone, it grows from neither +seed, bulb, nor root. It seems to germinate from certain elemental +conjunctions, attains maturity, flowers and dies. It may appear in the +cleft of a rock, on the side of a mountain range, or in the rich mold of +a valley. It claims no special season for its own, but may come in +December as well as in June. It springs from snow as frequently as from +summer grass. This is how it looks. It is about twelve inches high. Its +stem is a most vivid green; its leaves are triangular, of a bright +golden color, and the flower, which comes just at the top, is a +collection of clear little globules, like the berries of the mistletoe. +They are clearer and purer than the mistletoe berry, however. In fact, +they are all but transparent, and might readily be mistaken for a +cluster of dewdrops. Therein lies the efficacy of this strange plant. +Gather the bloom carefully, immerse it in a glass of water for twelve +hours, then drink the decoction entire. It will rout your embryo colony, +and make you sound and strong as I." + +He leaned back and slapped his chest with his open hand. + +"You're dopey, 'Crombie," I said, doubting, but longing to believe him. + +He wheeled around to his desk. + +"All right, my son. You came to me for advice, and got it. I consider +that I've done my duty by you." + +"Oh, come now!" I pleaded, ready to conciliate. "That's an awful +cock-and-bull story you've handed me, and you mustn't get huffy if it +doesn't go down without choking. I'll try to swallow it, 'Crombie. I do +appreciate your advice, and I'm going to try and take it;--but tell me +more about this infernal flower." + +"Not infernal," he corrected, mollified; "but supernal. I don't think +there's any more to tell. Your stunt is to search till you find it, then +follow directions." + +"You say it grows anywhere?" I continued, assuming interest. + +"Where there's pure air and sunshine," he repeated. + +"And grows out of _snow_, 'Crombie?" + +"As well as out of warm soil," he averred, doggedly. + +"It appears to me that you're looney, 'Crombie, but I hope you're not, +and I'll hunt for your bloomin' life-plant. But the question now is: who +is going with me into my hill of refuge?" + +"Who's going with you? Nobody! Who would go with you? People nowadays +have neither time nor inclination to burrow in the wilderness for a +twelve-month!" + +I groaned, for I knew that he was right. Martyrdom never has company. + +"There's no other way?" I pleaded. "Couldn't I have a native look for +this healing flower for me?" + +He shook his head. "It withers soon after it is plucked. You had better +carry a sealed jar of water with you on your tramps." + +Resignation came to me with that speech. My own folly had brought me +where I was, and my spirit suddenly rose up to meet the emergency. + +"I'll go, 'Crombie," I said. "Thank you for your prescription." + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE AGAIN + + +'Crombie had said with chilling frankness that I hadn't the money for a +sea voyage, or for extended travel. The statement was distressingly +true. Just at the time he and I finished our college careers, my father +died. Contrary to general belief, and my own as well, he was almost a +bankrupt. It was the old story of the frenzy for gain, great risks, and +total loss. 'Crombie took up medicine, while I, lured by the promises of +a fickle Fate, embraced literature. 'Crombie was wise; I was foolish. +When people are sick they always want a doctor, but when they are idle +they do not always read. If there is one road to the poorhouse which is +freer from obstructions than all others, it is the road of the unknown +author. I had a natural bent toward letters, had been editor-in-chief of +the college magazine, and had sold two or three stories to middle-class +periodicals. So, with the roseate illusions of youth at their flood, I +pictured myself soon among the front rank of American writers, and +equipped myself for a speedy conquest. + +In six months I had sold a half dozen stories, for something approaching +one hundred dollars, and had received enough rejection slips to paper +one room. To this use I applied them, taking a doleful sort of pleasure +in reading the punctilious printed messages with their eternal refrain +of "We regret, etc." I wondered if the editors were as sorry as they +pretended to be. And I thought, too, of the enormousness of their +stationery bills. + +But I persevered. The ten years which followed my embarkation upon this +treacherous sea were not entirely barren of results. I managed to live +frugally, which was something, and established gratifying relations with +two or three magazines which bought my manuscripts with encouraging +regularity. At last I placed a book with a reputable publishing house. +The story fell flat from the press. The firm lost, and I did not receive +a penny. The experience was bitter. I had spent a solid year writing +that book, and I felt that if I could get a hearing my period of +probation would be over. I got the hearing, and I was still in +obscurity. That is the typical literary beginning, and he who finally +succeeds deserves all he gets, for he has a heart of oak. My inherent +optimism and stubborn will bore me safely through the mists and shallows +of defeat, and with the sunlight of hope once more flooding my soul, I +went on. Then 'Crombie handed me my commuted death sentence. + +It is wonderful how news of this sort gets abroad. But it spreads like +uncorked ether. I had proof of this two days later when my minister, an +aged and good man, called on a mission of condolence. + +"God did it, my boy," he said, as he left, "and you must bear it." + +I didn't believe him. I believed that the devil did it, and that God +would help me get rid of it. + +Since I had to go up into the wilderness, the sooner I went the sooner I +would return, and I found my anxiety to be off increasing day by day. +Spring was unusually early this year. March was a miracle month of plum +blooms, and swelling buds, and flower-sprinkled grass. Little spears of +bright green were beginning to show on the lilac bushes, and elusive +bird notes came fitfully from orchard and fence-row--blown bubbles of +sound bursting ere they were scarcely heard. + +When I began to make my preparations, I realized how helpless I was. +What should I take with me in the way of food, clothing, bedding, +utensils, medicine? I had never camped out a night in my life. 'Crombie +would have to tell me. He knew, for every year he hiked off to Canada +and the Adirondacks for thirty days, and lived like a caveman every hour +he was gone. I went to his office. He was engaged, with six people in +the waiting-room. I went out and got him on the telephone. He promised +to see me that night at nine in his apartments. It was then three +o'clock in the afternoon, so I took a walk. I could do nothing more +until I had talked to him. + +Lexington is really nothing more than a great big country town, but we +love it. I reached the suburbs in half an hour, then took the pike, and +walked briskly. The day had been like one huge bloom of some tropical +orchid. Contrasted with the biting winter only a few weeks back, it was +something to exult the heart and uplift the soul. Rain had fallen the +night before. Day came with a world-wide flare of yellow sunshine; her +dress a tempered breeze. By noon a coat was uncomfortable, and the air +was full of music; the droning, charming, ceaseless litany of the bees. +At three in the afternoon, when some strange freak drove me to the open +road, the miracle had not passed. Surely God's hands were spread over +the face of the earth, and His eyes looked down between. A few cumulus +clouds were piled in fantastic groups toward the west, as I stopped +about two miles out, and gazed slowly around me. Overhead was infinity, +and the presence of the Creator. Encompassing me were unnumbered acres +of that soil of which every child of the bluegrass is proud. On the +breast of the world the annual mystery was spread. Death had changed to +life. Where the snow's warm blanket had lately lain uprose millions and +millions of tiny spears; wheat which had been folded safely by nature's +cover against the blighting cold. Billowing fields of richest brown, +where the ploughshare had made ready a bed for the seed corn and the +hemp. Near me were two trees. Their roots were intertwined, for their +trunks were not over a foot apart, and their branches had overlapped and +interwoven. Almost as one growth they seemed. They were the dogwood and +the redbud, and each was in full bloom. At first the sight dazzled me. +The pure white flowers, yellow-hearted, gleaming against the mass of +crimson blooms which clung closely to twig and limb, produced a +remarkable effect. The hardier trees remained bleak, barren, apparently +lifeless. They required more embracing from the sun, more kissing from +the rain, more sighs of entreaty from the wind before the transmutation +of sap to leaf would be accomplished. + +It chanced that I had halted at a spot where no homestead was visible, +and I was absolutely alone. None passed, and no cattle or stock of any +kind stood in the adjoining fields. It was a faint foretaste of the +immediate future, and a peculiar peace came over me as I stood on the +hard, oiled road, and felt myself becoming at one with the universal +light and life of the earth and sky. My breast thrilled, and I drew in +my breath quickly. Was it a message? An assurance from the mother-heart +of Nature that she would care for me tenderly in exile? + +I turned and went slowly, thoughtfully, back to town, reaching it just +as the dusk began to be starred by the rayed arc lights. + +"'Crombie," I said, lighting one of his choicest cigars and sitting +facing him; "you've steered me into an awful mess." + +You know I could fuss at 'Crombie. He was too big to take offense. + +"How so, my son?" he replied, easily, his large face gently humorous. + +"Well, I started to pack for this--er--trip, or outing, and I had no +more idea how to go about it than a pig. What will I need, and what must +I take? You've got me into this, and you've got to see me through it." + +"The first thing you'll need will be a roof with good, stout, tight +walls under it. Remember, you're not going there to bask in sunshine +alone, but you're going to spend next winter there!" + +I looked at him, and I imagine my expression was something like that of +a dog when a youth badgers it, for 'Crombie laughed. + +"I don't want to make it worse than it is," he apologized; "neither do I +want you to be deceived in any way regarding conditions. But by the time +winter comes, take my word for it, you can sleep in a snow-drift without +hurt." + +I smoked in silence. The thought was not encouraging. + +"I believe you will find things pretty much to your hand there," he went +on, in a ruminative voice. "You remember I came from that part of the +country, and the locality is entirely familiar. I have been all over +Bald Knob a dozen times. Eight years ago a shack stood just where you +would want yours. I think a fellow who had a natural love for the woods +built it some eighteen or nineteen years ago, lived there a while, and +later moved to another State. It is made entirely of undressed logs, and +has one room and a kitchen. It ought to be in good condition yet, +because it is protected by the bulk of the knob. I should guess the room +to be about sixteen feet square, and the kitchen is a box, but big +enough. There is a spring near, considerably impregnated with sulphur. +This water can have nothing but a good effect. If the shack still +stands, you should consider yourself very lucky." + +As he drew this picture, I could not help but gaze at the sumptuous +furnishings of the room in which I sat. + +"How close is the nearest town?" I asked. + +"The nearest town is Cedarton, my old home, ten miles from Bald Knob, +but there is a hamlet within three miles. This consists of a few +cottages, a store, a blacksmith shop and a distillery. You will have +occasion to visit neither place often. If you should happen to run short +of provisions, go to the hamlet called Hebron." + +"Then seclusion is as necessary as pure air and plain food?" + +"It is to prevent you from forming the habit that I advise you not to +seek people. Man is naturally gregarious. If you began going to the +hamlet once a week you would soon be going every day, and you would +deteriorate into a cracker box philosopher or a nail keg politician, +spending your time in hump-shouldered inertia rather than in tramping +through the health-giving open in quest of the life-plant. You are going +forth with a purpose, my son; don't forget that." + +I threw my head back against the cushioned leather, and in doing so my +eyes lighted on a magnificent moose head over the mantel. + +"You killed that fellow?" I asked, swerving suddenly from the subject +without apology, as is permitted between old friends. + +"Yes; in northern Maine. I trailed him ten days, went hungry for two, +broke through some thin lake ice in zero weather, tramped five miles +with my wet clothes frozen on me before I could get to a fire, and slept +two nights under snow a foot deep. Then I killed him." + +I stared at him curiously. + +"I confess," I said, "that I have thought you were giving me a +prescription you knew nothing about. I beg your pardon for my unbelief." + +He smiled, and broke his cigar ash into the tray at his elbow. + +"I wouldn't miss my annual trip into Eden for a year's income," he said. +"It is during those thirty days I store up life and energy for the +remaining three hundred and thirty-five." + +Then we fell to discussing my departure, and there followed an hour's +talk on ways and means. By eleven o'clock I had a list of everything I +could possibly need which would contribute to my comfort or well being. +But there was one thing more; one supreme thing. All that evening I had +been trying to speak it, and couldn't. Now we were sitting side by side +at the table where we had made my list, and suddenly courage came. I +clasped the ham-like hand lying close to mine, and looking steadily and +beseechingly into my friend's eyes, said: + +"'Crombie, go with me! I don't mean go to stay. I'm not such a +miserable, snuffling coward as that. But companion me there--show me the +way--help me get established. Two days--not longer. That country is new +to me. Cedarton would take me for an escaped lunatic if I should apply +at a livery stable for a wagon to take me and my effects to a shack +which used to stand on the slope of Bald Knob. Don't you see? The people +know you, and a word from you would fix it all right. I'm your patient. +But more than that, 'Crombie, is having your good old self with me. Just +come to the shack with me, help me place my things, hearten me up by +your good man-talk, make me believe and _know_ that I am on the right +track. Just two days. Won't you do it, 'Crombie?" + +I knew that I was asking a great deal, probably more than I should. It +would seem that it was enough for one man to show another where bodily +salvation lay, without taking him by the hand and leading him to it. And +forty-eight hours from town now meant a monetary loss to the man beside +me. But God made men like Abercrombie Dane for other purposes than money +getting. + +Now he gave me the sweetest smile I have ever seen on any face except my +mother's, as he laid his other huge hand over mine. + +"Yes, I'll go with you, my son," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +IN WHICH I FIND A LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS + + +I am here. + +'Crombie came with me to Cedarton, engaged two light, serviceable wagons +to convey us and my effects, and then drove out here with me to help me +get settled. We reached Bald Knob just as the sun was setting yesterday +afternoon. The drive out from town was beautiful. Neither talked much on +the trip. I couldn't, and 'Crombie seemed to be thinking. The main +highway, which we traveled for a number of miles, was made of gravel, +brought from a considerable stream which, I learn, runs somewhere +nearabout. When we left the road, our way became quite rough. It was +merely a succession of knob paths, which had been broadened enough for +the passage of four-wheeled vehicles. As we went deeper and deeper into +the wood, the scenery became wilder and grander. We saw vast ravines, +where the earth shore straight down for many feet; tortuous channels +where the fierce rains had plowed a passage to lower ground; trees of +all description growing everywhere, while shrubs, creepers and vines +interlaced and fought silently for supremacy. Once we passed for nearly +half a mile along a broad, shallow stream with a slate bed, bordered on +one side by a gigantic, leaden, serrated slate cliff whereon some +patches of early moss gleamed greenly bright, fed by the moisture which +filtered through the overlapping strata. This cliff was somber; it was +almost like a shadow cast upon us. But when we had passed it the +sunshine came sweeping gloriously through a gap in the hills, and I felt +my spirit leap up gratefully to meet it. + +We could see Bald Knob for miles before we reached it, and as we drove +along, each smoking, neither talking, I found that my eyes wandered time +and again to the bare, conical cap toward which we were creeping. I was +wondering with all the soul of me if I could meet the test, now that it +stared me in the face. It was one thing to sit in 'Crombie's leather +chair and decide comfortably upon this course, and another thing to see +myself approaching a hut in the midst of a primeval forest--and to think +that I was going to live alone there for a twelve-month! I know my face +would not have made a good model for a picture of Hope, as the two +wagons drew up in the ravine which partially circled the enormous hill +whereon 'Crombie had said a shack had at one time stood. At length we +found a sort of road--it was more an opening through the dense +undergrowth than anything else--and by dint of much urging from the +drivers, and frequent rests, we came at last to a little plateau, +perhaps a quarter of an acre in extent, not quite half way up the knob. +On the farther side of the plateau was a small building, resting at the +base of a sheer wall of stone and earth. + +It was then 'Crombie shook off the quiet mood he had shared with me the +greater part of the journey, and became hilarious. He hallooed, laughed, +joked and capered about like a schoolboy on a frolic, and not to hurt +the dear fellow I pretended to fall in with his mood. I really felt as +if the world was rapidly drawing to an end. + +Last night we could do nothing but make ourselves comfortable as +possible, and go to bed early. To-day we have worked hard, and obtained +results. I couldn't have got settled without 'Crombie. He has tact, +ingenuity, invention, and did most of the hard work. He said it would be +better for me not to exert myself too much, which sounds silly, +considering that my bodily measurements would have almost equaled his +own. + +Now he and the drivers and the horses and the wagons are gone. A +half-hour ago I caught my last glimpse of him between a scrub oak and a +cedar. He was looking back, saw me, waved his arm prodigiously, sent up +a hearty hail, and disappeared. I stood for thirty minutes without +stirring from my tracks. Then from afar off, through the wonderfully +still twilight air, I heard a voice singing. The words were lost because +of the distance, but the tune was familiar. It was a rollicking, foolish +thing we had sung at college. 'Crombie was sending it to me as a last +message, to cheer me up. I inclined my ear desperately to the welcome +sound. I held my breath as it fell fainter and fainter, now broken, now +barely audible. At length, strain my ears as I would, it was lost. + +But another sound had taken its place. The sun was down, and now, at +twilight, the Harpist of the Wood awoke and touched his multitudinous +strings. He was in gentle mood to-day; a mood of dreams and revery. The +melody was barely audible; just a stirring, a breath. But it stole upon +my ears as something wonderful, and sweet, and holy. I had never heard +anything at all similar. I stood entranced, listening to the ghostly +gamut lightly plucked from the bare limbs and twigs of the hardy trees +which had not yet responded to the season's call; from the slender green +needles of the pine and the denser plumes which clothed the cedar, and +offered to me. As I hearkened to the elfin harmony I became conscious of +a certain peace. The boundless solitudes which stretched unbroken in +every direction did not seem forbidding and oppressive as I had sensed +them when traveling. A subtle kinship with the wind, and the trees, and +the earth awoke in my mind, and in some vague way which brought a thrill +with it I felt that I had come home. All these things which I had feared +grew quite close at this twilight hour, and I imagined they came with +pleading, welcoming hands, as to a long lost son or brother who was much +beloved. Then as I raised my head a cool, soft breeze smote my face and +rushed up my nostrils, and I smelt the elusive, invigorating tang of the +evergreens. I smiled, and drew repeated draughts of the pure essence +deep into my lungs, filling every cranny and corner again and again. +When I finally turned and went back to the shack, I felt as if I had +taken wine. + +I lit a lamp, made a fire in my kitchen stove, prepared a frugal meal +and ate it. Later I took a chair outside the door and sat for two hours, +thinking. One very important thought came to me during that time. My +book of fiction did not sell; perhaps a book of facts would. So I have +decided to write a history of my exile. To-night it promises to be very +prosy and uneventful. I cannot see how anything could possibly transpire +which would interest a reader. But the task will provide employment for +me, at least. So every night before I go to bed I shall make a record of +anything which happened that day. If nothing occurs, I shall wait for +the incident worth relating. To-night I shall tell of my new home, and +its surroundings. + +I have named my place the Wilderness Lodge, thinking how the ill-starred +Byron would have joyed in just such a spot. We found it much as 'Crombie +said it would be: a substantial, square room built of oak logs, with a +floor of undressed planks. It is covered with clapboards, and the roof +is rain-proof. The front door is heavy, and may be secured on the inside +with a large beam which drops into iron brackets. There is a second door +in the rear which leads into the kitchen, a room highly meriting the +proverbial expression--"Not big enough to whip a cat in." There are two +opposing windows, which are small. Each is provided with a shutter, +hinged at the top. They are propped up with sticks slant-wise to admit +light and air, and to keep rain out. A nice arrangement, I think. Facing +the front door is the fireplace; a huge, rough stone affair, large +enough to sleep in if one were so inclined. It has a broad stone hearth, +and is fitted with black, squat andirons. Already I am planning the joy +I shall derive from this fireplace when next winter comes. To-night I +have built a brisk fire for cheer, company, and precaution, for the +place has been uninhabited for years, and last night's warming did not +drive out all the damp. It is wonderful how satisfying the dancing +flames are; they seem to impart their glow and warmth to me. + +My furniture is very simple, but enough. I have a cot with plenty of +bedding; a table, several chairs, including a rocker; two trunks and +some grass rugs for the floor. Of course, there are hundreds of lesser +things which I could not get along without, but while they have their +places, they are not worth cataloguing. It is also needless to say that +one of the trunks is half full of books. Some of these have already +found their way to the table; Stevenson, Hearn, Rabelais, Villon, Borrow +and some others. + +When I come to tell of my demesne I don't know where to draw the line, +for there are no boundary marks, and I can easily fancy "I am monarch of +all I survey." I suppose I have a yard, for I shall think of the plateau +in that way. Whoever built the Lodge cleared the level place in front, +and around, of all trees and bushes. It is dry and barren now, and +covered with dead leaves, but soon there will be a prying and a pushing +of little green heads and I shall be kept busy if I don't want to be +overrun and driven out. Beginning a short distance back of the Lodge, +and continuing upward for perhaps a hundred feet, a thick band of pines +and cedars belt the hill with a zone of perpetual green. Beyond this the +vegetation dwindles, becomes scarcer, and finally ceases, leaving the +apex of the knob absolutely bare. Below my plateau, and around, +everywhere, as far as I can see, are trees, trees, trees. Trees of every +size and every kind indigenous to the climate. Evergreens predominate. +There are millions of them, but there are also wide expanses of oak, +ash, beech, sycamore, elm, walnut, dogwood. Most of these have as yet +not put forth the tiniest shoot. But here and there in the dun, brown +stretches a dogwood has joyously flung out a thousand gleaming stars +which shine, white and radiant, a pledge and a promise of the general +resurrection nearhand. + +A moment gone I laid down my pen and stepped outside. How vast! How +still! How illimitable! I had never felt my insignificance so keenly +before. I seemed a tiny atom of dust. But as I stood and heard again +those muffled chords from the mighty Harp, and saw the patient planets +overhead again on guard, I suddenly knew that I was truly part and +parcel of the Whole, and in my heart Hope gave birth to prayer. + +Now to bed, tired, but at peace, with both windows flung wide--it is +'Crombie's orders. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +IN WHICH I MEET A DRYAD + + +A week has passed. Until to-day I had begun to fear that my proposed +plan of making a book would come to naught. One would not care to read +of a daily life consisting of getting up, eating, smoking, reading, +strolling about and going to bed. That is all I have done until to-day, +when something happened. But before I come to this, I must tell of the +labor I undergo in procuring water. + +I have spoken elsewhere of a sulphur spring. It is located in another +ravine across the one lying at the foot of my knob. I have been drinking +the water dutifully, because 'Crombie told me to, although to my mind it +is vile stuff, and I can't see how anything with such a pronounced odor +can be beneficial. I don't suppose I know. But I must have cooking and +bath water as well, and this comes from the small stream which runs +through the center of the nearest ravine. The distance would not be so +great on a level, but to struggle up the steep slope with a bucket full +of water in each hand is no fun. I have had to make two trips every day, +much to my discomfort. This is a problem which I have to solve, or else +go unwashed. Then, too, when the summer comes the stream below will most +probably run dry, although 'Crombie assured me the sulphur water was +plentiful the year round. + +I have been getting located the last seven days; exploring my hill of +refuge, and making little excursions into the neighboring fastnesses. +Almost the last thing 'Crombie told me was to remember the life-plant, +and the sooner I began the search the better it would be for me. I'm not +altogether satisfied about this life-plant, although I know 'Crombie +wouldn't joke with me about so serious a matter. I have at length +decided to take his word implicitly, and begin a systematic hunt for +this most peculiar growth. I am feeling suspiciously well. My cough has +nearly gone, and it seems almost absurd that a strapping man of six foot +two should be out chasing a chimera of this sort. + +This morning I was up before the sun, an experience I have not known +since childhood. I breakfasted bountifully on ham, eggs, bread, and +coffee. Then, flushing foolishly, I filled a pint Mason jar with +water--sweet water--screwed the top down tightly, thrust the jar hastily +in my coat pocket, took my pipe and a stout staff I had cut several days +before, and started on my first tramp for this life-plant. + +I swung down the road--I will call it such--up which the wagons had +come, crossed to the spring and drank of the cold, bad smelling water, +and as I stood puffing my pipe I wondered which way I should go. It did +not matter in the least, but it was human to consider, and I considered. +Before me loomed the prodigious bulk of my home hill. Back of me rose +another, not quite so imposing, but exceedingly steep. To right and left +swept the ravine, silent, shadowy in the newborn morning. It was from +the right we had come. I turned to the left, and presently the thick +soles of my heavy walking shoes were crunching and clattering the loose +shale as I skirted the shallow stream bed. + +I went far that day, climbing ridge after ridge, traversing hollow after +hollow, always with my eyes open for my rare treasure. Again and again I +came upon farm land, small patches of tilled soil which the stubborn +strength of man had wrested from the wilderness to supply his needs. +These fields I went around. Once, from a high point, I saw a tiny +hamlet, caught the cackle of geese, and heard the low of kine. + +Noon came and went before I was aware. I had brought no lunch with me. +It was past midafternoon when I again drew near home. There was never +any danger of my getting lost. Far as I might walk in a single day, that +towering peak would yet be visible, rearing itself in silent grandeur to +guide me back. The thought was comforting. + +I approached in a different direction from any I had ever taken before, +coming almost from due west. I had swiftly descended a slight slope, +hunger giving me haste, and had burst into a glade at the edge of one of +the many creeks which threaded the country, when I stopped short. + +A girl was standing on the further side of the glade. She had not heard +me, for the leaf-sodden mold gave back no sound from my careless feet. +She stood under a dogwood tree, and it chanced, the moment I beheld her, +that the declining sun fell all about and over her. She had plucked a +number of sprays from the tree, and as I stood with bated breath she +began to weave the white and yellow blooms into her hair, which shone in +my eyes like a reflection from burnished copper. She sang as she weaved, +or rather crooned, for I caught no words. It was just an elfin little +tune, with quavering minors strung on a listless monotone. She was +garbed very, very simply; a one piece dress of faded blue, belted at the +waist. A poke bonnet of the same color lay upon the ground near her +feet. Her position in relation to mine was a semi-profile, so I could +make little of her face, but her form was slim and straight, and her +bowed arms displayed a natural grace as she thrust her fingers in and +out of her shining hair, working the star-like blossoms into place. + +As I stood wonder-struck, debating what to do, I saw a commotion in the +tree by which she stood, a scuttling form darted out on the branch +nearest the girl's head, then leaped to her shoulder, where it sat and +nibbled a nut, its tail a graceful gray plume. I think my mouth went +agape; if it didn't, it should have, for here was magic. + +The girl--or dryad, for I was beginning to doubt if she was real--paid +no immediate heed to the squirrel, but went on droning her song and +toiling patiently at the flowers. I stood and watched her, leaning on my +staff, my erstwhile hunger forgotten. Would she vanish into air, or +would she disappear in the cleft of an oak? I determined to see. + +In a few moments her crown was in place. She put her hands down, but +almost at once raised one of her arms, and gave a small, thin, +twittering call. She stood like a statue, apparently waiting, then +repeated the sound, varying it only by a quick rising inflection at the +end. Like an echo an answer filtered sweetly out from the forest to one +side, and I saw a streak of brown cleave the air of the glade, as a +small wood bird, of a species unknown to me, dipped to the outstretched +arm and perched upon the girl's wrist. There it sat, its pert little +tail at a sharp angle, and its head cocked to one side very knowingly. + +"Good Lord!" I burst forth, involuntarily, then bit my lip for a fool. + +The charm was rudely broken; I had spoiled the tableau. + +With a whisk of his tail the squirrel dropped to the girl's hip, jumped +to the ground, and headed toward the thicker growth with frightened +leaps. The bird vanished as the ball does from between the conjuror's +fingers--it just went, but I did not see it go--and the girl turned with +a quiet movement to see who the idiot was. + +"I--beg your pardon!" I said, advancing several steps and taking off my +cap. "That--er--I have never seen--you know--er--I'm really sorry I +scared them off!" + +She stood perfectly calm, her weight resting rather awkwardly upon one +foot, her hands loosely clasped in front of her, as I made my stammering +speech. I don't know why I should have been so confused, unless it was +from her rare composure. + +"They'll come back," she said, assuringly, and smiled. + +I drew closer. I could not believe the evidence of my eyes. When I saw +her joined hands I marveled; they were white, slender, smooth, entirely +unmarked by toil. Now her face. It was fresh, sweet--not beautiful--and +lighted by gray eyes, which brought a sensation to my spine. It was not +a face I would have expected to meet in the Kentucky knob country. True, +there was a superficial expression which reflected her environments, her +associates, but this appeared to me even in that moment as a veil to be +taken off, that the true nature might shine forth. Her voice was low, +rich, and held a strangely haunting note which made for unrest in the +heart of a man. She was totally wild; that I could not doubt. +Illiterate, crude, a child of the locality, but when I first looked in +her face, when I first heard her voice, I knew that I stood before one +whom Fate had cheated. That she was not abashed, not even startled by +the sudden appearance of a total stranger, I attributed rightly to her +mode of life, which was untrammeled by convention, thoroughly natural, +and free from the restraints artificiality begets. + +"You--live near?" I said, never once thinking of passing on now that my +apology was spoken. + +"Uh-huh; at Lizard P'int. 'Tain't fur--up th' holler a bit." + +The simple words struck me almost like a blow. The voice was sweet as a +flute in its lowest tones, the lips were red and curving, but the speech +was the uncouth vernacular of the hills. Fate had indeed cheated her. + +As I nervously drew out my pipe, thinking what I should say next, she +discovered a rent on her shoulder where the careless claws of the scared +squirrel had torn the fabric of her dress. She gave a little exclamation +of annoyance, thrust one finger in the torn place, pouted as a child +might for an instant, then laughed and tossed her garlanded head. + +"I don't keer! Granny'll fix it!" + +It was my cue. + +"Who is Granny?" + +"Granny?... Oh! _my_ granny. We live together." + +"On Lizard Point," I supplemented. "Doesn't anyone else live with you?" + +She nodded her head brightly. + +"Yes, Grandf'er does, but he don't count." + +Her ingenuousness was bewitching, and I essayed to prolong the +interview. + +"Aren't you afraid to wander around in the woods this way alone?" + +"Me!... _Skeerd?_" + +For a moment she looked at me with dropped chin and a tiny frown of +wonder, then a glad stream of laughter came pouring from her upheld +mouth, filling the forest with rippling, echoing cadences. I gazed on +the round, gleaming column of her young throat, milk-white and firm, and +a subtle, primal call stirred in my breast. When her boisterous +merriment had subsided, I could see her teeth, like young corn when the +husks are green, between the scarlet of her parted lips. + +I came closer yet. I was bewildered, puzzled, but strangely attracted. I +scarcely knew how to answer her. + +"You see," I tried to explain, "it--that is, where I came from young +women go nowhere without an escort, except in town." + +"Oh!" + +Her face was serious now, and she seemed trying to comprehend. + +"Whur'd you come frum?" she demanded, with disconcerting abruptness. + +"From Lexington." + +"Whut's that?" + +"A town--a little city." + +"I don't like city people!" + +The sentence sprang forth spontaneously, and she looked displeased. + +"Why?" + +I did not receive an answer. She was kicking a small bunch of moss with +the toe of her ugly, coarse shoe, which was rusty, and laced with a +string. But for all its shapelessness, the shoe was very small. + +"Why don't you like city people?" + +"'Cause Buck says they're mean an' stuck up!" + +She flashed the sentence at me with a rapid glance of defiance. + +"Who's Buck?" + +Now the girl's face took fire, and dire confusion gripped her. Hair and +skin became indistinguishable. But she flung her head up bravely, and +with burning eyes looked straight into mine. + +"Buck Steele. He's th' blacksmith over to Hebron, an' he's--my frien'." + +She had grit. I honored her for that speech. + +"You know I'm a stranger," I ran on, easily, making a pretense to fill +my pipe, and so help her over her embarrassment. "I came just about a +week ago. I'm in the house up on Bald Knob yonder. The city didn't agree +with me, and my doctor sent me out here to get well. I'm not mean and +stuck up, believe me. I've got the poorest sort of an opinion of myself, +although I've lived pretty clean. Now I want to be friends with you, and +all the folks about here. You'll help me, won't you?" + +Her self-possession had returned while I was talking. When I stopped, I +smiled, and looked at her as frankly and honestly as I could. + +"You don' 'pear puny!" was her startling rejoinder. + +I took another tack. + +"Pray tell me how it is the birds and the beasts obey you?" + +"I love 'em!" she answered, promptly, and with warmth. "I know 'em, an' +they know me." + +She turned without warning, and walking to the bank of the creek, which +at this point was raised several feet above the water, leaned over and +peered down into the pool below. Could Eve have been more artless? She +was looking at her reflection in the mirror of the stream! + +I picked up her bonnet by one of the strings, then went and stood beside +her. A compliment arose unbidden to my lips, but I stifled it. It would +not have been fair. + +"I mus' go," she said, straightening up, and twisting a hanging curl +near her forehead back beneath her hair. + +"Aren't you--" + +I started to ask if she wasn't afraid, and if I mightn't go with her, +but remembered in time. + +"--and your granny very lonely?" I finished, lamely, but she did not +appear to notice it. + +"La! No! Th' Tollerses 's jis' t'other side o' th' ridge, 'n' they've +got a pas'l o' kids. No time to git lonesome!" + +My spirit writhed. Such language as this--from her! + +She held out a hand for the bonnet. + +I brought it forward slowly, still holding it by the string. Her hand +rested against mine for an instant as she took it. At this juncture I +made a--to me--significant discovery. _Her nails were pared and clean!_ +It seemed paradoxical, but it was true. I did not attempt to account for +the phenomenon then, but I did later, with no results whatever. + +"Where is Lizard Point--exactly?" I asked, my voice more serious than it +had been during our talk. + +She pointed her finger down the creek, as it flowed gently murmuring to +the south. + +"Th' crick 'll lead yo'. Nigh onto half mile frum here." + +"I'm coming to see you and your granny some day soon. May I? You know +it's lonesome for me out here. I'm not used to it. May I come?" + +She gazed at me with steady gray eyes for a few moments. + +"Ye-e-es; I s'pose so," she answered, reluctantly; "if yo' git +lonesome.... Whut yo' keer'n' that jar fur?" + +Her glance had just espied it, and now it was my turn to blush. + +"I'll tell you--when I see you again," I compromised, laughing. + +She started off, but stopped and turned. + +"Live on Baldy, yo' say?" + +"Yes; in the old log house there." + +"I go thur sometimes. Maybe I'll come 'n' see you!" + +"All right. You'll be mighty welcome." + +"Good-by." + +"Good-by." + +She did not look back, and I stood with a distinct sensation enveloping +me until her copper-gold head, crowned with the star-like dogwood, had +passed from view. + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +IN WHICH I SAY WHAT I PLEASE + + +A prodigious miracle has happened. + +It is not yet mid-April, but the Spirit of Life has stirred in every +bole and bough; every twig and tendril. The awakening has been so +gradual, so stealthy, so silent, that not until this afternoon did I +notice that the far reaching brown world over which I daily looked, had +changed. + +I had been doing some rough carpentering--building a bench on either +side of my doorway outside, using a broad plank I had found in the +kitchen for the purpose. It is true I had chairs, and chairs are more +comfortable, but it has struck me that the Lodge would look better with +these benches in front; would have a more finished appearance. So I +knocked them up quickly. Now on the further rim of my plateau grows a +single pine; a tall, many-limbed, graceful tree. Somehow the thought was +born that a bench under this pine would not be placed amiss, so I walked +toward it to investigate the idea at close range. Its lowest branches +shot out more than two feet over my head, and as I passed under them I +obtained a fresh and unobstructed view of a tremendous reach of +landscape. Instantly my mind received the impression that something had +happened. The entire perspective was subtly transformed. + +Before me was nothing but trees--a vast valley full; slopes clothed with +them and peaks capped with them. And each tree was touched with mystery; +the familiar, never to be understood transmutation of sap to bud and +leaf. The effect from where I stood was not beautiful only; it awoke a +positive awe in my heart. The immense area comprehended by my gaze was +undergoing resurrection. Painless, soundless, without effort, the +ancient forest was coming back to life; to green, vigorous, waving and +dancing life. The process was as yet scarcely begun, but already it was +a veracious promise of perfect fulfillment. A tenuous, lacey veil of +pale, elusive green seemed stretched over all growth within the scope of +my vision. A misty, unreal something it appeared; a gossamer covering +which would vanish before the first breath of wind, or touch of sun. But +well I knew the truth! It was the sun, and the wind, and the rain which +had compassed the wonder. Beneath their united power the sluggish sap +had first stirred in the hidden roots, and when the insistent summons +became more and more powerful, had mysteriously arisen through +successive cells of fiber, up and up, into every branch, into every +limb, into the smallest and most insignificant twig, where Nature's +final marvelous alchemy was performed, and moisture turned to bud, and +bud turned to leaf. A leaf perfectly shaped and veined, each to its own +tree. + +Dusk came upon me as I gazed, enraptured. Softly the light stole away, +and the shadows came. Now the horizon range was a wall of gloom, and +then, like billows which made no sound, velvety waves of darkness +overflowed all before me, blotting it out. But I know that to-morrow the +lacey veil would have a deeper shade, and that soon, with millions upon +millions of leaves astir, the Harpist of the Wood, when he touched his +responsive strings, would draw yet a grander measure. + +No bench went under the pine tree that night, but the next day I builded +it well. It is a fine spot to sit and dream--a pastime I love. + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +IN WHICH I MEET A SATYR + + +Two weeks have passed since I talked with the dryad in the glade. + +I am getting along splendidly. That is, my appetite is good, I sleep the +night through, and my trouble remains at a standstill. I'm not expecting +this to leave me at once. I read some every night. The days I force +myself to spend outdoors. If I do not go on a tramp, I prowl around my +hill of refuge. Yesterday I found a creditable cave some score of rods +from the Lodge, in about the same latitude. There is an irregular, +outjutting ledge of rock here, and it was beneath a moss-splotched +bowlder I found a hole leading into the knob, its entrance large enough +for me to stand erect in. I am not averse to a mild adventure, so I +began a tentative exploration. I had proceeded but a few steps, however, +when I stopped. I heard something. I had my revolver with me--I make a +habit of taking it with me wherever I go--so I drew this and advanced a +little further. The sound was repeated, louder and more menacing. I +would have thought it the hiss of a serpent, but for its remarkable +volume. I looked, but could see nothing. The passage ended in darkness. +The floor was littered with small stones, and pebbles mixed with fine +sand. I picked up one of the stones and tossed it sharply into the +darkness ahead. The response was instantaneous. The hissing was renewed, +but now it was accompanied by a scuffling sound, and I became aware that +some formless thing was approaching me. I could see the bulk of it +making for me--but that was enough! I turned and ran, ignominiously, +forgetting my weapon in my fright. As I made my exit from the cave at +full speed I grasped a near-by sapling desperately, described an erratic +and ungraceful arc, thus saving myself from tumbling down the steep +declivity which faced me, and finally brought up some score of feet +away. I turned to see if I was pursued, but there was only an anxious +and solicitous mother buzzard in the cave-mouth, her ugly neck +outstretched toward me, and her broad wings bowed in anger. I laughed. +It was a little late for their nesting season, but this one doubtless +had a pair of miserable little yellow goslings back in that hole. + +I give this incident to show how quiet my life was up to this time, and +how such a trifling occurrence really caused me much excitement. + +I began my chronicle to-night by saying it had been two weeks since I +talked with the dryad in the glade. Why should I reckon time from that? +I wrote the sentence unconsciously. Now, when I come to think about it, +I realize that the dryad has been in my mind a very great deal during +the last fortnight. You must know there is to be no concealment in this +narrative. It is to be a record of absolute truth. Not only what I do, +but what I think and feel, shall be faithfully set down. She--I don't +even know her name! I can't see why I should have parted from her +without asking her name, since I shall in all likelihood see her many +times during the coming year. Perhaps it was her eyes which made me +forget such an important question. I have never seen eyes like +hers--never. They are the Irish gray. That's a different gray from all +others, as I suppose you know. Don't ask me how they are different, for +I don't propose to attempt an explanation. But they are, and especially +is this true in women's eyes. A woman with Irish gray eyes can be +dangerous if she wants to. In addition to their remarkable color, the +dryad's eyes have very white lids which droop the least bit, perpetually +shading the iris. She is something of a paradox. She has small feet, +smooth hands and carefully kept nails, but her language, while spoken in +a peculiarly pleasing voice, is so ungrammatical and colloquial that it +makes rigors creep over me. I told her that I was coming to see her and +her granny, but I haven't gone. Why haven't I? I told her I was coming +to see her because I got lonely. Have I been lonely? Yes; very. Three +days ago I bravely started for the glade where I had found her, +intending to follow the guiding creek on to Lizard Point. I turned off +before I reached the creek and went ten miles in another direction. Why +did I do that? I want to see the dryad again. She interests me; I feel +that we shall be good friends. She has a bright and ready mind, and is +absolutely natural. She says what she wants to, laughs when she wants +to, does what she wants to. I verily think she would be incapable of +deception or guile, but I may be wrong in this. I suspect I am. Such +things are not conditions resultant from culture and refinement; they +belong to the human organism, and so, by virtue of her being, the dryad +must possess them. + +To-morrow I am going to Lizard Point. + +This afternoon I came in before sunset from a very leisurely tramp of +about four hours. Whenever I stir abroad my pint Mason jar full of fresh +water goes with me, for I have banished all doubt, and believe +steadfastly in the life-plant. You may be sure I am always looking, +always watching. That is my sole object in life just now. I feel that I +will find the thing if it grows in this part of the world, for my search +is to be most thorough. Thus far I have discovered nothing whatever to +arouse hope or anticipation. + +I came home early to-day because I am to have a garden. I decided upon +this last night after I was abed. Just before I toppled over into sleep +I remembered that the ground to the left of the Lodge was loamy, with +few rocks, and not many stumps. So to-day I despatched an early supper, +took a rake and began to clear the ground. It was nice, easy work, and I +soon discovered that my garden would run sixty feet one way by +forty-five or fifty the other. There was a heavy layer of decaying +leaves to scrape away, a number of loose stones, and quantities of +sticks fallen or blown from trees. I stopped in about fifteen minutes to +refill my pipe, found that I had left my tobacco on one of the benches, +and went and helped myself. As I touched match to bowl I heard a high, +harsh voice singing in the most dolorous key imaginable the following +doggerel couplet: + + "Rabbit in th' log. + Ain't got no rabbit dog." + +I stopped drawing on the stem, and turned my head in the direction of +the sound. The burning splinter of pine nipped my fingers, and I dropped +it. The crazy tune came from down the road, which curved not a great +distance away. Again, louder, and in a more positive tone, some one +declared: + + "Rabbit in th' log, + Ain't got no rabbit dog. + Chick'n on my back, + Houn' on my track, + I'm a-makin' fur my shanty-- + God knows!" + +The last word was carried through fluctuations which would almost have +stood for a cadenza in a music score, and as it trailed off into silence +the singer appeared from around the bend. + +In the half light he presented a strange, almost a grotesque figure, as +he toiled up the road repeating over and over his peculiar lines. I +stood perfectly quiet, and watched his approach. There was a certain +limp to his gait, coupled with a decided unsteadiness, which made his +seeming yet more uncouth as he drew nearer and nearer through the +gloaming. His head was bent, and he was unaware of my presence until he +reached the plateau, and advanced some distance across it. Then he +looked up, saw me, and came to a standstill with a jerky motion. He was +perhaps twenty feet from me, as we stood and exchanged stares. + +An exceedingly tall, loose-jointed individual faced me. His clothing was +nondescript, mostly rags and tatters. His trousers, frayed at the ends, +came to an abrupt stop several inches above the tops of his run-down, +rusty shoes, and the spaces between showed a dust-begrimed skin. He wore +a coat of the Prince Albert pattern, much too small. Beneath this was +some sort of shirt which would not admit of description. His face was +gaunt and hairy. I will not say he wore a beard; the term would be +incorrect. The hair grew in patches; sickly, stringy strands, with an +extra tuft on the chin which curved sideways. I was forcibly reminded of +a goat when I saw this chin-tuft. He wore a colorless, conical felt hat, +broad-brimmed and bandless. The brim continued the slope of the crown in +an unbroken line, producing a startling effect. There came to my mind +the headgear of Hendrik Hudson's crew as depicted in the play of Rip Van +Winkle. This specter-like apparition might well have been a ghost, but +for the recent evidence of a strong pair of lungs. Beneath one arm, +hugged to his side, the figure carried a bundle covered with oilcloth. + +For the length of a half-dozen breaths we stood motionless and +speechless. Then the figure began to nod its head at me, slowly, +soberly, up and down, up and down, and with each movement the curved +chin-tuft would shake. This senseless action irritated me. I don't know +why, for it might just as well have caused amusement. But for some +reason I felt anger rising within me; not violent, but enough to barb my +tongue. + +"Who are you, and what do you want?" + +My words were sharp, but that they did not cut I knew from the sprightly +reply. + +"I'm a fiddler, 'n' I don't want nothin'!" + +Still the head bobbed, and the goat-tuft shook. + +"You're nothing of the sort," I retorted; "you're a satyr, and you want +a drink of whiskey!" + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +IN WHICH THE SATYR AND I SIT CHEEK BY JOWL + + +He looked the first, and from his antic disposition I was convinced he +was already more than half drunk. But I was entirely unprepared for the +result which my statement brought about. + +The angular figure became convulsed with immoderate laughter on the +instant. He shouted and screamed with mirth, bending forward, thrusting +backward, holding his ribs with one hand--the other was busy with the +oilcloth bundle, which he never forgot--turning that repellent chin to +the sky, and yelling his insane, cackling, demoniac merriment to the +first stars. I thought he would surely have some sort of fit before my +eyes, so overcome was he with glee. I stood erect and dignified, waiting +for his stormy risibles to allay. After a full two minutes of noisy +rapture, he calmed down somewhat, drew forth a bottle of remarkable size +and tilted it with the neck between his lips. Making a smacking sound of +satisfaction as he finished the draught, he half lurched, half walked +toward me, extending the bottle as he came. + +"Good fur rheumatiz," he said, stopping at arm's length, and +good-naturedly leering his invitation for me to partake. + +I shook my head. + +"No.... Thank you." + +There was an expression on his countenance which disarmed me of my +wrath. At close range I searched his features. They were irregular, +undecided. His nose was pug--another satyr touch--and his neck long, +thin and ridged. I could not see his eyes. But something about him came +out to me as an appeasing and soothing agent. Worse than useless for me +to speculate as to what it was. A nameless something, probably, which +acted upon my spirit, or nature, and charmed it in a way. I knew this +thing before me was a fragment, a waif, a bit of flotsam on Life's sea. +He could be nothing else. And yet--and yet, as he stood patiently with +that enormous bottle stuck under my nose, and the genial, whole-hearted +leer of invitation on his pagan face, I knew a sudden kinship; a quick, +sympathetic rush of feeling, and as I waved the bottle aside with my +left hand I thrust out my right and grasped his as it hung limply in +front of the bundle he still pressed to his side with his elbow. + +"I don't want your liquor, Satyr," I said; "but you may sit down and +talk to me if you want to." + +"Don't want good liquor?" he repeated, batting his lids, and lowering +the bottle as though puzzled beyond understanding. + +"Not now; not often. Sometimes I do. But what sort of stuff is that?" + +I had just noticed the contents of the bottle was clear. + +"White lightnin'," he replied, carefully stowing it away in a pocket I +could not see. + +I knew then. It was moonshine whiskey. + +Suddenly his cadaverousness struck me afresh. + +"Have you had supper--or dinner--or breakfast?" I demanded, with such +vim that he answered hurriedly: + +"Naw; neither; nothin'." + +The grammar was bad, but the meaning was good. + +"Then let's eat--you and I--and become acquainted." + +I did not tell him my supper was over, though this bit of tact was +doubtless unnecessary. Neither did I invite him indoors. While it is +true I had really warmed to his outcast condition, the sentiment did not +embrace the hospitality of my roof. I felt a desire to cultivate him, +but the acquaintance must grow in the open. + +He grinned appreciatively at my suggestion, and I saw him lick his lips +surreptitiously, after the manner of a starved animal which smells food. + +"Get busy about a fire, and I'll find the grub," I continued, not +waiting for the assent which I knew he would give. + +With that I went in the house, took from my larder some bacon, eggs, +bread and coffee, all of which, with a skillet, I carried out. Quickly +as I had moved, I found the Satyr's fire ablaze when I returned. This he +had made from dry leaves and sticks which I had already scraped into a +pile from off my garden plot. + +As host, I prepared the meal. While it was cooking, my strange guest sat +just across from me in a most uncouth attitude. His shoulders and a +portion of his back rested against a stump; the small of his back he sat +upon. His long, spider legs were flexed in such a manner that his sharp +knees shot up into the air above his head. He had placed his dust +colored hat upon the ground, and I could see pale, lifeless strands of +hair waving in the early night breeze on top of his partly bald head. +The oilcloth bundle lay across his stomach. Neither spoke during the few +minutes in which the eggs, meat and coffee were being prepared. One of +his claw-like hands lay upon the bundle. Once I saw his other hand stray +rather aimlessly under his coat, but it brought nothing out when +withdrawn. + +"Go to it!" I said, cheerily, when all was done, shoving the skillet +toward him, and rising to find a cup for his coffee. + +When I came back it was to see him with the skillet between his knees, +devouring its contents with the voracity of a starved wolf. He was using +a stick and his fingers to convey the hot food to his mouth, as I had +forgotten to provide either knife or spoon. I watched him in amazement, +for he bolted the bacon and eggs as a dog might. It was very plain he +was badly in need of nourishment. + +"Good, Satyr?" I asked, squatting down and pouring out a running-over +cupful of steaming coffee. + +He tried to reply, but the words were unintelligible because of the +fullness of his mouth. So I wisely made no further effort at +conversation until the skillet was clean--literally clean--for the +hungry man took chunks of bread and sopped and swabbed until the black +iron glowed spotless. Three cups of strong coffee he drank, three big +cups; then, because, I suppose, there was nothing left, he drew his +ragged sleeve across his mouth, sighed and voiced his thanks. + +"Hell 'n' blazes!" + +It meant more, from him, than the most polished bit of rhetoric from a +scholar. + +"Glad you liked it," I said. "Do you smoke?" + +For reply, he began to search his garments silently, and directly +produced a cob pipe, as remarkable in appearance as its owner. To begin +with, it was made from a mammoth corncob. I verily believe it was two +inches in diameter. Around its middle was a dark band, where the +nicotine had soaked through. The reed stem was so short that it brought +the pipe almost against the smoker's lips. He helped himself to the +twist of tobacco I offered him, dexterously flipped out a red coal from +the edge of the fire with a stick, then deliberately picked the live +coal up between finger and thumb and laid it on top of the pipe. I had +heard of this feat, but had never believed it true. + +Now my guest sat Turk fashion, contentedly puffing away, so I followed +his example on my side the fire, after tossing on a few more sticks to +keep the blaze going. The red embers would have sufficed for heat, the +night being warm, but I wanted to see more of this queer being. Above +all, I wanted to see his eyes. This I could not do, because the +firelight flickered, smoke arose from the burning sticks, and the man +had bushy brows. + +For several minutes there was no sound but the gentle crackling of +wood-fiber, or the occasional sizzling of a little jet of steam escaping +from its tiny prison. Then I heard a question which almost startled me. + +"Whut mought a satyr be, no-how?" + +I laughed low, and pressed the spewed-up ashes down into my pipe. + +"A satyr?" I repeated, thinking swiftly, for really I did not want to +cause affront. "Oh! A satyr is a fellow who runs loose in the woods. +That's you, isn't it?" + +He was looking in the fire, and presently he began to nod. + +"I reck'n it air; yes, I reck'n it air." + +"But you've another name," I went on; "what is that?" + +"Jeff Angel." + +"That doesn't suit," I made bold to answer. "Satyr is much nicer than +Angel. Where do you live, pray?" + +"Anywhur; nowhur. Jis' use 'roun' th' country, eat'n' 'n' sleep'n' fust +one place 'n' 'nother." + +Feeling cramped, I now reclined upon my elbow with my head away from the +fire. In this position my companion was invisible. + +"Why did you come here to-night?" I resumed, pulling leisurely on my +briar-root, and noting idly that the stars had become much thicker. + +"I's goin' to sleep in th' shack," was the prompt reply. "Lots 'n' lots +o' times I've slep' thur." + +"And now I've rooted you out. I'm sorry." + +"'Tain't wuth worryin' 'bout. I'll go on to th' P'int d'reckly." + +I twisted my head in his direction with a swift movement. + +"The Point?... Lizard Point?" + +"Lizard P'int." + +He evinced no surprise that I knew the name. + +"Who do you know there?" I demanded. + +"All on 'em. Granny, Granf'er, Lessie. They's my folks." + +So her name was Lessie. + +"Your folks! What do you mean?" + +"Granny's my aunt." + +That would make the Dryad and the Satyr cousins! Heavens! Could this be +true? I sank back on my elbow, and slowly dragged the pipe stem over my +lower lip into my mouth. Somehow I did not relish this news. + +"Then you are some sort of cousin to Lessie," I murmured, confusedly, +and I doubt if he heard. At least, he did not reply, and I lay and +looked at the sky and the somber bulk of the forest below, pondering +this strange news which I could not comprehend. Was it possible that +bright creature's blood could flow in the veins of this derelict? The +idea did not suit me, and yet I had no reason to doubt it. My interest +flagged; I no longer felt the inclination to question, and a long +silence fell. I could not order my guest away, especially after he had +broken my bread, but I would not be sorry when he went. The minutes +passed; the fire sank low. My pipe burned out: I could feel it cooling +under my hand. A drowsiness stole over me. I must have been on the +borderland of sleep when I became dreamily conscious of a strange, +pervading harmony. Ethereal echoes seemed to wake within my brain, and +the hushed night was suddenly tuned for a fairies' dance. + +In stupefied amazement I swung my head around, and my mouth fell ajar +and my brows knit when I saw from whence these heavenly strains +proceeded. Jeff Angel was back against the stump. His knees were +sticking up like the broken frame of a bicycle, and he had a violin +under his chin. The goat-tuft was spread thinly out over the tail of the +instrument. His peaked slouch hat was a dirt-colored cone on the ground +at his side, and by it lay a crumpled piece of oilcloth. His eyes were +closed, and there was an expression of deep peace upon his homely +countenance. His long, big-knuckled, claw-like fingers moved over the +strings with the apparent aimlessness of a daddy-long-legs in its +perambulations, and they thrilled to the caress of his frayed bow as the +lips of a chaste lover to the lips of his beloved. I did not speak, nor +move, for I was dumfounded, and the night had been transformed into an +elfin carnival of dulcet sounds. My imagination was aroused, and I could +almost see nymphs and naiads uprising from the dense growth all around, +crooning as they came of woodland delights, and chanting the stories the +low wind told them when the world was asleep. The quiet ravine was +peopled with a ghostly company which made sad, eerie, but entrancingly +sweet music, such as might have been heard in heaven when the morning +stars sang together. The notes were liquid, living, colorful. Sometimes +there were brief silences between them, which were filled with +palpitating echoes. Suddenly a trembling flood of impassioned sound +rushed forth on swallow wings into the star-filled night, and I sat up +with a gasp. + +"_Jeff Angel!_" + +A downward crash of the bow which set all the strings to jangling +horribly; then silence. + +The man was abashed, confused, for he hastily reached for the cloth bag +and thrust both violin and bow therein. He spoke as he fumbled nervously +at the drawstring. + +"I didn't know you'd keer!" he said, contritely. + +He had misinterpreted my exclamation. + +"Care? Care!" I burst forth, leaning forward with my palms on the +ground. "I never heard such music in all my life, and I have heard men +play who receive a thousand dollars a night! Where did you get it?... +How do you do it?" + +The satyr secured his worn coat across his chest with one button, then +bent toward me and replied earnestly. + +"I guess it's bornd with me. I've never ben no 'count frum a kid. Wuzn't +wuth shucks--never. Jis' wouldn't work--I couldn't. They's no work in +me. When they tried to make me I'd run off. I'd run fur off in th' woods +'n' lay 'roun' all day, a-lis'n'n'. I heerd thin's." He stretched out +one gaunt arm and waved it with an uncertain, twisty motion. "I heerd +thin's. More 'n' th' birds a-cheepin' 'n' a-twitt'r'n' 'n' th' squir'ls +a-barkin' 'n' a-yappin' 'n' th' bees a-junin' in th' flowers. They's +other thin's--lots o' thin's I heerd. Th' crick's got a song--it's +_sich_ a song--'bout th' purties' 't is' I reck'n, 'cus it's +changeabler. 'N' they ain't no en' to th' chune th' win' sings. +Sometimes it's lazy 'n' sleepy, 'n' yo' wan' to duck yo' head 'n' +snooze, 'n' ag'n it's pow'ful strong 'n' loud 'n' almos' skeers yo' with +its shoutin'. 'N' they's other thin's--thin's I can't tell yo' 'bout +'cus I don't know whut they air--but I hears 'em. I c'n jis' shet my +eyes any day out in th' deep woods whur they ain't nothin' but woods, +'n' fus' thin' I know I'm a-floatin' on a cloud with music ever-whurs. +When I's a kid I went hongry fur some 'n' to play on, so one day I foun' +me a big reed, 'n' I made me a w'is'le with holes in it. I jes' mus' +play." + +He rose to his feet, put his pipe away without knocking the ashes out, +and carefully tucked his oilcloth bundle under his arm. + +"Pow'ful good supper, 'n' I wuz hongry _right_! 'Blige' to yo', sho. +Good-by!" + +He swung around and started across the plateau. + +I leaped up quickly. + +"Come back again soon, Satyr!" I called. "A supper any time for ten +minutes fiddling!" + +He waved his hand, but made no reply. + +A few moments later, from down the road, growing fainter and fainter, I +again heard that fantastic rhyme: + + "Rabbit in th' log, + Ain't got no rabbit dog." + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +IN WHICH I PITCH MY TENT TOWARD HEBRON FOR THE SPACE OF AN AFTERNOON + + +I have been to Lizard Point. + +Before sunrise this morning I was up, and out. I sleep with both windows +open and the shutters up, so the first daybeams rouse me. Thereafter I +do not attempt to sleep, but rise at once. This is another of 'Crombie's +commands. He said the air was fresher and sweeter, and the distillations +from the earth and vegetation purer and more efficacious. He said all +this would do me good, and I am trying to follow out his wishes to the +letter, because life is sweet to me, and I want to get well. (I must say +that I never felt more vigorous than I do to-night.) It went hard with +me at first--this rising with the lark--for, in common with most bookish +folk, it had been my custom to sit up into the small hours, and sleep +late the next morning. Now I am growing used to it, and I love it. I +find that I feel better; stronger, more active and alert. There must be +some tonic properties in the early morning air to affect me in this way. + +The world is never so lovely as when she wakes from sleep. Not even when +her old tirewoman, the sun, flings her golden coverlet over her just +before nightfall, does she appear so bewitchingly beautiful. This +morning, for instance, when I stepped without my door, I felt as if I +had been transported by magic into some new and mystical land. Like a +maiden whose virginal slumbers have been filled with peaceful dreams of +her beloved, the earth was waking. Gently--so gently--she pushed the +fleecy fog-billows from her breast. Afar the folds of night seemed yet +to cling about her, as though loath to leave her form. Nearer, but way +up the valley, grayish, shifting mists writhed slowly, uncoiling +vaporous lengths before the ever increasing light. Nearhand, trees, +bushes and stones showed dew-sweet and clean. And when, at length, the +day had triumphed, and I beheld the rim of a gold ball topping the far +eastern range, my breast throbbed with a quick elation, and a song burst +from my lips. + +I spent the morning working on my garden. It is my peculiarity that when +I begin a thing I find no rest until it is finished. By ten o'clock I +had cleared the surface of all the available area, and felt much pleased +with my efforts. I had worked hard, for there were loose rocks to be got +rid of, some of them large and difficult to handle, in addition to the +leaves and sticks. But prospects seemed excellent for a fine crop. There +was no doubt that this was virgin soil, and as it lay in sun for several +hours each day, there was no valid reason why it should not produce +abundantly. I must now let it dry out for a few days, then spade it up +and plant my seed. Seed! Why, I hadn't so much as a pea or a bean on the +place, except in cans! I had several sacks of potatoes, but I wanted a +diversified garden. Almost immediately the solution came. I would go to +Hebron and buy all the seed I wanted. Comforted by this thought, I set +about an early dinner. I hummed contentedly as I bustled around in my +small kitchen. It was not until I sat down to eat that I realized the +song I had been persistently repeating was the absurd tune which had +heralded Jeff Angel's coming and farewelled his departure. + +Later, with the sun swinging exactly at meridian, I took my staff and +headed down the road, intending for the Dryad's Glade. Ever since my +brief talk with the girl there had been a slow, steady pulling within me +toward that creek which flowed south. It didn't worry me especially; in +fact, it didn't worry me at all--why should it? But it was there. When I +was employed I was not aware of it, but whenever my mind rested there +flowed into it, like the resurgence of a low, moon-touched wave, the +picture of one standing on the brook's bank, with copper-red curls +crowned with white stars. It was a pleasant picture, and I did not try +to banish it. + +Now, fairly started on my way, I wondered that I had not gone before. I +moved with restive eagerness, and presently reached the spot where I had +encountered the girl--Lessie. I did not like the name. It was empty, +vapid, meaningless, ugly; just a sound by which one was known. She could +not help it, of course. It might have been Mandy, or Seliny. Lessie did +not seem so terrible when I thought of others much worse, but it did not +fit her. + +I tarried for a moment under the dogwood tree. Its blossoms were fading +now. I saw the jagged ends of several low branches where she had broken +off her coronal. But there was no sign of squirrel or bird. Passing on, +I plunged into the undergrowth which lined the creek bank as far as I +could see, and made my way along. There was something of a valley here, +and it would have been easier going nearer the base of the knob several +rods away, but the stream's course was erratic, so I clung to the bank +and fought my way forward. It was a toilsome journey, and the half-mile +was beginning to seem interminable when all at once I burst, perspiring, +into an open, and found I had arrived. + +Just before me the creek split on a tongue or wedge of land, which came +sweeping gradually down from a vast spur in the background. Shaping +itself to a sharp point represented by an enormous, deeply imbedded +bowlder, the formation broadened backward rapidly and generously, widely +deflecting the halved stream. A quarter of a mile away I could see a +house--or cabin--surrounded by a dilapidated rail fence, with sundry +pens and outbuildings in miniature clustered in the rear. In the +foreground, to the left, was an acre or two of tilled soil. Paralleling +the left fork of the cloven creek, looping the point and fording the +right fork, was a mountain road. In front of me, spanning the left fork, +was the trunk of a huge beech tree, lopped of its branches, and that +this was a bridge which some far-gone storm had placed I knew at once, +for a crude ladder led up to its root-wadded butt. + +For several minutes I stood, panting from my exertions, and conscious of +a slight pain in my right side. This did not alarm me, for I was +convinced it was nothing but what old people call a "stitch," caused by +my recent strenuous walk. I had reached Lizard Point--a most +insignificant name for such an impressive portion of country. There was +but one dwelling visible; therefore there could be but one place for me +to seek for Lessie. I came to the ladder, and had placed my foot upon +the bottom-most cross-piece when I halted, and in secret manner, +although there was no need of secrecy, drew the jar from my pocket and +hid it under the tree's lowest roots. I had promised Lessie I would tell +her why I carried it with me the next time I saw her, and this I did not +want to do, for she would fail to understand, and I would only appear +ridiculous. Queer how a man shuns being made ridiculous, but after all +it is only natural, especially if one is inclined to sensitiveness. + +I mounted to the tree, and saw that the bark along its top surface had +been completely worn away. The tree had evidently been in use as a means +of passage for a long time. I walked across, sure-footed and steady, and +found a slight path winding up the easy ascent toward the house. This I +followed, keeping my eyes on the log dwelling ahead. As I drew nearer, I +made out a small porch, or stoop, and on this some one was sitting. +There was no other sign of life, if I expect a bony, yellow dog which +came slowly into sight from around the corner, and a string of white +ducks filing sedately down to the creek. I passed through a gap in the +crazy fence and traversed the yard. I now saw that it was an old woman +who sat on the porch. She was very fat, and she sat in a low +rocking-chair with her knees apart. A ball of yarn lay in her lap, and +she was knitting and rocking, knitting and rocking. Her great bulk +completely hid her support, but I knew it was a rocking-chair from her +motions. + +As I stopped at the edge of the stoop and respectfully took my cap off, +the dog gave a low growl, then lay down, keeping one topaz eye fastened +upon me suspiciously. The fat old lady paid no more attention to me than +if I had been a hen or a duck, but sent her needles flying the faster. I +regarded her in silent wonder for a moment. Her dress was a plain +one-piece garment of some dark, cheap stuff, utterly unrelieved from +somberness except for a row of shiny white horn buttons down the front. +Her feet were large and flat, and were encased in carpet slippers with a +gaudy pattern of alternate crimson and green. She wore iron rimmed +spectacles which rested so near the tip of her pudgy nose I wondered +they didn't fall off. Her gray hair was parted very precisely in the +middle and slicked back close to her head. Her mouth was thin and hard, +and her face acrid looking. + +"Uh-h-h--good morning," I said, hitching at my trousers; an +unconsciously nervous action. + +"_Marnin'!_" + +I jumped--really I did--for it was as though she had let a gun off in my +face. I had never heard such a voice. Vinegary? Well! + +I curled my fingers around my chin and looked at the dog. His fiery eye +had not wavered. Then I looked at the cat--for in that moment I was +firmly convinced this old beldam _was_ a cat. Her mouth had squared into +yet firmer lines, and her brow had grown portentous. Still her needles +fussed about the half-made sock in her yellowish hands, and her gaze was +down, as before. + +"Do the--" + +I started to ask if people by their name lived here, but when I came to +the name I could not supply it; I had never heard it. I stammered, +coughed, then knew that a pair of fierce little green eyes were flashing +at me. + +"Air yo' a plum' fule? Whur air yo' wits 'n' yo' tongue 'n' yo' commin +sinse? Can't yo' tell a body whut yo' want wi'out stam'rin' 'n' +stutt'rin' 'n' takin' all th' day? Folks as has got work to do ain't got +no time to waste on tramps 'n' sich! _Talk!_" + +Like a cyclone this tirade enveloped me, bursting upon my ears in a +high, rasping voice which dragged on my nerves after the manner of a +file. + +I became desperate. This old virago should not oust me. I thrust my body +forward, and, chin out, replied with some heat: + +"Is this where Granny, and Granf'er, and Lessie live? That's what I want +to know?" + +"Land sakes! Jony 'n' th' w'ale!... Air _you_ him?" + +Her hands dropped in her lap; she cocked her head and viewed me afresh. + +During the momentary silence which followed I heard shuffling footsteps +within, and an old man appeared in the open doorway in front of me. He +wore a shirt made of bed ticking; his trousers were not visible, because +of the coffee-sack which wrapped him from his waist to his shoes. He was +bald, his white beard was a fringe about his face, his upper lip shaven. +He was drying a white dinner plate of thick ironstone china with a +cloth. + +"S'firy!" he said, in a squeaky, timorous voice; "S'firy!" + +He got no further. + +Granny turned her head sideways, at right angle to the speaker, and +promptly exploded. + +"Jer'bome! Git right back to yo' work! Git! 'N' don't let me see nur +hear yo' till them dishes is washed 'n' put away!" + +Granf'er (it could be no one else) retreated obediently, without a word. +Granny's face swung around to me again. + +"If all men wuz as triflin' 'n' ornery as that air'n o' mine, Lord knows +whut th' worl' 'd come to. _E_-tern'l perdition, I reck'n! He jes' lays +'roun' 'n' chaws terbacker, pertendin' he carries a ketch in 'is back. +Plum' laziness, I tell yo'! But I don't 'low no vagrints 'roun' me. +Jer'bome's got to work 's long 's he b'longs to me.... Now! I said, air +you _him_?" + +"I'm the stranger who lives in the shack on Bald Knob." + +Granny resumed her knitting at this point. I noticed that her shining +needles seemed to be fighting each other as she continued: + +"Look whut I'm a-doin' fur 'im now! Slavin' to git somethin' to keep 'is +feet warm 'gin winter comes. He's not wuth it! Lak as not he'll crack +one o' them dishes 'fo' he gits 'em done. He's that keerless. Most +do-less man I _ever_ seen.... Yes, I've heerd 'bout yo'--twict." + +"I hope you received a pleasant report?" I ventured. + +"Jes' las' night he lef' th' dish tow'ls a-hangin' on th' lot fence 'n' +th' calf et 'em up. 'N' th' day befo' he fed a gang o' day old chick'ns +meal 'n' wadder 'n' they swelled up 'n' died. 'N' chick'ns wuth fifteen +cents a poun' at th' store!... Lessie come home a fo'tn't ago with a +tale o' meetin' some feller. I tol' 'er gels 'd better leave all tramps +be." + +"But I'm not a tramp!" I protested. "I'm usually considered a +gentleman." + +"That's whut Jeffy 'lowed. He's here last night--pore feller!--'n' tol' +us 'bout eat'n' a snack with you on Baldy--whut in th' name o' the sevin +plagues does a man in 'is right min' wan' to live thur fur?--tell me +that!" + +"I find it very pleasant--" + +Then the light went out, soft hands were pressing hard over my closed +lids, and a cool, ferny perfume drifted to my nostrils. I was conscious +of warm wrists alongside my head, and a stifled giggle just behind me. + +"Lessie!" I cried, remembering the childhood prank. + +The blinding hands were at once withdrawn, and as she leaped back new +vials of wrath were opened. + +"Of all outlandish doin's!" + +Granny had raised her head only at my exclamation, but she saw enough. + +"Whut on airth air gels comin' to this day 'n' time?--tell me that! +Never seen 'im but onct--mought be a redhanded 'sass'n--ur a +thief--ur--ur--ur _any_thin'! 'N' all my teach'n' all these years. W'en +I've _tol'_ yo' that all men were 'ceptious, 'n' _tol'_ yo' to b'lieve +nothin' they say, 'n' _tol'_ yo' to have no talk with 'em but 'Howdy' +'n' 'Good-by,' 'n' here yo' air a-huggin' a stranger--teetot'l +stranger--'fo' my eyes!" + +Granny's jelly-like body really trembled with rage, and I began to have +fears for the outcome of the incident. Of course, it amounted to nothing +at all so far as right or wrong was concerned. It was simply a natural +expression of the primeval simplicity which marked all the Dryad's +movements. She was a child, and she had played a child's trick. + +She now stood a few feet to one side, looking at me in unfeigned +amazement, apparently indifferent to the old woman's outburst. She was +dressed nicer than when I saw her before. Her garment was pale green, +with little wavy stripes of darker color. Her shoes, too, were a grade +better, but still clumsy, and she had a ribbon on her hair, which hung, +as before, down her shoulders. She seemed averse to wearing anything on +her head, for she held her bonnet--a poke bonnet, like the one I had +handed her in the glade--in her left hand. + +As she looked fully and squarely at me with her peculiar Irish gray +eyes, I felt the same sensation come as when I had first beheld her. It +was a feeling I cannot adequately describe, because no definite word I +can think of would do. If the word existed, and if I knew it, I would +set it down. I should be just as glad to know what that feeling meant as +you. Perhaps each of us shall find out later. + +She gazed at me and I gazed at her, and Granny gazed at us both. Our +eyes met for a full breath, and then somehow mine fell to her throat. +When a woman's throat is beautiful it is altogether as attractive as a +lovely face. The Dryad's throat was a poem. If John Keats could have +seen it, another golden ode would have come down along with the famous +seven. It was simply a perfect column of warm, white, vigorous young +life. Not too slender, and swelling on to the shoulders in the gentlest, +most marvelous contour. It was while I was engaged in fascinated +contemplation of her throat she spoke. + +"Land sakes!... How'd yo' know my name?" + +"The Sa--Jeff Angel told me." + +"Oh!" + +Her face underwent a rapid change, and the next moment she had leaped +lightly upon the porch, flung her arms around Granny's neck and snuggled +her head against the old woman's bosom. + +"Don't you bother 'bout me, Granny!" she said, in soothing tones, and +again that indefinable haunting cadence smote my ears and caused me to +stir uneasily as I stood watching the scene. What a creature of moods +this girl was! + +Now one hand patted Granny's fat cheek, and another smoothed the +lusterless gray hair. The expression which stole over the truculent face +made me think of the sunlight falling suddenly upon some forbidding +cliff, and that moment I knew how deep and wonderful must be the love +which beat in that old heart for Lessie. + +"La! Now, chil'," said Granny, "have yo' way if yo' mus', but be +keerful--always be keerful. 'Specially o' men folks, 'cus they's so full +o' Sat'n 'n' mischief." + +With that she sniffed resignedly, uplifted her brows, carefully freed +herself from the caressing arms and picked up the sock and the ball of +yarn, both of which had fallen to the floor under Lessie's onslaught. + +As the girl arose to her feet Granf'er appeared a second time. He had +not removed the badge of domestic toil which had enveloped his nether +half when I first saw him, and he was dragging a low, shuck-bottomed +chair behind him. It came down the step leading from the porch into the +house with a bump and a clatter, and Granny blazed out again. + +"Jer'_bome_. Look at yo'! Tryin' to break that cheer to splinters! Ain't +yo' got stren'th to carry ev'n a _cheer_? 'N' is thim dishes washed 'n' +put in th' pantry, whur they should orter be?" + +Granf'er dumbly lifted the chair, conveyed it stiffly to the furthest +front corner of the porch, and quietly placed it. Then he turned to me, +and with a show of dignity said, in his thin voice-- + +"Set down!" + +I at once stepped upon the porch, advanced and shook hands with the old +man, then took the proffered seat with a word of thanks. + +He turned and hurried indoors, returning immediately bearing two other +chairs identical with the first. One of these he handed the Dryad, just +across the porch entrance, and the other he brought around and gingerly +lowered to the floor about a foot from mine. When we were all seated +Granf'er stretched one leg out to its fullest length, in order to gain +freer access to his pocket, and after some tugging produced a half twist +of tobacco. This he silently extended to me with a comical facial +contortion which plainly meant that I should take all I wanted. I shook +my head, and smiled. + +"Light Burley!" he explained. "Skace 's hen's teeth. Don't yo' chaw?" + +"S'pec' ever' man yo' meet to _live_ on terbacker?" snapped Granny, +without looking up. + +"No," I replied; "I smoke." + +"Then smoke. Yo' come too later fur dinner, so now we'll hev to mix +terbacker instid." + +It dawned upon me that it was a sort of guest rite he was offering me, +so I crumbled some of the light yellow leaf into my pipe and fired it. +Then he gnawed off a satisfactory chew, and stowed the remainder away. + +He crossed his legs--by this time I had discovered that he wore boots +with his trousers legs stuck down in the tops--in that comfortable, +sagging way all old men have, and with one hand in his lap holding his +elbow, he plucked gently at the front of his fringe of whiskers while +his jaw worked erratically as he slowly adjusted the savory particles in +his mouth. + +No one spoke now for two or three minutes. It certainly was a new +experience for me. A swift glance showed me that the Dryad had weighed +the situation and was amused. Imps of fun danced in her eyes, and there +was a tightening about her mouth which told me that she was holding +herself in check with much effort. She was speechless from choice; the +other two from nature. + +Without warning Granf'er twisted his neck and ejected a curving stream +of amber. It came down with a splash on the back of a half-grown chicken +loitering near. There was a squawk of alarm, a flutter, a scurry from +danger. + +"That's right!" shrilled the bundle of fat. "Ef yo' can't kill 'em no +other way, drownd 'em with terbacker juice!" + +"Granf'er didn't see it!" championed Lessie. "It's under th' aidge o' +the po'ch, 'n' 'tain't hurt no-how." + +Once more I saw her teeth, like two rows of young corn when the husks +are green. + +Granf'er paid no more heed to his helpmeet's words than if it had been +the wind blowing down the chimney. Even his expression did not change. +Already a real pity was creeping into my heart for Granf'er. It took +neither seer nor mindreader to discern that he belonged to that most to +be pitied class of all who live and breathe--a man who has become simply +a woman's creature. A man who, for one or more of a hundred reasons, had +abdicated his kingship in the home, suffering a reversal of rule +contrary alike to all divine decrees and natural laws. Such a man +deserves what he gets, it is true, live he in a mansion or a hovel. Man +was created to rule, and woman knows it. It is by ruling only that he +retains her love. When his reign ceases, then not only does her love +cease, but her respect also. Look about you! + +Granf'er drew the palm of his hand across his lips, mechanically--and +with what seemed like a very natural motion--smoothed out some puckers +in his coffee sack apron, and spoke. He was looking out upon the quiet +majesty of the encircling hills, but I knew that he was addressing me. + +"Y' see, Jeffy's S'firy's nevvy. He come wrong, we-all 'pine. Leas'ways, +they's some'n' in 'is head that's somehow onbalanced 'im. No nat'r'l man +'d go tromp'n' thoo th' woods frum morn'n' till night 'ith nothin but a +fiddle fur comp'ny. S'firy's special'y sot ag'in a fiddle, holdin' 'ith +lots o' folks that th' dev'l's in it--" + +"I'd jes' love to smash it to smithereens over a stump!" interpolated +Granny. + +"--but ez fur me 'n' Lessie, we kind o' en_j'y_ Jeffy's scrapin' 'n' +sawin'. Lessie's re'ly plum' cracked 'bout it, 'n' 'd foller Jeffy over +th' hull durn county if we didn't p'suade 'er pow'ful." + +"Seems to me, Jer'bome, yo' c'n tell it 'ithout cussin'. Only las' +Sunday I had to speak to Father John 'bout yo' increasin' wickedness!" + +"The hull durn county!" repeated Granf'er, quietly and reflectively, his +gaze still fixed on the high hills. "They has big times--thim +two--though Jeffy's mos' unsartain in 'is visits. Sometimes it's a month +w'en we don't ketch sight o' 'im, 'n' ag'in he lingers with us a day or +so at a spell. We sets lots o' store by Jeffy, 'cus th' Lord in 'is +wisdom has saw fit to 'flict 'im. Th' wus' thin' 'bout 'im is th' +liquor--" + +"I'd hev _some_ pride, Jer'bome!" + +"--n' w'en he gits holt o' that he goes plum' lunatic crazy sometimes. +Y' see, it's th' shiners 's whur he gits th' mos.' Th' ryavines over yan +air full o' the'r still-houses, 'n' Jeffy fiddles fur 'em fur 'is bottle +full o' liquor. Puss'nly, I hol' that a little liquor is pow'ful +he'pful, but S'firy 'lows it's no good fur nothin' 'cep' to make +dev'lment 'twixt people--" + +"Ef I had my way not another drap'd go into a bottle!" + +"--'n' I 'gree they's some sinse in her argyment, though it's my b'lief +that a w'ite man 's got to drink some'n', 'n' 't' 's well be pyore +whiskey as anythin'." + +He stopped to relieve his overcrowded mouth, uncrossed his legs and +recrossed them the other way, "to keep 'em frum goin' to sleep," and +continued: + +"'Pears to me Lessie said yo' come frum Lets'nt'n--uh-huh--some little +ways off. 'S never thur. Walked over to Ced'rt'n onct, but home 'n' +Hebrin's good 'nough for weuns. We ain't th' wanderin' kin', yo' mought +say, but live peaceful 'n' work our--" + +"_Work!_" + +"--work our lan', whut little we've got that's fit'n'. You's good to our +Jeffy--to S'firy's Jeffy, that is, fur he ain't no kin to me (not that +I'd be 'shamed o' Jeffy, onderstan', on 'count o' his not bein' jes' +right in th' head)--so I says to yo' here 'n' now 'ith S'firy 'n' Lessie +to witness, as head o' this house I says yo're welcome here to-day 'n' +any day!" + +Then, quite unexpectedly, he clamped his hand across my leg above the +knee, and gave me a squeeze which hurt. + +I spent the remainder of the afternoon on that small front porch. +Granf'er entertained me in the manner I have outlined; a mixture of +opinion, native philosophy, and local news, with occasional caustic +interruptions from Granny's two-edged tongue. Lessie said very +little--what chance had she in the face of Granf'er's garrulity?--and +once she went in the house and stayed for half an hour. When she came +back she had on yet another dress, pure white this time. There were some +frills and tucks and a touch of imitation lace here and there. I'm sure +it must have been her Sunday frock. She was showing off her wardrobe, +after the manner of a tot of eight or ten. + +The sun had halted for a moment in its downward course on the crest of a +range as I arose to go. + +Granf'er was voluminous in his invitation to "Come ag'in 'n' set a +w'ile"; Granny tendered me a defiant nod in response to my polite +good-by, and lo! as I turned to bid Lessie farewell last, she had +already moved into the yard, and was waiting for me! Side by side we +started down the narrow, hard-beaten path. That is, she took the path +and I walked in the new grass which bordered it. + +"I'll go to th' crick with yo'," she said, demurely; then, with +characteristic irrelevance--"Ain't Granny tur'ble?" + +"Granny's jealous of you, and I suppose she has nagged at Granf'er so +long it has become a fixed habit. I'm really sorry for the old fellow, +Dryad." + +"Whut?" + +She turned a quizzical, puzzled face. + +I laughed, gently, and made known to her the meaning of the word. + +"There are lots of things I'm going to tell you when I get a chance," I +added. "Wouldn't you like to know about this big world, and about the +many kinds of people who live in it? About the great cities, and about +what people have done and are doing? Wouldn't you like to learn how the +trees grow, and what makes the wind, the lightning, and the thunder? +About all the birds and animals; streams, rocks and hills? Wouldn't you +like to learn all these things, and lots more?" + +Her eyes had widened as I talked, and now on her fresh, unlined face a +wonder and a hunger grew. It seemed as if her fallow mind was struggling +to emerge from some dark, concealing mist--to leap up and meet the +knowledge I had promised. A look almost of distress, born of futile +longing. We were moving very slowly. She spoke. + +"I've--sometimes--w'en by myse'f--mos' often in the deep woods--I've +felt some'n _crawlin'_ in here"--she put her hand to her head--"some'n' +that 'peared to be want'n' to say some'n'. 'N' I's diff'ernt then. I +didn't wan' to go home to Granny 'n' Granf'er. I wanted to go some'r's +else--way off, maybe, 'n' I'd be mis'ble 'cause I couldn't +tell--couldn't make out whut 'twuz, yo' know. 'N' after w'ile it'd go +'way 'n' leave me, 'n' I wouldn't git right fur a day or so. I ast +Father John 'bout it one day 'n' it looked lak it hurt 'im, 'n' he tol' +me not to have them spells if I c'd he'p it. Said they wuzn't good fur +me. 'N' jes' now, w'en yo' tol' me 'bout all them things you's goin' to +learn me--it come back--come back lak th' crick comes down w'en it rains +in th' hills--with a rush 'n' pour, 'n'--'n'--oh! I wan' to know!--I +_do_ wan' to know!" + +She clasped her hands with something like a tragic gesture, and stared +hard at the ground in front with forehead a-frown. + +I did not answer her at once. How could I? A new facet of her many-sided +nature had flashed upon me, and I was a little dazed. We reached the +tree-bridge before I attempted a reply. + +"I shall be here a year. Come to see me on Baldy. Or come to the place +where I first found you, and I will meet you there. I'm going to give +you the things for which you long. I can do it, but not with Granny or +Granf'er. They would object; they would not understand." + +She looked up at me--for I had climbed to the tree--dumbly, yearningly. + +"I'll come," she said. It was scarcely more than a half-whisper. + +I did not like to leave her in that mood. + +"All right, Dryad!" I returned, cheerily. "Now tell me where that road +goes." + +My aim was to bring her mind back to its accustomed channel for the +present. She brightened at my query. + +"T' 'Ebron," she said. + +"Oh! Yes! Some day soon I'm going there. I have a garden at home and I'm +going there to buy seed." + +She laughed at this, and I felt relieved. + +"Good-by, Dryad." + +I knelt on the tree, bent down and took her upheld hand in mine. It was +warm, soft, and, that moment, clinging. Forerunners of dusk had come, +and the gray pools of her clear eyes made me release her hand and get on +my feet. + +She moved away, and as I turned to set my face in the opposite +direction, something halted me in the very act. + +On the Hebron road, two hundred yards or more distant, I saw the figure +of a man. A young, tall, bareheaded, roughly clad man, standing very +straight and still. He saw me; he was looking at me. Of that I was sure. +His position was by a great stone, which cast him in deeper shadow. +There was something portentous in his attitude, natural though it was. I +stopped and returned his inspection of me, but he made no sign, no +gesture. He might have been a tree of the forest, for all of his +immobility. A feeling, not of fear, but of premonition, swept over me as +I went on across the tree. + +I knew it was Buck Steele, the smith of Hebron. + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +IN WHICH I SIT UPON A HILLTOP AND REFLECT TO NO ADVANTAGE + + +I did something to-day which I have had vaguely in mind ever since I +took up my abode in the wilderness. I climbed to the very top of my hill +of refuge. + +The principal reason why I have never attempted it before was that I +feared it would prove too much for me; would require too much exertion. +And 'Crombie, while advising and insisting upon continuous exercise, had +also warned me not to overdo it. + +This morning I felt mighty as Tubal Cain. My walks, my regular hours, my +wholesome diet, are having effect. I am beginning to brown. At seven +o'clock, when I shaved, the path of my razor showed a firm, tanned skin. +My eyes are clear, and I can feel life coming into me. Oh, what a +glorious thing it is! Just simple, primitive, animal life! I don't know +when I have coughed. I can inflate my lungs, and imagine the +consternation of that "colony" at the inrushing flood of this ozone +laden air. I am not deluding myself that I am sound. 'Crombie said it +would take time, and 'Crombie knows. But I am better. My recent walks +have not caused me to pant and blow. That is why, this morning, I felt +the assurance within me that I could surmount old Baldy's peak, and feel +no bad results. + +Rain fell last night. It began just as I went to bed, and I lay and +listened to it. There is something most fascinating about rain on the +roof after you have gone to bed. Last night it dropped gently, a steady +murmur. It came to my ears as a cradle song of Nature. I could hear it +outside the window near which I sleep. The patter, patter, and after a +while the gurgling of little streams over the clapboard eaves. I +remember of thinking what a good soaking my garden spot would get, and +of the consequent delay waiting for it to dry out before I could spade +it up, then I went to sleep. + +This morning I was awakened by the orchestra of the birds. I had heard +stray notes before about daybreak. Snatches of song, broken trills, +single cries, and challenging calls. But this morning it was different. +I don't know how to account for it. Whether the rain had something to do +with it; whether they met by accident or appointment. The solution of +that question is a minor thing, however. I received the full benefit of +the gathering. I have never heard an exhibition which equaled that +forest symphony. There must have been nearly a dozen varieties of birds. +And each little fellow was singing with all the heart of him. I tell you +they made music. Each had a different tune, and among humans this would +have represented bedlam. But among the feathered kind--take my word for +it if you have never heard it--the effect was wonderful. It was one +great alleluia chorus, and the air throbbed with the sweetest music I +ever heard. I recognized many of the vocalists by their songs. I knew +that about my plateau were gathered the cardinal, the thrush, the +oriole, the catbird, the jay and the mockingbird. And when I mention the +jay, let no one rise up and point the finger of scorn, exclaiming on +that blue-coated fellow's harsh and grating scream. Mr. Caviler, your +voice is harsh and grating too when you get very angry, isn't it? But +have you never heard the love-note of the jay? Have you never, in the +dappled shade, when their half-fledged nestlings are flapping and +hopping about and stretching cavernous yellow jaws for worms and +moths--have you never heard the parent birds, watchful in the overhead +branches, make love? There was never a sweeter, mellower, richer tone +drawn from flute or harp than the love-note of the jay. + +Many others were there that were strange to me, but the effect of the +whole was so sweet that I had to drag myself from bed, so charmed was I +by that chorus in the early dawn. + +The sky was clear when I came out; a deep, rich, fathomless blue. Night +had taken the rain-clouds with it when it left. A woodsy, wet, earthy +odor, than which there was no perfume rarer, delighted my nostrils. +Everything was washed clean. The leaves, the trunks of the trees, the +very stones. It was then, as I stood and felt the might of the +everlasting hills entering into me, that I decided on my task for the +day. As yet it was too early. The ground was soft. It would be wet and +slippery on the slope above, and perhaps muddy. I determined to wait an +hour or two, so went down to my favorite seat under the pine tree, +taking with me Spencer's "First Principles," which is a book calculated +to make one use his mind, at least. + +It was eleven o'clock before I looked at my watch--too late for mountain +climbing that morning. Upon reflection, I saw that this was just as +well. In fact, the afternoon would be a much better time to make the +ascent. The sun had been shining generously for several hours, drying +both the vegetation and the surface of the ground. So Mr. Spencer had +really done me a good turn in carrying me through the forenoon. I left +the book on the bench and went back to the Lodge, thinking to resume my +reading after I returned from the peak. I did not expect to be gone over +an hour and a half, allowing for plenty of time to rest. + +After a leisurely dinner, I took my alpenstock, and imagining myself at +the base of the Matterhorn to lend zest, bravely fronted the upward +climb. + +It was rather stiff work from the beginning. I flanked the Lodge for a +score of yards, and started up where the ascent was comparatively +gradual. This did not last long. Before I reached the encircling band of +evergreens I had to force my way through bushes which insisted on +rapping my nose, and vines which were equally determined to tie +themselves into knots over my toes, and trip me. At length I came to the +dark line of pines and cedars, where I stopped to investigate my +condition. My breath was coming pretty heavy, but I was not really +tired. So after a few moments' rest I went on. My going was tolerably +easy now while the trees lasted. Beneath their shade the earth was +barren. Some half dead moss and a plentiful sprinkling of pine cones was +all. As I walked over the latter they yielded softly to my feet, and +sent up a pungent odor. I heard no bird notes here, but once a +brown-winged shape flitted soundlessly by in front of me, low to the +ground. Everything was very still. There was no wind astir. The belt +proved to be a somber spot, and I was not sorry when I had passed it. +The dense shade had a depressing effect. + +Then I came to open ground; open and bare. Two hundred and fifty feet +above me rose old Baldy's head. For perhaps half the distance a scrub +growth strove for existence in the rocky soil; beyond that the surface +was absolutely denuded. The incline had grown much sharper, but the +earth was knotty and uneven, in many places indented with excoriations, +and I found I could go forward with much greater ease than I had +anticipated. A quarter of an hour later found me facing the last ascent, +which was all but perilous in its sheer rise. My staff was of no avail +here; hands and feet must win. So I laid my alpenstock down, drew a deep +breath and started up. Just how I got to the top I cannot say. But there +is a big element of tenacity in my nature, and I fought on with squared +jaws and set teeth, slipping, scrambling, sprawling, until I had won. I +crawled over the crest on my hands and knees, and for quite ten minutes +I lay prostrate, recovering my wind and my spent strength. Then I got +onto my feet and looked about me. + +It was a glorious prospect; even solemn and majestic. A prodigious sweep +of country was laid bare before me. I hesitate to say how many miles I +could see, for distance is most deceptive at great altitudes. But it was +the topography, more than the far reaching view, which impressed me. I +was standing in the midst of a world newly created, the only living +creature. Leagues upon leagues of virgin forest flowed back from my +point of vantage till the perspective ended in a misty blur. East and +west stretched the mighty ranges, with constantly diverging spurs, each +clothed with its own garment of green and glistening glory. Anon the +ancient hills valleyed into troughs whose length had no visible limit, +and it did not require the imagination of a poet to behold beneath me +the effect of an immense sea which had suddenly been frozen into +permanent form. How illimitable! How overpowering! Slowly I turned to +the different points of the compass. Far to the north a smudge of smoke +fouled the tender bosom of the sky, and I quickly looked another way. +Cedarton lay in that direction. + +For a half-hour I stood and gazed, and wondered, and thought. Here was +incentive for rumination, and when I at length withdrew my eyes from the +bewildering panorama I felt infinitesimally puny, and weak, and small. +What was I? A mote in a sunbeam; an atom of matter; no more. + +The point upon which I stood was an irregular circle, approximating +thirty feet in diameter. An imperfect stone formation marked its outer +boundaries; the effect of some Titanic convulsion in forgotten time. In +one place--toward the southwest--the rim of rock broke, and here the +earth had sloughed away before the ages-long war of the elements, the +result being a broad, flume-like chute leading downward. Instinctively I +drew back from this place, for it suggested unknown terrors. A sort of +sandy, granular deposit covered the top of the knob; the grinding caused +by years upon years of wind and rain. + +My inspection of the peak occupied scarcely a minute. Then I sat down in +its exact center, lit my briar-root, hugged my knees, and allowed myself +for the first time that day to think of yesterday's experience. You +could never guess my first thought. It was that material would quickly +accumulate now for my book. I sensed the approach of things--of many +things, and not all of them were pleasant. In fact, some wore grisly +aspects. I believe in premonitions. I don't know what they are, or what +causes them, or anything about them except they exist. But one came to +me as I sat on the tiptop of old Baldy this afternoon, smoking my pipe +and hugging my knees, and feeling very much like a bird in its eyrie. I +was troubled and elated in turn; a queer experience, but common to all. +There was no reason in the world why I should have been either depressed +or uplifted. But somehow the near future looked to me to be vibrant with +incidents waiting their chance to happen, and in some unformed way I +felt that, innocently enough, I had set in motion a train of events +which would quickly envelope me in their workings. I say it was a +premonition--a prescience--and I believe I am right. + +I can make nothing yet of Lessie or her household. Granf'er and Granny +have their prototypes among those who call themselves ultra refined. +Each is interesting to me, in his and her way. Granny has a suspicious +nature. I cannot think she is as down-right mean and crusty as she +pretends to be. Maybe Granf'er is trifling, and trying, and Granny might +have to lash him with her tongue to keep him in the traces. I am sure +the old lady's dislike for me is real, though why this should be I +cannot fathom just now. I have a strong suspicion that deep down in her +heart Granny has a feeling of worship for the Dryad, and in everything +which presents itself in masculine shape she sees a possible cause for +Lessie leaving her. That seems the most plausible reason for her +dislike. Lessie has plunged me into a quandary where I can see no light +at all. Her personality is the most complex I have ever encountered. She +is absolutely baffling. I can't understand the way she talked to me as +we came down the path from the house scarcely twenty-four hours ago. +What was it within her that suggested the things of which she spoke? If +she had delivered an oration in Latin I could not have been more +surprised. She--the product of many generations of hill dwellers, whose +intelligence always remained at a minimum, among whom the stirrings of +ambition were never felt and where knowledge had never gained the +slightest foothold--she to suffer the travail of a fettered mind +striving for light; of a shackled soul struggling for expression! What +could it mean? And to make the enshrouding darkness yet more dense, _she +was cousin to the Satyr_! The Satyr! That whimsical, hapless +ne'er-do-well who strolled the woods day after day, drinking white +whiskey, and bringing strains from his old fiddle which made one's flesh +creep with their weird sweetness. Is it a wonder I was puzzled? I +promised to help her, and I am going to do it. I know the task will be +pleasant. I will escape monotony, and she will be improved, and in this +way it will work good to both of us. I shall begin--but at this point in +my cogitations there floated suddenly across the field of memory that +tall, dark shadow standing on the Hebron road, still and stern. + +I took the pipe from my mouth and stood up. The sun had more than half +completed its journey from zenith to horizon. I made another detour, +looking for the best place to descend. I found it a short distance from +where I had come up; almost a path, surprisingly easy to traverse. I +carefully noted its location with reference to the points of the +compass, and went down with practically no labor. Already I knew I +should come back, for the spot held a strong attraction for me. Not +alone for the view, which in itself was sufficient compensation for the +climb, but there was also a sense of such complete aloneness--and I have +that peculiarity. At times I want to be where no one can see me, or talk +to me. I want to be utterly alone, without the possibility of +interruption. Such a place I knew I had found on the peak of Bald Knob. + +When I reached the evergreens I realized that it must be almost twilight +on the plateau. At least a cooling, grateful shade was there, and the +philosophy of Spencer. + +A few moments later I crashed through the bush in the rear of the Lodge, +came around and flung my cap boy-like on one of the benches alongside +the door, then hurried toward the lone pine. When I had taken a +half-dozen steps I looked up, and halted abruptly. + +Lessie was standing under the tree, holding "First Principles" open in +her hands. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +IN WHICH I SPEND A PLEASANT HOUR AND HEAR SOME NEWS + + +She saw me the same instant, and her eyes brightened with what seemed to +me pleasure, while slow waves of color came into her cheeks. She smiled, +and stood motionless, waiting for me to approach. + +I lost no time in bidding her welcome. When I took her hand in greeting +the contact was electrical--it may have been my imagination, I +grant--but I'm sure I felt as if a charge of some kind had been +projected into me. + +"Whut's this book?" she asked, closing the volume but still holding it +with a clinging touch. It was to me as if she wanted to make it a part +of her, her hands and fingers were so enveloping in their grasp. + +"That's heresy--rank heresy!" I laughed. "If Father John saw me reading +that he would tell you to run from me as fast as you could." + +She glanced up with a most attractive blending of alarm and amusement on +her face. + +"Then whut yo' read it fur?" she demanded. + +"It was written by one of the smartest men the world has ever known, and +I want to find out what he thinks. We don't have to believe all we read, +you know. We can read for various reasons." + +I saw she did not understand. + +"Sit down," I continued. "Here, the bench is big enough for two. I'm so +glad you have come to see me to-day. You almost missed me; I've been up +on Baldy." + +We sat side by side. There was barely room enough; as it was our hips +came in contact. Then I told her of my little trip toward the clouds. +I'm sure she was not at all interested. In fact, after the first +brightening of her face at the moment of my appearance, a sort of shadow +had come upon it, as though cast from a mind not at rest. I watched her +as I talked, and I know she was paying no heed to my recital. She toyed +with the book, pressing the pages together, bending them in her fingers, +and allowing them to slip under her thumb with a rustle. Now I saw her +hair at close range for the first time, and it was truly a crown of +glory. Solomon's wisdom was not at fault. A woman's hair holds some +mysterious power for a man fully as potent as any of her other charms. +There is sorcery in it--and sometimes love-dreams--and sometimes +oblivion--and sometimes madness! As I gazed at the Dryad's hair my voice +unconsciously dropped to a lifeless monotone. Quickly I noted a fact +which formed a fitting supplement to my former discoveries regarding the +care of her person. By all legitimate courses of reasoning her hair +should have been stringy, sleek, unkempt, and--dirty! But I beheld it +the reverse in every particular. No boudoir bred Miss of any city could +have produced better cared for tresses. Each silken strand lay separate +from its fellows. The whole mass was shining clean, and fresh, and +fluffy; the well-shaped ears were transparently spotless, and her neck, +where the yet finer hair grew upward and where tiny rings of cobwebby +gold fluttered, was immaculate. Fellowman, do you marvel that my tale of +climbing the peak came to an end almost in drivel? + +As I stopped, rather sheepishly, she lost her hold on the book, and it +slipped from her knees to the ground. Each bent to recover it. I was the +quicker, but in the forward and downward movement which she made the +Dryad's hair tumbled over her shoulders onto my neck, head and face, in +a subtly scented, smooth, tickly mesh. It lasted but a moment; I think +the shortest moment of my life. We came up laughing, both our faces red. +But as for that, one's face is always red when one bends to pick up +something. + +I opened the book at the front, found a big capital A, and pointing to +it, asked Lessie what it was. + +She shook her head. + +"I don' know." + +The pity of it! I could scarcely credit her reply. + +"Would you like to know? Would you like to know all the letters in this +book, big and little, so that you could read them at a glance?" I asked. + +Again that hungry, helpless look came to her. + +"Oh!... Yes!" + +The first word was spoken with a sharply indrawn breath of eagerness. +The last one fell softly a moment later. + +"You shall, Dryad. It's a shame you can't do it now. Is there no school +here--in the neighborhood--at Hebron? Why have you never been to +school?" + +"They wuz a school in Hebron. Granny wouldn't let me go." + +She was fingering a ruffle on her dress just above her knees in an +embarrassed way. + +"Wouldn't let you go!" I exclaimed, indignantly ... "Why?" + +"A man had it--a young man--'n' Granny hates men, 'specially young men." + +"Why does she hate young men?" + +"I don' know--you heard whut she said 'bout 'em. She's always preachin' +that to me." + +I thought my former reading of Granny's attitude correct now, but I did +not speak of this to Lessie. + +"Granny has done you a great injustice," I said, gravely; "however +honest her intentions. I'm going to see that you have a chance, Dryad. +But if I'm to help you, I must speak of things exactly as they are, and +there shall have to be many corrections. You won't mind this, will you? +I mean you will understand why it is done--that it is absolutely +necessary for you to get along. You won't take offense--won't get mad, +will you?" + +She turned her eyes full into mine, her mobile face for the moment +serious and calm. + +"I'll do _anythin'_ to learn--to know! Oh! I git so lonesome fur--fur +_knowin'_! I'm all shet up, 'n' they's things in my head 'n' in here +that's jes' bustin' to git out!" + +She placed her hand on her breast. Her brows had drawn together and I +knew each word was the exact truth. + +"All right; it's a bargain," I answered. "We'll begin this very minute. +Have you noticed that I talk differently from you, and Granf'er, and +Granny'?" + +Her mouth was set firmly as her chin moved up and down. I think she was +a little scared at the beginning of her lessons. + +"I talk correctly, and you talk incorrectly. That's hard to say, but we +can't build without solid truth for a foundation. You should learn to +speak correctly in a very short time, if you will be very careful, and +try. It will take longer to learn to read, and write, but even that will +not prove such a great task. Now, answer me--why did you come here +to-day?" + +"I come 'cause I wanted to!" + +Quick as a flash her reply was out, and I could see she was watching me +in a fascinated, apprehensive manner. I smiled to reassure her. + +"You should say--'I _came be-cause_ I wanted to.' Say it that way." + +"I--came--_be_-cause I wanted to!" + +There was something almost pitiful in her fearful earnestness. This was +the beginning of the opening of a sealed door before which she had stood +so long, with no one to break the fastenings for her. She had put one +hand against the dark trunk of the tree, and now her finger tips were +white around the nails from the pressure she had unconsciously brought +to bear, and she was trembling the least bit. Poor little Dryad in her +windowless house! It must have been an ordeal for her. + +How queerly that simple sentence broke upon my ears. It was the first +perfect one she had ever spoken, and she enunciated it with painful +precision, breathing each word forth in trepidation. + +"Good!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands, whereat her tenseness vanished, +and her bearing became like one who is somewhat confused, but happy. +"Don't forget that, now. Always say 'I came.' Many of your words are not +words at all, but fearful corruptions which long use and carelessness +have made worse. Then you drop your 'gs' outrageously, but that is a +fault you'll overcome by practice." + +Thus for an hour we sat on the narrow bench under the tall pine, while I +made her answer question after question in her own way, then had her say +them again the right way. Her aptness was amazing. Her mind seemed to +seize and absorb the elemental instruction I gave her as a parched plant +does moisture. She remained constantly intent, alert, ready; and when at +length the slowly deepening shadows warned me that she should be going, +and I told her the lesson for the day was over, I saw that she was +agitated, excited, and her eyes shone as if brightened by wine. + +"Oh, you're a capital pupil!" I complimented, warmly, as we arose and +stood for a moment side by side. "Now how would you answer me, Dryad?" + +She cast me a sidewise glance; partly mischievous, partly shy, partly +earnest. + +"I'm glad!" she said, quickly. + +I knew that she had evaded my trap cleverly, and I did not lay another +for her. + +"Now you must go." + +I spoke reluctantly, for the hour had been an unusually charming one for +me. I had always maintained that I had rather be a roadmender than a +school teacher, and generally speaking, I hold to the idea still. But I +can think of no more delightfully pleasant experience that has ever come +my way than when I gave Lessie her first instruction under the pine on +the edge of the plateau. + +At my words the shadow sprang to her face again, more noticeable than +before. It was almost a look of distress now. + +"What is it, Dryad?" I asked, suddenly; "what worries you?" + +She did not answer, but stood meditatively with the tips of her fingers +resting upon her lower lip, and her eyes intently focussed downward. + +"Come," I added; "I must get some water from the creek, and I'll go that +far with you--farther, if you will let me, because it will be late +before you get home." + +"Oh, no!" she burst out, with what looked like unnecessary vehemence. +Then her agile mind took a turn, and she added--"But why don't yo' git +yo' water out o' the well?" + +I forebore to correct her. The lesson was over, and I must not worry +her. + +"Well?" I repeated, open mouthed. "What well?" + +"The well over yonder--the well the man dug!" + +She pointed to a distant corner of the yard, overrun with a +heterogeneous mass of greenery. + +I almost gasped. A well had been here under my nose all these weeks, a +well of cool, good water, and I had been slaving rebelliously to supply +my needs from the creek below, which had lately become infested with +tadpoles! + +"Show it to me!" I cried. + +With a hearty "All right!" she started running, and I followed at a +smart walk. It was just like her to run. She was a creature of impulse. +I watched her skimming over the ground, lightly leaping little +obstacles, her wheat-gold hair all a-tremble. When I came up she had a +stick, and was diligently prodding about in the weeds, vines and +brambles. + +"It's here," she muttered, intent on her business. "I've saw it, 'n' +drunk out o' it. It's jes' as cold as the spring at home whur granny +keeps 'er milk 'n' butter. W'en I--" + +My eyes had been fastened on her face, and now she evidently remembered +and checked herself purposely, for I saw her teeth clamp her lip for an +instant. Then she went on, softer and more slowly, never looking up. + +"When--I--came--las'--time--it's--_here_!" + +With the last word she jabbed her stick down, and straightened up +triumphantly. + +I pressed forward to her side, and peered into the bush. The end of her +stick rested upon a piece of wood. With a word to Lessie to wait a +moment I hurried back to the lodge and procured a scythe from the store +of miscellaneous things which had accompanied me when I came out to make +friends with the wilderness. Directly I had uncovered the well's top, a +surface of oaken planks four feet square. In the center of this lay a +large, smooth stone, covering the hole which gave access to the water +below. + +"By Jove! Girl, how can I thank you?" I cried, elated at the discovery. +"I've been drinking sulphur water and bathing with tadpoles, never +dreaming this was here!" + +"It'll be a big savin'," she agreed. "Tot'n' water's pow'ful hard work." + +She turned to go. I dropped my scythe and said: + +"You must let me go part of the way. I know you're not afraid, but won't +you? I'd feel better." + +She clasped her hands, wrung them once, and took two or three forward +steps silently. Something was wrong with Lessie, but nothing like a true +solution entered my thick masculine head until she stopped, halfway +turned, and flung from tight lips-- + +"It's 'bout Buck!" + +Buck! The ominous figure I had seen watching me in the deep twilight the +day before. Buck! Of course, Buck! He had seen me part from Lessie; he +had come to her immediately afterward, and had doubtless told her some +things which were not good for her peace of mind. Is man really a +savage, at rock bottom? In the moment following Lessie's intense +announcement of the cause of her distress, what were my feelings? Simply +these. There came to my mind the realization that I, too, was a man of +physical might; that I, too, had immense muscles of thigh, and chest, +and arm; that the trouble which had sent me here was surely checked as I +felt my vigor growing day by day, and that if somebody wanted to fight I +would give him his fill, rather than be hectored into forsaking Lessie's +company--for I felt assured already that this was the burden of Buck +Steele's demands. + +Something of all this must have showed in my face as I stepped +deliberately to Lessie's side and took one of her hands, for I saw +traces of terror in the gray eyes. + +"Yo'--yo' mustn't git together!" she exclaimed, tempestuously, her +fingers closing around mine in a grip which caused me to wonder. "Oh! +Yo' mustn't!--Yo' mustn't! Yo' don't know Buck; he c'n ben' a +horse-shoe!" + +"Lessie," I said, returning her grasp and looking at her determinedly; +"I'm not afraid of any man that lives and moves. I don't believe in +violence, but there are times when it becomes necessary. And when the +necessity arises in my life, I'm going to face it. You have said that +you wanted me to help you, and if you still feel this way, nothing and +no one is going to prevent me from carrying out my part of the +agreement. I've a notion I know pretty much what took place last night, +but you must tell me now, as we walk along. We must talk it over--come." + +I kept her hand until I had faced her about and we had gone a short +distance. Then I let it go. + +"Yo' see," began Lessie, in a perplexed little voice, and without +waiting for further urging, "Buck's ben comin' to see me fur mos' a +year, off 'n' on. He's the only young feller Granny'll 'low on the +place. He's ben pow'ful good to me, 'n'--'n' well, he's ast me to marry +'im. But I don't love Buck. I can't he'p lak'n' 'im, 'cause he's so good +'n' kin' 'n' 'd do anythin' on earth I'd ask 'im to. He don't pester me +'bout comin', neither, 'n' w'en I don't feel lak seein' 'im he'll go on +'way, meek lak 'n' not complainin'. 'N' after w'ile here he'll be back +ag'in, tryin' to tell me thin's I don't wan' to lis'n' to. I jes' can't +hurt 'is feelin's. Somehow 'r 'nother he heerd that you'd come out here +'n' had seen me by the dogwood tree that day--I s'pec' Granny tol' 'im +'bout it, 'cause I didn't tell nobody but the home folks. 'N' so las' +night he come--he _came_ out home to 'quire 'bout it, 'n' he saw you +tell me good-by at the bridge. 'N' after you'd gone he came on--'n' I'd +never seen 'im look lak he looked then. His eyes wuz black 'n' had fire +in 'em 'n' his face wuz lak a piece o' gray rock 'n' his voice wuz +diff'unt 'n' ever' now 'n' then he shuk all over." + +Her words had gradually increased in velocity until, when she stopped, +she was speaking so rapidly I could hardly understand what she said. + +"Yes," I replied, but nothing more until we had come to the foot of the +knob. Here, as we turned westward toward the creek leading to Lizard +Point, I spoke again. + +"He talked to you, Dryad, of course. Now you must tell me everything, +and keep nothing back--nothing. Even though he said very ugly +things--things which may have frightened you, you must tell me them, +too." + +She stooped to pluck a cluster of little wild flowers growing on a +single stem, giving a low exclamation of pleasure as she did so. Then, +as she twined the flowers in her hair over the ear away from me, she +answered. + +"Yes, he talked to me. I tried to make 'im hush, but he wouldn't. 'Twuz +'bout you, mos'ly. He said he knew city fellers 'n' they's all wicked +'n' dang'rous, 'n' that you's jes' tryin' to run with me to pass the +time 'n' make a fool o' me--but I didn't b'lieve 'im!" + +With the last words she turned toward me a frank and honest countenance. + +"No, Dryad; you mustn't believe him when he talks that way. I'm sure +that Buck is a good man naturally, but he was excited when he told you +that. There are some bad men in the cities, and there are some bad men +in the country. There are more bad men in the city because there are +more people in the city. But he was wholly wrong when he spoke of my +motive in going with you--go on." + +"He said he wasn't goin' to have yo' comin' to see me, 'n' that I mus' +promise 'im not to see you agin. I tol' 'im I couldn't do that, 'cause +you's goin' to learn me. Then he went plum daffy crazy, 'n' cussed 'n' +damned, 'n' bruk a great thick stick he had in 'is han's--bruk it 'n' +kep' a-breakin' it till it wuz all in little pieces in 'is fis'--'n' +then he flung 'em all on the groun' 'n' stood lookin' at me lak he's +goin' to hit me, but he didn't. We's down at the en' o' the path nex' to +the road, fur we hadn't gone up to the house. I's skeered fur a w'ile, +he looked so big 'n' he's so mad. I didn't know a feller c'd git so +crazy 'bout--'bout a girl;--did you?" + +Her candor never ceased to amaze me. She seemed to be utterly unaware of +anything existing within herself which might lead a man up the dangerous +heights of Love, whither this brawny one had plainly gone. + +"Ye-e-s," I answered, slowly. "When a man loves a girl, Dryad, he will +do anything when the circumstance which calls for that thing exists." +Then, realizing that I was talking riddles to her, I added: "I mean, +that when a man's in love, especially if he be a strong man, he won't +allow any one or anything to come in the way, if he can help it. And +that's Buck's position, exactly. He thinks he can't live without you, +and he's a big, husky animal whose feelings largely control him. When +another man approaches you, he grows jealous, and jealousy is about the +hardest headed, most unreasonable, meanest passion the human family +has.... What else did Buck say?" + +It was too dark now for me to see her expression, but when she replied +her voice shook with apprehension, and that haunting note--like a rare +minor chord in music--which so moved me when we first met had crept +strangely into it, dominating the natural, lighter quality of her +speech. + +"Oh!" + +An exclamation formed of a trembling sigh was her first word, but she +went on almost at once. + +"He--he said _awful_ thin's! He said he couldn't _stan'_ to see me 'n' +you together no more, 'n' he said he's goin'--he's goin'--to _kill_ yo' +if--if--" + +Here Lessie broke down and began to weep in little, spasmodic snuffles, +as you have seen small children do. + +I took her hand again and tried to assuage her fears as we went on under +the big forest trees through the shadowy, dimly luminous atmosphere. I +told her that Buck had spoken in the heat of anger, and that he did not +really mean what he said, and that his passion had gotten away with his +discretion, and had made him act very foolishly. I ended by laughing at +the threats, and treating them in the nature of a joke, but my companion +would not have it so. + +"Yo' don't know 'im! Yo' don't know 'im!" she insisted, drawing the back +of her free hand across her eyes. "He _did_ mean it, 'n' he _will_ do +it--I know he will!" + +"Don't you think I can take care of myself?" I asked. + +"I don't know; maybe--but Buck's so strong!" + +"I'm strong, too, Dryad." + +She did not answer, and soon we came to the glade. Here Lessie stopped +and faced me. + +"Yo' _mustn't_ come no fu'ther," she said, so emphatically that I almost +blinked. "'N'--'n'--yo' mustn't come to the P'int no more 'n' I won't +come to Baldy no more 'n'--" + +"Why, Lessie!" + +I dropped her hand, and put all the reproach I could summons into the +words. + +"Yo' know--w'y--" + +"And give up all the things I am going to teach you just because--" + +It was too much. She turned with a hurt, despairing cry which somehow +cut me savagely, and ran swiftly from me across the open ground. I saw +the misty fluttering of garments in the gloom, caught the dull glow from +her flying hair, then knew that I was alone. + +I have just written to 'Crombie. I did not tell him of any of the people +I have met. I wrote a chatty letter describing my daily life, my +improved condition, and telling of my inability, so far, to locate the +life-plant. But on this point I had hopes. I'm sure he will scratch his +head when he reads my postscript, and wonder if I have developed brain +trouble. Here is my postscript: + +"Kindly forward me by mail to Hebron, at once, a primer and a copybook." + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +IN WHICH OTHER CHARACTERS COME INTO OUR STORY + + +I went to Hebron to-day to mail my letter, and to lay in a supply of +garden seed. + +It was still early morning when I reached Lizard Point, and came upon +the road leading to my destination. The sun had not yet topped the high +knob range; the air was cool, balmy, moist with dew, and clear. I stood +for a moment after I had crossed the bridge, and looked intently up to +where Lessie lived. Had I seen her I would have sent her a hail, and +told her where I was going. Light blue wood smoke was coming from the +kitchen chimney, and spiraling straight up to a great height before it +dissipated--a sure sign of fair weather, I have been informed. Soon I +descried Granf'er's stooped form plodding across the back yard. He still +wore his coffee-sack apron, and was carrying a dishpan of water. This he +emptied into a chicken trough, and trudged back to the house. But Lessie +did not appear, so I faced about and went on. + +The road paralleled this branch of the creek for nearly a mile, running +along the base of a steadily curving knob. It was not a bad road, +either, considering its location, and I found some pleasure in tramping +through the yellow dust between the ruts which the wheels of passing +vehicles had made. On the creek side was a rod-wide strip of verdure; +flowering weeds choked with long, tough grass, bushes of many kinds, and +an occasional tree. On the knob side the rise began at the very edge of +the highway. Here was moss, dead leaves, many varieties of creepers, +sumac, wild grapevine, and now and again eglantine, its flat, pink-white +blossoms brightening the heavy shade. It was on this side the road my +eyes dwelt oftener, for in my pocket was the jar of fresh water, and in +my heart the hope of ultimate reward. It is true I had found nothing +which resembled the life-plant in the least, and already I had traveled +far. But I was prepared for disappointment, and schooled for patience. +The prize was too valuable to be come at easily. I had already learned +that great truth--the things worth while are the things you give your +heart's blood in getting. Nothing you can grasp by merely stretching out +your hand is worth even that slight effort. It is a law of nature and a +law of life that hard work is the price of true success; that attainment +means sacrifice; that the natural inclinations and desires of the flesh +must be fettered and chained before we can reach any eminence +whatsoever, or achieve any noble task. That unalterable decree of life +applied to this case as well, and I bowed to it. I would wait and +search; I would go on until the last day of my twelve months' exile had +sped, believing that sooner or later my reward would come. + +Now my mountain road debouched upon a county highway, made of gravel, +well packed and smooth. For a moment I was surprised, wondering where +all this gravel came from. Then I remembered that a river ran near, and +the mystery was plain. + +The sun came out as I started on again, pouring its quickening light in +a wondrous cascade of shimmering beauty over the dark green sea of +foliage. The leaves rustled a welcome, and a breeze which was like a +sigh of gratitude from the Earth's big heart, arose. This greeting of +nature unto nature that still morning stirred me deeply in some way; I +could feel the answering thrill in my breast, and I stopped in my +tracks, took my cap from my head, and faced the great golden ball with +what I imagine was almost the ardor of a sun-worshiper. I was alone with +my ancient mother; the mother from whence I came and unto whom I would +return, and clearer than ever in my life before I felt the kinship of +the sturdy trees, and knew that the sap and fiber of every growing thing +about me was part and parcel of my being. Tiny waves of emotion began to +tingle along my nerves as I stood bareheaded, at one with the universe, +and then slowly the waves grew in magnitude until every vein and artery +was inundated with a mighty surge of joy. + +A puff of wind blew a spray of blackberry bush across my cheek, +scratching it with a thorn. I started and looked, to find that I had +unknowingly come to the edge of the road. + +At a turn a quarter of a mile further on I saw the hamlet. Five or six +houses, a railway station, the superstructure of an iron bridge, and to +one side a formidable building of brick, which I correctly surmised to +be the distillery. Between me and the hamlet lay a stretch of cleared +bottom land, fenced off into fields. I saw an expanse of wheat, green +and full eared; another of oats, not so tall, and having a peculiar +bluish shade. Other fields were simply bare, brown reaches of freshly +turned earth, prepared for corn or tobacco. + +Now to my ears came a sound which has been heard since the world was +young; the musical ring of iron against iron; the song of the forge. +Across the lowland it drifted to me, losing all harshness in its coming, +and falling in pleasing cadences upon the air. I knew it was no +uncertain hand which held the hammer, for the strokes were vigorous and +in time, interrupted now and again by the drum-like roll as the hammer +danced upon the anvil. I went forward leisurely, crossed a stream on a +suspension foot-bridge of native manufacture, then up a slight rise till +I stood in the broad doorway of the smithy. The worker, intent upon his +task, had neither seen nor heard my approach. I stood and looked at him +silently. + +He was a young man, near my own age. He was quite as tall as myself, and +maybe a trifle heavier. He wore a short brown beard. His flannel shirt +was open at the neck for two or three buttons, revealing his thick +throat and corded chest. His sleeves were rolled above his elbows, and +his fore-arms were knotted and ridged with muscles. His face was rather +heavy, and not intelligent. He was welding an iron tire, and I watched +his deft manipulations admiringly. Certainly he was no bungler. After a +while he thrust the cooling irons back into the fire, and as he grasped +the handle of his bellows with one grimy hand, I spoke. + +"Good morning, Buck Steele." + +He wheeled with the quick movement you have seen a cat display when +surprised, his brown eyes widening perceptibly. He knew me. I saw his +mouth set, and the outer corners of his eyes contract. In that first +long look which he gave me he did not say a word, neither did he move. I +could not help thinking what a splendid looking fellow he was, his +posture one of natural grace and dignity, at the same time feeling and +recognizing the antagonism which radiated from his entire person. I met +his gaze unflinchingly, and with a straightforward look. I could see his +eyes traveling from my head to my feet, and knew that he was taking +stock of me. Then his uncompromising stare settled on my face, and +instantly a bitterly hostile expression gathered on his own. For a few +moments we stood thus, then his big chest rose over a deep long breath, +his mouth went tighter still, his smutty fingers closed on the handle of +the bellows and began a downward pull, then he calmly turned his back +upon me and resumed his work. My greeting had remained unanswered. + +I turned away. I was sorry, but there was nothing I could do. To have +forced myself upon his notice would have resulted in violence, I was +sure, with probable disaster to myself. I went on past a house or two +until I reached the store, a low, narrow building beside a railroad +track. A man, bareheaded and in his shirt sleeves, sat on a cracker-box +on the small porch, his back against the wall, his hands folded +peacefully in his lap. + +"Got any garden seed?" I asked, stopping in front of him. + +He lazily raised his bleary, red-rimmed eyes, and regarded me stolidly. +Absolute vacancy sat upon his countenance. He batted his lids, and +stared at me, his lower lip slightly pendulous. His silence became so +protracted that I smiled, and repeated my query. A sort of grunt came +from him, presently followed by-- + +"Whut kind o' gyard'n seed?" + +I named the varieties I wanted. + +Again he grunted--a louder grunt than the first, because now he was +preparing to get up. This he presently accomplished, and went into the +store, sliding his feet along over the planks of the porch. In process +of time I got my seed. + +"What's up there?" I asked, as we came out together, pointing to a hill +across the railroad up which the pike wound sinuously. + +The storekeeper dropped upon the cracker-box and resumed the same +position he had when I accosted him, before replying. + +"Chu'ch 'n' pa's'nage; s'p'intend'nt's house. 'Stillery yonder; river +under th' bridge." + +Whereupon he immediately relapsed into his former inertia, and I +forebore further questions. + +I decided I would take a look at the river. Hebron lay beneath my gaze: +small, ill-kept houses; small yards with some dismal attempts at +floriculture; dirty children and work-worn women. These latter I +glimpsed as I walked on to the railroad, at windows and on porches, +staring apathetically at the stranger. I soon reached the bridge, which +I found spanned a river of considerable size. It had a gravel bed, and +its banks were heavily lined with trees. Its western sweep was +particularly attractive from where I stood, and I at once determined +upon a closer acquaintance, for the day was but begun, and there was no +need for me to hasten home. After a brief search I found a path which +conducted me to the side of the stream. The channel here was rather +narrow and the water seemed deep, its flow being gentle and placid. +Somewhat to my surprise, the path continued, running worm-like between +the thick growth of willow and sycamore. I went forward, with no purpose +whatsoever, merely yielding to an idling spirit, and the charm of an +unfamiliar track through the woods by a river. I may have gone half a +mile, never more than a dozen feet from the brink, when I espied a boat +snugly beached, and tied to a scrubby oak whose roots were partly +submerged. Why not take a ride? The thought was born instantaneously, +and quickly took the shape of resolve. Here was a delightful diversion +ready to my hand. I loved to pull an oar, and the gleaming, dark-green +surface before me seemed to invite. I placed my bundle of seed on the +ground, slipped off my coat and flung it across a limb, then laid hold +of the painter. It was not locked, as I half feared it would be. The +boat was a delicate, shapely affair, painted white, and I marveled that +such a dainty craft should be moored here in the wilds about Hebron. The +painter was loose, and one of my feet was in the boat as I prepared to +shove off, when-- + +"I beg your pardon," I heard; "but may I have my boat a little while?" + +I arose, holding the painter in my hand. + +A young woman faced me. Low and slight, dressed in tan from her jaunty +straw hat to her russet shoes; short walking skirt tailored to +perfection; a laced bodice very low in the neck; a tin fish bucket in +one hand. She had evidently taken me for one of the rustics in the +neighborhood, for I could see that she was as much surprised as I. A +glance sufficed to tell me her story. A jaded society woman, old and +_blasé_ at twenty, having nothing but a sniff for the world and all +there was in it. She was pitifully young to wear those marks of +experience upon her face. Her features were inclined to be peaked; her +chin sharp, her blue eyes so weary, in spite of the momentary light +which flashed up in them now. There were faint lines about her unstable +mouth, and well defined crowsfeet at her eyes. She must have lived hard +and furiously from her early teens to have acquired that indescribable +expression which needs no interpreter. Whoever she was and whatever she +was--and I was convinced she could boast the blood of gentle folks--she +had seen some life in her score of years. + +"I guess if there is any pardon to ask,--I should ask it," I replied, +dragging my cap off as I spoke. "I didn't know it was yours. I'm a +stranger. I was out walking, and ran up on the boat, and couldn't see +any harm in using it for a half-hour. Shall--that is, may I assist you +to get afloat?" + +She had gotten rid of all tokens of surprise as I was speaking. Now, +with the ready action of a woman of the world, she came forward and held +out the bucket. + +"You may stow that away.... I'm going to visit my lines." + +"Lines?" I repeated, blankly. + +"Trot lines," she explained, adjusting a pin in her hat when I was +absolutely sure such a thing was unnecessary. "I set them yesterday +afternoon." + +"Oh! You're a fisherman!" I exclaimed. "Well, I hope you've had luck." + +She stepped into the boat before I could offer assistance, got down and +took the oars--then stopped. She appeared to be thinking. I stood ready +to shove off at her word. Suddenly she looked up with a half smile. + +"Would you like to go?" + +I was not surprised. Poor little world-worn creature. How many men had +she molded with that half smile! I answered without hesitation. + +"Certainly!" + +There could be no harm to either of us. It was unconventional, but +conventionality is a terrible bugbear. She was lonely, I knew, and the +echo from a civilized world which I would get in her company would be +most welcome to me. + +"Come on, then. Day before yesterday I caught a bass which almost wore +me out before I could get him aboard. You see you could be of help on an +occasion of that kind." + +I offered to take the oars, but she declined, and subsequently displayed +a degree of skill in rowing that surprised me. She took the middle of +the stream and went with the sluggish current. From my position in the +stern I faced her, and feeling that conversation was almost imperative, +I said: + +"Surely you don't live at Hebron?" + +She smiled--a bright, winsome smile which somehow awakened a deeper pity +in me. Her true nature seemed revealed in that expression. She was not +wicked; not inherently bad, but was weak-willed, easily swayed, +susceptible to association and environment. One who loved the smooth +road of pleasure more than the stony highway of rectitude; one who had +given gratis and unthinkingly the perfume of the fresh flower of her +girlhood. Kind of heart, warm of sympathy, impulsive of temperament, +irresponsible. + +"Yes," she said, with a cheery nod; "I live at Hebron." + +"But you don't _belong_ there?" I insisted. + +She laughed in a high, not unmusical key, and suddenly dipping her oars, +began to propel the boat swiftly through the water. Rowing shows a +graceful girl off to advantage, and my companion was richly endowed in +this particular. Her little russet shoes were firmly braced, the short +skirt revealing a few inches of tapering, tan-stockinged legs; her brown +hands gripped the oars firmly, and as she swayed forward and backward +with the rhythmic strokes I was conscious of a feeling of admiration for +her prowess. In a few moments we had rounded a bend, and here I saw a +line stretched across the river, with smaller lines depending from it +into the stream. The girl glanced back over her shoulder, dipped one oar +and adroitly piloted the boat toward a certain hook, before she spoke. + +"I belong up yonder--for the summer," she said. + +I followed her short gesture, and discovered upon a hill to my right +what I took to be a brick church, with a brick dwelling near it. + +As I turned to make reply I saw that something was happening. The girl +was doing her best to haul in one of the sunken lines, but the hidden +force beneath the surface was combatting her strength fiercely. Before I +could offer assistance she had loosed her hold, and instantly the line +shot out and tightened, swaying this way and that, cutting the water +silently. + +"I believe I have a whale!" she declared, in big-eyed seriousness, +shifting her position and kneeling before taking up her task afresh. +"No, don't help me yet"--as I made a forward movement--"it's lots more +fun to land one's own fish!" + +She bent again to the vibrating line, while I held the boat steady and +eagerly awaited developments. + +"I'm from Kansas City," she flung over her shoulder all at once, "and +I'm spending the summer with my uncle, the Rev. Jean Dupré--Father +John, the villagers call him. I am Beryl Drane." + +The catastrophe cannot be told in detail. It may have been partly my +fault, for my guard was lax at the moment. Before I realized what had +happened Miss Drane was gone and I was in the water clinging to the +upturned boat. A sucking, gurgling whirlpool was moving down the stream, +and the cable line had disappeared. For a moment a cold horror crept to +my vitals and chilled me so that I could not move. Then my duty swept +over me with a swift rush, and, letting go the boat, I dived +desperately. Madly I swept my arms to left, right, everywhere, grasping +blindly for the touch of flesh or clothing. Dimly I seemed to realize +that I was in a measure responsible for the accident, and that I must +find the lost girl. Back and forth I fought through the water savagely, +my lungs hurting, my head throbbing. I could not give up. I had to find +her. She was there, somewhere in that silent, treacherous element. Into +my chaotic mind leaped the thought that perhaps she had risen to the +surface. Instantly I ceased my efforts and rose. Dashing the streaming +drops from my eyes and mouth I gulped in a deep breath, and glared +around despairingly. Silence; solitude; a shining, disc-like spot where +the reflection of the sun lay, and a dozen feet off the glistening +bottom of the boat. That was all. A man's length to the south I saw some +bubbles rise and burst. There can be no bubbles without air. Maybe-- + +Resurgent hope filled my breast as I plunged downward again, striking +out with all my might. I grasped a sodden something. I opened my eyes. +The water was clear and the sunlight filtered dimly through it. A +confused shadowy shape confronted me. I could get no outlines. An +instant later I touched a hand, and knew it was Beryl Drane. A +conception of the truth came then. When the fish, or whatever it was, +had dragged her overboard, she had become entangled in the lines, and +the thing which had power to pull her from the boat likewise had power +to hold her below the surface while it struggled to escape. I clasped +her in my arms, gave a tug, and together we shot upward. I looked at her +as we reached light and air. She was limp, and to all appearance +perfectly lifeless. Her lips had a bluish tinge, and were parted the +least bit. Her eyes were half closed; she did not breathe. + +Filled with foreboding which trembled on the verge of certainty, I swam +for the shore. The distance was short, and presently I was struggling up +the slippery mud bank with the senseless form of the girl. My mind had +been busy while I was swimming. Should I stop on shore and attempt +resuscitation, or should I hurry on to the priest's house, just up the +hill? I decided on the latter course as the most expedient, as the delay +would be practically nothing, and proper restoratives could be had at +the house. There probably was a road. Straight up the wooded slope I +dashed. My exertions in the water had tired me, and now as I made my way +through the dense undergrowth up the steep hill I was conscious of +intense physical fatigue. But I pressed grimly on, with a dread in my +heart which far outweighed any physical weakness. + +At length I reached a rail fence. How I surmounted it with my burden, I +do not know. Beyond the fence was a pasture lot with only a gentle +incline, and across this I raced. Another fence, the back yard of the +parsonage, wherein squalling chickens fled precipitately as I tore by, +around the house to the front porch, where sat a little old man in a +swinging chair, clad in a priest's robe. I knew it was Father John. He +was quietly reading, and smoking a meerschaum pipe with a stem as long +as my arm, but the sound of my feet aroused him, and he raised his head. + +"_Mon Dieu!_" he exclaimed, jumping up, dropping his book, but holding +to his pipe, which he waved wildly. "In ze name of heaven, m'sieu! What +was it zat has happen?" + +The front door stood open, and I rushed into the house without replying. +A couch was in the hall, and on this I laid the form of the girl. Father +John, his wrinkled face stamped with terror and anguish, was beside me +in an instant. + +"Madonna! Jesu!" he wailed. "My blessed Bereel!" + +I began the treatment for the drowned, explaining hurriedly how the +accident had occurred. + +"Call your housekeeper!" I added. "Her clothes must be loosened. Quick! +If no doctor is near there is no use sending. I know what should be +done. Bring brandy, or whiskey--hurry!" + +Father John ran from the hall crying at every step: + +"Marie! Marie! Marie!" + +His tremulous voice receded in the rear. + +I unfastened the girl's belt, tore open her clothing at the waist, and +as I worked feverishly, was conscious of a gaunt, austere woman of +fifty-five or sixty suddenly falling on her knees at my side, and +unhooking the tight corset which my rude haste had exposed. Thereafter +we worked together, in silence, moving the arms up and down and striving +for artificial respiration. Father John hovered just out of reach, an +uncorked flask in one shaking hand; the long stemmed pipe, which he had +never abandoned, in the other. In the stark silence which accompanied +our efforts I could hear him whispering incoherent but fervent prayers +in his native tongue. + +Closely I watched the pallid face--the poor, peaked face which had +looked upon so much that a woman ought not to know exists--but no signal +flare came to the waxen cheeks. I took the flask and carefully poured +some brandy between the parted lips--poor lips, which I knew had taken +kisses not given by love. The fiery liquid trickled down her throat, but +there was no movement, no attempt to swallow. I gave more, for this was +the sovereign test for life. There came a rigor, so slight that I was +not altogether sure of it. More brandy. A shiver passed over the limp +form; a choking, gasping sound issued from her throat, followed by a +moan of pain. I stood erect, looking down at her intently. Almost +imperceptibly the faintest glow showed in the marble pallor of her skin. +She was reviving. The danger was past. The gaunt woman crouched at my +feet looked up at me mutely, interrogatively. + +"Continue to rub her hands and feet," I said. "Keep all her clothing +loose. Give her very small quantities of liquor from time to time. She +had better not see me immediately on awaking." + +Then I took the priest by the hand and silently led him out on the +porch. A wooden settee was placed against the railing at one end. I +conducted him here, and we sat down. My clothes were still wet, but I +gave this no thought. + +I proceeded first to assure Father John that his niece was practically +out of danger, then recounted everything in detail pertaining to the +accident in the river. He listened in eager silence, his expression +still one of amazement and distress. I looked at him as I talked. He was +a very small man. His skin was yellowish brown, like parchment. His +brows projected; his eyes were black and keen; his nose was straight and +thin, but quite large. His chin protruded into rather a sharp point, and +his mouth was the most sensitive I have ever seen on a man. His lips +were beautifully bowed, and had retained their color. They were never in +perfect repose, but were constantly beset by what I am tempted to +describe as "invisible" twitchings. As I spoke on, he gradually became +calmer, after a while relighting his pipe. This seemed to act magically +upon him, for soon after he began to smoke the wild expression vanished +from his face. + +"So you are ze stranger on ze Bal' Knob?" he queried, when I had +finished my recital. + +"Yes; I am out after health." + +"Health?" he repeated, sweeping his keen eyes over my stalwart form in +open astonishment. + +"I don't appear to be an invalid, I'll admit," I hastened to add. "But +something started up in here"--I touched my chest--"and the doctor sent +me to the woods." + +"Ah! Ze--ze--ze lungs.... You never struck me to have ze consumption. +You are ze stron' man." + +"It was just a beginning--a fear, rather than an actuality. I have been +there a month, and I am already much better." + +The housekeeper appeared in the doorway. + +"Miss Bereel ees awake, and has asked for you both," she said. + +When we again stood beside the couch, the girl made an effort to take my +hand, but was too weak. Seeing her purpose, I grasped hers instead. + +"Thank you," she said, in a thin, ghostly little voice. "It was not his +fault, uncle; he saved me. Come to see me sometime, and we'll go--rowing +again!" + +She tried to smile, but was too exhausted. + +"I shall certainly come to inquire about you," I replied, gently laying +her hand down. "I fear I was somewhat to blame, and I hope you will be +all right very soon." + +She looked at me with a wan light of gratitude in her eyes, and a few +moments later I was bidding Father John adieu on the porch step. + +"Come again, m'sieu," he said, squeezing my hand warmly. "You shall have +ze welcome!" + +I thanked him, again expressed my hope and belief that his niece would +be quite all right in a day or two, and struck out for Hebron. + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +IN WHICH I ATTEND AN ORATORIO + + +It is one o'clock in the morning--and I have been going to bed at nine! + +You will wonder what has happened to so outrageously disturb the +rigorous routine governing my night hours, and I shall tell you, for +that is the purpose of this chronicle. + +It is now three days since I went to Hebron. After leaving the priest's +house I came on down the hill, trudged back to the river to get my coat +and garden seed, then turned homeward. The sun was hot by this time, my +clothes quickly dried on me, and I have felt no bad effects since. +Another sign, it seems to me, of my increasing physical sturdiness. +These three days have passed without sight or sound of a soul. I have +pottered about my yard, mowing down the insistent heterogeneous growth +which daily now threatens to take me; clearing a broad space about my +precious well--whose water, by the way, is sparkling, clear and +cold--and this morning spading in my garden for two hours or more. + +I cannot explain that which follows, but a little before nine, as I was +preparing to light my bedtime pipe and sit down for a chuckle with that +old pagan monk, Rabelais, I felt the call to go up. As I said, I can +offer no explanation. But all of us have been subject, many times in our +lives, to sudden, inexplicable yearnings; silent longings as powerful +and real as though a voice had spoken them. There is no need to +specialize. You, if you have a spark of temperament, will understand, +because you will have experienced something of the sort. You have felt +that mysterious tugging toward a certain thing, when there was nothing +on earth to incite it. What was it? I felt it to-night as I held my pipe +in one hand and a lighted match in the other; felt it growing and +expanding until it became a fierce desire. I tossed my half-burned match +among the logs in the fireplace, put my filled pipe in my pocket, and +with something akin to awe sobering my face, drew my cap on my head and +walked softly outdoors. + +It was a perfect moonless May night. I had never seen the stars brighter +or nearer. I felt that by tiptoeing I might almost reach them. And their +number amazed me. The sky was looking down at me with a million eyes, +and each eye was a voice which said "Come up! Come up!" I went, not +stopping to question, analyze, or combat. Something irresistible urged +me to surmount the peak, and I bent to the climb. As I came out of the +Stygian gloom of the belt of evergreens I knew that some subtle change +had taken place. The atmosphere had a different feel; a different smell. +There was no wind, but when I swept my gaze around I saw many horizon +clouds; jagged, mountainous looking outlines, with floating fragments +everywhere. Some of the cloud fragments would touch and merge even as I +watched them. I did not know the significance, if there was any. I +turned to the slope again. Before the last steep stretch I halted the +second time. Far as I could see the perspective was bounded by a black, +towering wall, which seemed to grow taller every moment. This wall was +topped by fantastic turrets and towers which swayed, lengthened, +expanded, or disappeared at will. Still there was no wind, even at the +great height to which I had already come. The day had been suffering +hot, and the perspiration was streaming from me. I breathed softly, and +listened. No sound but the monotonous call of the night insects, except +from a point far below, like the muffled cry of a lost soul pleading for +grace, the ineffably sad tones of a whip-poor-will pulsed dimly through +the dark. I turned my face upward. The calm stars still called, and I +answered. + +Presently I could go no further. I stood on the apex of my high hill, a +jubilation of spirit making my breast to heave in deeper breaths than my +exertion had caused. Then, ere I knew what I was about I had flung my +arms out and up, toward the vast deeps from which had come the still +summons I had felt in the quiet peace of the Lodge. I felt unreal; I was +trembling. I knew not what impended, but the air was charged with an +electrical tenseness, and the pall of utter silence which hung over the +world was pregnant with import. My arms dropped, and a sweet calm stole +over me. Slowly I turned my gaze in every direction. That mammoth wall +of blackness encircled the earth in an unbroken line, and was now +quickly mounting to the zenith. How grand the sight! I bared my head +before the majesty of it. How like battlements and ramparts the grim +expanses appeared, crowned with their changing towers! And to make the +comparison still more true, I now saw the flash of cannon through the +jagged embrasures, and caught the distant thunder of their detonations. +Quickly the conflict grew. North, south, east and west, and all between, +the batteries of the sky unveiled. Not loud, as yet, but perpetual, and +furious in the very absence of thunderous sound. There were constant +growlings and incessant flashings, as back and forth over the aerial +battleground the challenges were sent and answered. Now, a girdle of +glory, the lightning zoned the middle sky, and ever upward, as though +propelled by forces set in the earth beneath, the walls arose, blotting +out stars by the thousands, and steadily converging toward a common +meeting point directly overhead. Then, for the first time, I knew that +the Harpist of the Wood had awakened. + +The unnatural stillness was disturbed by motion which became a breath of +music. I leaned forward involuntarily, my lips apart, my hands +out-thrust from me in the attitude one unconsciously assumes when +listening intently. From the thick darkness hundreds of feet below I +caught the first faint pianissimo notes from a million strings, all +attuned by the unerring touch of Nature. In gentle waftures of sound the +vast prelude arose, filling my soul with an eerie delight, and causing +me to draw a deep, shuddering breath. Then I crept to the rim of the +peak and sat down, both humbled and exalted. Faintly now I sensed the +reason of that imperious call to come up. Each succeeding measure struck +by the invisible Harpist became louder, sweeter, and more stupendous. It +seemed as if all creation was one mighty instrument, and a +myriad-fingered master was sweeping the throbbing strings. The clouds +were now a canopy without a rent. From a dozen points at once the +lightning flashed and staggered and reeled in dazzling splendor across +the sable field. There were no terrific thunder crashes. But, like the +pedal bass of a pipe organ, there was the ever present subdued +reverberation like far-off guns fired in unison. Then the strength and +skill of the Harpist increased simultaneously, and waves of barbaric +melody rushed upward. There was shriek and groan; there were living +voices awfully mingled in one wild chorus, and in brief lulls trembling +tones as sweet as a mother's good-night song to her babe. Flute-like and +full of delicate color a cadenza breathing of sylvan joys rippled forth, +and as its last bubbling notes yet fluttered like apple-blossoms of +sound against my ravished ears, they were drowned and whelmed by a +crashing diapason of majestic harmony which rushed on wide wings over +leagues and leagues of forest; a thundering gamut fearfully blended into +an oratorio inexpressibly sublime! Wild and shrill came a fife-like call +from the west, whistling out of the gloom in a quivering cadence of +victorious escape. Then it was blended with a multitudinous legion of +loosened chords, and dashed over me as a surging, resplendent sea of +mind-numbing melody. + +So the oratorio advanced, and I sat enthralled. + +The lightning increased. Not for the space of a single breath was +darkness absolute. In the vivid flashes I could see the bending +tree-tops far below, and the tossing, swaying, writhing branches. And +ever in my ears was the awful roll of that supernatural music; so full, +so deep, so filling all the universe with its changing rhythm! There was +something of the ocean's voice in it all, when the wind whips it to +fury. I sat dazed, imperfectly comprehending what was passing, but aware +all the time of a physical sensation of exquisite pleasure. Music had +always wrought upon me thus, but before the presence of this new and +strange manifestation my sensibilities were quickened twentyfold. I did +not know till later that I was on the peak three hours. I would have +said it was only a few minutes. + +When all was over, and the strings of the Harp were still again, or +vibrating only as an echo, I got on my feet, dizzy and weak. All was +dark. The lightning, too, had ceased. But as I turned my eyes upward, a +rent showed in the cloud canopy, and through this a blood-red meteor +fell burning toward the earth. So I knew that the Maestro was pleased +with the performance, and from the blooming fields above had cast down a +flower in token of His favor. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + +IN WHICH I SUFFER FOUR SHOCKS, THREE OF THE EARTH AND ONE FROM THE SKY, +AND FIND ANOTHER MAID A-FISHING + + +Now that has come to pass of which I had a premonition the first time I +sat on the top of old Baldy and hugged my knees. In consequence thereof +I write to-night with my left wrist rudely bandaged, from a hurt I took +this morning. The day has been full of adventure and surprise, and I +find it difficult to harness my leaping brain as I start about my record +of events. Truly I have encountered enough to set my mind buzzing, and +two long, full pipes since supper have failed to tranquilize and soothe. +But the happenings of the day must be transcribed before I go to bed. + +I went to the post-office soon after breakfast, to see if a reply had +come from 'Crombie. A package and a letter awaited me. The thought came +to me to run on up the hill and inquire about Beryl Drane, but I didn't. +I can't say why I didn't. But I merely asked the sloth-like storekeeper +about her instead, and learned from him that she was "putty peart," and +was up and about the house. When I passed the blacksmith shop I saw the +door was open, but there was no one within. I started to ask the +storekeeper where Buck was, but refrained on second thought, and betook +myself up the railroad instead, intending to reach home by a circuitous +route. By this time I was fairly familiar with the lay of the country, +and I had a natural longing for exploration anyway. Then, too, deep in +the bottom of my mind, I had laid a plan to come down the huge spur back +of Lessie's house, and surprise her with a short visit. + +I followed the railroad for perhaps a mile, made some calculations as to +distance and location, then descended into a heavily wooded ravine and +continued my way in a northeasterly course. I had never been in this +part of the knobs before, and I found the country more rugged, if +possible, than that to which I was accustomed. As I proceeded, I closely +scanned the ground before me and on either side as far as my eyes would +go. I had scant hope of finding the life-plant here, because one of its +requisites was sunshine, and the shade was so dense that I walked in a +sort of cool, green gloom, wonderfully attractive to the senses. Now and +again a sun-shaft would come trembling and swaying down, brightening the +brown forest floor with shining, shaking spots of pale yellow. But no +green stemmed plant with golden leaves rose up from the mold to confront +me. I have begun to think my quest is almost as elusive as that for the +Holy Grail, but, like Sir Launfal, I shall persevere. + +I became engrossed in the natural beauty of the hollow I was traversing, +and forgot my secret determination to go by Granny's house. After a time +the ravine opened and broadened into a little amphitheater, grass-set, +jungle-like in its wildness. But few tall trees were here. Dozens of +smaller ones grew on every side, and many of these were covered with the +odorous green mantle of the wild grapevine. The birds had likewise +sought out this spot, and the air was musical with chirp, and twitter, +and song. I stopped to regale myself with Nature's prodigal loveliness, +and as I drew a deep breath of satisfaction and appreciation I heard +something which had come to my ears once before. A long-drawn bird note, +shrill but sweet, and ending with a quick upward inflection. I started +guiltily, and knew that my whole body was a-tingle. Then I stared about, +trying to locate the sound. Again I heard it, and again I thrilled. +Straight ahead, beyond that bosky wall of herbage. Eagerly I started +forward, my pulse bounding. I reached the screening leaves and thrust +out one hand to make a way, but a vagrant gust of wind at that moment +formed a lane for my eyes, and the next instant I was staggering back, +choking, muttering crazily, my face afire, my chest tight as though +bound by constricting bands of steel. God above! Suppose I had crashed +through, as I would have done a second later! With gritted teeth and set +eyes I tiptoed away--away--anywhere, so that spot was left to Nature and +to her! + +She was there, bathing in a sheltered pool in the secluded heart of the +everlasting hills. My one swift glance had showed me the Dryad in her +haunts. The curling mass of her copper-gold hair she had piled +regardlessly on top of her small, shapely head; she was almost entirely +immersed; her back was toward me, and I saw only her head with its +bewildering crown, one ivory shoulder upthrust from the water, gleaming +like wet marble in the sunlight, and a naked, outheld arm whereon sat +the tiny bird she had summoned. Small cause for wonder that I reeled, +grew dizzy with the hard-pumped, hot blood which deluged my brain, and +crept like a thief from that hidden pool--crept crouching, with rigid +face and bated breath. Dear Christ! How thankful I was that the +protecting water had covered her! Had it been otherwise; had my +unwilling gaze dwelt upon her revealed beauty from head to foot, I think +I could have taken my own life from shame. Certain it is I never again +could have looked into those honest Irish gray eyes. It was what might +have been, rather than what was, which planted the volcano in my breast, +and sent me trembling and quaking through the bird-sung silence of that +secret, sacred glen. As I went, I heard a bubbling laugh, and the tinkle +of falling water drops. + +Now I was speedily destined to another shock, almost as great. How far I +had gone I cannot say, but all at once I knew that I was looking down +upon a plant about a foot in height, with green stem and yellow leaves. +I halted as though turned to stone, but I did not think. I couldn't +think. My mind refused its office, and in the face of what I took to be +a momentous discovery, stood still. Almost simultaneously with my +finding this significant growth the third shock came, as important in +its way as either of the other two, and far more ominous. + +"Whut 'n' hell yo' doin' prowlin' 'roun' here?" + +The voice was harsh and deep; indignation and rage ran through it. + +The savage tones brought me to myself; they acted on my senses as a +battery might on my flesh. I stood erect and threw my head up. The smith +was not a dozen steps away. Where he had come from, how he had got +there, and why he was there I could not guess. He was dressed as I had +seen him at the forge on the occasion of my first visit to Hebron; +plainly he had not come courting in that garb. One hand held a large +club, in a position almost of menace. I brought a serious, determined +expression to my face, and looked him squarely in the eyes. In that +moment as we stood in silence, a darkness spread over the glen, and a +cool breath as from a summer storm cloud blew upon us; I saw it lift and +drop the brown hair on the forehead of the man facing me. He had me at a +disadvantage. He had doubtless seen me coming from the direction of the +pool, and weaker circumstantial evidence than this has condemned many a +man. If he supposed for a moment that I had been spying upon the privacy +of the girl he loved--and that this idea was in full possession of his +mind I did not doubt--then mischief was brewing, and from his +standpoint, justly so. Had our positions been reversed, had I seen him +skulking away from that fringe of greenery, I doubt if I would have +given him the chance he offered me. All this raced swiftly through my +brain in that short period following his hard question, and though my +first feeling, a very human one, was of cold and haughty resentment, I +quelled this immediately as both dangerous and unjust, and decided to +speak him fairly and honestly. So I said: + +"I might ask the same of you, Buck Steele." + +I purposely pitched my voice low. Not that I feared she would hear it, +for I realized the pool must be out of earshot from where we stood, but +there is a certain low tone which permits of modulation and inflection +carrying greater convincing power than when spoken in a higher key. I +paused only long enough to take breath after my first sentence, then +resumed. + +"It's none of your business what I am doing here, but I am going to tell +you, because, in a way, you have a right to know." + +There flashed upon me the thought that I must play for time. If Lessie +had not left the pool she would leave soon, for a storm impended. In +what direction she would go to reach home I had no notion. She might +come straight down the glen where we were. In any event, if blows were +to be struck, and in my heart I believed they would come before we +parted, it would be better if the girl was not in the neighborhood. This +train of reasoning came and passed without interrupting my flow of +speech. + +"It's not my fault we're not friends. I came to these knobs a total +stranger, intending to treat everybody right. But when I spoke to you in +Hebron, you turned your back on me. Why did you do that? I know why, and +in a measure I forgive it. But it was not a manly thing to do. I'm going +to talk plainly to you, Buck. I'm glad of this chance to have it out +right here in the woods. But before we go any further tell me +this--what's that thing?" + +I pointed at the plant before me. + +My audacity stupefied him. He blinked at me with scowling forehead--at +me and at the plant--probably deeming me crazy. + +"I mean it," I insisted; "I'm not fooling with you. Tell me what that +thing is, if you know, and then I'll tell you what I'm doing out here in +the wilderness." + +"That's a May apple," he said, suddenly and reluctantly. + +"May apple!" I gasped, my high hopes shattered and gone. "I didn't know; +I'm obliged to you." + +Then I told him the object of my stay in the hills, not sparing words to +prolong my story, and ended by asking him if he had ever seen the +life-plant, ever heard of it, or ever heard of anybody that had heard of +it. He shook his head to each question, then said, emphatically: + +"They ain't no sich thing!" + +I knew that the Dryad was safe and away by this time, so now I came back +to the topic of the moment. Indeed, the smith had listened to my speech +with ever increasing restlessness. I think he suspected I was trying to +delay my explanation, but I doubt if he guessed the true reason for it. + +"You asked me at the beginning what I was doing here, and I'm going to +tell you, and tell you the _truth_; mind you that--the _truth_. I've +never told a lie since I was old enough to know how base a thing it +was." I took two steps toward him. "You suspect me, Buck Steele, of the +lowest, most contemptible, hell-born, dastardly trick one who calls +himself a man could commit. I'm not going to put it into words, because +it's too damnably vile!" + +The smith began to move forward as I spoke; short, hurried steps, like +one takes when about to spring. But whatever his impulse he checked +himself, and waited, his broad chest heaving in troubled breaths, his +face contorted, his eyes veined and bulging. I knew that I fronted a +deadly peril. I knew the man was surely insane that moment; that reason, +argument or logic could find no place in his perceptions. He had grasped +the idea that I had knowingly and willingly violated the sanctity of +this secret place, and nothing that I could say would sweep that +illusion from his disordered brain. He saw red. The blood-lust was on +him in all its primal force; in every lineament of his twisted +countenance was written the word--"kill." + +A strong gust of wind tore down the glen, shuddering among the murmuring +leaves, and with its coming the gloom deepened. The shape before me +assumed a more formidable aspect in the lessened light, but I felt no +fear. I thought of my revolver--and was ashamed. Still it might serve a +purpose. It might help bring this madman to his senses. I drew it +quickly from my pocket, and holding it out in the palm of my hand, said: + +"I could kill you, man; I could shoot you down, and no one would ever +guess I did it. You're bent on trouble; you're prepared not to believe +anything I say. But for this revolver I am unarmed. I am not going to +take an unfair advantage of you. See?" I broke the weapon, emptied its +chambers, then put the cartridges and revolver in separate pockets. + +The act had no apparent effect. It may be the look of ferocity deepened; +certainly there was no recognition of my attempt to place our relations +upon an equal basis. Now I knew that nothing short of physical violence +would bring about a reaction to sanity, and for an instant I hesitated. +The temptation to evade the whole truth assailed me wickedly. Something +within told me that I could not cope with this giant in a personal +encounter; that death or disablement awaited the revelation I was +contemplating. The something which gave this warning also suggested the +remedy--the lie whereby I might pass Buck Steele with a whole skin and +an outraged conscience. I believe I wavered. I believe that for the +shortest time I came near to yielding, then my manhood asserted itself +in a swift rush, before Buck's words stung my blood hot. + +"Go on, yo' damn sneak'n' fox!--Whur'd yo' ben w'en I seen +yo'?--Whur?--Whur?" + +I stripped off my coat as I answered, for I knew there was work ahead. +And Buck laughed as I cast the garment aside; a hoarse, growling laugh +in which dwelt no note of mirth. It was simply an indication that he was +pleased with the meaning of the act; that the pagan desire to give and +take blows which possessed him would be satisfied. + +"I'm going to tell you. I went to Hebron this morning, and started home +by the railroad. I don't know this country as well as you, and as I was +making my way back toward Lessie's house--for I wanted to have a word +with her--I stumbled into this place." + +A malevolent grin of disbelief greeted this speech. The fellow's +insolence nettled me, but I went on. + +"I heard a bird-call which I knew--which I had heard her give before. I +went to look for her. I came to the line of bushes which fringe the +pool; I was preparing to pass through them in my search for her, when +the wind blew the leaves aside and I saw----" + +With a roar like a wounded bull he was on me. He had been holding +himself back for this confession. Too late I realized that I had +blundered. I might have approached the denouement more circumspectly; I +might have prepared him for things as they actually had been, instead of +allowing him, by my extreme candor, to suppose that matters were worse +than they really were. He swung his club as he rushed, and it hissed +above me. I crouched and leaped aside, striking up blindly with all my +might. I had flung my left arm out to balance myself, and the descending +club caught my wrist a slanting blow. I am sure now it scarcely more +than touched it, but an arrow of acute pain shot through my entire arm. +The bludgeon hit the earth with a force which splintered it into a dozen +pieces, and Buck wheeled more than half around, for my fist had found +his ribs. Even as he turned with a harsh, bellowing, wordless oath, I +was at him. I thrust deliberately, coolly, but with all my concentrated +power, aiming over his shoulder at his neck. He saw the stroke coming, +but, in the attitude where my former blow had forced him he could parry +but ineffectually. His shoulder went up, off and over it my fist slid +and with all the weight of my body behind it caught him on the ear. Then +back he staggered, his windmill arms waving hugely, aimlessly, his knees +wobbling, his feet slithering uncertainly over the short grass. Back and +back he went, seeming to try to stop, but couldn't, till fifteen paces +must have separated us. I did not follow him, though I suppose I should +have done so. I think I was a trifle dazed at my success, and the +spectacle of the great body of the smith moving crazily backward with +wide arms threshing the air over his head, must have unconsciously +served as a check for any further assault. + +When nearly a score of yards lay between us Buck came to himself. His +arms dropped, he shook his shoulders, felt his damaged ear, now covered +with blood,--and saw me. Instantly he made ready to rush me. He +possessed to the full that instinct held by all fighting animals which +does not allow them to give up. As long as he could stand on his feet he +would do battle. I squared myself and awaited his onslaught. My +temporary advantage had not deceived me. I knew too well that chance had +a hand in the operations just concluded, and that if I ultimately +succeeded in whipping Buck Steele it would be a miraculous happening. I +saw him bend his body to advance, then earth and sky and air became +blended in one burning, blinding, deafening, fiery chaos. My eardrums +vibrated under a volume of sound such as I would not have deemed +possible; a white sword of dazzling brightness was laid across my eyes, +searing the balls and scattering a myriad colored sparks dancing and +ricocheting through my brain. Vaguely I seemed to see an oak tree back +of Buck slough its bark as a snake does its skin--shake it out and away +from its white trunk; saw it rip off its own limbs and cast them down; +saw it take its leaves by vast bunches, strip them from their hold, and +scatter them abroad like feathers. Accompanying this phenomenon I saw my +enemy sink down in his tracks. It all happened within the fractional +part of a second, for on the heels of the crash and the awful light, a +great blackness and silence settled over me. + +I awoke with a quivering, indrawn breath, and knew that the little fists +of a heavy rain were pounding me in the face. Slowly my mind grasped the +situation. Struggling to my hands and knees, my arms trembling under my +weight, I looked at Buck. He lay perfectly still. He had been much +nearer the tree which had received the bolt than I, and the fear that he +was dead took hold of me. Painfully I dragged myself toward him over the +wet grass, my head buzzing and swimming, and throbbing with queer, +unnatural pains. I reached his side and grasped his wrist, sliding the +tips of my fingers back of the small bone where the pulse manifests +itself. I held my breath in fear, at once conscious of no perceptible +movement. A few moments longer I waited, but the signal of life failed +to come. Then I firmly seized the shirt where it opened at the neck, and +ripped off the remaining buttons with a quick jerk. A big, deep chest, +covered with black hair, was revealed. I know a moan came from me as I +drew my body over his, and fell across him with my ear pressed to his +heart. As I lay the pounding rain revived me more and more, the +thrumming in my head ceased, and then, muffled, weak, but real, I heard +the feeble beating of the engine of life. There was nothing I could do +for him, but I sat there and waited his return to consciousness, knowing +that it would be wrong to leave him absolutely helpless. My strength +came back momentarily, and when Buck began to stir I was capable of +standing erect. So presently I went away, realizing that his iron +constitution would quickly right him. + +I did not have the heart to get dinner, but ate what cold stuff I could +find, then went to the seat under the tall pine, and thought. I was not +scared. Fright did not enter into my feelings in the smallest way, +although, when I reviewed the incident, I was confident Buck would have +worsted me had it not been for the unexpected and startling +intervention. He was unquestionably the stronger man, and had I defeated +him, it would have been due to my skill in fisticuffs. I was not a +stranger to the science of the ring, while abhorring prize-fighting. I +believe it every man's duty to himself and those he loves to equip +himself physically for life's battles. So I had trained, and kept myself +in training. But the smith had been transformed into a raging demon of a +man; his great natural power had been doubled, quadrupled, and had his +clutching hands once found me I would have fared as Carver Doone fared +at the hands of John Ridd. + +I was sick at heart because of what these things which had just +transpired foretold. Would Buck voice his hellish belief in my +poltroonery to Lessie? A shiver shook me at the thought; it seemed as if +a thousand-legged worm with feet of ice was laid along my spine. Then my +neck and face burned, and my throat grew tight, so that my breath came +hard. What ailed me? Never before had such a sensation possessed me. Why +did it matter so very greatly what Buck told? I knew that I was entirely +innocent of any wrong--what else mattered? I know the good opinion of +our fellow creatures is worth striving for and maintaining, but why +should I be so concerned as to what these hill people thought of me? A +few months more and I would be gone, would never see them again in all +my life. Why--then suddenly, in the midst of my reflections the Dryad's +face swam before my mind, and I saw it as it would look when Buck, +crudely but earnestly, told her what he believed to be true. I saw the +expression on her face when she heard the hateful words; the swift, +responsive blood bathing her cheeks into red peonies--the terror and +shame in her eyes--the anguish of betrayed faith--and in that moment I +knew that I cared more for what Buck should say to Lessie than for +anything else in all the world. I got up, breathing fast, and looked out +over the great valley of billowing trees. In former days this sight had +a magical effect; it brought a sweet calm and content. This afternoon I +did not feel the response to which I was accustomed. Instead, I knew +that war was in my breast, and that every passing moment loosened a +lurking devil with a shape of fear. Peace cannot come from without when +there is strife within. Had Buck already told her? I found myself +wondering. Had he gone direct to her after he recovered, and poured out +the poisoned tale? He would do it, I felt assured. His passion had +reached a stage which not only suggested, but declared this course, and +he, rough, untrained, with no restraining leash of civilization and +refinement to hold him back, would make instant capital of his supposed +discovery to further his wooing. If I could see her first-- + +Down my hill of refuge I tore, bareheaded, coatless. Along the familiar +route I ran, to Dyrad's Glade, to the creek which flowed south, to the +tree spanning the creek. Midway across the tree sat the object of my +quest, fishing. A pool of some depth spread out beneath her, and here +her hook was cast. Her rod was a slender hickory pole, while a rusty tin +can at her side held her bait--the fishing-worms of our boyhood. As I +appeared she drew up and at once became engaged in impaling a fat bait +on the hook. With the greatest nonchalance she drew the wriggling thing +over the barb, and sighted me just as the operation was concluded. She +smiled, and the relief wave which swept over me threatened to inundate +me root and branch. By this I knew I had reached her first. Then, as I +climbed eagerly up, she deliberately pursed her lips and spat on that +worm! + +"Hello!" she said, and cast her line. + +I did not say hello, nor anything else for a time--for an appreciable +time. I felt foolish; light-headed, light-footed, light all over. +Something inside my breast seemed spreading and spreading, and I wanted +to sing--to shout insanely. This most candid confession will probably +arouse grave suspicions in the mind of the reader, but that is so much +in favor of a narrative which always sticks closely to the truth. Had I +intended to practice any deception, just here is where I would have +begun, for I realize, after writing the above, that I am laying myself +liable to almost any charge one would care to bring along the line of +general idiocy. Just why the ordinary sight of a girl on a log +fishing--a back country girl at that--should make a man of the world who +has long since left the adolescent stage behind feel like singing and +dancing and yelling, is beyond my ability to explain. Let him who reads +draw his own conclusions. + +"You did that for luck, didn't you?" I asked, when I was seated tailor +fashion beside her. It had been a boyhood belief of mine; I had simply +outgrown it. She was still primitive. + +She nodded, and put a finger on her lips, turning to me wide eyes of +warning. She evidently harbored the other belief that fish won't bite if +you talk. I turned to her cork--an old bottle stopper--and saw that it +was bobbing; short little ducks sideways which suggested a minnow to me. +But the Dryad was all engrossed with the prospects, and watched the +stopper's movements intently. Presently it went under in a slanting +sweep, and the pole came up promptly and vigorously. A sun perch the +size of a small leaf glinted and leaped at the end of the line. +Dexterously the girl swung her prize within reach, skilfully removed the +hook from its hold in a gill, and dropped her catch in a tin milk bucket +at her other side. + +"I tol' you!" she said, triumphantly, referring to her treatment of the +worm before committing it to the stream. + +At once her tapering fingers began burrowing in the dirt which half +filled the can, in search of more bait. + +"Hold on, Dryad!" I whispered. "Let up on fishing a few minutes, unless +you'll allow me to talk, too. I've something to tell you. Don't you know +it seems an age since I saw you last?" + +"I tol' you not to come no more," she said, eyeing me closely to see the +effect of her words. + +"But you didn't believe I would stay away!" I retorted, and her face +instantly lighted with laughter. "You rogue!" I went on; "I have stayed +longer than I should as it is." + +One of the quick transitions which marked her now took place, and in a +twinkling she was serious, and her eyes grew darker, as still water +changes when a cloud hides the sun. + +"If Buck sees you here there'll be trouble; you'd better 'a' kep' to +Baldy." + +"Buck saw me to-day, and there was trouble," I answered. "Now let me +tell you all about it." + +How frightened she was, although I endeavored to speak in a +matter-of-fact way. She regarded me as though she found it difficult to +believe that I really existed after "trouble" with Buck, and her face +turned white, leaving her freckles oddly prominent. Her pole dipped, +too, so that its further end went under the water. So she sat, her hands +in her lap, her feet with the ugly, shapeless little shoes swinging, and +listened to my story. I told it with absolute truthfulness, but very +carefully, even condoning Buck's jealous frenzy. She remained very still +while I was talking, but when I came to the place where I had +inadvertently glimpsed her in the pool she dropped her head with a +short, shuddering gasp, and grew crimson. I, too, looked away then, and +tried to tell her how sorry I was of the incident, at the same time +endeavoring to make it plain that I was the victim of an accident. I did +not dwell upon the situation, but soon hurried on to my encounter with +the smith. + +"I wanted you to hear just how it was," I ended; "because Buck will tell +you another story. You believe me, don't you, Dryad; and we are good +friends still, aren't we?" + +I did not get an immediate reply. Her head remained sunk, and I could +not see much of her face. The portion which I saw was still flushed, but +not violently. I waited, knowing that I had stated my case as well as I +could, and believing that further argument would be dangerous. The spot +where we sat was the natural abode of silence. Now I could hear only the +gentle breath of the low wind rustling the leaves, the musical gurgle of +water, and the sweet song of a thrush hidden in the foliage to my left. +I grew restless as the silence continued: apprehensions arose, and the +sinister form of fear cast its shadow over my heart. Was she offended +past forgiveness? Had Fate prepared this trap for me to rob me of--what +was I thinking? What was this girl to me that I should wait her next +words with set teeth and softly drawn breath? That I should now behold +the wonder of her hair and the marvel of her face with inward quaking, +fearing that they might depart from me forever? That the echo of her +voice became a mocking, maddening refrain to my consciousness, and the +sorcery of her simple presence made my brain swim? This waif of the +woods; this fragment from one of the lower stratas of civilization; this +half wild, ignorant, nameless, plebeian creature--what was she to chill +my blood with the dread thought that from this meeting we went as +strangers? I cannot answer. Leave the solution to biologist or +sociologist. I only know the fact as it existed. I had rather have seen +those gray eyes flashed upon me in perfect trust that moment than to +have seen the sun rise the next morning! + +What was she thinking? No movement, no sound, no sign. Like an image +fashioned of flame and snow and draped with a moss-green garment, there +she sat by my side, so close--so close. Then I knew something of what +Tantalus felt when the cool water arose just beneath his cracked and +burning lips, and receded as he bent to drink. So close I could have +drawn her to me with a sweep of my arm, but mute and changeless as +though made of stone. + +Presently I could stand it no longer. I placed my palms upon the tree on +either side of me, and leaned forward. + +"Dyrad--Lessie--little girl! For God's sake--speak!" + +Then came the miracle. + +Again she started, as from a revery rudely interrupted. Her head was +lifted quickly, gladly, and her big moist eyes gazed into mine glowing +with tender faith. I know the dawn of an eternal Day will never thrill +me as did this. I drew my face closer to hers. + +"Then you--do forgive? Why were you silent so long, Dryad?" + +"I's thinkin' 'bout--if Buck--ur th' light'n'--had killed you!" + +"_Who-a-a-a--Lessie! Who-a-a-a--Lessie! Whur air yo'?_" + +We jumped, and a revulsion of feeling which came near to suffocating me +swelled in my throat. Granf'er was coming down the winding path from the +house. He had a brown jug in one hand. He had halted to give his hail, +and an instant later Lessie was on her feet, waving her sunbonnet and +sending back a lusty yell. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN + +IN WHICH YET A FIFTH SHOCK ARRIVES, AND ROUNDS OUT THE DAY + + +This certainly has been a big day, the first one which has required two +chapters of my story. I could have put it all in one, it is true, but I +believe there exists a general preference for frequent "stopping +places," and I shall defer to this opinion, partly, perhaps, because I +heartily endorse it myself. Granf'er sighted Lessie at once, brought his +jug up and down twice at arm's length by way of recognition, and resumed +his way with the shuffling, elbow-lifting gait which usually attaches to +men advanced in years when in a hurry. + +How straight the girl's young body was! Uncorseted though I knew she +must be, the lines of her figure conformed to the demands of physical +beauty. From her naturally slender waist, belted only with the band made +in her one piece frock, her back tapered up to shoulders which were +shapely even under the poorly fitting dress. Her head, held more than +ordinarily high now, as she watched Granf'er, was nobly poised on a +firm, round neck, which I am most happy to record was not at all +swan-like. I should like to add, in passing, that I have never seen a +girl with a swan-like neck. If such exist, their natural place is in a +dime museum, or a zoo. Such a monstrosity would, from the nature of her +affliction, look like either a snake or a goose, neither of which have +come down in humanity's annals as types of beauty. I must say it to the +credit of most moderns, however, that the swan-necked lady is seldom +paraded for us to admire. There were no crooks or loops in the Dryad's +neck. Like a section of column it was; smooth, perfect, swelling to +breast and shoulder. + +I clambered to my feet behind her, cursing mentally the harmless, +hospitable, doddering old fellow approaching, and singing a pæan of +rejoicing in my soul at the same time. Such things can be. The breeze +freshened, and began sporting with the dazzling, home-made coiffure on +the Dryad's head. She had not loosened it since she came from her bath, +and that is why I saw so plainly the classic outlines of her head and +throat. The madcap wind caught her dress, too, as she stood exposed to +its sweep down the ravine, and cunningly smoothed it over her hip and +thigh; tightly, snugly smoothed it, then took the fullness remaining and +flapped and shook it out like a flag. So I knew, again through no fault +of mine, that this girl who had never even heard of a modiste--of her +skill to make limb or bust to order--had grown up with a form which +Aphrodite might have owned. She did not know the breeze had played a +trick upon her; or knowing, thought nothing of it. The seeds of our +grosser nature sprout more readily in the hotbed of a drawing-room of +"cultured" society, than in the windsweet, sun-disinfected acres of the +out-of-doors. + +She spoke. + +"Granny's picklin' to-day. She's run out o' vinegar 'n' has sent +Granf'er to fin' me to go to town 'n' git some more." + +"Let me go with you!" I urged. + +"No," she answered, promptly; "'t wouldn't do. Don't you see?" + +"I see what's in your mind," I replied, knowing that she was thinking I +would likely meet the smith again; "but I should be glad to go anyway." + +"No; you mus' stay here." + +Firmly she said it, and my saner judgment told me she was right. It +would have been a fool's errand for me to undertake. + +"I know it is best," I assented reluctantly, "but _why_ did Granny have +to run out of vinegar this afternoon?" + +Lessie threw me an amused glance over her shoulder, burst into a peal of +laughter, and began waving her pole over her head in wide circles, +taking this method to wind her line. When this was in place, she grasped +the hook between finger and thumb, and imbedded it in the stopper. + +"You bring th' fish 'n' th' bait," she said, and ran along the tree, +sure-footed and nimble as a squirrel. + +I picked up the can and bucket and followed. I looked at her catch as I +went, and saw that it represented some half-dozen minnows only. Granf'er +was waiting for us in the road. He had already transferred the jug to +Lessie and given her instructions when I came up and cordially shook +hands. + +"How are you getting along?" was my greeting, as I wisely smothered the +impatience I felt. + +"Oh! fust rate;--'cep'n' th' ketch." + +He put his left hand to his side and drew a wheezy breath. + +Lessie gave her fishing-pole into Granf'er's care, smiled a farewell and +started toward Hebron. It wrenched me for her to begin that lovely walk +alone. She was twenty steps away when the old man suddenly turned. + +"Don't go trapes'n' in th' woods fur flow'rs 'n' sich! Granny's wait'n' +fur that air vinegyar!" + +She waved her hand as a sign that she heard, but made no reply. + +"A quare gal!" mused Granf'er, beginning to delve in his trousers pocket +for his twist. "Fust 'n' las', they ain't no onderstand'n' 'er. She +washes in th' woods lak a wil' Injun 'n' plays 'ith th' birds 'n' th' +beastes. Oncommin quare, by gosh!" + +He opened his mouth and allowed to roll therefrom his chewed-out quid, +ran his crooked and cracked forefinger around his gums to dislodge any +particle of the leaf which might still remain in hiding, and took +another chew. + +"But she is a most attractive young lady, nevertheless," I ventured, +tentatively, putting one hand in my pocket for my pipe and holding the +other out in dumb request. I remembered the guest-rite of my first +visit, and shrewdly suspected this move of mine would please the old +man. It did. + +"Lak it, don't ye?" he grinned, his wrinkled face lighting with pleasure +as he eagerly thrust the tobacco into my palm. "Light Burley 't is, 'n' +skace 's' hen's teeth. Mos' craps plum' failed las' year, but I growed a +plenty fur you 'n' me--yes, fur you 'n' me!" + +The expression tickled him into a creaky, croaky sort of laugh. + +"It's good stuff, Granf'er," I agreed, compromising with my conscience +by supposing that it was good to chew, although to smoke, it bit my +tongue abominably and had a green flavor. "I've been intending to come +back to see you and Granny and Lessie ever since I was here last, but +one thing and another has prevented. I hope you are all well?" + +I turned toward the path and moved forward a few steps, as though +assuming we would now go on up to the house. But Gran'fer's thoughts did +not run with mine. + +"Well? Yes; that is to say, tol'ble." His manner was somewhat excited. +"Granny, y' know, 's pickl'n' to-day, 'n' w'en she's pickl'n' she's +turble busy, 'n' turble--turble techous.... Fine terbacker, ain't it?" +as he saw the pale blue smoke beginning to come from my lips. "Yes, +we're putty well, but Granny's ben kind o' contrairy these fo' days +pas', 'n' bein' she's pickl'n' I 'low you 'n' me 'd jes' as well set +down right here 'n' hev our chat." + +He tried to speak in an ordinary way, but simulation did not abide in +his honest, open soul, and I knew he felt he was breaking hospitality's +rules in suggesting that we remain away from the house. The thought +worried him, and he could not hide it. + +"All right!" I answered, heartily, donning the hypocrite's cloak with +perfect ease. (This is one of the advantages of our ultra civilized +state.) "Women are different from men, anyhow, and take notions and +ideas which we have to humor. And some people are so constituted by +nature that they must be let alone when they are busy." + +"Yes! Yes! That's it! Notions 'n' idees!" Gran'fer eagerly approved. "I +don't see how yo' kin know so much 'bout wimmin if yo' 've never ben +married.... Notions 'n' idees!" He chuckled with a dry sort of rattling +sound, rubbed his leg, and thumped the ground with the butt of the +Dryad's fishing-pole. "By gosh! Notions 'n' idees!" he repeated, for the +third time, his eyes narrowed and his face broadened in a fixed +expression of unalloyed pleasure. + +"Suppose we sit on the big rock here?" I said, with a gesture toward the +immense stone which formed the tip of the Point. + +I walked out upon it as I spoke, and the old fellow dragged after, +doubtless still caressing in his mind that chance phrase which had +caught his fancy. The stone was a dozen yards across, and its creek side +arose perpendicularly from the water, its top being five feet or more +from the stream's surface. Here we sat, hanging our legs over as boys +would. I smoked, and Gran'fer chewed. He really didn't chew much, +because I am sure he was inherently opposed to the slightest exertion +which was unnecessary, but now and then he would defile the limpid +purity below, a fact which convinced me he was enjoying his marvelous +tobacco far more than I was. + +"Wimmin _is_ curi's," began Gran'fer, when we had arranged ourselves +comfortably. He twirled his stubby, funny looking thumbs contentedly and +leisurely. The end of each was overhung with a remarkable length of +nail, black and thick. "I s'pose they's nec'sary ur th' Lord wouldn't +'a' put 'em here, but it's a plum' fac' they's no read'n' 'em, 'n' no +tell'n' whut they gunta do. S'firy 'n' me, come November twinty-fust, +nex', hev ben married forty-two year. Right there in Hebrin wuz we +married, forty-two year ago come November twinty-fust, nex'. At th' +Cath'lic chu'ch on th' hill, th' same whut's now Father John's. He +wuzn't here them days. 'Nother pries' married us. S'firy's a Cath'lic +'n' I wus n't nothin', but I wuz bornd o' Prot'st'nt parints. 'N' I made +th' fust mistake right there. Onless two people hev th' same b'lief, +they oughtn't to jine in wedlock, 'cus trouble's comin' shore 's sin." + +He took off his worn, soiled, and shapeless straw hat to scratch his +head. + +"I suspect you are entirely right about that. I know of a number of +unhappy marriages for that reason." + +Gran'fer grunted, twice. + +"S'firy's a buxom gal, ez th' sayin' goes," he continued, reminiscently. +"Purties' gal hereabout she wuz, ef I do say it, but they's allus fire +on her tongue. Jes' lak a patch o' powder her min' wuz, 'n' th' leas' +thin' 'd set it off. 'Tain't in th' natur o' young people to look ahead, +ur I never 'd 'a' tried life with S'firy. A young feller in love is th' +out 'n' out damndes' fool on airth. I'se sich.... I couldn't stan' ag'in +'er." + +He shook his head slowly, and fell to combing his straggling fringe of +whiskers with his bent fingers. + +I did not reply. I was not much interested in the old man's recital. I +had guessed already practically all that he was telling me. My mind was +full of other things; my thoughts were back on the Hebron road, +following the footsteps of the girl with the jug. + +"I fit, though; I fit to be boss o' my own house,"--the querulous, +cracked voice broke in upon my reflections. "See here?" He drew his palm +down over his long, shaven upper lip, and looked at me craftily with his +little blue eyes. "I knowed a man onct, in them days, whut wore his +beard jes' that way, 'n' he's the w'eelhoss o' the fam'ly. Th' wimmin +wuz skeered uv 'im es a chick'n is uv a hawk. Whut he said they _done_, +'n' done 'ithout argyment. 'N' I took th' notion that if I shaved my +lip, too, 'n' looked kind o' fierce 'n' hard lak, that I c'd manage +S'firy. So one mornin' I gits my razor 'n' fixes that lip, 'n' w'en I +saw myseff I felt I c'd boss anybody, I looked that mean. So in I comes +to S'firy, 'n' tol' 'er, kind o' brash, that I wanted sich 'n' sich a +thin' done, 'n' kind o' squared myseff 'n' put my han's on my hip +j'ints, same 's I saw that other feller do, y' know.... Chris' Jesus!... +Whut happ'n'd? 'S ben a long time ago 'n' I can't ricollec' all th' +doin's. But she called me a babboon fust, 'n' then she lit into me.... +Well, I kep' on shavin' my lip, 'cus I 'proved o' th' style, but I +didn't order S'firy no more, bein' 's I'm nat'rly a man o' peace." + +"How many children did you have, Gran'fer?" I asked, presently. + +"Jes' two. Th' fust 'n' wuz a boy whut died o' fits w'en he 's two weeks +ol'. Th' nex' 'n' wuz Ar'minty, Lessie's mammy. She died w'en Lessie 's +skacely more 'n a baby." + +"What was the matter with her?" I asked. + +Quick as a flash Gran'fer turned on me, an expression of alarm and anger +mingled showing on his face. What had I done? Surely my question was +simple and natural enough. He saw my surprise and astonishment, and his +feelings softened instantly. + +"She jes' pined 'way lak," he replied, dropping his eyes and smoothing +the back of one hand with the palm of the other. "Didn't hev no fevers, +nur nothin'. Jes' drooped, lak a tomater plant does w'en it's fust sot +out 'n' don't git no rain. Got weaker 'n' weaker. Wouldn't eat nothin'. +Didn't try to live. Couldn't do nothin' with 'er. So she jes' wilted up +'n' died, lak a tomater plant in th' sun.... Ar'minty." + +The plain, brief recital stirred me, and awoke within me a wondering +interest. Gran'fer's head was low now, so low that the hair on his chin +spread out fanlike over his faded, checked shirt. His hand had ceased +its caressing movement, and lay above the other. I could see that each +had a slight palsied motion. The little bent figure at my side struck me +as infinitely pathetic just then. Dull indeed must I have been not to +have sensed the shadow of some dire tragedy occurring in the years he +had mentioned. For a number of days past vague imaginings and sundry +conjectures had come to vex my mind with their unsatisfying presence. I +had known for some time that Lessie was not all she seemed, and now, +this moment, I stood on the borderland of enlightenment. Unfamiliar +thrills shot through me, flame tipped and eager. My heart pounded oddly, +and my eyelids were hot against the balls. Instantly a thought had +sprung full-born into existence, and it was the acceptance of this +thought which sent that tingling, vibrating current shooting throughout +my entire being. Where did Lessie get her refined features? Where the +instinct to care scrupulously for her person? Where that mute, painful +longing for something she could not name? From generation after +generation of ox-minded hill folk? Impossible! From them came her +wonderful simplicity, her extreme naturalness, her kinship with the wild +places and the things which dwelt there. But--I felt now as if a force +pump was connected with my chest, and that any moment it might burst +asunder. Dare I ask Gran'fer? Dare I, almost a total stranger, intrude +here, and seek to pry behind the veil these old people had drawn between +their grandchild and the world? I resolved to make the effort, but with +great caution, feeling my way with carefully chosen words. I did not +want to offend, but the desire to know the truth about the Dryad was all +but overpowering. It was not vulgar, idle curiosity. For I knew the +deeps were stirred; that underlying all else was the strange, full +throbbing of a new force. + +So I put a hand on the old man's sagging shoulder in friendly way, and +said, speaking softly-- + +"And is Lessie's father--" + +I got no further. + +It was as though I had put him in contact with a live wire. His drooping +body straightened, his boot heels clicked against the face of the stone, +and his stiffened arms shot over his head. + +"Damn 'im! _Damn 'im! Damn 'im!_" he exclaimed shrilly, each expletive +more forceful than the one which went before. He tossed his clenched +fists skyward, and followed such a lurid stream of malediction, in +consideration of some lily-minded reader, I will not set it down. I was +almost alarmed at the storm my luckless speech had loosened; it seemed +for a short time as if Gran'fer would really go into a spasm. His lip +curled back brute-like till his teeth showed, while his face was +grooved, seamed and twisted uglily. The evil memories which gripped him +tore him roughly for several moments, and then his passion was spent, +leaving him with eyes red and blazing, chest heaving and arms trembling. +I learned nothing from his volcanic, torrential downpour of curses which +in any way lightened the mystery I was burning to solve. It was merely a +meaningless jumble of heated invective, delivered with deadly +earnestness and the most emphatic inflections. + +At first I was dumb. His violence came on him so suddenly and quickly. +From the little I had seen of him I had set him down as a rather meek +character, what manhood he may formerly have had henpecked out of him; +an entity, forsooth, but nothing more. When the shock had passed I did +not essay to soothe him. My judgment told me this would not have been +wise. There are some people, especially rural ones and others of no +education, who will not take soothing. In fact, it acts as oil, rather +than water, to flames. I believed Gran'fer to be of this sort, and while +I had no doubt his rage was both righteous and genuine, I let it wear +out before I spoke again. + +"I beg your pardon, sir; but I did not know." + +He swallowed twice; I could see his hairy Adam's apple rise and fall. + +"We don't--talk 'bout him. 'N'--yo' mustn't ast!" + +The tones were trembling and weak now, but there was dignity in them. A +feeling of true respect came to me for Gran'fer. There was something +sterling in him. A man may crawl on his belly before a sharp-tongued +shrew, and yet hold that within him which will arise at the command of +necessity; stunned and brow-beaten worth quickened by chance, +opportunity, or need. + +Now there surged within me another wish--a wild desire to know one other +thing. It would harm no one to tell me, and to me it meant much. + +"Gran'fer," I said; "I'm your friend--your true friend. Perhaps I should +put it that I am Lessie's friend. I apologize for what I said; I didn't +intend any harm. I promise not to mention the subject again to you. But +I pray that you will tell me this--does Lessie know--know about her +father--who he was--and all?" + +I waited for his answer, trembling inwardly. He seemed to be thinking. +The cloud had come again to his face, and he began cracking his +knuckles, a succession of vicious little snaps. Then one word burst from +him, hard as a pellet of lead. + +"No!" + +"Thank you," I said. + +Then there fell a silence between us. Gran'fer's mind was back in the +past, and I was groping blindly in the mists of wonder and supposition. +There was a reason, then, for the complex, warring nature of the Dryad. +How I longed to know the whole truth! But I could go no further here. It +was a painful subject, a guarded secret to the old man sitting humped +over by my side, and for the time I must hold my curiosity in check. The +revelation would come. I was determined to learn the story, one way or +another, though from what source I could not remotely guess. + +Gran'fer's customary garrulity had deserted him; he even forgot to spit +in the water. When my pipe burned out I did not refill. I know both of +us were oppressed, were quieted by the thought of this great wrong which +had been inflicted nearly a score of years ago. So the creeping shadows +came upon us, and beyond the high western spur the sky glowed salmon, +and gold, and mauve. I heard a screech-owl's sudden chatter, and a crazy +bat wheeled in a wide curve just in front of us. The surface of the +creek grew leaden hued, and the mighty Harp of the Ancient Wood thrilled +gently in response to the low twilight breeze. Gran'fer stirred, and got +stiffly to his feet. I did the same. Somehow I felt awed. Out here +creation seemed so immense, so _recent_, that it was hard to believe the +trail of the serpent had passed over this spot, too. We turned in +silence and went back to the road. + +From down Hebron way came the sound of singing. Not blatantly loud and +shrill, but very mellow and rich-toned. It was a woman's voice. A change +had come over me, and I did not want to meet her again just then. She +would have marked the difference. I turned and held out my hand. +Gran'fer took it and gave it a mighty squeeze. His eyes were wet, and +his face looked pained. As I came down the ladder at the other end of +the bridge I glanced across at him. He was standing where I left him, +gazing down the road up which the girl was coming, with that song of +light-hearted, carefree youth upon her lips. + +I moved away, quickly. + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN + +IN WHICH THE HISTORIAN UNBLUSHINGLY SHOWS HIMSELF TO BE A HUMAN + + +I have spent all of this day on the bench under the lone pine. + +Last night when I came away from Lizard Point without waiting for +Lessie, I knew that I loved her. That was why I did not stay. I have +sensed the coming of this affection for some time, and I have not set it +down before because I wanted to be sure. To-night I am sure. Last night +I was sure, but I wanted a little time in which to analyze this feeling, +and be positive of it. My sleep was peculiarly sweet and peaceful after +the day of trial. I do not know that I dreamed, but soothing waves of +rest permeated me entirely, and a number of times I was conscious just +enough to know that this unusual sensation possessed me. To-day I have +not touched a book--the first day in years! Think of it. Was not that +alone a portent? I got breakfast mechanically. The kitchen utensils +looked almost strange, and I would pick up a dish and turn it over, and +view it as though I had never seen such a thing befor. Queer, wasn't it? +I wonder if any other man in his senses has acted this way. If he has, I +venture to declare he wouldn't set it down for the world to read. But +why not? We are all children, playing our little games, which are the +same world-old games in different hands. And so, when I stopped and +stared at my skillet this morning as I was washing it--stared till it +turned to a beautiful, laughing, freckled face framed in gold, it was +nothing to shame me. I recall the fact now with the full assurance that +the big majority of my fellow men will not ascribe the action to lunacy. + +When I stood in the front door the yard looked the same, but different, +too. The area which I had cleared for the garden was dry, and invited my +spade. Not now, Mr. Earth! You shall have another day's rest before I +drive the steel tines again into you! I walked about, this way and that; +thinking, not thinking. Sometimes I hummed; sometimes I smiled; +sometimes I stood still with open eyes which did not see. All the time I +was aware of some lack, but it was nine o'clock before I realized that I +had not tasted a whiff of smoke. The thought did not make me blush, nor +abash me. I went quietly in and found my pipe on the shelf where I kept +it. It did not stay alight more than two minutes. I was standing at the +place where the road went down when I realized that I was drawing the +atmosphere alone through the stem between my teeth. Then I walked down +to the bench under the pine, thrust my hands in my trousers pockets, sat +down and crossed my legs. + +I have been a sane man all my life, except the day when I embraced the +business of literature for a living. I am not nervous; sudden events do +not startle me. I have taken life honestly and bravely, and I believe I +have faced all the conditions which mere living brings, with courage. +But to-night I have to relate that I sat on that hard bench without +changing my position until two in the afternoon, when I just happened to +drag my watch out. The mere position of the hands brought about a mental +reaction, or I should say served as a powerful mental stimulant, for up +to that hour I am not conscious of a single coherent thought. I had been +sitting all that time in mindless apathy. Then I began to think. My +first gleam of intelligence informed me that my watch must be wrong. +Then I gained sense enough to look at the sun, to find that it had +passed the meridian considerably. Followed at once a keen introspective +query, to which no answer was forthcoming. Then I am sure I breathed +gently, "You damn fool!" and became a man again. + +I did not eat any dinner--punishing the body for a fault of the +mind--but smoked instead. My pipe did not go out a second time. Hour +after hour the black briar bowl stayed burning hot, and hour after hour +I drove my mind, now thoroughly aroused and under control, along the +various byways of thought, action and incident which had a common +meeting point at the feet of the Dryad. It required an effort for me to +do this--a great effort. Had I followed my inclination I would simply +have brought her before my eyes in retrospection, and gazed upon the +picture throughout the day. But she had ceased to be an incident. She +was a reality--an abiding reality--a concrete fact impinging sharply +upon the horizon of my life. I was not alarmed to know that I loved her, +and I wondered at this. Perhaps there really was no occasion for alarm, +but there were plenty of disturbing elements attending such a state of +feeling; a number of persons and things to be weighed and considered, to +be classified and given their relative places. + +When all was summed up I was confronted with the result: Did I love her +well enough to marry her? I was of good family and had the highest +social standing. She was almost nameless. And here a sinister, +insinuating thought came stealing along a lower corridor in my brain; a +creeping, skulking, devilish thought which I caught and choked as I +would have a mad dog on my threshold. When I had killed the noxious +thing I knew that I did love her well enough to marry her. + +What were her feelings toward me? She liked me, but I could not bring to +mind a single word or expression which would lead me to infer her heart +was touched, unless it was the incident on the log bridge, when she had +remained silent for such a long time, and her words when she finally +spoke. Surely her interest was more than casual to dictate a speech like +that. If Gran'fer had not come I think now I would have told her then, +for the simple sentence had set light to a powder train in my breast. + +I believe in caste. I am something of a democrat, and much of a +socialist. While the dream of universal brotherhood in its broadest +meaning is Utopian from its very nature, yet all humankind has a claim +upon us, for the body of Socrates and the body of Lazarus were wrought +from the same material. Yet caste, if correctly applied, instead of +offensively and arrogantly, as it more often is, is almost indispensable +to society. You would not have your daughter marry a drayman, nor your +son marry a waiting-maid. That is what I mean when I say I believe in +caste. But while we draw and maintain the line of distinction, we can +still display a proper and becoming degree of courtesy. + +I have said that I love Lessie well enough to marry her, but I have not +said that I love her well enough to marry her as she is. I know that +would be a mistake which I would regret were she to remain as she is. +But she does not belong in her present environment. I am as sure of that +as I am that I live. Fate has cheated her, has imposed upon her, has +grossly taken advantage of her helplessness. At the foundation of her +being are lying inert, but real, many wonderful and beautiful and +mysterious attributes and traits which go to make up the perfect, +polished character of refinement. This also I know, because I have +witnessed her pitiful strugglings against the degrading bonds of +ignorance which Life has tightened about her. She feels this better +part, which is unquestionably her true self, but she does not know what +it is; to her it is simply a hidden, powerful, inner force which +torments her with intangible, wordless protest and rebellion. She tries +to obey--she has told me so--but she does not know what to do, or say. +Poor little Dryad! How should she? + +When I wrote to 'Crombie for the primer and the copybook I was moved +only by a sincere interest in a pretty ignoramus, seeing at the same +time an opportunity to relieve the tedium of long hours alone here. Now +that they have come, I know that I shall begin at once to loosen the +prisoned thoughts and emotions in my pupil for a different purpose. Will +she learn quickly? No fear of that. I think I shall write for the first +three readers when I have done my journal to-night. A long, loyal, +heart-felt letter came along with the books. I shall not transcribe it, +for it would fill up my pages without furthering my story, and this is +the reverse of craftsmanship, I am told. But I must say that 'Crombie +conceived the idea that I was going to open a school of two or three +pupils--a natural idea, by the way--and earnestly advised me not to, as +it would mean a degree of confinement which would work against me. He +also gave various instructions and suggestions, and insisted in +underscored lines that I pursue diligently my quest of the life-plant. + +Who was Lessie's father? I do not doubt that this is the key to the +whole mystery of her paradoxical personality. He was not a dweller in +the wilderness of Hebron. He was a man of mental power; a man from the +higher world of action, advancement and achievement. Assuredly, he was +likewise a conscienceless knave. He had betrayed Araminta--Gran'fer's +Ar'minty; Lessie's mother. A man who would do that is the best qualified +candidate for hell imaginable. I am no hypocritical moralist, awaiting +my own opportunity to despoil. Very frequently it is one of this breed +of skunks who cries out the loudest against things of this sort. But I +trust I do recognize humanity's rights. + +Does Lessie's unknown parentage present a barrier to the progress of my +love? No. That does not worry nor concern me in the least. It is true +she is--she must be, the fruit of a brief union unblessed by preacher or +priest. That does not make her the less charming, the less human, the +less lovable. She is as blameless, as natural, as inevitable, as any +other pure and stainless growth arising from baser elements. The fact +that Lessie would be unable to produce the marriage certificate of her +parents proved not the slightest obstacle to the current of my +affections. Indeed, when I dwelt upon this, I became aware of an added +tenderness; a desire to spread over her sunny head the shielding +strength of my arms. The world is so ready to mock at infirmities and to +reproach frailties. But I must discover her father's name, and what +became of him. I cannot present this subject to the two old people with +whom she lives. + +Perhaps Father John would know. How long has he held this parish, I +wonder? Most likely for many years. In remote country places priests, +especially old ones, do not often change their field of labor. To-morrow +I shall go to the priest's house again, and ask him. I do not know that +he will tell me, but he holds the secret. If it came to him under seal +of the confessional, of course he will not reveal it. But I've a notion +it was countryside gossip at the time it occurred, and I will not be +asking Father John to betray any confidence when I seek him for this +information. Then, too, I have waited longer than I should to go and +inquire about Beryl Drane, the girl with a face of twenty and the +experience of a lifetime. Perhaps it would be better to see her first, +before accosting her uncle on the subject. I am not sure that I can do +this without arousing suspicion, for I am convinced Beryl Drane has a +mind capable of keen and clear deductions, and I have no desire that my +love for Lessie should become generally known yet. But I will try. + +My love for Lessie! I look at that sentence written down on this white +paper with my own hand, and something goes radiating through every +cranny of me. I am in love--in love with an untamed Dryad of the oak +glade, the deep, clear pool, the sun-dappled spaces of the whispering +wood. Why do I love her? I ask myself. Why fares the bee to the flower, +the bird to his nest, the squirrel to his tree? I love her; let that +suffice. Alone here in my lodge on the lap of Old Baldy, beside my +table, I write these words in a mood which never before possessed me. I +am recklessly happy. I have--shall I write it--I have stayed my pen just +now long enough to sit dreamy eyed for a quarter of an hour; to imagine +that warm young body tight in my arms; those Irish gray eyes looking +long and deep into mine; those, red, red lips against my own, and the +blinding shimmer of her hair around and about my face and neck. God! My +pulses leap and thrum in my temples at the thought, and my throat feels +full and thick. My brother, have you never felt this way? Then you are +missing a large portion of your human heritage. + +When shall I tell her? Not at once, I think. It will be better to school +her some first. And--Buck! By some strange chance I have not reckoned +with Buck to-day. Buck must be reckoned with. He will not efface +himself, and I respect him the more that he will not. Diplomacy and +arbitration and plain reason are all out of the question with Buck. When +I come to reckon with him it will be by the might of my good right arm. +It is the old, old method of medieval times of settling a difficulty +where the favor of a lady is involved, but it is an honorable one, if +conducted fairly, and I suspect as good as any. I must begin a system of +physical training, so that I may be fit for the final bout. That will be +some fight, my masters! + +Eight weeks ago I dreaded the weary monotony which awaited me in this +forsaken spot! + +Well, events yet unborn are on the knees of the gods. I intend to go as +straight to my destination as my judgment and will can carry me. I have +but written that I shall not tell the Dryad of my love yet. Now I should +like to modify that statement and say that I shall not tell her if I can +help it. For a sudden sense that my passion is broadening and +intensifying has come to me, and I shall make no promises--no, not one. +Now, this moment, I quiver at the recollection of her cadenced laugh; I +tremble as I see again the eyes which might craze a man of wood. Ah! +Dryad, if you were here to-night--if you were here--if you were here-- + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN + +IN WHICH MUCH ADDED LIGHT IS SHED UPON MISS BERYL DRANE, BUT ONLY A +GLIMMER UPON MY PROBLEM + + +"This is a beautiful day." + +Such was my exceedingly original and extremely interesting greeting to +Beryl Drane this morning. I arrived at the house at eight o'clock, +found, as I thought, no one astir, and was preparing to knock when I +discovered the young lady diligently clipping roses from a hedge near +the back. It is not often that I descend to sheer banality, but I can +offer no excuse for my opening remark as I came up over the grass behind +her. She was a little startled. She turned quickly with a short "Oh!" +and looked at me curiously. Somehow I did not like the look. It was +possessive, in a way; intimate, as though we shared a secret, or +something like that. She was dressed in a polka dot brown gingham, and +had on an old bonnet whose projecting hood softened those lines which +seemed to shriek of the things which made them. A low collar encircled +her firm neck snugly. She wore leather half mitts, had a pair of shears +in one hand, and from the elbow of her other arm hung a wicker basket +over half filled with voluptuously red, dew-bright roses. She regarded +me with that subtly smiling, upward glance which coquettes have, and in +that morning air, with the flowers, under the shielding bonnet, she was +pretty. She was too adroit to overdo the pose. It lasted scarcely two +ticks from a grandfather's clock, then she smiled frankly, deftly looped +the shears on a finger of her left hand, and held out her arm. + +"I'm _so_ glad to see you!" she said, winningly, and for the soul of me +I could not help but feel my heart grow warmer in response to her tone. +Ah, little sibyl! You have conjured more than one man's mind into deadly +rashness, but you have paid, little moth with the soot-spotted wings! + +"Are you?" I replied, surprisedly, as I grasped her grippy, slender hand +and uncovered. + +"Sure!... Don't you suppose Hebron is a trifle monotonous to me after +the fleshpots of Egypt?" + +"I had thought you would be--not angry, but displeased and disgusted +with me that I had not come sooner." + +"Oh! I have learned to make allowances for men!" she retorted, airily, +with a toss of her head and a half pout; "and I'd have no respect for a +man who'd have to be kicked away from a woman's feet. I've seen that +kind. I supposed you would come when it suited your inclination." + +She deliberately turned to the hedge again and tiptoed to grasp a +heavy-headed bloom which seemed to have dropped asleep, drugged by its +own perfume. She could not reach it. + +"Let me," I said, and stepping forward, caught the thorn-set spray and +pulled it toward her. The action made a little shower of water drops to +patter on her upturned face, and a single rich-hued petal became +displaced, drifted gently down, and actually lodged in the crevice of +her slightly parted lips. Both laughed at the incident, for it was +unusual. + +"You shall have this one," she said, when she had clipped it, "from me." + +I felt foolish, in a way, as she came close to me, fumbling here and +there about her waist and the bosom of her dress. + +"Have you a pin?" she queried, archly, and before I could answer her +swift white fingers were searching the lapels of my coat. "Here's one," +she added, on the instant, and tugged it out. + +Then she secured that rose to my coat, standing so close to me that the +bottom of her spreading skirt brushed my legs. + +"You are very forgiving and very kind," I assured her, "and I thank you +for the favor. I'm sure I do not deserve it." + +"Do men ever deserve what they receive from women?" was her startling +reply, and she did not look me in the eyes then, but instead fingered +the jumble of Jaqueminots in the basket with head averted. Surely this +niece of the Rev. Jean Dupré's who had journeyed to Hebron to rest was +not conventional. Equally true it was that she possessed an unusual +degree of intelligence, and was accustomed to speaking her mind. + +I hesitated briefly. Not that I was in doubt what to say, but among us +men of the South that old chivalry toward women which is always stubborn +and often reasonless, still struggles mightily. And it is a goodly +thing, forsooth, this same chivalry; but truth is better. + +"I think so," was my steady answer, and I held my eyes ready to meet +hers, but she did not move her head. Only the white fingertips with +their whiter nails yet burrowed among the fragrant mass of green and +red. + +"You do?... How can you say that? Uncle says it, too--but he's a +priest." + +"I say it because I think it true. I'm sure you would not have me tell a +lie merely to please you. Your viewpoint must be restricted, +circumscribed, for I know you are in earnest. The question is really too +comprehensive to actually admit of a specific answer. Many women give +all and get nothing; many men give all and get nothing. Many give and +receive on an equable basis, and they are the ones who are happy. It +depends simply upon one's experience or observation how he answers your +question. My life leads me to believe in all sincerity men will do their +part fuller and far more justly than a woman will. Perhaps yours has +convinced you that just the reverse is true.... But for mercy's sake, +let's not drift into a sociological argument this morning." + +"By no means. I just wanted to know what you thought.... Now I must +apologize for keeping you. You have come to see uncle?" + +She started toward the house as though to call him, but I caught her arm +and she halted. + +"I came to see you, primarily. First, to assure myself that you had +really quite recovered from drowning--I have asked of you down at the +store--and second, to discuss a mighty secret with you." + +"You have really--asked about me?" she returned with lifted eyebrows. +"You knew when you left that day I would recover, thanks to your skill. +Was not that enough?" + +I felt annoyed. It appeared as if she was trying to make me confess a +deeper interest than I truly owned. + +"A common sense of decency would have impelled me to assure myself you +were suffering no bad after effects," I replied. + +"Oh, that was it?" she responded, I thought a bit coolly. Then--"You +mentioned a secret. How on earth could a secret exist in this +lonesome-ridden place? But of course I'm all curiosity now to hear it. +Let's go to the summerhouse. Uncle rises late, and is now in the midst +of his breakfast." + +She moved toward a conical shaped piece of greenery, and I put myself at +her side. It proved to be some trellis work built in the form of a +square, with a peaked top, the whole completely covered by some +luxuriant vine. Even the doorway was so thickly hung that we had to draw +the festoons aside to enter. Within the light was tempered to a +gray-green tone. A hammock was swung across the center of the place, and +on all sides except the entrance one were placed benches. Miss Drane set +her basket down and promptly dropped into the hammock, where she twisted +about into a comfortable attitude. She apparently took no notice of the +fact that her dress had become drawn up six or eight inches above her +shapely ankles, but quietly loosened the strings under her chin and cast +the bonnet on the floor, then threw her arms above her head, laced her +fingers, and turned to me with a smile which was half humorous and half +pathetic. + +"Now I'm fixed. Settle yourself the best you can, and let's hear the +mystery." + +"May I smoke?" I asked, dodging under one of the ropes, and coming +around so that I might sit facing her. + +"Certainly." + +"A pipe?" + +"Oh, yes! I'm thoroughly smoke-cured." + +I dropped upon a bench and drew forth my materials, while she lay and +eyed me with her inscrutable stare. + +"You're a funny man!" she declared, presently, her flexible lips +twisting into an odd smile. + +I chuckled, and jammed the tobacco in the bowl. + +"How do you get that?" I ventured. + +"Why didn't you ask to share the hammock with me?" + +Now though I knew something of woman's ways and woman's wiles, I felt a +blush rising, and to hide it I dropped the match I held and bent over to +pick it up. Clearly his reverence's niece was bent on a flirtation +wherewith to while away the days of her exile. It is needless to say +that in my present state of mind I had no heart for dalliance of this +sort, but I realized that I must not offend her, so I struck the match +on the sole of my shoe and slowly lighted my pipe, thinking hard all the +time of what I should say. + +"You looked so very comfortable," I replied jocularly, between puffs, +"that I could not bring myself to make the request. And--you lay down, +you know, as though you wanted it all to yourself." + +With a quick, lithe movement she turned on her side, rested her cheek on +her hand, and retorted: + +"Was that idea really in your mind before I spoke? The truth, mind you!" + +I was thoroughly uncomfortable. Just what Beryl Drane was driving at I +could not guess, but I knew the simple talk which I had come to have +with her had suddenly assumed the proportions of a task. It would be +silly and egotistic to think this little body was in love with me, and +yet as she lay curled kitten-like within arm's length there was a +seriousness in her face and manner which troubled me far more than what +my answer to her last question would be. + +"No, it was not," I replied, meeting her eyes steadily. + +"All men don't tell the truth," was her unexpected rejoinder; "but you +do.... Don't you think I am worth sitting by?" + +Heavens! Why did she persevere in this strain? Why? God pity her, I +knew. I knew her birthright of womanliness and unsullied purity had been +bartered long ago for the pottage of faithlessness and sham pleasures, +and that now the exceeding bitter cry rang in her soul day in and day +out. She had made sacrifice of the substantial, the real, the true, and +the good, on the shadowy altar of indulgence. She had flung aside the +fruit to devour the husk, and the penalty was an insatiable gnawing of +the evil teeth which she had first guided with her own hand to her +being's core. I shivered inwardly as these thoughts darted +lightning-like through my mind, and my face shaped itself into lines of +gravity. + +"Little girl," I said, gently; "I should be glad to sit by you, but +what's the use in this instance? We are as two birds passing in mid-air. +Soon you will go; soon I will go. Let's be good, honest friends while we +stay." + +I leaned toward her and spoke earnestly, trying to keep any note of +rebuke from my tones. She did not reply, but colored slightly, turned +her head partly away, and lowered her lashes. I smoked in silence for a +few moments to give her a chance to speak, but she remained silent, and +directly I said, throwing my voice into a cheerier key: + +"If you're to help me with my secret we must hurry. Our few minutes on +the river did not last long enough for us to get very well acquainted, +but probably Father John has told you that I am roughing it for a few +months on a certain big knob back in the woods. I've met a few people, +and--" + +Poor, hopelessly stupid mind of man! In my agitation caused by the +attitude Beryl Drane had seen fit to adopt toward me, I had forgotten +that the confidence I had purposed bestowing involved another girl--a +beautiful girl! Now it was too late to hold back. Two slits of eyes were +viewing me cynically, and a low laugh bubbled up from her throat. + +"Who is she?" mocked Beryl Drane, who lived in the world. + +"I don't know!" I answered, boldly. "That's what I want you to help me +find out." + +"What's her name?" + +How cold the words were; like little sharp icicles. Ah! Womankind! +Velvet soft, iron hard; dove merciful, tiger cruel; heaven breasted, +hell armed; honey lipped, gall tongued! + +"They call her Lessie." + +Her sweetly bowed mouth had turned to a straight line of scarlet as she +shook her head. + +"I don't mix with the rabble here." + +She spoke to cut, and she succeeded. The insolent words bit sharply, and +a flame-like resentment set a hot reply on my tongue, but I withheld it. +I waited a while, that my speech might not betray my agitation. + +"She lives with her granny and gran'fer on Lizard Point. Surely you have +seen her at church? Granny is very conscientious, I'm sure, in the +performance of her church du----" + +"I never go to church!" interrupted Father John's niece. "But I think I +know the people to whom you refer," she added, at once. "I cannot recall +the name of the family, however.... You must be extraordinarily stupid +not to have learned her surname, being in love with her." + +Evidently Miss Drane was ignorant of the circumstances surrounding the +Dryad's birth, and a great wave of relief rolled up in my breast when I +was assured of this. + +"A man doesn't love a girl's name," I thought. Then I said: + +"It would seem so, indeed." + +I can't imagine what there was in that innocent sentence to cause +affront, but instantly the girl in the hammock swung her feet to the +ground, arose, and picked up her bonnet and basket. + +"I don't think you are at all nice!" she said. "Go on and love your +little cabin minx if you want to! She'll be sadly wiser when your love +is over and you have gone back where you came from. I know you men--all +alike!... If you want to see uncle you'll find him in the library at +this hour." + +Then out she switched with never so much as a "Good-day," leaving me +staring amazedly at the clustering viney mass which swayed behind her +vanished form. I had known many kinds of women: petulant, spoiled, mean; +gracious, charming, good. I knew the majority of them were not amenable +to logic, and would sometimes take offense at a smile or a wrong +inflection. But when Beryl Drane flung this low insinuation in my face, +I was nettled. It was utterly without foundation or reason. It bore out +strikingly the opinion I had previously formed of her, and as I sat and +turned the matter over in my mind, I knew presently that I was pitying +her. For there is no sadder sight on the world's broad breast than a +woman with a spotted soul. This poor child's perceptions were all awry, +her affections wrenched and twisted, and in that moment I almost cursed +the fate which would permit such a sacrilege. My resentment was gone, or +was directed against the nonunderstandable forces, powers--call them +what you will--which so often, in their workings, flung the spotless +lily under the filthy snout of a hog, and dashed the white soul of a +girl into a pit of smut and slime! Give me the reasons, ye gray-bearded +savants! You are children fumbling in the dark. You do not know. + +I got up and passed without the leafy curtain. Miss Drane had +disappeared. I walked to the porch, found the front door open, and +entered the hall without knocking. I judged the library to be on the +right, and at that door I tapped. The old priest's voice bade me "Come!" +I went in, and when he saw me cross the threshold, Father John leaped up +with a nervous agility which was incongruous when associated with his +many years, and hastened forward. + +"Ah-h-h! Ze pleasure! W'ere have you bene, m'sieu?" + +He smiled cordially, and led me to an easy chair by the table, holding +my hand until I was fairly seated. + +"Roaming the woods, principally," I replied, easily, noting the +extremely comfortable furnishings of the apartment. "I have been here a +half-hour, I should say. I found Miss Drane cutting roses, and stopped +for a chat with her. She seems perfectly well?" + +Father John made a grimace, and spread his hands. + +"Zat chil'! I love 'er m'sieu, but she try me. She plague me wiz 'er +pranks, zen she come wiz 'er arms aroun' my neck--so--an' fix eversing." + +He obligingly essayed to hug himself by way of illustration, and I +nodded my comprehension. + +"You will doubtless miss her when she leaves you?" + +He twisted his features as from a sudden pain. + +"I can't sink of zat, m'sieu. She have bene wiz me t'ree--four--five +weeks; she is one--headstron' chil', but she make me vair happy--_oui_." + +He sank a little deeper in his soft chair, and pulled contentedly at his +long-stemmed pipe. + +It was hard for me to broach the subject uppermost in my mind. Twice my +lips parted to open the discussion, but each time the sentence which +followed related to an entirely different matter. So for quite a while +we talked of the weather, the crops, the parish, and it was while we +were discussing the neighborhood that I knew my opportunity had arrived. + +"I have become very much interested in the family at Lizard Point. You +know them well?" + +"Vair well. Madame is vair releegious; a good woman. M'sieu +is--is--indeef'rent; ma'm'selle--ah, ze young ma'm'selle!" + +Again his spread hands went out expressively, and he shook his head with +wrinkled forehead. + +Inwardly I smiled, but outwardly my face was set to decorous lines. + +"Does not the granddaughter belong to your fold?" I asked. + +"Ah! m'sieu; we try. We try all her life lon' to make her ze Christian. +But she wil'--she wil' as ze bird in ze wood. She an' ze half crazy +Jeff--ze fiddle player--zey heazen, m'sieu. Zey never dark ze door of ze +church. Zey run in ze fores', fiddlin' an' dancin', an' ze devil he +laugh an' skip by zey side!" + +He put his hands between his knees, palm to palm, and rocked to and fro +in genuine distress. I could think of no suitable reply on the moment, +so remained silent. + +"I have ze pity for ze chil', poor sing!" he resumed, presently. "Ze +chance she has not had, like ozzer ones. Meybe ze curse of ze broke' law +follow her; I don' know--I don' know!" + +He sighed, and let his narrow shoulders droop forward in an attitude +both sad and pensive. + +"Tell me about that if you can, Father John," I said, placing my elbows +on the table's edge and leaning toward him. "I will say to you in +strictest confidence that I am deeply interested in Lessie; it is not +idle curiosity which prompts me to ask this. I know her father betrayed +and deserted her mother; Gran'fer has practically admitted this to me, +but he will go no further. You must know the man's name--what was it?" + +Father John lifted his head and looked at me. + +"Zat, m'sieu, I cannot tell you." + +"Why?" + +I kept my eyes fastened on his persistently, but respectfully. + +"Because m'sieu has not ze right to as'." + +I felt rebuked. Knowing as little of me and of my feelings for the Dryad +as he did, he was right. Should I tell him more? My words would be safe +with this gentle old man. + +"Suppose I love the girl, Father John? Would I not then have the right +to know everything about her parentage?" + +A pale smile passed over his thin lips. + +"M'sieu--jokes wiz me. You, ze gen'leman, ze areest'crat--to love ze +little wil' ma'm'selle? _Je crois que non!_" + +"It may seem incredible to you, but I do love her. I feel I can trust +you with the secret, for even she does not know it yet. Believe me, I +beg you. I am very much in earnest." + +The doubting look faded from the priest's face, to be succeeded by one +of amazement. + +"Probably you do not understand this," I hastened to add; "and I should +not blame you. But you, in holy orders from young manhood, with your +mind and time engrossed in spiritual things, have no intimate knowledge +of the powerful call of man to woman, and woman to man. It has come to +me unexpectedly, swiftly, surely; here in the wilderness. In the city it +passed me by. But I truly love the little wild ma'm'selle. Listen to my +plan. I intend to take her far along the road to education and +refinement; I intend to develop the great good which lurks smothered in +her mind and soul; then, if she will, I shall marry her. That is my +reason for asking you to tell me of that man." + +Father John was convinced that I spoke the truth. I could see it before +he replied. + +"Ze--ze _aieul_, ze _aieule_; has m'sieu tol' zem?" + +I stared at him bewilderedly. + +"Ze madame an' ze m'sieu she live wiz!" he burst out, desperately. "How +call you zem?" + +"Granny and Gran'fer--her grandparents!" I exclaimed. + +"_Bien!..._ Well zen?" + +"I have not told them. I have not told Lessie. I did not know it myself +until last night." + +"_Soit._ But ze secret, m'sieu, is zeirs." + +"Is not the girl concerned, my good sir?" I demanded. + +"Celeste?" + +"Celeste!" + +"Ze wil' ma'm'selle you call Lessie. I chris'en 'er myself, m'sieu; her +name Celeste." + +"And these boors have corrupted it to Lessie!" I almost shouted. + +"Zey couldn't 'member Celeste," smiled Father John. + +For a time I was silent, gazing at that vision in my mind which bore the +sweet name of Celeste instead of the meaningless one of Lessie. + +"Has she, then, no rights in the matter?" I persisted, and at the words +I knew my voice had changed. Father John's candid and matter-of-fact +revelation had filled me all up, somehow. I am aware there was no good +reason why this should be, but people deeply in love have a constant +abhorrence of anything and everything remotely bordering on reason. + +"Should she, m'sieu, seek ze inf'mation, I sink I should tell 'er." + +Sweetly grave and courteous were the words, and even in my impatience I +recognized their justness. + +"Very well, father. But I must ask you another question which I trust +you can answer without offense to your conscience. Was Lessie's--was +Celeste's father a man of learning; a man who moved along the higher +walks of life, or was he simply a countryman?" + +Only for a moment he hesitated. + +"He was ze gran' gen'leman in manner--ze scholar--ze sinker. His heart +was black!" + +"It must have been," I breathed, as I rose. + +My host again followed me to the low stone step at the porch entrance, +protesting against my departure and begging me to stay for dinner, which +came at noon. I told him I would come again, and I meant it. + +"You have been very kind," I said, in farewell, "and I want to thank you +for the things you told me. In time Celeste will come with her demands, +trust me for that." + +"Vair well, m'sieu!" he cried, twisting his face into a maze of +goodhumored wrinkles. + +At the gate I turned and waved to him again, sweeping the premises with +my eyes as I did so for a sign of Beryl Drane. + +That most peculiar young woman was nowhere visible. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN + +IN WHICH I ENTERTAIN SERIOUSLY A CHIVALROUS NOTION TO MY GREAT DETRIMENT + + +"A, B, C, D, E, F,--H?" + +We sat side by side on the edge of the porch, with our feet on the low +stone step. For fifteen minutes I had been drilling Celeste in the +alphabet. + +But little explanation is necessary to make clear my position in the +hostile camp. To-day is Sunday. When I first arose I began planning a +way to reach Celeste--Lessie no longer for me!--without any unpleasant +attending circumstances. I had recently been assured by the parish +priest that Granny was "a vair releegious woman," and it was upon this +fact that I presently laid my schemes. It was probable that Granny +attended mass twice on Sunday; beyond doubt she went once. Early mass +was over by the time my idea began to crystalize, but the chances were +that Granny would go to the later services, because there was a deal of +housework to be done at the beginning of each day. Then Granny's large +body moved slowly, and the road to Hebron was long. I was vastly +comforted when I reached this conclusion, and about ten o'clock I armed +myself with primer and copybook and hit the trail for heaven. + +I wish the reader--gentle or otherwise--could have taken that trip with +me, and felt as I did. I wish everybody in the world could feel, all the +time, as I did on that leisurely walk to Lizard Point. There would be no +more sin or sorrow, my brothers! It was my first pilgrimage to the +shrine of my recognized affection, and my feet trod not upon the good +earth, but upon separate little pillows of compressed air. The day left +nothing for the most critical to wish for. It was a great, perfumed +bloom of light and color, glowing like a jewel in the Master's hand. And +in the midst of all this perfection I was the one man seeking the one +woman. + +Reaching the bridge, I skulked about in the woods like a wild Indian, +viewing the house with gradually increasing impatience. But I was +rewarded in what my watch declared to be a very few minutes. Granny's +ample shape bustled out upon the porch, and she came waddling down the +path like an over-fattened goose. She had on her Sunday fixin's; a shiny +bombazine black dress and a tiny black bonnet which looked small indeed +atop her big head. A palm leaf fan in one hand, a rosary and a +handkerchief in the other; thus did S'firy sally forth that morning, +while I stood hidden in the shade and grinned, tickled as any schoolboy +would be who sees a guard desert a watermelon patch. I could hear her +puffing as she reached the road and took up her march south--poor old +woman! A long, hot time lay before her, going and coming, and I was +convinced she deserved the blessing she hoped to receive. + +So that is the way I crept into the hostile lines this morning and began +teaching the little wild ma'm'selle. + +She was surprised but glad when she saw me. You may be sure I searched +her face anxiously, and her welcoming smile and warm, strong handclasp +set my heart a-throbbing. I told her at once what I had come for, and +asked how long Granny would be away. Three hours, at least, I learned. +She was ready and eager to begin her lessons. I inquired about Gran'fer, +too, as we sat down together on the porch's edge, and heard that the +dinner had been left in his charge, and he was consequently on duty in +the kitchen, whence he would scarcely dare emerge until relief came. The +fire was to be kept up, and certain vessels holding cooking vegetables +were to be kept full of water. Gran'fer would hardly dare run the risk +of permitting the beans or potatoes to scorch, and the chance for a +happy three hours looked good indeed. + +Celeste wore a white shirt waist, brown skirt, leather belt--and +_slippers_! I could barely credit the last fact when my eyes noted it. +Where on earth did she get slippers which buttoned across the instep +with a strap? She had on black stockings (and right here I want to say, +parenthetically, that I think black hose the most becoming color a woman +can wear) and altogether presented a far more civilized appearance than +she had ever done before. I placed the primer upon her knees, and while +she held it open I began teaching her the letters, using my forefinger +as an index. Her sunny head bent eagerly to the task, and looking at her +face I saw each freckle had become a tiny island in a sea of crimson. +She was blushing hotly, probably from the simple fact that she had at +last started upon that unknown road which would lead her up and out of +the gloomy valley of ignorance where she had always dwelt. I know an +answering color came to my cheeks, for they began to burn. Had I been +sure Gran'fer would remain faithful to his vegetables I would have told +her that moment, for never had mortal woman seemed so lovely and +alluring, and never had my heart hammered and pounded so loudly on the +stubborn door of my will. I realized that my resolve to hold my tongue +until she had become tutored in some degree was an idiotic +determination, and that I would prove it so the first time I could catch +Celeste where we would be safe from interruption. + +Through the twenty-six capitals we went again and again. Then I took the +book and asked her to say the alphabet. She fell down on G, but if every +failure was accompanied by the doubting, anxious, piteous, altogether +captivating expression which distinguished this one, no culprit would +ever hear a word of censure. + +I hope I am not tiresome. Truth is not always interesting, and you must +not question my veracity. To-night I will not avow that my hitherto well +balanced mind is perfectly plumb. Since I confessed to my journal I +found I have shot into the rapids, and this girl with hair like a +potpourri of sunbeams and Irish gray eyes which starts some trembly +mechanism to going inside me, is going to be the biggest and most +important thing in my life. + +Of course I laughed when she said H instead of G, but it was not a laugh +that hurt. It was the one which soothes and condones. She laughed, too, +and again I saw an upper row of teeth--white as young corn, and as even. +In half an hour she had turned the trick, and in addition could name any +letter which I might choose on sight. Yes, I was proud of her then, +and--yes, I told her so; wouldn't you? We then went through the small +letters once or twice, but I did not ask her to learn any of them this +morning. Celeste couldn't understand why the big letters and the little +letters were not alike, and I couldn't either, so no explanation was +forthcoming. Presently the primer was laid aside, and I produced the +copybook. The Dryad's interest was just as intense when this branch of +her education was brought to her notice. + +"Is this writin'?" she queried, suspiciously, indicating the line in +script at the top of the page. + +"Yes, that's writ-_ing_," I said, but my eyes were kind. + +"--_ing_, then!" she retorted, with some force, but I knew she was +aggravated with herself, and not with me. Then she sat up very straight, +and defiantly checked off each word of her next sentence on her palm, +using an absurd fist as a checker. + +"It--don't--look--like--Gran'fer's--writ-_ing_!" + +I roared mightily at this, for her belligerency was irresistible. + +At first she was amazed at my outburst, for her earnestness had +prevented her from seeing how truly attractive her little speech had +been. But as I kept on laughing she presently joined me, and together we +raised such a disturbance that Gran'fer hurried out to investigate. I +jumped up and took his hand, and managed to control myself enough to +tell him the cause. + +"B' gosh! 'S a good thing S'firy's not here!" he exclaimed, leering from +one to the other with his good-natured eyes twinkling. "She'd 'low you +'s bust'n' th' Sabbath, 'n' like 's not 'd 'vite _you_ back to Baldy!" + +He poked a crooked finger in my ribs, thrust his middle out and his +shoulders back and gave a series of piercing screeches which I judged +was his way of expressing superlative mirth. + +I put my arm around his shoulder chum-fashion, and drew him aside. + +"I hid and watched her leave," I whispered. + +Again he screeched. + +"You're a durned wise 'n'!" he said, presently. "S'firy's sot ag'in yo' +somehow, but I's jok'n' w'en I said I'd 'low she'd 'vite yo' back to +Baldy. She wouldn't do sich a vi'lent thin' as that, see'n' as how she's +got no airthly complaint ag'in yo', 'cep'n' you're a young man 'n' +good-look'n', 'n'"--lowering his voice and nodding toward the Dryad, who +sat apparently absorbed in her copybook--"she don't 'low to ever let no +man make love to that gal, 'n' she's skeerd o' yo' on that 'count--see?" + +"Gran'fer, I smell some'n' burnin'!" called Celeste. + +The old man turned with a trembling, low-voiced "Good God!" and bolted +into the house, and instantly I heard a tin cover clatter on the kitchen +floor. + +"Whut'd you tell Gran'fer w'en you took 'im over there?" asked Eve, when +I was again beside her. + +"The truth," I replied, not altogether relishing a like confession to +her. + +"Tell me, too!" she demanded, at once. + +"Suppose I won't?" I parried, grasping the opportunity offered to weigh +her character in different scales. + +She thought a moment, with a queer little squinting of the eyes. + +"Well, if you won't--I don't keer!" + +It was not pique, but perfect candor. + +"I told him that I waited down yonder in the woods until Granny went to +church," I said. + +She smiled, and spread the copybook out afresh. + +"You needn't 'a' done that. I've had a talk with Granny, 'n' she's goin' +to let you come, same as she does Buck ... I p'suaded 'er." + +"Bless your heart, Dryad! How did you manage it?" + +"Granny'll do mos' anything for me," she answered, simply. "I tol' 'er +that you jes' wanted to learn me, 'n' that I wanted to learn--so bad; +'n' that it wouldn't cost nothin'. So she ast Father John, 'n' he said +it'd be all right. He said he knowed you." + +"Yes, I've met Father John--and his niece." + +"I don't like her," said Celeste, turning the leaves idly. + +"Why don't you like her, Dryad?" + +"'Cause--'cause--oh, jes' 'cause!" + +She pouted her lips slightly, and shook her head. + +So she, too, had that unanswerable reason which all women can claim. + +"I feel sorry for her, because I don't think she has been happy. She has +lived in cities all her life, and the cities have taken something from +her they can never give back." + +"Whut?" + +"All things which you, living here in the hills, possess, and which are +a woman's most precious gifts; purity, innocence, womanhood." + +"I don't know 'zackly whut you mean." + +"I shan't try to put it into simpler words just now, Dryad. But in the +eyes of all true people you are worth more than a thousand Beryl +Dranes." + +She pursed her lips and gave a whistle of astonishment. + +"Has Buck been here lately?" I asked. + +"Not since I seen--I saw you on the log bridge." + +Then for a time we remained silent. The day was intensely hot. The +encroaching sun burned the yellow dog which had been lying in the yard, +and he arose reluctantly and slouched over into the deeper shade by the +foundation of the house--into a dusty hole which no doubt he had +previously dug in a search for coolness. There, after gnawing his ribs, +his black nose wrinkling oddly as he did so, he dropped his chin upon +the ground and slowly closed his eyes. A rigor passed over the side +where the uncaptured flea still lingered, then, with a sigh, the dog +slept. A brown hen, wings outheld from her body and bill agape, strolled +dazedly through the shimmering air, singing that dolorous, unmusical, +droning song begotten by the temperature. I have never heard that song +from a hen's throat with the thermometer under ninety. It must have been +an effect of the heat. Beyond, the green vastitudes stretched +endlessly--away to where the big wicked world throbbed and seethed and +strove. All these externals passed before my vision in a twinkling, and +then my gaze was back on the girl sitting quietly by me, looking with +eyes which sent no message to her brain upon the curving lines which +meant knowledge. Her hair was up again to-day--for bodily comfort, I +judge--and damp, curled strands clung flat to her milk-white neck. Below +these, tiny drops of moisture stood, like baby pearls upon porcelain. I +could not grow accustomed to the dazzling effect produced by her +piled-up tresses. I could see neither comb, barette, nor pins, but no +doubt a number of the "invisible" variety of the last were tucked away +somewhere in the intricacies of that matchless coronet. + +I asked if there were pen and ink on the place. She thought there was, +and directly returned with both. Then the need arose for something +suitable to hold the copybook while she traced her first letters. I knew +there must be a table in the dining room, but I much preferred to remain +where we were. + +How I ever thought of such a thing I cannot guess, but I suggested the +ironing board, and in another minute it was across each of our knees, +and I was twisting the pen-staff about in Celeste's warm fingers to the +proper angle. Her forefinger persisted in bending in at the first joint, +and I as diligently straightened the contrary digit, not minding the +task at all, for some occult reason. Naturally a huge blot was the first +result, and the Dryad was for licking it off, as she had seen Gran'fer +do once upon a time. I told her that wasn't nice, and laid the ink in +the sun to dry, no blotting paper being available. When she finally got +a start the girl did remarkably well. It was quite plain she had talent +in this direction. I permitted her to rewrite the model line half way +down the page, then told her lessons were over for the day. Nor did I +neglect to bestow some well deserved compliments upon her aptness. + +Granny may have been gone three hours, but I was nevertheless amazed +when I saw her toiling up the winding path a short time later. Surely I +had not been there over thirty minutes, all told! Far off as she was +when I first sighted her, there seemed to be something menacing in the +very way she got over the ground. As she drew quickly nearer, I observed +that her round, red face was set in lines of furious anger, and she +opened and closed her mouth in gasps, as a fish does on land. In spite +of the assurance the Dryad had given me, a subtle sense told me that I +was the object of her rage. I turned to Celeste, to find wonder and +astonishment depicted on her countenance. + +"Whut on earth ails Granny?" she whispered. + +"God knows!--and we will too, now"; for the old lady had halted a man's +length away, a truly formidable spectacle. + +Her emotion for the moment was actually so intense that she could not +speak. Her throat rolled red and fat over the collar of her dress, and +she was shaking visibly. I knew the storm would break presently, though +I was totally in the dark as to what I had done to arouse such a +tempest, so I gently lifted the ironing board from our laps, propped it +carefully against a post, and got up, that I might take the blast +standing. I gave no greeting, nor made any attempt at pacification. But +the breath almost left my body when the first vial was uncorked. + +"_You_ sneak'n' fur'ner! Mak'n' love to Father John's niece, then try'n' +to fool 'n' ruin my Lessie!" + +I fell back a step and threw up my hand, a deadly, numbing horror +spreading through me. Before I could recover enough for speech Granny's +needle-sharp tongue was going again. + +"I know yo'! I've knowed yo' all 'long, but that daffy Jer-bome 'n' that +pore fool gal 'lowed I's wrong 'n' too hard on yo', I tol' 'em way back +yan whut yo' 's hang'n' 'bout fur--yo' _scamp_! W'en a w'ite-faced, +slick-tongued city feller comes spark'n' a gal whut lives whur this 'n' +does, yo' c'n put it down he 's a-doin' th' dev'l's work. I knowed it, I +tell yo', 'n' yo' didn't pull no wool over _my_ eyes! I've had +'sper'ence 'ith sich, 'n' onct in a lifetime 's 'nough, heav'n knows! +Now take yo' seff off, yo' hyp--hyp--yo' 'ceiv'n', 'ceptious vilyun, 'n' +never so much as lay eyes on my gal--my precious lam'--ag'in, ur I'll +_scratch_ 'em out o' yo' head!" + +I paid little heed to this lurid denunciation. After the astounding +revelation of her first speech, I strove to get my mind in working +order, for it had suffered temporary paralysis. Before the voluble, +bitter flow of words had ceased, I knew what had happened, and my face +crimsoned with shame and anger. I dared not look at the girl at my feet +yet, to see how this harsh accusation had affected her. Granny saw the +red in my cheeks, and blazed out afresh. + +"Yo' mought well blush, yo' blaggard; a-comin' 'ith yo' hellish notions +to do hurt 'n' harm to this motherless chil'! Yo'--" + +"Hush!" I cried, drawing nearer the angered old woman in my deep +earnestness. "Don't say those things again in the presence of--her! They +are lies! Everything you have said is a black, cowardly lie!" + +"Do yo' _dare_ to tell me that his rev'rence, that holy pries', lied to +me? Yo'--yo'--" + +She thrust her hands toward my throat with her fingers working +convulsively. + +I controlled myself, grasped her wrists and brought her arms down, then +looked hard into her eyes as I answered: + +"No, Father John did not lie, but Beryl Drane did. I have never spoken a +word of love to her. I have seen her only twice. Once when I got her out +of the river when her boat upset, and a second time when I went to see +Father John. I believe I offended her, unintentionally, at that time, +but I have never made love to her for the best of reasons--I have no +feeling for her but that of pity. She told a dangerous, dastardly +falsehood when she declared to her uncle that I had spoken of love to +her. All of this I swear to be the truth; on the cross, on the Bible, on +my mother's sacred honor! And I respect and honor Lessie as I would my +own sister!" + +Truth alone is a powerful weapon, and I could see that Granny was +impressed, though not convinced. She still viewed me in truculence and +disgust, but there was a subtle change in her demeanor. I could feel it +more than I could see it. I waited, knowing that I must not be too eager +in my disclaimers. Granny stood, plainly taken aback, and when she spoke +her voice had sunk to its natural compass. + +"I dunno. It don't 'pear right to me.... Whut cause has a gal to make up +sich a yarn as this?--tell me that!" + +She flung the question at me with a triumphant flare. + +I hesitated. Should I tell the true reason? Should I tell how this girl +had tried to flirt with me, and then, when I had refused, had concocted +this devilish scheme which only a bad woman could have thought of? I +owed her nothing, not even consideration now, and she had made a bold +stroke to blacken me irretrievably in the eyes of Celeste. But something +held my tongue. I could not betray her baseness except as a last resort. +I stood with eyes down, thinking. The old beldam facing me deemed it was +from shame, and my inability to answer her question. I remained silent. + +"Yo' 've lied to me!" came her voice, shrill again, and carrying a +victorious note. "Whut cause has she, I say? Yo' dunno. Cause 'nough, I +'low! 'N' yo' can't answer, git yo' gone frum these premises, 'n' never +sot yo' foot on 'em ag'in!" + +I lifted my head at this, and replied in low, even words. + +"I know, but I cannot tell you. But believe me, I am innocent of this +charge." + +Mingled with Granny's vindictive scream of derision was a heart-broken +moan from the door-step. I turned quickly, to see my Celeste, hands over +her eyes, run weeping in the house. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN + +IN WHICH I DESCEND INTO HELL + + +I have descended into hell. + +I had no idea of the intensity of my own nature until the deeps were +stirred. Few of us ever come to a full realization of what we are, or +may become. I have always thought with some degree of pride that my +acquaintance with myself was perfect. More than that, I was positive +that my ego was entirely subservient to my will. So it always has been +until now. But the reason for this is that I have lived upon the crust +of life, have walked calmly and confidently upon the tops of things. It +is indeed a poor sort of fool who does not know himself in his relations +to the superficialities of his daily existence. How satisfied I was! How +willing to meet emergencies and demands, in the full faith that I could +cope with all such. I do not think I am an exception to my fellow +creatures in this. All men whose natures are well rounded and adjusted +have this same idea. It is essential to their progress. We must perforce +believe in our own abilities before we can perform any achievements. So +I am not ashamed to write these words. I have never been conceited, nor +puffed up. I have had no cause to be, but I don't believe I would have +been had I reasons--or what silly people give as reasons, for really +there is never any justification for such a mental attitude. + +Neither am I ashamed to say that I have descended into hell. At first +sight it may seem weakness, but upon investigation it will be found the +reverse is true. I did not take the plunge voluntarily, although my +perhaps foolish adherence to a Quixotic theory undoubtedly had a deal to +do with precipitating me downward. From the fact that my feet have +strayed along the gloomy, thorn-set paths of hell for the past week, I +have awakened to a newer and truer knowledge of myself. Had my feelings +been on the surface only, the past seven days would have found me +philosophically plodding through the forest recesses in search of my +mystical life-plant, or busily engaged in my garden, or curled up in an +easy chair reading one of my favorites. Not one of these natural things +have I done, for the simple reason that I have been a dweller in hell +instead, and in this grim demesne there is neither life-plant, garden +nor books. But there is torture, in exquisite variety. The world-worn +and cynical may sniff and declare that a man beyond thirty should have +passed this sentimental, simpering age. I don't know how that may be. I +cannot answer. I can only set down that which befell me, and I choose to +regard as strength, rather than weakness, that quality which has enabled +me to suffer like unto a damned soul. Surely if any doubt ever flickered +on the horizon of my conscience, that doubt has been swept away and +annihilated utterly. I am possessed by a legion of devils which escort +me hourly on my way; grinning, fiendish, sleepless devils which leap +about my feet with gibe and curse, and dance upon my pillow in a fiery +saraband when I fain would forget in sleep. Sleep! When did I sleep? +Sunday night? No, God's mercy! Sunday night I wandered bareheaded, +coatless, for miles and miles, hour after hour. I did not choose my way. +I did not even take the road leading down from the plateau. I think I +must have eaten something mechanically, then came out of the Lodge whose +walls were shutting off my breath, and made straight for the closest +point of descent. It was near the lone pine, between cedar bushes which +ruthlessly scratched my unheeding face. Here the declivity was steep and +rough. Had I been moving in the world I never would have taken it, but +in hell one cannot choose his path. I went down. I fell. I collided +roughly with the trunks of trees. I tripped, I stumbled, I cursed, and +went on. I came to a cliff. It sank sheer, and below was darkness. I lay +down, rolled my body over, hung by my hands, and dropped. I knew not, +neither cared, where I might alight. I splashed into a shallow pool not +over six feet beneath. Then came leagues after leagues of tireless +walking. I noted neither distance nor time. At last I burst out upon a +huge, flat rock, overhanging a valley of majestic length and breadth. A +gibbous moon brightened the sky and silvered the slopes about me. Then +for a few moments I was on earth again, brought back by the magical +beauty of the scene. But my respite was indeed brief. The black gulf of +perdition closed over me again as the merciless hand of Fate twisted +anew the iron in my soul, and I turned away from that glimpse of the +earth with my teeth chattering. How far had I strayed? Heaven knows. But +it was past midday when I again sighted that sentinel-like peak beneath +which I shelter. + +The next night I sat face to face with the devil through the long, +lonely, hideous hours. Ah! but he is a specious rogue! There never was a +tongue on earth like unto his. But I met his arguments with a sort of +bulldog, mean combativeness. So we talked back and forth, out there, in +front of the Lodge. I occupied one bench, he the other, and our meeting +was gruesome. How full he was of guile, sleek insinuation, plausible +persuasion. At first his method was violent--but I shall tell first of +how the encounter happened. + +After a pretense at supper I clutched my cold pipe for company and crept +out to the seat. I did not light up. Burning tobacco makes for solace at +most times, but I knew my erstwhile cherished weed would be an affront +to my taste and a stench in my nostrils that night. And as I sat, humped +over and almost a-shiver because of the powerful emotions which had been +racking me for forty-eight hours, and more, thinking of all I had lost, +the Prince of Demons leaped full armed upon me, all unexpectedly, and +his assault was fierce. At first I crouched under it sinisterly, as a +man will when an evil takes him unawares. But another moment my heart +and mind and soul had arisen simultaneously to my rescue, and together +we fought a good fight. I doubt me if many unwritten battles were harder +contested. Thus, beneath the stubborn resistance of my staunch and +faithful allies, the Enemy's violence abated. But presently I knew that +he had changed his tactics only, and had not withdrawn. For there he +crouched on the bench just across from me, apparently unhurt, while I +realized with much sadness and shame that each of my champions bore +marks of the conflict. I remained silent, hoping my unwelcome visitor +would depart, but instead he began now to leer and smirk at me +ingratiatingly. + +"What do you want?" I asked, surlily enough, for my spirit was sore +within me, and this presence was most distasteful. + +Said the Devil: "What do _you_ want?" + +Thereat he grinned ghastily, and wagged his head, while I felt my heart +turn sick, and my bowels tremble. But I answered: + +"I want that which is as far removed from you and your accursed power as +God and his angels--a real woman's love!" + +Now he laughed in raucous glee. + +"And that's what you have lost--by playing the fool! Is it not so?" + +"That's what I have lost--perhaps by playing the fool," I replied. + +Said the Devil to me: + +"And that very day you went back about sunset, driven by the barbs of +your passion, to tell the old woman the truth. You could not gain +admittance to the house. You saw no one. You have been back twice. You +have laid in wait. But you have failed to get speech with any in the +house. Is it not so?" + +I nodded assent. + +"Then what?" continued the Devil. + +"Hell--and you!" I retorted, in desperation. + +Then the Devil edged closer to me along the plank; he seemed to writhe +across it like something with a hurt back. It made my flesh creep to see +him. He leaned toward me through the intervening space, and stretching +out his ugly, snake-like neck, hissed: + +"Honor and virtue are lies! Pleasure is truth. Take her--" + +Up I sprang, fist at shoulder, and lunged at that fiendish visage with +all the power of my body. I hit nothing, the impetus of the stroke +wheeled me entirely around, and there stood mine Enemy, hands on hips, +shaking with silent laughter. + +I stood and glared at him in angry helplessness. + +"Easy--easy!" he chuckled. "You are not the first to shrink at giving up +a cherished chimera. You see I am much older than you, and know all of +humanity's foibles and make-believes. I am your friend. In your mind you +have created an angel out of a piece of ignoble clay. Listen, while I +prove to you that I am your friend, and show you a way to success." + +Thereupon his vileness became so bold and horrible that I will not soil +this white paper with a transscript of it, and I sank upon a bench, +elbows on knees and face in hands, listening to the damnable rigmarole +because I could not help it. My visitor was beyond personal +violence--witness my recent fruitless attempt to strike him--or time and +again I would have closed with him and slain him, or been slain. +Shudders of shame and rage swept me from head to foot, and my cheeks +grew so hot they burned my palms. Hours passed. At times the Devil +relaxed, and a sort of armistice prevailed, then he would renew his +merciless planning for my destruction, and how smooth and easy the road +appeared under the magic of his voice! Throughout the entire night I +remained humped over, shaking at intervals as some especially diabolical +sentence fell upon my unwilling but helpless ears; holding my tongue, +because I knew that no words of mine would avail to move the monster at +my elbow. + +Hast ever sat up o' night with the Devil, my brothers? It comes to me +that every one who lives, or has lived must have had this experience. +'Tis a blood chilling one, forsooth; at least when resistance is +offered. Only when daylight stole ghost-wise through the still aisles of +the immemorial wood did mine Enemy depart, and I got to my feet, +trembling as one risen from a bed of grievous sickness, groped my way +within, and fell with a groan across my cot. + +Throughout that day I slept, and arose in the late afternoon feeling +refreshed. My trouble was mental, and this long rest for my brain was +most beneficial. I put as firm a check upon my thoughts as I could bring +to bear, and methodically set about preparing my supper. Looking back as +I write to-night, I know that my movements were erratic and strained. I +built my fire in the kitchen stove calmly, but soon thereafter memory +made a breach in the flimsy wall of reserve which I had upreared, and +havoc began afresh. I burned my food. I broke two dishes. I blistered my +fingers on the hot oven. Then I ate voraciously, almost viciously, and +leaving the things unwashed, tore out to the companionship of my vast +host of faithful trees. Read? I could no more have held my eyes to +printed lines that night than I could measure the sun's diameter. The +Book says there is a time for everything. This week has been my time to +visit the nether world, while yet alive; to become almost insane, while +retaining a degree of sense. It may be I shall omit this chapter entire +when the end of my story is reached. I am writing it to-night, because +in doing so I open a safety valve. I have been fearfully surcharged with +the intensest sort of feelings, and I find that it gives me some relief +to pour them out upon the pages of my journal. When I grow again to be +the reasoning man I was last Sunday--if I ever do--I shall read these +lines again. If they seem perfervid, unnatural, overdrawn, I shall wipe +them out, in deference to the gentle critic who never saw a red-haired +Dryad, and consequently cannot have the least understanding of what I +have been driving at in this night's record. I know I have already +penned thoughts and emotions which will cause the phlegmatic cynic to +damn my story as unreal and banal. In like manner I know there are +others--scarcely will they be found in the critic class, I fear--whose +hearts will warm to me in kindest sympathy. These, mayhap, will be those +of like excessive temperaments, who have looked on Beauty to their cost. +Yea, like Priam, and Menelaus, and that old war-dog, Ulysses himself, +and the hosts of others whose eyes beheld the ruinous loveliness of +Argive Helen. On her pylon tower she sang, and men died, demented and +hopeless, struggling for a single smile! Why were all famous beauties in +history and mythology red-haired? Who can answer? From echoless time it +seems to have stood as a type of perfection. I know what it has meant to +me--dear Christ!--since that spring day when I saw it intertwined with +dogwood blossoms. To-night--I am writing in desperation, that I may +perchance get some sleep when I have worn myself out at the table by +which I sit--I say to-night that I would rather live here on Baldy's lap +forever with Celeste for my wife; here, in the Lodge, alone with her, +than to be the consort of the mightiest queen of earth! + +I rushed out to the sheltering arms of my faithful trees, and stood +among them. I had nothing on my head. The moon was larger, and in its +light I seemed in some enchanted place. Then the craze to move--to walk, +drove me down to the ravine. Unthinkingly I turned toward the Dryad's +Glade. After a while I halted, overcome all at once by the supernatural +radiance which permeated every cranny of that spreading wilderness. Just +where I stood the trees were not so dense. Twenty and thirty feet apart +some of them grew, and though many lateral branches thrust far out to +intermingle, the myriad moon rays found numerous paths and peepholes to +the earth below. It also chanced that I had stopped in a spot where the +spiring trunks rose naked of boughs to a considerable height. This +peculiarity was a great aid to the diffusion of the blue-white, misty +atmosphere which was all about me. I seemed to stand in a ghost land; +everything was shadowy; even the rough boles appeared tenuous, ready to +dissolve and disappear at a breath of wind. But there was no wind. I +stared all about me, marveling at this common mystery of moonshine which +was yet so unfathomable; feeling it sink into my soul in peace giving +waves, comforting my tired breast. So I folded my arms and leaned +against a near-by oak, determining to stay just there. It was the first +moment of waking calm I had known since--How blissful it was! How +peaceful! How past all poor words of mine to describe! Picture primeval +creation. No hewn-down trees, no unsightly stumps, no chips from the +relentless ax. Merely a mighty forest which had been such always. +Solitude, silence. An all-enveloping, blue-white night, and one lone man +striving for ease of mind and soul in the midst of these eternal +realities. How good it was to feel my tight breast loosen; to feel that +awful clamp dropping away from my temples, where it had been pressing +and fretting me almost to madness. I breathed deep of that clear, sweet +air; huge, delightful respirations which made me feel light-headed. And +even as a smile of appreciation crept to my lips, and my eyes half +closed under the weird spell of the place, I knew that I was not alone. +Down a winding vista, far off, something was moving. The distance was +too great and the light too poor for me to tell what it was. A gray +shape was disturbing the nebulous perspective; a shape which at moments +almost assumed proportions, to become at once as something almost of the +imagination. I did not change my attitude, for as yet only a mild +curiosity was present. It might be anything from a stray cow to a +moonshiner on his way to work. Be it what it might, I hoped it would not +disturb me, but wend its way. It was coming toward me; I could not doubt +it directly. It would pass me at a right angle, perhaps thirty feet off. +I did not care to be seen if it was human; I was in no mood to sacrifice +a portion of this wonder-night to rustic inanities. I slipped quietly +around into the shadow of my oak. There came a sound, like a silvery +laugh wedded to a harsh cackle, and this was followed by the swift +patter of running feet, tapping in a muffled tread the moss- and +leaf-strewn ground. I thrust out my head to see what these strange +sounds meant. God above! The Dryad and the Satyr, hand in hand, dashed +by my hiding-place like a hurricane. She was next to me. What she wore I +cannot say. It was something all white, girded at the waist with a vine, +for I saw leaves and tendrils hanging from it. She had shaken her hair +down. The Satyr was without his hat, and his ragged coat streamed out as +he tore along. I glimpsed his face, and it reflected honest merriment +only. Just opposite me they laughed again, without apparent reason, as +children do in a frolic, and how incongruous it sounded; Celeste's +musical bell tones, and Jeff Angel's cracked and jarring voice. So, hand +in hand, in perfect understanding and good-fellowship, these two +Children of Nature romped through the moonlit lanes of their beloved +woods, happy in their very wildness and unrestraint. + +Before I could recover from my profound astonishment they had +disappeared down a misty aisle hung with trembling, diaphanous, luminous +shadows; had merged with the pearl-gray gloom of the middle distance, +and a wild, eerie strain of something which might well have been +borrowed from a barbaric chant drifted back to my stunned sensibilities. +I caught the notes only, but they drove through to my brain like +fire-barbed arrows, and stung it into action. She had passed almost +within reach of my arm! She! The one because of whom this awful abyss +had opened up for me. She had passed, and I had stood like a dolt and +let her go! "Lessie! Lessie!" I sprang forward, goaded by love and +despair, and ran after them with all the swiftness I could command. +"Dryad! Dryad!" I called, at the top of my voice, but no answer came. I +stopped, and with hand against a tree held my breath to listen. Not a +sound but my own blood hammering in my ears. Then as a full realization +came to me of the opportunity which had been offered, and which I had +stupidly missed, a feeling of mad recklessness seized me, and I bounded +forward again, blindly, knowing only that somewhere ahead of me was +Celeste. Once I saw something white, and rushed toward it with outheld +arms and a strangled cry of gladness. It was a portion of a projecting +earth-bank, covered with a growth bearing tiny white blossoms. The moon +struck it full, and had worked the cruel deception. I fell upon the pure +little flowers and tore them savagely; flung them down and ground my +feet upon them, then took up my search once more. Rage filled my breast. +Rage at myself, at Fate, at Granny, at Beryl Drane, and this animal +emotion must have blinded my eyes, for in my headlong, methodless +pursuit I at length ran full force into a huge beech, and dropped +senseless at its feet. + +I don't think it could have been long before I roused, for there was no +lessening of the brilliant light, such as happens when the moon +declines. It was well for me that I was unconscious but a short time, I +suspect, for as my eyes came open I at once became aware of another pair +above me. A pair which seemed made of sulphur, marked with alternate red +and green rings, glowing wickedly. Then I made out the contour of a dim +body perhaps three feet in length stretched upon a low limb just over +me. It was a gigantic wild-cat, and he was stalking me. I doubt not he +would have dropped within another five minutes, for even as I watched, +his back began to arch and the claws of his hind feet to rustle along +the bark. With that suggestive motion his head also drooped below the +limb, and it came to me he was gauging the distance for his spring. I +was no hunter, but 'Crombie was, and from him I had learned that +wild-cats will not attack a man unless driven by hunger, or brought to +bay in a corner. So I sat up incontinently; threw out my arms and +shouted. With the agility of his tribe he turned promptly, and another +second was scuttling up the tree. + +I found I had a painful welt across the top of my forehead, but no other +injury was apparent. My heart turned sick as recollection came back on +swallow wings. There was nothing left but to go home. I had myself to +thank for my predicament. But where was home? Whither my flight had led +me I possessed no idea. I had tried to follow the elusive wake of two +night-roamers, and they had proven will-o'-the-wisps. Why had not the +Dryad stopped at my call? I wondered, as I moved doggedly away from the +spot. Surely she had heard. Surely she knew who it was, for no one else +called her by that name. Could it be that Granny had perverted her mind? +Or was it that she did not care? That I was only an incident, and had +been cast from her life as quickly and suddenly as I had entered it? I +would not believe this; I could not believe it. The blow which I had so +recently sustained wrought a radical change in my mental condition, and +while my breast still burned with implacable resentment toward the +nameless something which had caused me to miss catching Celeste, I found +that my thoughts were freer, and comparatively lucid. I could not +believe that she had thrust me below her life's horizon, and gone +singing through the woods as though nothing had happened. The idea was +monstrous, appalling, revolting. It was wholly unacceptable. That my two +visits to her home bore no fruit I laid at Granny's door. The old beldam +had managed it in some way. Had kept the girl hidden, and had prevented +anyone within the house from answering my summons. Why had the Dryad +burst out weeping and run indoors when Granny thought she had convicted +me of duplicity, and ordered me from the place? Ah! my soul! there was +comfort in that! Celeste did not cry from fright; she was used to +Granny's tantrums. She cried because for the moment she saw things in +the same light and from the same angle as that old termagant--may her +bones lie unburied! She did care for me--she _did_ care for me--she DID +care for me, and I knew it. I could not solve her frolicking in the +forest with her half crazy cousin. I could not unriddle her laughing and +singing. Such things do not go with a heavy heart in the world I know, +but it may be she sought relief in following her beloved habit of +running, untamed and free, wherever her hoyden steps led her. I will see +her yet, and I will find out. I will make her see the truth, and outwit +that old she-devil who has cast me into torment with her meddling. + +Moonset found me laboring up the road to the Lodge. I had stumbled upon +my hill. Sleep came at once, and how doubly sweet was that deep, +soundless, shoreless sea when I slipped out upon it in my Barque o' +Dreams! + +Next day was Wednesday. All the bulldog in my nature unleashed--and a +major part of my nature is represented by the hybrid breed of bulldog +and mule--I went to Lizard Point, with the determination to have speech +with some one before I came away. I was no schoolboy, or callow youth, +to be trifled with in this manner. I had certain rights as a gentleman, +and these rights I intended to demand. But alas for human hopes--and +determinations! I could not demand aught of an empty porch, or a closed +and locked door, or blind-drawn, nailed down windows. I suppose they +were nailed down, for my peculiar nature caused me to try and raise two +of them, when repeated calls and much banging on the door did not bring +any results. The sashes did not even tremble under my hands. I saw a +broken rail lying near one corner of the house. I looked at it, and at +the blank window. That would get me in, or get somebody out. Either +would serve. I was so wrought up that I actually started toward that +piece of wood before I realized what I intended doing. It would be +house-breaking; malicious destruction of property--both of which were +jail offenses. I must forego the execution of this project, much as it +appealed to me at the moment. Nothing would suit Granny better. She +would have the law on me in a trice, and be rid of me for good and all. + +I went home. + +It is not my purpose to recount in detail my wanderings the remainder of +this week. Some of it would prove a repetition, and other of it +uninteresting. If my sojourn in the Inferno was not as gruesome as the +hero's of Ithaca, nor filled with majestic horrors like the immortal +Dante's, yet it was undeniably true. One night I climbed the peak thrice +between nightfall and daydawn. The last ascent found me so exhausted +that I lay prone upon the table-like top, and watched the miraculous +mystery of morning. It was the first time I had ever seen it from a +great height, and the impression cannot be put into words. I am tempted +to try--oh! the untold glory of the magical metamorphosis!--but no, I +will withstand the inclination. The result would be akin to that a +three-year-old child would obtain if given the necessary pigments and +told to paint a sunset. There are times when even fools will not rush +in; this is one of them. + +Sunday night again as I pen these words. Seven days! Seven æons! My +watch tells me it is twelve o'clock. As I pause for a moment a sound +floats through my open window. It is not any night bird's trilling, for +I know my singers of the dark, every one. Now it comes plainer. A sort +of whistle, I should say, though it is a kind I have not heard for a +long time. Its impression is fuzzy, as though done carelessly. I have +heard boys whistle so, between their teeth. What is happening without my +door, I wonder? No one bent on mischief, for such do not advertise their +approach. The whistling has stopped. I declare I hear feet, and they +draw nearer. I am not one bit alarmed. I think I prove this by +continuing my task as the unknown footsteps steadily come closer. They +stop. I look up. Arms crossed on my window-sill, head bobbing in +greeting and goat tuft wagging, stands the Satyr. Before I can speak he +loosens this tipsy stave: + + "Say, Mr. Rabbit, you're look'n' mighty slim!" + "Yes, by gosh! ben a-spit'n' up phlim!" + + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN + +IN WHICH THE SATYR AND THE NARRATOR BECOME VERY DRUNK AND THE LATTER IS +LIFTED TO EARTH AGAIN + + +"Come in here, Jeff Angel!" I cried, joy at sight of him mounting, and +brightening my face with a smile of welcome. I dropped my pen and +beckoned eagerly. + +His grin broadened as he accepted my invitation forthwith, through the +window. I meant that he should enter by the door, naturally, but instead +he gave a leap, and came squirming and wriggling in like a great +caterpillar. I was up and had him by the hand as soon as his feet +touched the floor. + +"Where's Lessie? How is she? How does she feel toward me? Why didn't you +stop when I called you the other night? Talk, man! Hurry!" + +The Satyr's grin seemed fixed. + +"Whur 'n hell yo' ben?" he drawled, disengaging my clasp and sliding +around the table to a seat on a box. + +I rattled my chair on the floor impatiently and begged him to take that, +but he demurred. + +"Ain't used to 'em," he explained. Then, once more, in genuine and open +curiosity--"Whur 'n hell yo' ben?" + +"You've said it--in hell!" I answered, savagely, slipping my papers to +one side and sitting upon the table's edge. "And Granny, your blessed +aunt, is the one who shoved me in--good and deep!" + +"Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!" roared Jeff Angel, with an intonation +indescribably ludicrous had I been in the humor to enjoy it. His head +went back and his curving whisker shook at me like a bent forefinger. + +"Damn it, man!" I gritted, worn irascible by that week's awful +experiences; "don't laugh and joke the night away! Tell me about +Lessie--then we'll make merry till morning if you wish!" + + "We'll drink, till we sink, in th' middle o' th' road, + But we won't go home till mawn--'n'!" + +Thus caroled this irrepressible Antic, and drew from some recess in his +rags the bottle which I had seen before. + +I glared at him helplessly. Perhaps he was a trifle drunker than he was +that other time, when I gave him his supper. There he sat swaying his +head from side to side, peering mischievously at me with his watery blue +eyes, irresponsible as an infant. Then I recognized the futility of +anger, or importunity. This queer being would speak when he got ready, +and not before. I made a great effort, and threw off the impetuousness +which desired to know everything at once. I would humor this half +civilized, half crazy person. + +"Let us drink, then!" I agreed, bending forward with outstretched arm. +"I need a bracer, anyway." + +At this the Satyr sat up with distended lids and mouth ajar, holding +himself to a rigid perpendicular by planting his hands on either side of +him and putting his weight upon them. + +"Shore 'nough?" he burst out. + +"Shore 'nough!" I answered, with a positive nod. "Give me some of your +white lightning; I've grown used to fire." + +He picked up the bottle haltingly, as though constrained to unbelief in +spite of my words and my waiting hand, and placing his thumb over the +cob stopper, began to shake the contents furiously. + +"What's that for?" I asked. + +"Shakin' th' fusic off!" he enlightened me, and it was a moment or two +before I figured out what he meant. Fusil oil in whisky rises; Jeff's +vigorous action was to diffuse it. His corruption of the word told me +that he was totally ignorant of what he really was doing. + +He drew the stopper with his teeth, and handed me the bottle. I think I +have said elsewhere in this narrative that drinking whisky is not one of +my weaknesses. That is to say, it is not a habit. I can scarcely +conceive of a man living thirty years in Kentucky without drinking a +little whisky. I knew the stuff I held was vile, but I put it to my lips +for two reasons. I was dead tired, and I wanted to set this contrary +creature's tongue to going on topics which would interest me. I took a +big mouthful, swallowed, and thought my time had come. Hot? My throat +closed up, tight, and for a time I could not breathe. My mouth burned as +though it had been cauterized. I slid from the table, choked, coughing, +my eyes running water. Back to the kitchen I tore for a draught from the +bucket on the shelf--for something that would unstop my windpipe. +Pelting my ears as I ran were the high-pitched, cackling notes of the +Satyr, volley after volley, as he hugged his knees and rocked and weaved +in unrestrained delight. + +"Whut's the matter?" he queried, in mock surprise, as I reappeared with +my handkerchief busy about my eyes and mouth. + +"No more o' that junk, Jeffy!" I replied, thrusting my hand into the +medicine chest on the wall and producing a quart of ten-year-old rye +whisky. "If I make merry with you I'll choose my beverage." + +"That's spring wadder!" he returned, contemptuously. "We feed that to +babies out here." + +"Spring water it may be, but it's stout enough for your uncle." + +I drew the cork as I spoke, placed my private brand upon the table, +found my pipe and sat down facing my strange guest. + +He proceeded to shame me by indulging in a very liberal potation, +smacking his lips with greatest zest at its conclusion, and winking +across at me in a manner intended to indicate his superiority. + +"Where's your fiddle?" I asked; not that I cared especially, but it was +incumbent upon me to be agreeable. + +The Satyr jerked a grimy thumb toward the window which had just admitted +him. + +"Out thur on th' binch. 'S wropped up 'n' th' jew won't hurt it." + +In the short silence which followed, we got our pipes to going. + +"Was that you whistling a while ago?" I continued, after waiting vainly +for my visitor to say something voluntarily. + +"That's me a-play'n'." + +"Playing?" + +"Yes, play'n' a reed. Fus' thing ever I got music out o'." + +Again his hand was hidden in his tatters for a moment, and came out with +what appeared to be a long, slender stick. This he placed to his mouth +after the manner of a clarinet player, and blew a pure, flute-like note. +Then I saw the instrument was hollow, with little round holes along its +length. + +"Pipes o' Pan, by Jove!" I breathed. "Make me some music, Satyr." + +Already I was aware of the effect of that mouthful of white lightning. A +slow but sure elation was beginning to buoy me up unnaturally, and I +felt the ebullience of spirit such as follows the knowledge of some +great joy. + +"Pipe for me, you heathen minstrel!" I added, smiling at him with +narrowed eyes. "Draw from that piece of wood the things the birds, and +the trees, and the brooks, and the flowers have told you. Trill me a +moonlight roundelay, such as inspires the feet of fairies; make me see +the wood violets nodding in the warm dusk, and let me hear the drone of +bees in the tiger-lily's cup. Sound for me the dream-song of the runlet, +as it whispers and babbles over its pebbly bed and between its +moss-draped banks in the silver starlight. Bring me the low love-message +of the dove when the breeze is but a sigh, and the witch-light from a +sun just sunk fills all the forest with a chastened radiance, and makes +it one vast sanctuary upheld by a million pillars. It is there your +patron lives--the great god Pan! Tell me not you've never heard him by +the river bank o' quiet days, when the squirrels sleep, and the +chipmunks drowse, and the birds forget their tunes. Belike you've never +seen him, for to mortals he remains ever invisible; but you, O Satyr, +are most surely a cousin, if not nearer kin, and it may be you and he +have danced many a bacchanalian revel together. Dost know him--the great +god Pan? Goat-legged, horn-headed, pleasure-loving, with his pipes to +while the time?" + +I did not stop to consider that this outburst was jargon pure and simple +to the ears which received it. My mind had suddenly become gorged with +poetic thoughts, and I poured them out upon the helpless head of Jeff +Angel. + +"Fur Gawd's sake!--air yo' plum' gone?" he exclaimed, in unfeigned +alarm, casting a rapid glance around as though meditating flight. + +"That's what your juice did for me," I explained, laughing to reassure +him of my sanity. "One more swallow, then we'll have a tune!" + +We pledged each other from our respective bottles, and the Satyr played. + +Again I find myself hampered, for I cannot translate that performance +through the medium of words. It was the most astounding exhibition I +have ever listened to. His work on the violin had been entirely beyond +the range of my comprehension, but then the dormant possibilities were +in the violin. What was there in this slender reed? Unguessed miracles +of sound! I sat and stared at the grotesque form on the box, wondering +at first if I really was so intoxicated that my imagination was acting +the ally for this vagabond artist. No, the ability of this uncouth +musician was real, and my appreciation was only heightened by the subtle +power of the draught of mountain dew. As I sat and puffed in lazy +contentment, many a woodland pageant passed before my eyes. I saw all +the things for which I had asked, and more. Beneath his hands the dumb +reed became a sentient power; became a living, speaking force. Nature's +infinite secrets dropped from it in purest pearls of sound. I heard the +twitter of birds; the love-call, the anger-cry, the alarm-shriek, the +mother-croon. I heard the wailing sweep of the wind when the storm +gathers and hurls its invisible battalions upon the countless army of +trees. I heard the wordless lisp of the matin zephyr when a new, fresh +breath moves across the world at dawn. I heard the vesper sigh like a +prayer from tired lips. I heard the whistle of the dove's wing in its +startled flight, and the quail's liquid call. I heard the holy hymn of +midnight when the moon hangs big and yellow, and the numberless strings +of the Ancient Harp vibrate softly to her summons. I heard the sweet +purling of running water, and the barely audible echo of an insect's +hum. + +I had no word of praise or compliment when Jeff took the pipe from his +lips and carelessly laid it aside. What I had just given ear to was +beyond platitude or fervent adjective; beyond comment. Silence was the +only true meed which might be accorded it, and this I gave. + +Jeff sighed, twisted his shoulders as though to rid himself of a cramp, +ran his tongue over his lips, and picked up his bottle. + +"Wuz that whut yo' wanted w'en yo' 's talk'n' out o' yo' head?" he +ventured, with a coy, sideways movement of his chin. + +I nodded. Here was a combination worthy of profound study. Totally +unlearned, depraved but not debased, with a soul so full of music that +even his besotted state had no power against it. I failed to understand. + +For an hour thereafter I strove with all the skill at my command, used +every artifice, to draw the Satyr out, and make him tell what he knew. +In vain. He saw through each device; he avoided each veiled trap. He +drank often, and good-naturedly insisted that I should imbibe every time +he did. There was no help for it, but presently I was taking no more +than a thimbleful at a time, for I realized that my condition was +becoming most uncertain. Jeff seemed proof against the stuff, for he +poured it down recklessly, without any noticeable effect. But when he +arose to his feet after a while to feel in his trousers pocket for a +match, I saw results. He giggled, swayed, and quite suddenly sat down +again. I hospitably got up to supply his needs from a box on the mantel, +when to my dismay and great surprise I discovered that the room was +beginning to turn around and the furniture to do a silent jig. I drew my +face down sternly to rebuke myself for this hallucination, and started +determinedly toward the mantel. Where was the mantel? As I sat it was to +my left. When I stood it was in front. Now it was to my _back_! I +whirled angrily, and bumped into Jeff Angel, who had risen to renew the +investigation of his trousers--I mean pants. Jeff didn't wear trousers; +he wore pants--and that's too dignified a name for them. We bumped, +instinctively grappled, and naturally came to the floor. Jeff fell on +top; I felt that abominable chin-tuft tickling my neck. I pushed him +off, and in a few moments we had gained what I shall term an oblique +perpendicular. That is, both his feet and mine were on the floor, but +his were some distance away from mine, and we were mutually supported by +our intertwined arms. He regarded me with a watery leer, and one eyebrow +tilted, while I endeavored to look very dignified; with what success I +of course cannot say. + +"Y's damn good feller!" averred my cup companion, blinking laboredly. + +I managed to move my feet forward a little, and to straighten my leaning +body correspondingly. Then I bethought me that I was host, and my guest +wanted a match. I looked for the mantel; it was not in sight. I turned +gravely to my _vis-a-vis_. + +"Whersh man'l?" I asked, when a weakening of my waist muscles caused me +to bend forward and then back in a most awkward manner. + +Instead of replying to my question, the Satyr, with eyes glassily set on +vacancy, began some more of his infernal doggerel. + + "Possum live in a holler tree, + Raccoon any ol' place; + Rabbit takes a drink o' booze + 'N' spits in a bulldog's face!" + +This classic quatrain was delivered after repeated efforts, and I bowed +my approval as the silly sing-song came to an end. + +Just how it was managed I cannot say to-night, as I sit with aching head +and write the story of my shame, but in some way we found our original +seats. + +"Hongry, ain't yo'?" asked Jeff, with what I thought a sardonic look. + +"No 'm not 'ung'y." + +"Yes yo' air--hongry fur news! Huh? He! He! He!" + +I swallowed, and fixed on him a stony stare. He was going to relent. + +"I's hongry onct--belly hongry--'n' yo' give me good grub. Now yo're +hongry--heart hongry--'n' I'm a-goin' to fill yo' plum' up!" + +I essayed to cross my knees to assure myself that I was actually all +right, but something went wrong with my lifted leg. It fell short, slid +down my other shin, and lodged on the instep in a most unique twist. I +let it remain. Bemused as I was almost to the point of helplessness, I +yet knew that the Satyr had far greater control of his faculties than +myself, despite the enormous quantity of poison he had consumed. I could +listen acutely, however, if my speech was difficult. + +"Go on," I encouraged, doing the two monosyllables without a hitch. + +"Th' gal lied to th' pries' 'n' th' pries' tol' Granny, didn't he?" + +This abrupt and startling declaration almost dazed me. + +"Howje know?" + +"I's to th' P'int t'other day; jes' drapped 'roun' 'n' heerd d'rec'ly +thur'd ben a tur'ble stew. Granny tol' me 'bout it, 'n' how she'd druv +yo' off on 'count o' whut th' pries's niece tol' 'im. She lied, though, +sho!" + +"Howje know?" + +"Granny 'lowed yo' said so, but I knowed it w'en it hap'n'd, 'cus I'm +al'ays perk'n' 'roun' in onexpected places. I wander consid'ble." + +"Whurruz zhe?" + +"That vine-house ain't fur frum th' hedge, 'n' I jes' hap'n'd to be +layin' 'long t'other side 'n' heerd all yo' said. So I ups 'n' 'lows to +Granny 'n' Lessie that you tol' th' truth 'n' th' gal lied, 'cus I heerd +ever'thin'." + +"Whusshe do?" + +"She sot thur lak a mud woman, a-wink'n' 'n' a-swaller'n', her mouth +hung open lak a dead fish's--" + +"Whus _she_ do?--Lesshe?" + +"She hugged Granny, 'n' she hugged Gran'fer, 'n' she hugged me, 'n' ez +she's hugg'n' me she tol' me we'd go runnin' that night, jes' on 'count +o' th' good news I'd brung." + +"I shaw you." + +"Huh?" + +"I shaw you--called--wouldn't stop. Why didn't yo' stop?" + +"Never heerd yo'; we's runnin'." + +The Satyr's recital was not given with the lucidity of my transcription. +It was halting, stammering, uncertain in places, but it imparted a +glorious truth which rolled a stone from my breast. Even in the depths +of my state of inebriety I was uplifted. I saw the light of day once +more, who had been following paths of gloom and horror. I remember that +I arose with the intention of grasping his hand to thank him, then a +veil dropped before my eyes and my mind went blank. + +I awoke this morning with my head splitting and every joint stiff. I had +spent the remaining hours of night upon the floor. My first thought was +of my visitor. I sat up and looked around, but he was gone. All of this +day I have been trying to get myself together. I was never drunk +before--beastly drunk. I never shall be again. It is not the physical +discomfort which causes me to make this declaration. That is bad enough, +but I am no cringing coward, and am ready to pay the penalty for any +conscious misdemeanor. It is the shame of it which makes me say it. + +When a man sets out to tell the whole truth about himself he has a task +before him. Willingly would I have omitted this scandalous episode; not +willingly, but gladly. I feel humiliated; I feel unworthy of that great +joy which surely will be mine as soon as I can see my Dryad. True, it +was for her I did it. I had to humor that antic creature to worm his +secret from him. My soul is at peace to-night despite the misery of my +mistreated body. Now I must go to bed, and I believe I can sleep. +To-morrow--to-morrow--oh, my brothers! did you ever go to bed in the +firm belief that to-morrow heaven's gate would open for you? + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY + +IN WHICH I VIEW AN EMPTY WORLD, ACT A HYPOCRITE, AND HEAR A CONFESSION +OF LOVE + + +I sometimes wonder why it is that troubles pile up. Why they are not +scattered along through our lives, instead of being accumulated, and +then dumped upon our heads all at once. It doesn't seem like a fair game +to me. It seems as if something was taking advantage of our +helplessness. You see a fellow can rally under one or two back licks of +Fate, if they are not too hard, and if there's any sort of fighting +stuff in him. But when they come often, and come big and strong, his +knees get wobbly and his spirit sickens. Is he to blame? + +I find myself in some such strait to-night, for the open door of heaven +which I went to sleep thinking about is not open, at all. It might be--I +believe it would be if I could see Celeste, but she is gone. I marvel at +the steady hand with which I trace these words. It is not because I do +not feel. There are invisible fingers at my throat, and a spiked hand +about my heart. Each spasmodic throb seems to thrust the cardiac walls +against nettles. If my journal had not progressed so far I think I would +end it right here. It appears as if this is to be the logical end +anyway. Perhaps when I rise from my work to-night I shall gather up the +written sheets and toss them, so much scrap paper, into the black jaws +of the old fireplace. I don't know. I have come to look forward to my +night's writing. It is not a diary, you see. It is--well, it must be a +story, in a way, but how could we call such simple and homely things as +I have jotted down a story? I'm sure it is not like the other story I +wrote; the book which was published, and which no one would read. I made +that up out of the whole cloth. I wonder if people knew--and I wonder if +they will believe my word that this is the truth. But if I stop writing +to-night I won't have a story. Things have gone on and on, and here I am +mortally in love with Celeste Somebody, and elsewhere are the others I +have met who have touched my life in various ways. All in suspense, as +it were, awaiting developments. I can't end my journal to-night. That +is, I can't end it and expect any sane people to put it between book +covers. Wouldn't it be an innovation! The thought amuses me in the midst +of my heartsickness. But Celeste is gone, and with her gone there is +nothing more to say. I could offer little else than Mark Twain's +memorable diary on shipboard: "Got up, washed, and went to bed." She +must come back, that is all. I don't know where she is, nor how long she +will be away. These things I will find out. Here I have wandered on much +like a maundering old man, without first setting down the adventure of +the day, and then commenting, if so inclined. I beg pardon. To-night I +really am not fit, and should not attempt to write. But I have begun; +inaction would be galling, so I will continue. + +Was I astir early this morning? The first gray arrow, barbed with silver +and feathered with gloom, had not found my small window ere I was up +with a snatch of song welling from my throat, and hurrying for the big +washtub back of the kitchen which does the duty of a bathtub in +civilization. I had never been so completely happy since I was a boy on +my grandad's farm. I even wanted to whistle while I was shaving, I was +so full of song and laughter. Cooking breakfast was a jolly lark; eating +it a delicious pastime. Then I was gone like a deer breaking cover, the +door to the Lodge open to its fullest extent. She knew the truth, and I +might even meet her coming to me. + +As I ran easily through the forest on the now familiar way, I noticed +that my exuberant spirits began to decline. A foreboding of some +disaster crept stealthily and steadily upon me, until I actually had a +chilly sensation down my spine, and a woeful sinking in my breast. This +phenomenon, in common with many others attendant upon our daily life, +cannot be explained. I really suffered until I came in sight of the roof +which sheltered my beloved; then, as I mounted to the tree-bridge with +feet suddenly grown leaden, a numb calm gripped me. I stood and leaned +against the section of the root-wadded disk which projected above the +butt of the oak, little spiders of feeling scurrying out all over my +chest from a center above my heart. No signs of morning activity greeted +my despairing gaze. The house was silent and lifeless as the trunk +beneath my feet. No blue wood smoke curled up from the kitchen chimney. +Not even the dog was visible. Only from the comb of the chicken house a +lonesome guinea fowl squawked harshly. I dragged myself forward. When I +reached the house I went in a mechanical way to each door and window in +turn. They were fastened, but I discovered the dining room window was +without a shade or curtain, and to a pane of glass here I pressed my +face, shielding my eyes from the light with my hands. Slowly the +interior took shape. A table covered with oilcloth; a few low-backed, +shuck-bottomed chairs; a smaller table against the wall holding what +appeared to be a jar of honey; a safe with tin paneled doors stuck full +of holes in some kind of design; a fly-brush in the corner made of +newspaper slit into strips and fastened to the end of a piece of bamboo +fishing-pole. A bare floor, well scrubbed. I saw no one; I heard +nothing, though I listened for several minutes with parted lips. They +were gone. Everybody was gone. Where? Maybe just to spend the day with a +neighbor. I knew this was a rural custom. Hope flared up with a quick +rush to welcome this idea. Where were those neighbors? Ah, yes! The +Tollers! Celeste had told me of them the first time I had talked with +her. She had said they lived over the hill. So over the hill I fared in +a bee-line, ignoring the road below which in all probability would +conduct me to my destination. It was a hard climb, for the spur rose up +rugged and forbidding, but I was growing inured to such things and +scarcely noticed the exertion. When I reached the valley upon the other +side I came upon the road. Following this for a short distance I +discovered a log cabin, set dangerously near the bank of a creek. To one +side a huge black kettle was a-boil over a faggot fire, and by it stood +a woman stirring with a long stick the clothes she was getting ready for +the wash. Children were everywhere, like squirrels in a hickory tree in +nutting time. There must have been fourteen, and the oldest was far from +grown. At sight of me one gave a shrill little yelp, then there began a +mighty scuttling for hiding places. The majority made for the door of +the cabin, several found refuge behind convenient trees, while one of +the boys shinned up an ash as though in mortal fright. Two or three more +dropped over the shelving bank of the stream, and holding to the sod +with tenacious, grimy paws, thrust their heads up and watched me with +brilliant, dancing eyes. The smallest sought the protection of their +mother's bedraggled skirts, which they pulled over their faces, thus +stifling in a measure the piercing wails which had marked their progress +to her side. The woman turned impatiently at the hubbub, brushed the +smoke from her eyes, and peered at me with puckered face. + +I came boldly toward her. Already I knew she whom I sought was not here, +but I had to make my errand known. + +"I'm looking for--a person," I began, conscious that I was stating my +mission very lamely. + +A look of mingled craft and truculence spread over the seamed, sallow +face of the woman. What a pitiful appearance she made! I was assured she +was not over thirty, but she seemed nearer fifty. Hipless, +flat-breasted, stringy-necked; her hands and wrists red and rough. Her +scanty hair was pale straw in color, showed dirt, and was slicked back +and screwed into a knot about the size of a walnut on the crown of her +head. Her dress was--simply a protection against nakedness. + +"I 'low yo' 'd better git!" presently exclaimed this mother of many, +with painful directness. + +"Yes," I assented; "I'll git in a minute. Have you seen Lessie this +morning? It is she I want!" + +"Oh!" + +The washed-out blue, almost vacant eyes popped open wider in instant +relief. Then I knew. Her man was a 'shiner, and she, seeing at a glance +that I was not of the vicinity, had visions of revenue officers and +penitentiaries when I vaguely declared I was looking for a person. + +"Air you him?" she resumed, squinting one eye and giving a little jerk +of her head. + +From which I judged that my fame had gone abroad throughout all the +region round about, and that her ambiguous query related to the unhappy +dweller on old Baldy's lap. + +"I'm him," I acquiesced, a dull misery making me careless of speech. +"Have you seen Lessie this morning?" I repeated, listlessly. + +The woman drew a deep breath of visible comfort. + +"Naw. She 's gone a-visit'n'. Th' hull kit 'n' bil'n' uv 'em tuk train +this morn'n' at peep o' day. I's over to Granny's yistiddy to borry a +chunk o' soap. She 's tur'ble worrit, 'n' tol' me she 's go'n' 'way fur +a spell." + +"Where have they gone?" + +"Snack Holler." + +"Where 's that?" + +"Lard knows! T' other en' o' th' worl', some'r's, lak 's not. Granny's +got folks thur." + +She turned to the kettle again and began to stir the clothes. + +"You say they left on the train from Hebron?" + +"I never said Hebrin, but that's whur they tuk train.... I wouldn't git +on one o' th' murder'n' thin's fur a sheer in th' railroad," she +confided, almost instantly. + +"Then they must be going on a long trip?" + +"To Snack Holler, I tol' yo'. Granny's got folks thur." + +"You don't know whether or not Snack Hollow is in Kentucky?" + +A doggedness born of desperation was goading me to find out all I could +about the destination of the fugitives, for I had no doubt this was a +move on Granny's part to elude me utterly and permanently. + +"'Pears to me yo' 've axed questions 'nough fur a plum' stranger, 'n' +I'm too busy to be pestered no mo'. 'T ain't none o' my business whur +Snack Holler's at, 'n' thin's whut ain't none o' my business I let +'lone. That's a mort'l good thin' to 'member, stranger--don't bother +'bout other people's business!" + +The unkempt brood among whom my approach had wrought such consternation +was beginning to make itself manifest again. Those who had fled +creekward now squatted on the verge of the bank; those who had rushed +indoors had inched out and lined up by the cabin wall; those who had +hastened to place the thickness of a tree between themselves and the +deadly danger which emanated from my simple presence now stalked boldly +in the open, while the infants had forsaken the folds of their mother's +dress and, on hands and knees, were diligently pursuing the erratic +journey of a spotted toad, punching him in the rear with their fingers +when he fain would rest. The tree climber was still wary; I could see +his slim brown legs and knotty knees dangling below a limb where he sat +astride. + +I had a prescience that this hill woman knew more than she had told me, +but how was I to get it from her after that last speech? It was safe to +assume the Tollers were good friends to Granny, and confidences were +just as essential to these people as to those more civilized. I +determined to employ strategy. Would it hurt my conscience? Bah! For +Celeste I would lie, or steal, or kill! + +"Mrs. Toller," I began, as though I had at that moment made a discovery. +"I declare you have a fine, handsome lot of children. All of them +yours?" + +I turned smiling from one group to the other. When my eyes came back to +the woman I saw with joy that her features had relaxed, and something +resembling a grin played about her bloodless lips. She quit work, and +beamed upon her frowzy, tatterdemalion progeny, proud as if each had +been a world conqueror instead of a dirt-enameled midgit of ignorance. +Ah! the simplicity and the beauty of motherhood! + +"Ever' chick 'n' chil' 's mine 'n' th' ol' man's." How her voice had +changed; a silver thread had crept into it where before iron had rung. +"Fo'teen uv 'em, sir, 'n' we've marrit fifteen year come th' fust o' +Jinnywary!" + +"Fine, healthy lot!" + +I rubbed my chin and took a fresh view of the spindle-shanked, +pinched-cheeked, tallow-faced little creatures, salving my conscience as +best as I could by bringing to mind that faulty old saw that the end +justifies the means. But I knew I was lying, and I wasn't used to it. +True this lie would do good. It would give happiness unalloyed to Mrs. +Toller, and I felt that I had put in a wedge with which I might prize +out the information I coveted. + +Mrs. Toller relinquished her grasp on the stick, turned her back on the +clothes, and folded her arms contentedly. + +"They _air_ a likely look'n' set o' young-uns, since yo' 're kind 'nough +to say so. Co'se it ain't fur me to brag, seein' 's I'm they mammy"--she +could hardly speak that sentence because of the pride which tightened +her throat--"but they ain't none here-'bout, not ev'n over to Hebrin +way, whut's nice 'n' man'erly 'n' _ree_-specb'l, sho!" + +The peregrinations of the persecuted toad, after describing an irregular +semi-circle, had now led him near the spot where I stood. After the +patient reptile toiled the three infants; two of the same size and +apparently the same age, and one who had but recently reached the +crawling period. This one, by the way, was perpetually in the rear of +the procession, its single garment hampering its knee action and making +any sort of speed out of the question. The frog had become tired of his +enforced journey, and was getting harder to move after each diminishing +leap. Now it sat with palpitating sides, stubbornly refusing another +jump, while the finger of the lead tormentor prodded with dull +persistence at its posterior. + +Up to this time Mrs. Toller had paid no heed to the unique pastime of +her three youngest, such pursuits possibly having lost interest from +their commonness. Now, however, she bent suddenly forward, exclaiming +shrilly: + +"You Stephen Alec! Don't tech that varmint ag'in! Yo' wan' to hev warts +all over yo'?" + +Stephen Alec promptly drew back and thrust the hand which stood in +jeopardy behind him. He turned a loose-lipped visage to his angry +parent, then began a series of extraordinarily piercing yells. + +Behold my chance! I stepped forward and gathered Stephen Alec up in my +arms and sat him upon my shoulder. Then I tossed him gently. Next I was +sitting on the ground with my watch out against his ear. The yells +ceased, and presently brothers and sisters were crowding around me. I +told them a story--one of the old, old favorites which our grandmothers +used to quiet their children with, and before it was done a little girl +had slid up so close to me over the bare ground that, still talking, I +put out my arm and curled it around her and pulled her up onto my knee. +At that another came voluntarily and crouched against my leg. Presently +the whole ragged, unwashed crew were squeezing about me as close as they +could get, and I was digging in the unused recesses of my mind for the +most correct version of Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs. Poor Mrs. +Toller! Happy Mrs. Toller! She fluttered from the black kettle to my +group, back and forth, listening in silence, like one of the children, +then hastening back to the clothes. I must have acted entertainer for a +full hour, although I found it interesting, and did not tire. When I +signified my intention of going I encountered a vociferous denial, and +perforce must relate a number of the tales a second time. But at length +I was on my feet, and with urchins clinging to every available hold +about me, advanced to bid Mrs. Toller good-by. + +"I'm awfully glad to have seen you and all these bright little people!" +(I should have been ashamed; I know it.) "I must be getting on now." + +Mrs. Toller was actually embarrassed. + +"I mought 'a' spoke a bit mo' ceev'ly to yo' ef I'd 'a' knowed yo' 's +sich a nice man. A pus'n can't be too partic'ler, yo' know, 'specially +w'en th' man's 'way mos' o' th' time. Since th' chil'n' hev took to yo' +so I don't mind sayin' that Granny 'lowed to me she's tak'n' Lessie 'way +from th' neighborhood 'count uv a man, but she nev'r named 'im 'cus +people don't tell names 'n' tales too, ez a gin'r'l thin'." + +"Much obliged to you, indeed. Glad to have seen you. Good-day." + +"Good marn'n'. Come back ag'in ef yo' git lonesome." + +A half-hour later I was sitting in the porch entrance of the deserted +house at Lizard Point. Right there we had sat such a short time before, +and she had learned her A B C's. Down that winding path we had strolled +the first time I came to call, and she had struggled so to tell me of +the darkened house in which she dwelt. And I was going to help her. +Already I had helped her, and now--I ground my teeth in sudden rage and +leaped up. Where was Jeff Angel? Gone with them? Where was anybody who +could point me a way out? Father John! He might know something of this +remote spot with the classic name where Granny "had folks." I wanted to +see Beryl Drane, anyway. I had not gone to her before because I knew +well no good would come of it. To-day I wanted to stand before her face +in the presence of her uncle, and ask her why she had told that vicious +lie which had wrought such evil. I wanted to confront her with her +baseness, and demand an explanation of her wanton wickedness. The sense +of chivalry which was born in my blood and which had caused me to +shield her once at the sacrifice of myself, was gone. It was consumed +in the hot furnace of my wrath and indignation. I wanted +Celeste--Celeste--Celeste! I would move heaven and earth to get her, for +the wonder and mystery of her rare beauty and the hypnotic effect of her +sweet personality had combined fearfully to work havoc within me. The +elemental peace which brooded like a living presence over the earth this +sunny, summer morning became to me a disturbing, harrowing force by very +contrast with the awful tumult which boiled within my breast. I was +lonely--lonely and desperate. I had borne all I could. That terrible +week wherein I never saw the sun, nor heard a bird voice, nor felt the +soothing benediction of a breeze, had well-nigh worn me out, bodily and +spiritually. This crowning calamity I would not accept meekly. I would +fight it; I would disclaim its existence. It was unjust, unfair, +treacherous and cowardly. I had been honest from the beginning, and when +a man plays the game of life fairly and squarely, not even Providence, +or whatever Great Power there be, has the right to take advantage of +him, and seek to overwhelm him. I would dare everything--heaven and +hell, if need be--for the sake of this golden haired Dryad with the lips +of flame. She had been removed by force. Even a lover's mind is acute +when the object of his adoration is concerned, and I knew--I knew that +Celeste loved me! What else mattered? This compulsory separation? A +great surge of triumph heaved up within me, and the light of victory +came to my eyes. What poor, ignorant puppets these were, who had tried +to rob me of my rare jewel? The beacon of her bright coronal would guide +me to the furthest corner of the earth, and if need had been I would +have followed across sea and plain and mountain and desert; followed +with a fire-wrapped heart of deathless devotion, even as Three of old +followed a certain Star. + +Filled with mingled emotions, all primal, all superlative, so that my +head seemed encircled with a close fitting metal band, I took up my +march to Hebron along the dusty road. My mood was reckless. I wanted to +see that little she-cat whose low vindictiveness was at the bottom of my +present luckless plight. I would neither spare nor choose my words. +There was no gallantry lurking in my soul now to temper the accusations +born of an outraged and agonized spirit. I felt sorry for the little +priest, for he loved her well. But innocent suffer with and for the +guilty daily. It is part of that plan we are told to accept blindly, and +when we question it, however meekly and with the true and earnest desire +for light, we are haled forth with a rope around our necks as heretics +and atheists. Father John would have to witness the destruction of an +idol, for I was merciless, and knew the power was within me to beat down +any brazen denial this creature might utter. A mighty strange thing is +love, my masters! + +Across the home-made bridge I tramped, striding heavily. A figure stood +in the door of the smithy, leather-aproned, tall and strong. I strode up +the slope with bent head, and reached a point opposite him before I +looked at Buck. Arms akimbo, sturdy legs apart, a grin on his face which +broke into a low, deep chuckle as he caught my eye. I almost stopped, +while my fists knotted with the instinct of a savage. But I went on, +that rumbling, mocking laugh echoing in my ears. He knew she was gone. +Perhaps he had something to do with her leaving. That insulting, +gloating chuckle could easily give rise to a suspicion of the sort, or +it may have been he was in equally bad case, and had simply adopted that +method of tormenting me. + +I gained the priest's house with a feeling such as I imagine a tiger +possesses when it gathers itself together to spring upon its prey. It +was entirely alien to my nature, but it had been born of circumstance, +not of my will, and I made no effort to remove or curb it. The front +door was closed, probably against the heat. I pounded upon a panel with +my fist, ignoring the gentler and more refined summons it is customary +to give with the knuckles. As I stood waiting, restlessly turning from +side to side, I observed that the shades to the two windows visible were +drawn to within a foot of their respective sills. At this discovery a +wild and reasonless alarm seized me. I renewed my hammering on the door, +and even seized the knob, shaking it vigorously. A key grated and the +door was opened, revealing the gaunt face and bony form of Marie, the +housekeeper. Wonder and a sort of terror shone in her bright black eyes. + +"Father John!... Miss Drane!" I exclaimed roughly, brushing past her +into the hall. "Where are they? In the library? I must see them both at +once--together!" + +I stopped and glared at the woman with a menacing forehead. + +"His rev'rence an' Mees Bereel ees not here!" she said, simply and +calmly. + +"Not here! _Not here!..._ Where are they?" + +"Gone. Mees Bereel goes home yest'day. His rev'rence go to Lou-ees-ville +wiz her, an' have not return'; _oui_." + +I made no reply, but left the house and mechanically turned back toward +the little hamlet. Gone! Was that the monotonous and deadly refrain to +which the world had been set running? All gone. Everybody gone. Wherever +I turned--gone. With sagging shoulders I plodded on, trying to think of +something else. Where was Snack Hollow? Where was Snack Hollow? Where +was Snack Hollow? This sentence raced through my brain with the +regularity of a pendulum's swing. Why, the station agent would know! I +had reached the foot of the steep hill, where the track ran, when this +illuminating idea was conceived. To my right was the small depot, +fronted by a platform of a height to unload freight upon from a car +door. Looking up suddenly under the force of my discovery, I saw Jeff +Angel seated upon this platform, his thin legs hanging from it, an +oilcloth-covered bundle at his side. He was leisurely eating cheese and +crackers from a yellow paper sack. What a glad sight he was to me in the +midst of an empty world! + +"O you blessed old Satyr!" I yelled, and ran toward him forthwith. + +"Whut's th' furse 'bout?" he asked, quietly, trying to smile a welcome, +but only succeeding in showing some imperfect teeth caked with cheese +and dough. + +"Why, damn your dirty, good old hide, I'm glad to see you!" I continued, +jumping to a seat at his left and squeezing his disengaged hand. "I'm +about two-thirds crazy, you know, and I need somebody to hold me when +the other third slips over. Think you can?" + +I nudged his skinny ribs jocularly. My mental condition truly was not up +to standard that moment. + +"Huh!" grunted Jeff, casting me a quick, amused glance. + +"Why didn't you wait and have breakfast?" I asked, drawing a breath +which flooded the deepest cell in my lungs. + +I tell you it was good to sit by the side of that ragged piece of +flotsam. I felt hope coming back, for I knew he was my friend. + +"Woke up--thirsty 's 'ell. Your'n gone; mine gone. Had to hev some +liquor, so I lit out, easy, so 's not to wake you up. Had some muster, +didn't we?--Huh?" + +I nodded. I didn't care to review that night's doings. + +"See here, Satyr," I said, abruptly; "where's Lessie?" + +"She's 'ith Granny 'n' Gran'fer, I reck'n," he replied, with a +naturalness which for a moment caused me to wonder if he knew of their +departure. "Leas'ways, they lef' together," he added, after a brief +interval. + +"Where have they gone?--what did they go for?--when are they coming +back?" + +My companion tossed the last bit of cheese, rind and all, into his +mouth; inverted the sack and allowed all the crumbs to go the same way; +blew the sack up and burst it on his knee, and began to feel for his +pipe before he replied. + +"I don' know whur they gone. They went to git Lessie 'way frum you. They +'s com'n' back putty durn soon." + +"I know where they've gone! It's to Snack Hollow!" + +"Who tol' yo'?" + +The look he bent upon me was a mixture of pity and contempt. + +"Mrs. Toller. I've just come from there. She was uncivil at first, but I +made up with the children, then she said Granny had told her she was +going to Snack Hollow, where she had some folks. Where is this place, +Satyr? I'm going, too, next train." + +"No ust, pardner." + +He scratched the dirty stub of a match on a plank, and lit up. + +"Granny--'n' Gran'fer--'n' Lessie--ain't a-nigh Snack Holler!" + +The fateful sentence came out in jerks, between puffs. I thought he was +trying to scare me. + +"You can't fool me, Jeff," I retorted, but my voice lacked assurance. +"How far is this Snack Hollow, and how soon can I get there?" + +With the greatest air of insouciance the vagabond fiddler chanted, in +the same sing-song with which I had grown familiar: + + "Raccoon got a ring-a-roun' tail, + Possum tail am bar'; + Rabbit got no tail at all, + Jes' a little bunch o' ha'r!" + +It was plainly immaterial to Jeff whether I believed him or not. Equally +plain it was that he knew what he was talking about. + +"I believe you, Satyr. But who told you?" + +He was instantly placated. + +"Nobody to' me noth'n', but I ain't no plum' ejit." + +"But Mrs. Toller--" + +"Look-y-here, pardner!" Jeff squirmed around and thrust his goat-tuft +forward. "Granny tuk Lessie 'way frum these here parts on 'count o' you. +She 'peared to b'lieve whut I tol' 'er 'bout th' gel lyin' on yo', but +they ain't no manner o' 'pen'ence to be put in Granny's notions. She's +made up o' contrair'ness, anyhow. She jes' got to mull'n' 'n' +a-brood'n', 'n' whut 'ith her trouble 'ith Ar'minty 'n' all she jes' +'lowed it's well 's not to light out fur a spell. 'N' hev yo' got little +'nough sinse to 'low fur a minute she 'd tell that long-tongued Ab'gail +Toller whur she's a-goin'? Yes, she tol' Ab'gail Toller she's a-goin' to +Snack Holler--'n' fur why? 'Cus she knowed yo'd come a-nosin' 'roun' +axin' questions, 'n' th' fust place you'd go 'd be right thur." + +I felt the water closing over me afresh at these words of doom. + +"But don't you know?" I urged, desperately. "Didn't you ask Granny?" + +"Yes, I axed 'er, 'n' she 'lowed it's none o' my 'fair." + +"But you said they would be back soon. How do you know?" + +A sly grin crept to his thinly bearded lips. + +"Look-y-here, pardner. Me 'n' you's frien's. I've et yo' grub 'n' drunk +yo' liquor 'n' slep' on yo' floor. I know yo 're lovin' Lessie 'n' +lovin' her hones'. I 'm a-gunta bring 'er back to yo'. I said I didn't +know whur they went, 'n' I don't, but I've got my s'picions. It mought +be a week, 'n' it mought be a mont', 'n' it mought be longer. But I 'm +a-gunta do it. Never yo' min' jes' how I'll manage. Th' day I fin' 'em +that day they start home, 'n' I don't 'low they 's so tur'ble fur, +neither." + +I felt my throat choke up at this totally unexpected act of generous +devotion. I know my eyes grew moist, and it was several moments before I +could say anything. + +"Satyr, I--I--you don't know how much I appreciate this. I don't deserve +it. But--can't I go with you on the search?" + +Jeff Angel laughed his mirthless, jackass laugh before answering. + +"Lord, no! This here pleasure trip 's all fur me. You jes' hang 'roun' +'n' wait fur nooze!" + +"You'll need money--how much?" + +My hand started toward an inner pocket, but instantly Jeff's long, wiry +fingers had gripped it, and dragged it down. + +"Naw yo' don't, pardner!" + +There was a peculiar earnestness to his voice and an exalted look in his +bleary eyes as, holding my hand hard down on the platform, he resumed: + +"I wen' to hear Father John preach onct--jes' out o' cur'os'ty. He tol' +a tale 'bout a Feller whut some heath'ns nailed on a cross, 'n' that +Feller c'd a-he'p' Hisself if He'd a-wanted to, but He let 'em kill 'im +so 's a pas'l o' other fellows c'd live. Father John said 't wuz fur you +'n' me, too, 'n' ever'body, but I 'low he kin' o' got that part o' the +story crooked, 'cus that ain't natch'l. Anyhow, he 'lowed that whut that +Feller done saved th' worl', 'n' He done it 'ithout money 'n' 'ithout +price. That's whut stuck in my craw. Jes' think uv it! 'Ithout money 'n' +'ithout price! I ain't no sort o' eddicated, but it 'pears to me that +w'en a feller c'n do some'n' fur another feller 'ithout no sort o' +pay--some'n' that's shore 'nough, yo' know--that it'd make 'im holler'n' +'n' shout'n' happy fur quite a spell. That's whut I mean, pardner; 'n' +that's whut I 'low to do fur you--fur, b' gosh! I love yo'!" + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE + +IN WHICH, STRANGE TO SAY, TIME PASSES. ALSO I RECEIVE THREE WARNINGS, +AND WITNESS AN UNPARALLELED EPISODE IN THE SMITHY + + +Four weeks have passed since Jeff Angel departed on his quest. Until +to-night I have not had the heart to face my journal. But to-day a +premonition came to me that my period of waiting was drawing to a close, +and pinning my faith to this invisible, silent herald which has spoken +to me before with prophetic voice, I take up my pen again. + +Jeff's loyal, true declaration almost stunned me. It was entirely +unexpected. I could not conceive of such self-sacrificing nobility in +him. I had given him no serious thought, accepting him for what he +appeared to be on the surface; a harmless, almost half-witted wanderer +in the wilderness about Hebron, cursed with an inordinate love for +strong drink, and blessed with the pure soul of music. And here, when my +case seemed all but hopeless, he had gladly and willingly volunteered +for a task which could be no light one. + +I pressed him to take some money--even a little; enough to insure him +against hunger, but he refused. He said he never had any trouble getting +food, and he was going to tramp. He needed nothing. He was going to +start at once--that afternoon. I made him come to the Lodge with me for +dinner, wished him quick success, and bade him God-speed with a strong +handclasp. He strode away chanting one of his absurd couplets. + +With his going a great sense of loneliness descended upon me. I felt the +cold hand of despair feeling at my throat. With an effort of will I +flung the deadening weight from me, and began to pace my plateau +vigorously, my hands behind me, my head bent in thought. I must not +prove a weakling or a craven now. Celeste would return. Jeff would find +her--or if he did not, I would. The world was not big enough to hide her +from me. A kind of mad joy flared out in my breast at the thought, and I +smiled fiercely. Jeff had said positively that they would start home the +day he found them. How did he know this? I had urged him to tell me, but +he had only laughed, and repeated his statement. I could not clear this +point, but I would not let it depress me. I was convinced the Satyr was +genuine, and that he knew what he was talking about. + +His time of absence was indefinite. That was the hardest of all to bear. +Had there been a fixed day in the future toward which I could walk with +the assurance that on that day I should greet my beloved again, I could +have gone laughing through the hours. But the uncertain waiting--the +rising of sun after sun and the falling of night after night, and the +still, empty minutes which must be lived! I strove to comfort myself in +those first few hours after my self-appointed messenger had left. He +knew these knobs intimately. He had been born in them, he had roamed +them all his life, he knew every nook and hiding place in them for +miles. He had also expressed his belief that the fugitives had not gone +far. Perhaps a few days would bring about our reunion; surely it would +not be longer than a week, or a fortnight at the farthest. There was +solace in this thought. And as I hugged this phantom belief to me my +furious pace slackened, and I continued my walking at a soberer gait, +still too perturbed to sit down and think quietly. + +How my heart ached for my vanished Dryad that afternoon! Let another +opportunity come! Nay, let her but come, and I would make the +opportunity. I had dallied. I had not listened to the promptings of my +heart early enough, and now a jealous old woman who did not understand +had snatched her from me. Then came the distracting thought that perhaps +Jeff would fail! Perhaps Granny's plan was deeper than it seemed, and it +might be that she had hurried away to some far and obscure part of the +Commonwealth, or even to another State. The fact that they were poor +presented no foil to this theory. People like her and Gran'fer were not +as poor as they seemed. They never spent except for the absolute +necessities, and during their long life together they had doubtless +saved and pinched until a goodly hoard was stored away in some nook or +hole. I believe I knew Granny's mind. It could never entertain but one +idea at a time, and it was an utter impossibility for her to view both +sides of a question. I pitied her even in my vexation. She had had ample +cause for the course she had adopted, and I was being made to suffer for +the sin of a cultured renegade from the higher world. Granny had decided +that all relations of whatsoever nature must cease between her +granddaughter and myself. She mistrusted me, in spite of the evidences +she had had of my sincerity and honesty. Since I would not go away, then +she would take Celeste away. To carry out her idea, I am sure she would +have sacrificed the savings of years. This was the thought which burned +hotly in my breast now. Then to my mind came the vision of Jeff Angel, +coming dejectedly up the road to my plateau, with the news that the lost +ones could not be found. Oh, it is a terrible thing, my brothers! To be +suddenly and swiftly swept into the maelstrom of a mighty love, and then +to be confronted by the possible loss of the girl who aroused this +feeling. + +That night I climbed the peak; climbed it by the soft light of the stars +alone, for the moon was young, and I saw it only after I had reached the +top--a crescent thread of silver cradled on the tops of the trees on the +furthest western range. Up there, between creation and infinity, as it +were, I applied all the philosophy I could bring to bear upon my case. I +got results, too, thank goodness! Had I not been able to persuade my +mind into a certain channel of common sense, I can't say what would have +become of me, for I was idiotically in love. Howbeit, I levied on the +very bases of my reason for strength and guidance, and deep down where +the fundamentals of character perpetually abide, I found that which +saved me. + +It was thus my sane self argued with my insane self: + +_Insane Self_: If Celeste is not restored to me within a short time, I +shall go wild. + +_Sane Self_: What's the good of going wild? Then you will be in no +condition to greet her when she does come, and may lose her forever. + +_Insane Self_: I cannot rest, or sleep, until I see her again. + +_Sane Self_: A suicidal attitude. Be sensible instead. Take the best +care of yourself, and so be fit in every way to welcome her back. + +_Insane Self_: But, I must see her; I _must_ see her soon! + +_Sane Self_: Perhaps. Be calm. Nothing is to be gained by rashness. You +will only succeed in wearing yourself out. + +_Insane Self_: I am on this peak to-night because of a racked mind. I +may climb it again before morning. + +_Sane Self_: What of Buck Steele? + +_Insane Self_: Ah! + +_Sane Self_: What of Buck Steele? His love is just as great as +yours--perhaps greater, for he has not the restraining leash of a +cultivated mind. He is your rival. Is he sapping his strength by doing +without food, straying through the forest, and climbing mountains? No; +he is making those iron muscles harder every day at his forge, and when +the time comes when you and he face each other--as come it inevitably +must--he will twist you in two like a winter-rotted weed! He is +sensible; you are a fool! + +My insane self made no reply to this last speech, because it no longer +existed. I was effectually sobered. What Buck's laugh that morning may +have meant did not really matter. All day he had been on the outskirts +of my mind, but I had been too busy with other subjects to admit him for +intimate inspection and consideration. Now my sane self proceeded to +shove him forward relentlessly, and I accepted his presence as something +quite necessary, but undesired. Whether or not he sensed the approaching +encounter as plainly as I, of course I could not say. But I knew that a +bulldog resolve had lodged in his mind to have Celeste for his wife, and +it took no seer to declare that he would use every weapon in his reach +to prevent me from taking her. He had only one weapon--his superb +physical strength--and I knew he would arrange or provoke a meeting, if +none arose naturally. What would become of me then? Instinctively I +flexed my right arm and grasped the bulging biceps. Like rock. Not as +large as the smith's, I was sure, but might dwelt there. I felt my other +arm, my legs, and thumped my chest with my fist. Yes; I, too, was some +man. I was hard as nails all over, but I was fearfully tired. All I +needed was rest; good, sound, eight hours a day sleep, and presently I +would be fit. I must adopt a rigid system of living, and hold to it +faithfully until these parlous times were over. + +For perhaps two hours then my mind worked along rational lines, and when +I left my perch to carefully descend the perilous declivity, I realized +with intense satisfaction that I had myself admirably well in hand. + +The door to the Lodge stood open. I remembered distinctly drawing it to +after me when I came out, although I never locked it. The night was +calm. It could not have been blown wide by the wind. Not alarmed, but +vaguely uneasy, I entered and walked to the table. I knew a box of +matches was here, and I thrust out my hand. It encountered something +upright in the darkness; something which did not belong there, for the +object yielded to the force of my touch, to fly back in place when I +removed my hand. Nervously I fumbled about until I grasped the matches. +Swiftly I struck one, and in the light of its tiny flare I saw what the +foreign thing was. But I lighted my lamp very calmly, in spite of the +disturbing nature of my discovery. Then I thrust my hands in my pockets +and stood staring at the long hunting knife which had been driven +through the orderly pile of manuscript composing my journal, deep into +the oak top of the table. There it was, horn-handled, hafted, with a +murderous blade six inches long. + +I could not doubt its meaning, were I so inclined, any more than I could +doubt the big brown hand which had planted that steel blade so deeply +and firmly in the wood. It was a warning; a warning such as was given in +the middle ages, but the man who had delivered it belonged by right just +there. He dwelt in the same mental and moral atmosphere as did his +forebears hundreds of years ago. And his declaration of war was +assuredly convincing. Nothing could be more real, more significant, more +productive of contemplation, than that bit of imbedded steel, shining +threateningly in the lamplight. I gathered one comforting fact from this +sinister messenger. All was not well between Buck and Celeste. He, too, +was in the dark as to her whereabouts, and he, too, failed to nurse in +his heart any reassuring message given before she went away. Plainly +this man had reached a stage in his infatuation where he would employ +any means to rid himself of me. Doubtless he had come to square accounts +that night. He had found me out, had very likely waited, and when I had +not come his wild hate and mad rage had found expression in the savage +act whose result now confronted me. I remained for a long time looking +at that knife, and my thoughts were many. Grave, too, they grew to be, +as I traced the near future to a climax as fixed as Fate. There were two +ways, as there always are, but no third consistent with honor. I must +give up the Dryad, or I must kill or be killed. Neither alternative bore +rosy tints. The thought of taking a human life filled me with a +rebellious horror, but the thought of resigning Celeste--my +golden-haired, gray-eyed Dryad--to the uncouth caresses of the smith of +Hebron charged my inmost soul with a white-hot denial. I would not do +it. I could not do it. The decision had passed from my control. I would +wait for her; I would yearn for her sweet presence with all the power of +my spirit, and I would fight for her unto the death! Strange that not +once did the thought come that I might be vanquished. + +I put out my finger and rocked the weapon to and fro. It had been +planted well. Then I grasped the handle and strove to draw it out. What +a hold it had! In the end I had to get on the table with my knees and +take both hands to force the blade loose. A silly and jealous anger now +seized me at the power here shown. I took some unused paper, and made a +bundle as near the size of my manuscript as I could, and placed it on +the table. Then I set my teeth, gripped the knife, and lifting my arm +drove downward furiously. The stroke fully equaled Buck Steele's, as a +quick investigation showed, and brought a warm glow of animal +satisfaction. + +For the first time since I began life at the Lodge, before I went to bed +I dropped the heavy bar of wood into the brackets on either side the +door, thus making it absolutely secure. The windows remained open, as +usual, but I placed my revolver under my pillow. + +The next ten days would have been idyllic had I been entirely at peace. +As it was, I managed to absorb a great deal from them which strengthened +and comforted. Each was a miraculous procession of perfect hours. I had +laid down some simple rules of conduct which I followed strictly. I +arose early, bathed, breakfasted, took a course in calisthenics which +brought muscles into action mere tramping would not reach except +faintly, and did some garden work. The rush of recent events had +interfered with my horticultural notions lamentably, and now it was too +late for anything except corn and beans. I rested an hour after dinner, +and then walked until dusk. The quest of the life-plant had long ago +become mechanical, and I never stirred abroad without the consciousness +that I might find it this time. But I had come to believe of late that I +had no need for it now. Perhaps 'Crombie had diagnosed my case +wrong--had taken too much for granted, and had banished a man with an +ulcerated throat, or a bleeding gum. For the first time I remembered my +throat _was_ sore at that interview! Could it be possible? I had never +felt better than at present, when the longest walks and the hardest +pulls over the steep knobsides were play. I was abed every night by nine +o'clock. + +My poise was speedily regained under this regimen. Vigor seemed to flow +into me, and I must confess to a certain pride in my superb physical +condition. + +Then one pearl-gray morning which promised a flawless day, I flung open +the door to find a piece of paper fluttering in my face. Right on a +level with my eyes it hung and writhed in the twilight breeze, as if it +was a live thing suffering from the bright new horse-shoe nail which +impaled it. With finger and thumb I disengaged the soiled, flimsy sheet. +It was a torn portion of wrapping paper, and bore a brief message; a +formless scrawl traced with a blunt lead pencil. + + "THES HERE HOLERS AINT HELTHY + FOR SITY FELLRS PLANE TALK + IS BES UNDERSTUD" + +It was Buck's second warning for me to leave. Could he have known my +mental condition when I read the ignorant, threatening lines, I believe +even he would have hesitated before attempting any radical move to be +rid of me. I was not alarmed; I was not even annoyed. I am sure my heart +action was not accelerated at all. It may be surmised that I did not +comprehend the full significance of the words. But I did. They meant, +differently presented: "If you don't get away from here I'm going to +kill you." I knew what he meant to say, and I knew what he meant to do. +It must have been the consciousness of my bodily power which prevented +even the slightest tremor as I labored through the misspelled, scarcely +intelligible missive. I looked at it almost disinterestedly a moment +after I had mastered it, then crumpled it into a wad and tossed it +aside. At various times during the day I thought of it, but only as +one's mind naturally reverts to an incident. I did not suppose the smith +would ambush me. Apart from assassination, the belief was strong within +me that I could hold my own, and more, with him. + +The third Saturday after the disappearance of the family at Lizard +Point, I went to Hebron in the afternoon. A sense of supreme loneliness +assailed me that day, and I realized more than I had ever done that +mankind is by nature gregarious. In common with other animals, he must +have the fellowship of his kind. That Saturday morning the billowing +ranges seemed types of eternal loneliness, and the old walks which +heretofore had charmed were alive with the echo of dead voices. I +suddenly became aware that I wanted to see somebody, to hear a human +voice, however rough and untaught. I wanted to look into somebody's +eyes, to talk to somebody, to sit down by somebody, cross my legs and +smoke. The longing grew, until, at noon, I knew that I must see some of +my fellow creatures. Should I go to the priest? He was kind, cultured, +hospitable. No; I didn't want kindness and culture. I just wanted to rub +shoulders with mere _humans_. Besides, I would have been more or less +constrained with Father John. It was not in the nature of a mere man to +forget that Beryl Drane was at the bottom of all this miserable +condition of things, and had I gone to chat with his reverence, I should +have had to listen to fulsome praises of that--person, and should also +have been expected to add my little word of appreciation and compliment, +since I had had the rare pleasure of a brief acquaintance with the +paragon. + +I went to Hebron, with a fine large twist of tobacco in my pocket, and +an aching desire just to be with people. + +It was Hebron's busy day--or busy half-day, of all the week. Not until I +hove in sight of the little settlement and saw a row of horses hitched +to the pole near the store, and at least eight or ten persons in plain +view, did I realize the truth. In nearly all rural communities, all farm +work is knocked off at noon Saturday. Then dissipation follows in going +to the store. There is nothing else to do, unless one sneaks off to the +barn and goes to sleep on the hay, or slips down to the river and goes +seining. But seining was unlawful, and this was the wrong time of year, +anyway. It was early in the afternoon--not past two o'clock--and only +the advance guard had arrived. But the sight made me glad. I wanted to +mix, move and talk with the yeomanry that day. So I sauntered up the +road toward the store, paying no heed to the open-doored smithy as I +strolled by. Buck was one who could not let up this day, for more than +one horse's hoof had grown sore going barefoot a portion of that week, +waiting for this afternoon. Though I did not turn my head, I knew there +were a number of horses standing under the shed in front of the shop. I +had barely passed it when I heard a harsh, prolonged-- + +"_Who-oa!_ Durn ye! Can't ye stan' still a _minute_?" + +This was accompanied by the sound of scuffling within. I turned to see a +couple of urchins make their escape through the broad doorway, and I +could discern fright on their faces as their bare feet patted the hot +yellow dust of the road. They were headed toward the creek over which +hung the home-made bridge, and they did not stop nor lessen their speed +until they splashed into the shallow water. It was not sham terror, +either, for now they stood holding each other by the arms, and gazing +back at the shop. + +I wheeled in my tracks, and walked under the shed. + +I did not enter the smithy because there was no need. It was light as +day in there, and I would have been in the way then. I saw three people +and a mule, evidently young, and evidently fractious. It was a fine +yearling; fat, sleek, shapely. Buck Steele, with a small, elongated iron +shoe in his left hand, stood in a semi-profile position, facing the man +who had brought the animal in. A negro boy lolled by the forge, his hand +on the handle of the bellows. + +"Whut's th' matter 'ith th' fool critter?" Buck was saying, as I halted +under the shed. He had not seen my approach. + +"Fus' time, yo' know," returned the man, in a wheedling kind of voice, +thrusting his thumb under his bedticking suspender, and chasing it over +his shoulder with that member. "Yo' 'll hev to be kind o' durn keerful, +Buck"--he shifted his hold from the rope of the halter to the halter +itself--"'cus he didn't miss yo' an inch las' time." + +The mule was scared. It trembled at every move Buck made, and its eyes +were distended and rolling. + +"Nothin' 's ever passed out o' this here shop bar'-footed that a man +wants shoes on!" maintained the smith. "If yo' want this animile shod, +I'll shoe 'im!" + +"I shore want 'im shod!" + +The speaker took a fresh grasp on the halter, and his hairy visage +became contorted in an expression impossible to translate, as Buck +stepped forward and put his hand on the smooth withers of the young +mule. It shrank down under his touch, and blew short, gusty breaths. +Buck waited, patiently, until the animal became quiet, then, gently +patting the reddish-brown skin, he gradually moved his hand along its +side until he reached its flank. There he stooped, with low, soothing +words, and a great admiration for his courage found birth within me as I +saw him bend beside that sinewy thigh corded and bunched with muscles. +Gently his big brown fingers slid down the slender hock, then like the +rebound of a crossbow the satiny limb shot out in a paroxysm of untamed +fear. It was a lightning stroke, delivered so swiftly my eyes could not +follow it. Buck saw it start, infinitesimal as the time must have been +from its inception to its execution--perhaps he felt the steel thews +hardening under his hand--for he leaped backward simultaneously. This +action saved his life. As it was, the edge of the small hoof slashed his +forehead like a razor, leaving a crimson, dripping gap. It went just +below the surface, and did not even stun the smith. He staggered, it is +true, but from his own recoil, and was erect an instant later. Then I +witnessed a sight I shall never forget though I round out a century. + +The sting of the hurt and the treachery of the brute took all of Buck's +sense and judgment for the time. He was as much animal as the +four-legged one in front of him that moment. His bearded face became +convulsed horribly, his eyes shot fire, and with that red gash in his +forehead from which tiny streams trickled unheeded, he advanced one +step, drew back his arm, and struck that mule a blow which stretched it +dead before our eyes! + +I write the culmination of this incident with reluctance. Not from its +brutal and somewhat harrowing complexion, but from the fear that many +will be tempted to smile tolerantly, and in the kindness of their hearts +forgive this one most palpable fiction in a book of fact. But it is +true, nevertheless, and I venture to declare it will be a tale in the +knob country long after later and lesser things have been forgotten. + +As the mule fell the negro boy screeched and climbed out the nearest +window. A minute later the shop was full of an excited, noisy, inquiring +crowd. Some one led Buck to the tub of water in which he cooled hot +iron, and bathed his wound, never worrying as to whether this especial +water would be entirely sanitary. The carcass quickly became the center +of a circle of amazed countrymen, and I, the only silent one present, +leaned against the jamb of the door and slowly filled my pipe. The +demonstration which I had just witnessed was not particularly +comforting. + +A youth of about nineteen stood near the mule's head. He was barefooted, +and the sum total of his apparel consisted of two garments; a shirt with +only one button, which was at the throat, and a pair of pants (not +trousers) which came to an abrupt conclusion several inches above his +big ankle bones. He wore no hat of any description. Had he possessed one +when the alarm was given, it had disappeared in the hurried rush which +followed. This youth was powerfully impressed. + +"Daid!... Plum' daid!" I heard him exclaim, in an awed undertone, +withdrawing for a moment the fixed gaze with which he had regarded the +mule ever since he came, to give a sweeping glance of incredulity +around. + +"Daid ez a nit he is, fur sho!" agreed another, a merry-faced fellow +with a rotund paunch, over which the band to his pants refused to meet. +"A hunnerd 'n' fifty dollars' wuth o' live meat turned to cyarn in a +secint.... Who's gunta pay fur it? Whut 's th' law, 'Squar?" + +He looked at a big, full-whiskered man with his back to me. + +The 'Squire cleared his throat and felt for his tobacco. + +The mule's owner thrust forward in the interim, and brought up just in +front of the magistrate. + +"Yes, I wan' to know th' damn law on th' subjic', too!" he bellowed, +making no apparent effort to curb his feelings. "Wuth a hunnerd 'n' +sev'nty-five--wuth two hunnerd wuz that mule! Six foot 'n' 'n inch--thar +he is! Measure 'im if yo' don't b'lieve me! Th' bes' yearlin' in my +barn--mealy-nosed, to boot! So much good cash to be drug out to th' +buzzards--_damn_!" + +He spat on the ground and twisted his booted heel in rage. + +"This is a onusual case--I mought say a on-pre-ce-dinted case," drawled +the 'Squire, in a conciliatory voice. "We'll settle it right here 'n' +now, a'cordin' to th' test'munny 'n' my readin' o' th' law, ever'body +bein' 'gree'ble. Yo' c'n take it to th' cote, sholy, but th' lawyers 'll +eat yo' up. Bes' settle am-am-am'c'ble, right here 'n' now." + +At this juncture Buck's tall form arose from beside the tub, where he +had been sitting on a nail keg while a motherly Hebron matron had put +balsam to the hurt, and bound it with a white cloth. He came slowly +forward, his leathern apron still about him, and pushed his way through +the ring. + +"Whut yo' mouth'n' 'bout, Bart Crawley?" he demanded. The fire in his +eyes had died to a smoldering gleam, but his mood was ugly. + +The man addressed looked at him, then immediately shuffled back a +little. + +"That's th' bes' hoss mule in these parts--" + +"Yo' mean he _wuz_ th' bes' hoss mule!" interrupted Buck, in a spirit of +reckless deviltry. + +Crawley flushed, paled, clenched his fists and glared hate at the +speaker. + +"Here now, men," spoke up the 'Squire, laying a knotty hand upon the +shoulder of the owner. "Leas' said's soones' mended. They's no manner o' +ust carry'n' hard feelin's any fu'ther.... Buck, shet up!... Bart, keep +_yo'_ trap shet till I git th' straight o' this. Whur's th' witnesses'? +Who saw th' killin' o' this here mule?" + +His head went up, and his eyes roved over the packed interior of the +shop. + +Just then I wished myself away. Could I have foreseen the public inquiry +now afoot, I certainly would have put myself beyond reach, for Buck was +to blame in this affair, and my testimony would necessarily show it. +Naturally I did not want to arouse any ill-feeling I could avoid. +Perhaps even now I might slip away unobserved. But the thought was +doomed even as it flashed into my mind. Bart Crawley promptly made +answer. + +"Me 'n' th' nigger 'n' Buck--'n' him!" pointing triumphantly at me. + +Instantly every eye was turned upon me. I looked straight at Buck, +calmly and steadily. His return stare was ominous, and during the brief +time we held each other's eyes, I believed I read in his the message +that he had waited as long as he was going to--or could. + +The voice of the 'Squire, speaking in slurring accents, broke upon the +silence which had fallen. He plainly was making an effort to uphold the +dignity of his high office, from the painstaking way in which he +delivered himself. + +"Bart, ez owner o' th' defunc' animile, I 'low yo've got fus' say. Tell +jes' how, 'n' w'y, this here yearlin' hoss mule wuz struck'n down daid +by Buck Steele." + +Mr. Crawley, holding that the relation of any incident would be +imperfect shorn of the minutest circumstance preceding, as well as +accompanying it, began thus: + +"Well, 'Squar, this mawn'n' at feed'n' time, 'long 'bout sunup, I +s'pose, ur it mought 'a' ben a bit before, I tol' my boy Tommy--my +secint boy, th' one 'ith th' harelip, yo' know 'im--that I 'tended to +hev shoes--" + +"They 's no ust o' tellin' whut yo' et fur breakfus', Bart," broke in +the magistrate, with unconscious irony. "Begin at th' time w'en yo' +entered into this here shop with yo' mule." + +"Well," resumed Mr. Crawley, "I rid up to th' do' 'n' slid off o' my +mule, 'n' said, 'Mawn'n', Buck, how's yo' corp'ros'ty?' kind o' churf'l +lak, 'cus yo' know I don't hate nobody. Buck 's foolin' 'ith a wag'n +tar, 'n' 'peared kind o' grumpy as if he had n't slep' good ur else +some'n' he et had n't sot well with 'im. He grunted, sort o', by way o' +answer, 'n' I led my hoss mule in 'n' tol' 'im whut I wanted. They's a +couple o' Hir'm Toddler's kids in here then, scratch'n' 'roun' in th' +hoof-shav'n's hunt'n' hoss-shoe nails, lak young-uns 'll do. Well, Buck +didn't 'pear overanxious 'bout th' job, so to sweet'n his sperit a +little I tol' 'im a joke 'bout--" + +"I objec' to th' joke, Bart," interrupted the 'Squire again, in a very +judicial manner, clearing his throat as he had heard the judge do in +Cedarton. + +"All right, 'Squar, we'll pass th' joke but it's a durn good 'n'. Well, +then I tol' Buck that th' mule wuz green 'n' had never saw inside a +blacksmith's shop befo', 'n' Buck 'lowed kind o' vicious lak: 'Damn th' +mule, he'd shoe 'im green ur broke!' My joke didn't 'pear to sof'n 'im +one bit, but it's wuth lis'n'n' to, 'Squar. We've tol' it in our section +off 'n' on fur a matter o' two year, I reck'n, 'n' ever' time it's good, +sho! Well, Buck stayed grumpy 'n' got th' shoes, 'n' spite o' whut I +tol' 'im he marched right up to that animile's hind parts 'n' rech down +'n' grabbed a hock same 'twuz a ol' plow-hoss. Then th' critter let +drive, b'gosh! 'n' it come blame near bein' th' end o' Buck, I'm here to +tell yo'! Right then Hir'm's kids skedaddled same as if a skunk 'd let +loose 'n' d'rec'ly _he_ come sa'nter'n' 'long 'n' leaned ag'in th' +door." The speaker's toil-twisted forefinger again pointed straight at +me. "Then I tol' Buck to be keerful, 'cus I saw he's in a' ugly way, 'n' +I tried to w'eedle 'im, kin' o' lak yo' would a spoilt kid. 'N' he did +go after that hin' foot some keerfuller th' nex' time, but fus' thin' +yo' know that hin' leg riz same as a snare-saplin' 'n' th' aidge o' that +hoof plowed a furrer plum' 'crost Buck's head. My guts went all trimbly +w'en I seen it, 'n' my knees got weak. 'Fo' God I thought he's killed! +But no, sir! Up he riz frum whur he'd jumped back 'n' scrooched down, +'n' he paid no more min' to th' blood in 'is eyes than if it'd 'a' ben +sweat. He retch back 'is fis', gen'lemen, same 't wuz a sledge-hammer, +'n' he slewed that mule! Same as Sam's'n killed th' 'Malekites in Holy +Scriptur 'ith th' jaw-bone uv a jinny! Down he fell, quiv'r'n' 'n' daid! +Didn't even bresh 'is tail onct, nur snort, nur bat a' eye! That +yearlin' hoss mule whut I say is wuth two hunnerd 'n' fifty dollars uv +any man's money, black ur w'ite. 'N' now he's buzzard-food, not wuth +haul'n' out o' this here shop. Gen'lemen, I want jestice!" + +Mr. Crawley had managed to work himself up into rather a fine frenzy as +he talked, and he gave a dramatic and telling illustration of how the +mule met his end. When he concluded with a sweeping gesture entirely +devoid of meaning, a quick survey of his audience showed me plainly that +public sentiment was on his side. A few moments of absolute silence +prevailed, broken at length by the rustling of the 'Squire's horny hand +as he shoved it into his pants pocket for another chew. The occasion was +one which required plenty of tobacco. He gnawed off a generous portion +of the plug after much head-twisting, but as he prepared to resume the +investigation something happened. + +The smith had remained quiet and silent during Bart's elaborate recital, +but his somber eyes had never left the other man's face. With the +impassioned, if crude, harangue with which Bart concluded his testimony, +I noted portents of a storm. The dominant elements in Buck's nature were +purely barbarian. He had suffered much of late, and self-control was +something which he did not know, even remotely. Later he probably would +be ashamed of the blow he had dealt the harmless thing at his feet which +had been obeying its instinct in offering resistence to something which +it feared. But that moment such reason as Buck habitually possessed was +submerged in a black wave of hate. I saw it coming, from my position by +the door. I saw flashes beneath the down-drawn lids, restrained heaving +of the big, hairy chest, hands which were fists and hands alternately, +and on the heavy features an expression nothing short of devilish. He +waited a while after Bart finished--waited until the 'Squire had +succeeded with his chew, then he took two swift steps and faced the mule +owner. + +"Yo' damn dog!" he hissed. "I c'd th'ow yo' thoo that winder! I c'd +wring yo' naik lak a chick'n! I c'd lay yo' 'crost that anv'l 'n' break +yo' back lak a splinter o' pine, 'n' yo' know it! But yo're not wuth it! +Damn yo' 'n' yo' mule! Damn th' 'Squar! All o' yo'--to hell with yo'!" + +Accurately, deliberately, he spat a mouthful of ambier on Bart Crawley's +nose, then turned and left the shop, people falling back in fright +before him. + + * * * * * + +Two hours later I turned my face toward Bald Knob. The investigation was +never finished, partly because it was unanimously conceded Buck was in +the wrong from the manner in which he had behaved, and partly because +Bart struck out at once for Cedarton to prefer charges against the smith +and swear out a warrant for his arrest. The unexpected and startling +denouement wrought consternation in the shop, and the opinion was given +freely that Buck must be "off." Certain it is he left Hebron at once, +going up the railroad, and no one followed him. The crowd instantly +gathered around me with many honest, well-intentioned questions, and I +told them frankly that as far as I knew Bart had told the truth. Many +and divers were the comments anent Buck's queer actions, but a simmering +down resulted in the generally accepted opinion that he surely was +"off." I thought this, too, in a measure, although I did not speak it, +for I knew things which the people of Hebron did not. + +But I tarried among them for the space of two hours, listening to their +uncouth colloquialisms and provincial sayings; and when, finally, a game +of horse-shoes started in the middle of the road just in front of the +store, and a self-appointed committee of two began to ascend the hill to +acquaint Father John with the only real event of the year, I started +home. + +I was not at ease. One of the reasons I had lingered was in the hope +that Buck would return. But he didn't. The man was desperate. I could +doubt it no longer. He was half crazy. Ordinarily he would have +compromised with Bart. He was now simply an unchained devil, loose and +bent on mischief. + +My feelings were not soothed when I reached the Lodge. Pinned to the +door with the same nail which had held the message was a sheet of my +writing paper, and on it was a large, rude cross, traced with a finger +which had been dipped in blood. + +It was the third and last warning. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO + +IN WHICH I SPAR WITH DEATH + + +The past week, culminating on the night in I which I sit and write with +barred door and shuttered windows, has been a hard and dangerous one for +me. Three times have I escaped death so narrowly it would seem +Providence had a hand in the game. On no occasion was the would-be +assassin visible, but I knew well chance had not aimed these well +directed blows at my life. I can't understand Buck's tactics. They are +hidden, merciless, savage in their deadly intention. I had not thought +he would stoop to this. I had eliminated this contingency when +considering my plan of action. It was incredible, but no doubt lingers +in my heart to-night. Buck Steele is trying to murder me secretly, and +in such a way that it would seem the result of an accident. His plots +suggest the cunning of an unsettled mind, but, while it certainly is +strained under the force of his mad passion, I do not believe Buck's +brain is unbalanced. He wants me out of the way, but at the same time he +wants to avoid any odium, and be free to live his life here at Hebron. +He knows that if he kills me openly it will mean, at the least, exile. I +have thought long and often over the problem, and I am sure I have come +upon the right solution. That he does not compel a meeting which could +result in a fair fight, from which no especial blame would revert to him +should he prove the victor, is simply because he is afraid to undergo +the risk--to accept the possibility of being killed instead of killing. +I do not mean by this that he is a coward, but his desire for Celeste +has so wrought upon him that he is casting aside all chances for defeat, +though his sense of honor and fair play, if he had any, goes with them. +He has become a scheming machine, and a most formidable one, I must +confess. Now I will make a brief record of what has taken place the last +seven days. + +Saturday night, at bedtime, I debated the question of closing the Lodge, +following the discovery of the final, crimson warning. I hesitated to +confess to myself that I had begun to feel fear, but something had waked +within me that whispered I must be careful from that hour. I don't think +I would have known this feeling had my enemy been open and fair in his +movements. But it is human nature to dread the invisible terror which +lurks in the dark, and I knew that I was doing the sensible thing when I +barred my door and dropped the shutter of the window next my cot. I made +this shutter secure by a long hook which fitted into a large staple. +Before I blew out the lamp, I looked at the other window for a long +time. At last I decided that Buck could not squeeze his bulk through the +opening, and went to bed. + +I fell asleep quickly, although my mind was not at ease. This mental +condition must have led to my waking about midnight, which was an +unprecedented thing. I lay and listened. I heard something, and it was +not the wind; for, though a breeze was soughing in the pines without, +the sound of footsteps was distinctly audible. They paused at the door, +passed on to the closed window, paused again, then went around to the +open window. Quietly I slid my hand under my pillow and drew out my +revolver. Luckily, I lay facing the small opening. Otherwise I would +have feared to turn, on account of the noise the act would have +involved. The square aperture was barely discernible, and I judged from +this the night was cloudy. Fixing my gaze on the window with the utmost +intensity, I raised my weapon and waited, determining at the same time +not to fire until I saw that my life was in danger. A formless shape +blotted the square of less dense gloom, and for a time there was +silence. I think the prowler was trying to locate me, and I breathed +softly, making no sound. The wait was interminable to me, though in +reality I suppose it was not over a minute. Then the shape at the window +swayed from side to side, noiselessly, sank down, to reappear at once. I +heard a rustling, a muffled tattoo like a dry bean pod makes in an +autumn gust, and while my mind was yet filled with wonder as to what was +going to happen, the shape twisted grotesquely and I heard a slithering +as of one body over another. The next instant something cold and crawly +struck my upheld wrist, slid across it, and dropped with a fleshy thud +on the floor. Horror gripped me then. Horror supreme and terrible. I +could have shrieked had my voice not been shut in my breast. I trembled +from head to foot, and icy waves swept me all over. What was that? What +could it have been but----At that moment one of the most appalling and +nerve-racking sounds arose that ever turned a mortal's blood to water, +and his brave courage into craven cowardice. It was the hair-raising +warning of an angered rattlesnake! With a snarling cry of sheer terror I +sprang up in bed and fired at the window--three times before I could +control my forefinger, which was acting automatically. The act was +spontaneous. I did not shoot with the desire to hit anybody. None of the +bullets passed through the window, as I discovered the next morning. +Following the reports was the sound of some one running, accompanied by +a second whirring rattle. Could that thing see in the dark? Was it +preparing to leap upon me? When the rattling ceased this time I knew it +would spring. Dashing the cover from me I threw myself toward the foot +of the bed, a clammy perspiration bursting out upon me as I did so. I +reached the floor. As I stretched a shaking hand toward the spot where I +knew the table was, to my ears came the evil sound of the impact of the +reptile's body against the edge of the cot, and its subsequent fall to +the planks beneath. In the stark stillness followed the sibilant sliding +of fold over fold as the monster coiled afresh--whispers of a hideous +doom. My palsied fingers touched the table, and presently I was on top +of it, crouching among my books and manuscripts, feeling feebly for the +lamp and the matches. Before I could make a light it sprang again, again +failed to surmount the cot, and dropped back. Four matches broke in my +clumsy grip, but the fifth struck. I got the lamp alight before I +turned. The sight was awesome enough, but far better the visible menace +than the death-dealing thing which moved in darkness. It was coiled +there, just at the edge of my bed. Great, thick, fleshy, splotched folds +interwoven into a sinister spiral, from the center of which arose the +rattle-capped tail, now vibrating with the rapidity of an alarm bell. In +front was reared the repulsive head; flat, gem-eyed. When I looked upon +this world-old emblem of treachery and guile, my normal being became +reëstablished with a suddenness almost amounting to a wrench. Now that I +saw, and knew; now that my brain could comprehend the exact situation, +and handle it, I became a man once more. But I would offer no apology +for my conduct the few preceding minutes. If it appears contemptible, it +must remain so. But I was never nearer dead from plain, simple fright +than I was during that time. + +I grew calm almost at once. The snake was dazed by the light, and made +no third assault, though still retaining his fighting posture, and +sending out that indescribable alarm now and then. I had dropped my +revolver when I threw myself from the cot, and now saw the weapon lying +among the bedclothes near the foot. I was master of myself again. +Quietly stepping down, I secured the revolver, and ten seconds later it +was all over. Then I opened the door and flung the carcass outside, came +in and barricaded the entrance again. No longer did I hesitate about the +open window, but went and fastened it in the same manner I had the +other. My foot struck some object. It was a pasteboard shoe box of +extraordinary size. I picked it up and walked nearer the lamp. One end +was slit down at the corners so that when the top was lifted it would +fall, as on a hinge. + +I placed the box on the table, took a stiff drink of whisky, found my +pipe, and lit up. I needed bracing, for when I grasped the full +significance of this foul and devilish attack, a physical nausea came. +The liquor brought a reaction, and I sat down in my nightshirt, puffing +vigorously and regarding the big shoe box in a fascinated way. There +were rattlesnakes about--plenty of them. I had heard them and seen them +on my many journeys through the wilderness, but I had always given them +undisputed possession of the especial territory they happened to be +occupying when we met. Buck had caught one; a patriarch from his size. +The capture was not difficult. These reptiles' lidless eyes have a very +short range of vision. A careful man with a forked stick can scotch one +whenever he wishes. The transfer to a box was also simple. All of this +he had done, and had then come in the middle of the night with the fell +intent of dropping that thing on me, asleep. I don't think I have ever +heard or read of a project equally as dastardly and devoid of all +feeling. It was something the very devil would shudder to confess. + +The second attempt to remove me in an apparently natural manner came +Tuesday. + +Sunday and Monday I kept to the plateau. I did not believe the smith had +reached that point of desperation where he would shoot me down openly, +and it was out of the question for me to remain a prisoner in the Lodge. +I had no doubt that I was watched, although I neither saw nor heard +anything to confirm this suspicion. + +I measured the rattler before burying it, and found it five feet long +and four and a half inches thick at the largest part. It was of mammoth +proportions for the Kentucky knobs, where they seldom exceeded three +feet in length. I was glad when the noisome thing was out of sight. + +Tuesday morning the thought came to me that perhaps Buck had fallen in +the clutches of the law. I was aware of a sensation of relief at the +probability, and the fact that two days and nights had passed without +any untoward manifestation would appear to render the idea altogether +reasonable. Bart Crawley, furious and revengeful, had started hotfoot +for the county seat Saturday to issue a warrant. It was the duty of the +sheriff or a deputy to serve it at once, and take the offender into +custody. I resolved to go to Hebron and find out. I knew I was taking a +great risk, for the road was lonely and secluded, and there was the +thick forest to traverse before reaching Lizard Point. No man could wish +for better surroundings in which to commit a hidden crime. And, however +watchful I might be, I would stand no chance whatever with my life +should an effort be made against it. There was not a rod of ground along +the entire route where an ambush could not have been successfully laid. +The outlook was depressing, but I decided upon the venture anyway, for +could I know the smith was lodged in jail, a grievous burden would be +lifted from my mind. + +There were no precautions I could take before starting forth. I simply +bore my stout stick in my left hand, and kept my right in the side +pocket of my coat, clasping the handle of my revolver. That was all I +could do. A sense of foolhardiness enveloped me as I strode down from +the plateau along the tree-bordered, vine-grown way. Would a truly well +balanced person thus jeopardize his life? Most likely he would not. But +a certain recklessness of spirit had come upon me, begotten of the +Dryad's cruel absence, my long wait, and the abrupt aggressiveness of +Buck. When a man's temperament becomes surcharged with a sentiment of +this color, you may look for him to do things which had not even +bordered his existence in saner moods. As I proceeded without +molestation, a sort of dogged defiance gained ascendency and my head +went higher, while my face became set in a mask of determination. + +I saw no one. I heard nothing but the peaceful sounds of Nature and her +creatures. Surely Buck was in the toils, or he never would have let this +golden opportunity go by unemployed. When I came to the tree-bridge my +apprehensions had vanished; I did not dread the remainder of the +journey. I was conscious of a sharp shock of pain when I looked at the +still empty house where Celeste lived. Had I yielded to the importunity +of the eager voices which began to clamor in my soul at the sight, I +speedily would have become undone. I have not written of the terrific +fight I have had since my sane self conquered that night on the peak, +but the reason for this is that I do not want to appear absolutely silly +in the eyes of those who may read these words. But it took all that was +in me to hold to the hard path of sanity and common sense. My love for +her of the wheat-gold hair-- + +Quickly I crossed the bridge and turned toward Hebron, setting my teeth +on my lower lip in firm resolve, and walking rapidly. + +When I came within view of the hamlet I halted and listened. No ringing +sound floated across to me from the shop; the forge was still. I went +on, more slowly. Everything seemed to support the theory that my enemy +had been arrested. The smithy was open, but empty; the fire was dead. I +pushed forward to the store. Mr. Todler (I had learned his name only the +Saturday before) was not sitting on the porch this morning, and for good +reason. The sun was blazing hot, and fell squarely upon the cracker box +where the storekeeper was wont to rest. It is true he might have removed +the box to the other side of the door, where the sun did not reach, but +this would have involved some effort. I went in. At first I thought the +place vacant, and stood listening to some green flies buzzing and +butting their foolish heads against the window panes--panes so dirty +that they looked like mica. Then I saw Mr. Todler. He was stretched upon +the dry goods counter in a space about seven feet clear, his head +resting upon a thick bolt of unbleached cotton, a newspaper over his +face. Back of him were other bolts of different kinds, piled one upon +another, and on top of the whole lay a tortoise-shell cat, slumbering +peacefully. Mr. Todler was slumbering, too, but not peacefully. The +store was taking care of itself. + +Assuming that this singular person went to sleep with the expectation of +being aroused should a customer perchance arrive, I removed the +newspaper, hoping thus to waken him. But the sweet bonds which held him +were not to be loosened so lightly. He snored on, and I found myself +regarding his grimy collar, his frayed, soiled, green-and-yellow +necktie--one of the ready-made kind, where you stick a band through a +hole and it catches on a pin. I grasped his shoulder and shook him, for +the information I sought was of the first importance. He uttered a sound +which was the mingling of a grunt and a groan, and began to bat his +heavy lids slowly. + +"Whut yo' want?" he muttered, thick-tongued because of sleep which still +pressed upon him. + +"Is Buck Steele in jail?" I asked, quickly, for I saw symptoms which +pointed toward another period of unconsciousness. + +"Buck?" he said, faintly, and in a way which led me to believe that he +had not comprehended my question. His eyes had shut again. + +"Yes, Buck!" I cried, shaking him a second time, and lifting my voice to +a hard key. "Bart Crawley went for a warrant Saturday. Has the sheriff +got him yet? Answer yes or no, and I won't bother you any more!" + +Mr. Todler neither rose nor stirred under my vehement words, but his +eyes came open listlessly, he blinked at me for a few seconds, and +replied: + +"He wa'nt tuk w'en I we'n to sleep. Whut's more, he ain't a-goin' to git +tuk--not Buck!" + +This lengthy speech must have been exhausting, for Mr. Todler sighed +wearily at its conclusion, turned his head with a grimace, and slowly +dragged the newspaper over his face again. + +I did not thank him. The news had been too hard to win, and was too +unsatisfactory. + +The man was right. I saw clearly on the instant that Buck would never +submit to incarceration. He had graver business on hand than simply +obeying the law's behest. + +I began the return tramp with my spirit cast down and troubled. If Jeff +Angel only would come, and bring the Dryad! I would not--I could not +leave before her home-coming. Though a bloodthirsty blacksmith lurked +behind every tree in the locality, yet would I stay. If the next few +days found her back, I might manage to elude Buck, and get us away +safely. _Us!_ Yes, she should go with me. Although I had made no +declaration, some intuition told me that all would be well could I once +more stand in her presence. Enough had come to my knowledge to merit +this assurance. + +I turned from the highway and took the knob road going past Lizard +Point. About a half-mile from the pike, the dirt road ran under a cliff +for a number of rods; a sheer limestone precipice fifty or sixty feet +high. It was here, although introspectively engrossed almost to the +point of abstraction, that I suddenly knew a danger threatened me. I was +striding swiftly along, and when the thought came I stopped abruptly. +Two more steps would have stretched me dead. For instantly I heard a low +whistling sound which gathered volume, something whizzed downward before +my face, so close that I felt the air from its passage and jumped back. +A huge stone, large as a half-bushel, struck the soft earth almost at my +feet, rebounded, and rolled over into a patch of fennel ten feet +distant. + +I looked up, rage giving me a daring which mocked at risk. Where I stood +I made yet an excellent target, but I did not think of this then. A +harsh laugh drifted down; I saw the thick foliage on the lip of the +precipice become violently agitated, and I fancied I heard the cracking +of dry twigs, as under a heavy, careless step. I could not follow, +though in my heart that moment I had the fierce desire to slay. I had +never known this before. It was awful--but it was also sweet! I could +have killed that creeping coward above me and laughed in joy. Something +became unfettered within me which I never knew I possessed. Something +which for the moment I could not have restrained had the object of my +wrath stood before me. In that instant centuries were bridged, and my +forebears of the stone age had a fitting representative in my being. +This wave of primal, mindless passion which bade me destroy ruthlessly +did not subside at once, and it was only after I had pursued my way for +some time that I experienced the resurgent flow of my normal self. + +I did not anticipate a second attack before I reached home. Each of +these cowardly efforts had been planned in advance, and had either +succeeded no one could have pointed at Buck Steele as my slayer. I was +safe for another day, at least, so, gaining a temporary relief from this +fact, I trudged on moodily to the Lodge. + +Next day at noon, as I turned from the well with a bucket of water in my +hand, I saw a belted and booted figure coming toward me from the spot +where the road led up. The stranger had an athletic bearing, wore a +cheap straw hat much out of shape, and carried a rifle in the hollow of +his arm. I advanced to meet him, for I guessed his mission at once. + +"You're the sheriff of this county?" I asked pleasantly, setting my +bucket down, and shaking hands. + +The man took his hat off and drew his shirt sleeve across his streaming +face. The imprint of his hatband showed a red bar across his white +forehead. + +"Nope; deputy. Been huntin' a blacksmith fur the las' four days, 'n' +it's worse 'n huntin' four-leaf clover." + +He chuckled, as though the task was not as onerous as his words implied, +and hitched his trousers. + +"Plenty of room to hide out here," I agreed. "Come over to the house and +have a drink. You seem hot." + +"Well, I reck'n. Bad time o' year fur a manhunt." + +He walked beside me to a bench, and when he had greedily swallowed three +cups of water I asked him to sit down and rest a while. The invitation +pleased him, and presently we had launched into an animated +conversation. I soon learned that he had been in and about Hebron most +of his time; that he had not even caught a glimpse of his quarry, and +that someone in the hamlet had suggested that he come to see me. A +moment's reflection showed me that I could not make a confidant of the +officer, much as I wished to, for an explanation of Buck's animosity +would be in order. This I could not give without bringing in the name of +a third party, and exposing to a chance acquaintance the cherished +secret in my heart. No, Buck and I must settle this affair alone, and in +silence. So I told the deputy instead that I was present when the mule +was killed, and that it actually was accomplished with a single blow +from the fist. Whereupon, he declared that he was glad to have Bart +Crawley's statement verified, as most of the citizens of Cedarton had +taken it with a grain of salt, but personally he believed it true. Then +he became quite chatty, and proceeded to relate some of the exploits of +Buck's father, a giant who for girth and stature had surpassed his son. +I listened politely to the rambling narrative, taking much comfort in +the simple presence of my caller. + +"Th' ol' man finally went crazy," concluded the deputy; "yellin', +whoopin' crazy, 'n' jumped off a bluff in the river one winter night." + +"Went crazy?" + +My lips repeated the two words involuntarily, and I turned to the man as +though I had not heard aright. The statement formed a portent of dread +to my mind. + +"Yep; whoopin' crazy," confirmed the cheery voice. "He got crossed some +way with somebody 'n' worried hisself wild. Ol' people tell me it's a +fam'ly failin'--that mos' of 'em end that way.... This Buck, now, hidin' +out this-a-way. 'Tain't nat'r'l, is it?... I dunno." + +He shook his head and gazed out over the wide forest with drawn brows. + +I did not reply, but slowly reached for my pipe. + +"When a feller's in office 'n' 's give a war'int, he's got to serve it, +or go yeller. I didn't hanker fur this here 'p'intment, I'm free to say, +'n' if I'd a-knowed Buck's a-hidin' out, be durned if I b'lieve I'd 'a' +come! Some'n' 's eatin' on Buck 'sides killin' that mule--you can't tell +me!... Well, I mus' be scoutin' on." He got on his feet, drank another +cup of water, and stood for a moment gripping the muzzle of his rifle +with both hands, its stock grounded between his feet. "Don't s'pose +you've laid eyes on 'im'?" he added, in a softer, musing tone. + +"No; not since he walked out of the shop that day." + +Suddenly the deputy wheeled and faced me. + +"Pardner," he said, seriously enough considering the almost bantering +note he had formerly employed; "I b'lieve Buck's goin' the same way his +pappy did!" + +"Why?" + +I tried to hold my voice to a brave level, but the monosyllable rang +hollow. + +"The signs ain't right," came the instantaneous reply. "Buck'd never'd +'a' laid out that mule if he'd been hisseff, in the firs' place. He's +shoed young mules by the dozen. In the nex' place he'd 'a' settled with +Bart instead o' spittin' in 'is face 'n' damnin' ever'body 'n' the law, +too. I've got a notion to lose this pesky war'int 'n' go back to where +people live!" + +He moodily pressed his hand to a pocket in his shirt, and I caught the +rustle of paper. Then he laughed softly, said good-by rather abruptly, +and strode away. + +I shall not attempt to make a record of the thoughts which assailed me +after the deputy had gone. + +Yesterday came the third attempt on my life. + +Believing now that my rival's mind was affected, and that he had +received the fixed and determined idea of making away with me in some +manner which would appear wholly natural, I no longer remained within +the Lodge, or kept to the restricted limits of the plateau. I walked +abroad, always careful and watchful, it is true, and keeping my feet +from suspicious paths. My longing for the Dryad had become a sort of +mania, and each morning I arose with the fervent hope that that day +would bring her back home. How I looked for the ragged, uncouth shape of +Jeff Angel! But his grotesque figure remained absent, and I was left to +unfruitful contemplation, a prey to dread. + +Yesterday I chose a new route. Inaction was past endurance, and my daily +rambles were all that sustained me. It was midafternoon when I found +myself on the flank of a precipitous knob, several miles from home. I +had proceeded cautiously for quite a distance, as my aimless steps had +led me to what really was a perilous position. A massive ledge of stone +cropped out of the knob at the place where I traversed it, and below was +an unbroken fall of many feet, into a valley thickly grown with trees. I +stopped to enjoy the scene, for even in my present mental turmoil the +sight demanded recognition and appreciation. I leaned forward and out, +retaining my balance by a careful exercise of certain muscles. The +verdant glory of the all-embracing hills, the limitless sweep of the +tree-clad ranges and valleys, and the bosky tangle of the spot beneath +me, combined to work keenly upon my sensibilities. I loved Nature. I +worshiped in the vine-draped, bloom-lit courts of the untamed wild; in +the temple not made by hands whereof each towering tree was a column, +and each moss-hung bowlder an altar. It was here my soul exulted, where +the tinkle of a hidden rivulet made dulcet music, and the attar from +many a flower's chalice spread abroad its peerless incense--Nature's +undefiled offering to Nature's God. I was uplifted in that moment, as I +leaned forward and drank in the manifold delights displayed freely for +my hungry eyes. + +In the midst of this elation of spirit, a fiendish shout of triumph rang +in my ears, and I felt a heavy hand upon my back shoving me violently +forward--to destruction. Too late I realized my indiscretion. I had +allowed sentiment to usurp the place of judgment. While I was reveling +in the matchless scene Nature had prepared for my delectation, and had +offered without reserve, Buck had stolen cat-footed upon me. I wrenched +my body about in a furious effort to retain my foothold, but the next +moment I was falling through space. Like a stone I fell, down--down. I +crashed through the top of an oak, struck a limb, passed it in some way, +fell, struck another, slid along it, and brought up against the trunk +with a fearful jar. + +For a moment I did not attempt to move. Then slowly I got astride the +limb and made an investigation. But for a pain in my side, where the +contact with the first limb had bruised it, I had escaped as by a +miracle. Thinking that Buck might make a detour, and come to see if I +really had perished, I descended to the ground as quickly as possible, +and returned to the Lodge in a roundabout way. + +Most of to-day I have spent under roof, brooding over the somber problem +which hourly grows more threatening. Matters have about reached a +climax. I cannot veil the truth from myself. If the smith is insane +there is no telling what move he will make next. An unbalanced mind is +never steadfast, and any minute he may abandon the tactics thus far +employed, and adopt safer and surer means to compass my destruction. + +It is fearfully hot in here, because the room is shut tight. I would not +think once now of lying down to sleep with a window open. A few more +days will tell the story. I am unnaturally calm, I believe, considering +all that has occurred this week. I am not frightened, but I am anxious. +I don't want to mar these peaceful pages with the narration of a +tragedy. I don't want to confess to them how I slew a fellow creature. I +am a man of peace. But it comes to me to-night that forces beyond my +control are at work. That, unless Celeste comes soon, the concluding act +in the drama will be played. It may be that I shall not be alive to +chronicle its end. It may be that I shall go down to death with my +love-dream unfinished. But I do not believe this. If worse comes to +worse, I believe that I shall be the conqueror. I have no reason for +this, other than the supreme faith I have in my ability to cope with the +smith of Hebron. + +I pray it all may end speedily, for I have borne as much as mortal can. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE + +IN WHICH, THOUGH THE WORLD IS STILL A VOID, THERE IS THE SHINING OF A +GREAT LIGHT + + +Two days have passed. + +Sunday was one long monotony, made up of vain watching and restless +contemplation. To-day something really stupendous happened. Something so +truly great and vital that, even though Celeste has not returned, and, +for aught I know, my death hides in the next minute, I am deliriously +happy. I'll tell the glorious news as quickly as I can. + +This morning, bright and early, a messenger arrived from Father John. He +bore no written communication, but stated in a nervous, jerky, +breathless way that his reverence desired my presence at the earliest +possible moment, on a matter of the gravest importance. These were not +his words, but this is the way his halting vernacular translated into +English. I questioned the shabby, awkward rustic. He knew nothing but +that I was wanted, and wanted quickly, and that he who sent this word +was "tarnation fidgety." Unable to form any sort of conjecture as to the +nature of this peculiarly urgent business, I departed at once in company +with the half grown youth, not sorry of his presence upon this occasion, +as I probably would have been upon any other. + +The old priest met me at the door, and I saw at once that he was +powerfully impressed, for some reason. His long-stemmed pipe was in his +hand, but unlighted. He decorously led me to the chair where I had sat +upon a former visit, and took a seat opposite. The library table was +between us, as before. I saw two letters upon the table in front of him, +side by side. One was almost square, pale blue, and a glance told me the +superscription was a woman's. The other was of the regular business +size, had a card in the corner which I could not make out, and the +address was typewritten. I waited in silence. + +"M'sieu--" + +He stopped, and I saw that his emotion was pressing hard upon him. His +sensitive lips quivered and twitched, and the muscles of his face were +agitated. A sympathetic pity took the place of wonder within me, and I +had the desire to do or say something which would help him. But there +was nothing I could do or say. I was completely in the dark, and could +only give him respectful, but silent attention. + +"M'sieu," he began again, after a brief interval during which I knew he +was struggling manfully with his feelings; "I have somezing to say--much +to say. Never was I so shock--so hurt, m'sieu. Never more s'prise'." His +voice grew to a surer tone now. "I have here two letter. Zis is from +Bereel." He put the tip of one yellow finger upon the pale blue +envelope. "In it she confess she tol' ze--ze--ze lie on you. She say now +it was ze joke, an' for me to correc'; zat she made ze love to you, an' +not you to her. O ze shame, m'sieu--ze shame!" He put one hand across +his eyes and shook his head sorrowfully. "I belief her w'en she tol' me +zat firs' tale, for she is my blood, an' I love her, an' I was anger wiz +you, m'sieu. If Bereel an' I have cause' you to suffer an' to loose ze +li'l wil' ma'm'selle--I shall never forgive us! Ah! m'sieu, I am 'shame' +to as for pardon--but she was my blood--my Bereel, an' I b'lief her." + +"Don't be too grieved, father," I broke in here. "I won't deny that much +harm has befallen because of this strange and unprovoked falsehood Miss +Drane saw fit to tell you. I was driven from the home at Lizard Point in +consequence of it, and soon thereafter Granny disappeared, taking +Gran'fer and Celeste with her. Of my own sufferings I will not speak. I +forgive Miss Drane, freely, now that she attempts to set matters right; +as for yourself, dear sir, there is nothing to forgive. You only acted +in good faith, and as you should have acted upon receipt of the +information which you did not once doubt was genuine." + +He hastily seized my hand in gratitude which was real as it was +affecting, and his bright eyes shone with feeling as he answered: + +"You are noble, m'sieu; mag--magnan'mous. I cannot sank you--I can only +say, God bless you!" + +He released my hand and dropped back in his chair, beginning to puff +absently at his cold pipe. + +Beryl Drane's belated confession, startling as it was in a way, and of a +nature to ordinarily work in a most gratifying manner upon my spirit, +did not long remain paramount in my thoughts. Father John seemed to have +lapsed into a sort of revery, and as the silence lengthened I found my +eyes going back again and again to the second envelope. What was in it? +Father John had included it almost in his first sentence. It could not +be from any of the vanished family, because of the typed address, and +yet it evidently contained something of interest to me. Directly I +purposely changed my position, and coughed slightly. The effort +succeeded. The priest started, lifted his head with a smile and an +indistinguishable murmur, and picked up the second envelope. + +"Zis, m'sieu," he said, in a voice tinged with awe, as he drew out the +enclosure, "is won'erful. It is ze han' of God shapin' human affairs." + +Slowly, with an expression almost beatific on his sweet old face, +suddenly glorified by some triumphant inner flame of supreme faith, he +put out his arm and placed the folded sheets in my hand. + +"Read it--all," he said, simply, then cast himself back in his chair, +closed his eyes, and intertwined his fingers under his chin. + + "NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, + "August 1st, 19-- + + "_Rt. Rev. Jean Dupré_, + "_Hebron, Ky_. + + "DEAR FR. DUPRÉ: I write you at the instance and request of one + Hannibal Ellsworth, with whose geological researches in the + shape of valuable contributions to periodical literature you + are doubtless familiar. At any rate you know, or did know the + man, for he died last night. + + "Late yesterday evening word came from a hospital that a + patient dangerously ill wanted to see a priest. I went. I soon + found that it was not for the purpose of spiritual confession + and preparation for death that I was wanted, for the man was + not only non-Catholic, but an unbeliever as well, but for a + confession of another sort. I shall put his story in my own + words, for I recall well everything he said, though I cannot + attempt to give it in his language. + + "He said his name was Hannibal Ellsworth--a name with which I + was quite familiar, though I had never seen the man + before--that he was fifty-five years old, and that twenty years + ago he was guilty of a deadly sin. In pursuit of his work, he + had gone into the knobs about Hebron, and finding the field so + rich, he erected a house, or cabin, about half way up the slope + of a certain high knob having a bald, conical peak. Here he + lived for more than a year. Here he won the love of a + neighborhood girl--her first name was Araminta--and in his mad + passion because of her physical beauty, he married her + secretly. When the first flush of possession had passed, he + realized what he had done. Then, a little while before the baby + came he left her, at night; stole away without a word to her, + and without leaving anything for the maintenance of his wife + and the child which was expected. Such depth of villainy is + almost incomprehensible. The man said she had parents living + near, who would care for her; that people out in those hills + needed only a little to eat and a little to wear. He told of + his heartless conduct in the most matter-of-fact way, as though + it was nothing extraordinary. He said he did not believe there + was a life beyond this, though the persistent Christian + propaganda had worried him, as it does all intelligent humans. + In case the church was right, and he should pass to judgment, + he wanted to make such reparation as he could to those he had + wronged. He gave me your name, and asked that I should + communicate with you, as you were acquainted with the parties + concerned--or at least knew his forsaken wife. + + "It seems he was a man of some means, and prior to my arrival + he had been in lengthy consultation with a lawyer here, who was + his friend. He has arranged to pass all of his money to his + wife, should she still live. If she is dead, it is to go to the + child--whether son or daughter he does not know. The attorney + who has his secular affairs in charge is Rehoboam Justin, at 21 + Eighth Street. You may address him there with the necessary + proofs concerning the validity of the wife's or child's claim. + I tried to interest Mr. Ellsworth in his soul's salvation, but + so firmly had the adversary become entrenched that nothing I + could say had the slightest effect. He thanked me for my + interest, though, courteously. + + "He said that his marriage was perfectly legal; that he took + the young woman by night to a town called Cedarton, near by, + and the ceremony was performed by a Protestant minister, before + witnesses. The license, together with the marriage certificate, + he says may be found in a small tin box under the stone at the + front right-hand corner of the hearth in the cabin, if it still + stands. Why he secreted these papers, instead of destroying + them, as one would naturally think from his infamous action, he + did not explain. + + "I trust that wife and child are both living, and that you will + speedily bear to them this tardy restitution. Truly, this world + is the abode of sin and sorrow. + + "Commending you to the care of God, and His holy Saints, + believe me, + + "Sincerely yours in Christ, + + "ALPHONSUS EREMY, C.S.C." + +Ten minutes after I had finished reading this letter--ten minutes during +which I sat silent with buzzing brain and elated soul, I raised my head +and looked at Father John. His eyes were open now, and he was regarding +me with an expression I could not translate. Gladness, humility, +compassion, sorrow and love were all blended in his lineaments. +Carefully, as though it were a fragile something easily broken, I laid +the letter back upon the table. + +"Keep it," said Father John in a low voice, making a slight upward +gesture. "In itself it is ze ev'dence, in case ze papers be not foun'." + +A swift alarm struck at my heart. + +"But--" I began. + +With his rare, sunshiny smile the priest interrupted. + +Then all at once a look of weary melancholy spread over his features, +and I knew he was thinking again of the perfidy of his beloved niece. +Every muscle in my body was pulling me toward the Lodge, and I now +arose. + +"I can't thank you as I would for sending for me and confiding in me as +you have," I said, my words shaky, because I had been strangely wrought +upon by all that had passed. + +He made a deprecatory, characteristic gesture with both hands. + +"Zey came zis mornin', m'sieu," he replied, sadly, glancing at the +table. "I sen' for you w'en I read zem." + +He sighed, shook his head, and reached for his tobacco jar. + +"I sink zey will be zere, but--sings hap'n, m'sieu, an' we can never +tell. It has been ze twenty year'." + +"But a tin box, father--that will hold them safely!" I exclaimed, and he +beamed tolerantly at my boyish eagerness. + +"Yes; zey should be zere." + +"You have not heard from Granny--and them?" I ventured, for the wish to +see Celeste had grown within the last quarter of an hour into an +irresistible force. I waited his reply with bated breath. + +"No," he answered, almost at once. "Zey lef' w'ile I was gone. I have +heard nuzzin'." + +Once again I tried to speak my gratitude, but the gentle old man stopped +me. This time he did not press me to stay, for he knew the magnet which +was drawing me back to the hut on Bald Knob. + +"I sink ze li'l wil' ma'm'selle will come soon," he said, as he held my +hand at parting; "zen we tell her, an' she be made vair happy." + +Forgotten was Buck and his fell purpose, forgotten was the lost Jeff +Angel as, passing through Hebron at a swift walk, I presently broke into +a run. Was this the same road, the same forest, the same sky, the same +earth? Beautiful as it always had been, it was transfigured now. My +Dryad! My lovely, innocent Dryad was free from the stigma which +hypercritical moralists would have thrust upon her! I was hastening +toward the proof with every breath I drew--toward the proof which had +lain within reach of my hand all these weeks! My heart exulted with each +onward spring, and I seemed light as air, so magically did my joy act +upon me. Swiftly I ran, but the way had never been so long. I reached +the Point. Scorning the bridge which heretofore had been a welcome aid +in crossing the creek, I dashed into the water at a place where I knew +it to be shallow, and a moment later was headed for the Dryad's Glade. +Very soon thereafter I was kneeling before the rude hearth in the Lodge, +gazing with flushed face and fascinated eyes at the front right-hand +corner stone. + +It differed in no way from all the others. A rough-surfaced, imperfect +square with an average width of ten or twelve inches, the irregular +interstices between it and its neighbors being filled with earth. It was +on a level with the others. There was nothing to indicate that it hid a +secret which meant so much. Now that I had come; now that any moment I +could prove the truth or falsity of Hannibal Ellsworth's statement, I +hesitated. Perhaps he had lied even at the last. A man capable of the +fiendish act he had committed would likewise be capable of this sardonic +jest. If this were true--if, when I lifted the stone, nothing was +revealed, what then? This torturing thought decided me. I leaped up, +took from the table the knife which Buck Steele had driven through my +journal, and with its point began to pick away the dirt between the +crevices. I worked feverishly, and presently, dropping the knife, I +gripped the stone and heaved. It moved. Again I strained backward, and +now the rock turned partly in its bed, where it had lain secure for a +score of years. Regardless of the jagged edges, I forced my fingers down +the rough sides through the loosened dirt, clawed and burrowed until I +had secured another and a stronger hold. Again I tugged, and up came my +burden bodily--up and out. I flung it rolling on the plank floor, and +trembling with anxiety gazed into the cavity it had left. I saw nothing. +Nothing but the brown earth sides and the brown earth bottom. I sank +backward with a groan. Ah! Hannibal Ellsworth! If you were alive, and +these hands were at your throat! You trickster even in death! You chosen +of Satan! You----A new thought came. Seizing the knife, I plunged it +desperately into the hole, just as I would have thrust it in the black +heart of Hannibal Ellsworth had he stood before me then. The point met +with partial resistance, then went on. I drew the knife out, and impaled +upon it was a small tin box--a tobacco box, nothing more. It had been +wrapped around and tied with a string of some kind, for the moldering +remnants still clung to it. It opened at the end. Now I was shaking with +the violence of one palsied, and presently the top fell down. I sat upon +the floor, drew the box from the knife point, and thrust in my finger +and thumb. Something was inside--something closely folded which so +filled the small space that I could not grasp it. I desisted long enough +to hold the opening to the light and peer within. I saw what appeared to +be many folds of yellowish-white paper, fitting snugly in the narrow +confines. A degree of calmness came now, and once more taking the knife, +I managed to extract the contents of the box. What the priest in Notre +Dame had written Father John was true. I held in my hand the attested +certificate of the marriage of Hannibal Ellsworth and Araminta +Kittredge, together with the license issued by the clerk of the county. +The papers were dry and crackled in my grasp; they were disfigured by +yellow splotches, and bore that peculiar odor which old parchments +always acquire. + +All afternoon I sat in the same spot, with those priceless documents +before me. I read each of them an hundred times, and examined every +letter of every written word. They were the passports of my wife to +enter into my world. Only when it grew too dark to see did I put them +back in the box, put the box in the hole, and replace the stone upon the +treasure. It would be safer right there until I could take it away. + +After supper I went out to one of the benches in front, and smoked. The +moon came up soon; a great, big, yellow moon, hoisting itself +majestically over the forest sea. It seemed as big as the end of a sugar +barrel, and the face of the lady etched upon it was a cameo of Celeste +Ellsworth. I wonder if any other man anywhere in the world has ever +dared to imagine this moon-lady bore a resemblance to someone in whom he +was interested? He was very silly and presumptuous if he did, for the +profile of this lunar enchantress reflects line for line that of my +Dryad! + +The soft, soundless, midsummer night wrought upon me in a wonderfully +peaceful way. Yet a positive, adamantine resolve grew within me ere I +came in. I shall wait one more day--one only. If Celeste does not return +to-morrow, then the day after I take up the search. There is nothing to +be gained by staying here longer, and all to lose, even life. When I +find her--when I find her--my God! At the very thought my love surges +through me so that my chest hurts and my eyelids are hot upon the balls. +I write no more to-night. I am lonely, and I am starving--for her! I +want to see her golden hair tremble in the breeze, hear her laugh, look +into the deeps of her eyes, hold her to me and tell her that I love +her--love her! + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR + +IN WHICH I VANQUISH A DEMONIAC, AND ENTER INTO GLORY + + +This is written a month later. + +The next day passed eventless. I kept to the plateau, for now I had even +greater cause not to incur needless risks. After supper I sought my seat +of the night before, my mind made up. Again I saw the moon creep up the +sky, and it was full that night; its immense disk was a perfect circle. +I sat watching the grotesque, ever-changing shapes evolved from my pipe +smoke, silvery luminous in the moonshine, and wondering just how and +where I would begin my search in the morning. Then my unchecked thoughts +drifted to Celeste, and as the minutes glided by I felt the restraint +which I had placed upon myself slipping more and more. I made no effort +to stay my imaginings, or to turn their trend. The hour was made +delicious by this mental revel; by sublime visions of what the future +would be. Most rigidly had I held myself in check since that night on +the peak, when I woke to a sense of my condition, and whither it was +leading me. Now I would relax, and suffer my feelings to assume +predominance again, for I was weary of the constant battle to banish +this girl from my brain, and anyway, the game was about played. Unless +Buck came upon me that night, I would speedily be beyond his reach. + +As my unleashed emotions mastered me more and more, a keen restlessness +seized me, the natural result of unsatisfied longing. The bench where I +had passed contented hours the night before became at length unendurable +and I arose, my face set hungrily toward the whispering woods. Sweetly +it lured me with its breath of odorous greenness; strongly it drew me by +its very mystery of being, and I responded. I would go to the Dryad's +Glade. + +I was without coat or hat. My shirt was open at the throat and the +sleeves were rolled above my elbows, for the day had been one of the +hottest I had ever known, and in the early night the heat had not yet +been conquered by the dew and the shadows. How well and strong I was! I +tarried for a moment before the unlighted Lodge to enjoy a full +conception of my superb physical vigor. It is something to make a man +rejoice--this mere knowledge of brute power. I had it in perfection that +night, and flooding my maligned lungs with a deep-drawn breath of +Nature's exquisite attar, I moved away. + +I had always loved to roam by night; I had always loved to tread the +wild; I had always loved the face of old earth best when kissed by +moonlight. These three conditions became important accessories to my +mood that evening, a mood both tender and fierce. I reached the base of +my hill of refuge, mechanically turned toward the west, and with bowed +head and leisurely steps went forward where all was vast and dim and +holy, to receive the benediction of the trees. I scarcely noticed my +surroundings, although my perceptions received and appreciated the +enveloping silence, and the pearl-gray gloom. The subtle scents of moss, +and dew-soaked earth, and the indescribable tang from bark and leaf +refreshed my nostrils with their blended odors. I felt that I was in the +first sanctuary the world had ever known; a spot where Creator and +creation were all but one; a place undefiled by the feet of grasping, +sordid men. If a prayer were born in this temple it were born of the +spirit, and not of mumbling lips more used to the shaping of lies and +hypocrisies. + +A sound came to me, threading the silence like a note from a flute; +elfin, elusive, wild. For a moment I thought I was deceived. I stopped +and listened. Piercing the continuous sigh which is never absent from a +vast forest, even in times of greatest calm, the note came again, +followed by a series of quirks and trills. Eerie enough was the sound. +Was the jest which I had offered the Satyr, while under the influence of +liquor, coming true? Did the great god Pan yet live, in truth, and did +he make merry o' summer nights in sylvan court and viney bower? My spine +grew chilly at the thought, and for an instant I was tempted to believe. +Would I see him if I pressed forward cautiously, without noise? Would I +find him dancing a drunken reel to his own music? For the nonce I cast +logic and common sense aside, and determined to stalk this heathen +deity. Bending forward, I advanced with the utmost care, walking on the +balls of my feet. At intervals I heard the pagan fantasy--jumbled +measures of the most fascinating, tuneless music that was ever set +afloat. From familiar signs I knew I was approaching my objective point. +My eagerness became intense as the pipe-notes sounded louder and louder, +and then, suddenly, the scale fell a full octave, or more, and the +liquid tones which now sifted through the motionless air were laden with +a burden I knew. I stopped, grasped a tree, and threw my left hand to my +forehead. I was listening to Jeff Angel's magic reed! He was playing the +Song of the Brook, as he had played it for me that memorable night. Was +the last vestige of his mind gone? Had he succeeded? Why was he dallying +here when he must have known that my heart was aching and breaking for +the news which he would bring? These thoughts and a dozen more congested +my brain during the fleeting second I leaned against the tree. Then I +was erect and dashing forward. It was a sort of natural lane down which +I rushed, whose other end debouched into the Dryad's Glade. Fast and +heedless as I sped, I saw that which checked me ere I dashed into the +open; which drove me to one side, softly and breathlessly, where I could +see without chance of discovery. + +The Dryad had come home. I know that I can but poorly describe the scene +to-night, but had I possessed pen and paper at that moment my plight +would have been the same, or worse. About half of the little woodland +court was whitened by the radiance from above, and the other portion was +in alternate light and shadow. But even in this portion--which was next +to me--a moving form could be plainly seen. The wildest, most bizarre, +most graceful dance was in progress. Celeste was all in white; a loose, +flowing robe with wing-like sleeves which waved and fluttered from her +outstretched arms. Upon her head was a wreath of great, bell-shaped, +snowy flowers, and draped loosely about her waist was a garland +similarly wrought. They were the exquisite blooms of the jimson weed, +that humble plant which grows undisturbed in every country barn lot in +Kentucky. Back and forth and around she sped, in the intricate steps of +a dance which made me dizzy to behold. Once she passed near my +hiding-place--so near that I heard the quick intake of her breath and +caught the gleam of her teeth back of her parted lips. I saw the +expression on her face, too, as she whirled by, and it was one of purest +enjoyment. The Satyr was piping and dancing, too. Weird and fantastic he +was, with the tails of his long coat flapping behind, and the sugar-loaf +hat atop his head. Time and again he measured the diameter of the glade, +turning when he had crossed it to retrace his route. His movements were +very much like those of a cake walker on parade. His middle was thrust +out, his shoulders back, and his face was turned squarely to the sky. +The goat-tuft bobbed and shook with each prancing step, and ever came +that wonderful music, which he had taken from music's source. + +Charmed into passiveness for the time, I crouched and stared at this +strange sight. Then all at once the dancers abandoned the separate +figures they had been treading, joined hands, his left in her right, and +the Satyr, playing with one hand only, began a flute-like, dreamy +movement, to whose bewitching melody they started afresh, an entirely +different measure. This continued for a minute or more, not without a +degree of stateliness, then, abruptly as a lightning flash, the Satyr +sprang away from his partner with a burst of yelling laughter wholly +uncivilized, and furiously began the Song of the Storm Wind. I had heard +it before, but not as now. As if inspired to newer effort, each began to +run. It was half race, half dance now, for even in the seeming +carelessness of this rout I detected certain steps executed with regard +to time and rhythm. Never had I seen such an extraordinary performance! +The very contrast of the participants rendered it unique, but this +unconscious revival of rites which had passed away centuries ago lent a +deeper and more enigmatical significance to it all. There was nothing +unseemly in this revel, if I may call it such. It was simply an +expression of their love for the forest which had cradled and nurtured +them. In everything but this common affection they were far apart, but +in worshiping at Nature's shrine they were one. Each felt the call to +the still places, and if we, whom life has cruelly thrust among brick +walls and stone streets and steel towers pine for such things until our +very souls cry out, how much more should they slip out alone to take +their joy of them. That was all it amounted to, and even my jealous eye +could find naught at which to carp. Two children had come forth to +gambol, nothing more. + +The pace set by the Song of the Storm Wind was too furious to continue +long. Presently the climax was reached, and Jeff flung himself upon the +ground like a tired boy, his thin legs outstretched, his body inclined +backward and supported by his arms thrust out behind him. Celeste +stopped near me, almost in the center of the moonlighted space, and +throwing her arms high she bent her head sideways and gave a deep, happy +sigh. I knew it was happy, for her countenance was tenderly aglow. +Quickly I advanced and stood before her, both hands outheld. + +"Dryad! O little Dryad! I have missed you so!" + +A startled look came to her face, but it passed on the instant, and with +a low, inarticulate cry she took one step and put her palms on mine. + +Another instant both my arms were around her and I was pressing her +closer, closer, closer, calling her all the precious names which only +lovers know, kissing her face, her warm, sweet lips, her tumbled hair. +Her arms went about my neck, her soft young body sank trembling upon my +breast. She was mine! What we said the next fifteen minutes does not +need transcription. Her words formed the most divine speech which ever +fell from mortal lips, but there are fools abroad in the world who would +not understand, so I forbear. Then, her arm in mine, we walked toward +the Satyr, still in his unconventional attitude of rest. As we drew +nearer, I saw that his ugly face bore an expression which indicated that +he was scandalized beyond measure at the meeting he had witnessed. I was +preparing to hail him jocularly, for my heart beat high with happiness +which almost made me dizzy, when his features became convulsed in a look +of mortal terror, and I knew that he was gazing at something behind me. +I had heard no sound, but intuition now flashed me the needed warning. +With the arm linked in hers I flung Celeste forward and from me as far +as I could and wheeled at the same instant with the agility and ferocity +of a tiger. I knew what I would see, but I was totally unprepared for +the truly horrible spectacle which confronted me. + +The smith was almost upon us. Bareheaded he came, stark naked to the +waist. Barefooted, too, he was. His huge, hairy chest and arms, his +bearded face and neck, and the long, unkempt hair of his head, invested +him with a certain hideousness which might well have sent a tremor of +fear to the stoutest heart. He was gnashing his teeth like a wolf--I +could hear them click plainly--and muttering throaty, guttural sounds of +wrath. He checked his rush short when I turned and faced him, and stood +ten feet away, glaring insanely from me to Celeste, from Celeste to me. +His mind was gone; I knew it then. As I waited his attack, he gave vent +to a yell which was a fearful mingling of screech and laugh, stooped as +though about to charge me, then, with motions so swift I could not +comprehend his hellish purpose, he swung a short, thick club which he +held and cast it with all his might--at Celeste! It sang fiendishly by +my ear, I heard a scream, and there my Dryad was lying on the ground, a +crumpled bit of white in the shadow-flecked glade. For a moment the +night grew black. The darkness passed. I looked again. Jeff Angel was +bending over her. I could not go to her yet. Time to bury my dead when +her murderer--A new sound dispelled the numbing lethargy which this +devil's blow had thrown upon me. It was Buck laughing. He was bending +over, his hands on his knees, and his insane merriment was grating and +mechanical. I sprang for him then; silent, grim. He jumped aside with a +gibing croak, and, yielding to some reasonless vagary, whirled and ran. +I was after him ere he had measured his first leap, for now I was +harried by the hounds of Despair and Hate, and my life had been shorn of +all aim and purpose but one. That one I knew I would accomplish--knew I +must accomplish, or be a curse unto myself forever. + +Buck ran with the speed of a greyhound, leaping now and then into the +air like a demoniac, and striking out with his fists as he did so. He +was never silent. Now he was shrieking his blood-chilling laugh, now +shouting disjointed sentences in a voice which had ceased to be human, +now singing something which might have been a war-chant of the Huns for +all its consonantal slurring and meager scope. Neither did he ever look +behind. He had taken the natural lane down which I had come, and down +which he had doubtless followed me on unshod, noiseless feet. I put +forth my strongest efforts and tried to overtake him. Though I ran +steadily and with scientific care, and he expended strength and +sacrificed distance during his numerous upward bounds, I could not gain +an inch. I doubt if such a pursuit was ever undertaken before. A +half-naked, hairy, maniac-giant leading, and a sane man well-nigh as +big, whose holiest feelings had been outraged, following. On we swept +through the checkered spaces of the forest, our progress accompanied by +that rumbling chant suggestive of forgotten ages. I do not know how such +things are, but it may have been that the slumbering strain transmitted +through many generations from some ancient warrior ancestor who lived +and fought when the world was young, had been quickened in the primitive +brain when reason left it. He had ceased laughing and mouthing +indistinguishable words now, but with every breath there rolled out the +sonorous staves of this chant of a remote past. + +We reached the base of Bald Knob, and here, instead of holding to the +ravine which led around it, Buck swerved into the road leading up. He +was going to the Lodge. Well and good. I would as soon end it on the +plateau as elsewhere. Through the weeds and vines which choked the +ascent we crashed, and as I gained the level in front of the Lodge I saw +with joy that I had lessened the distance between us. Buck sped straight +toward the open door, and I flew to overtake him, for that which had to +be had best occur in the open. In vain. I could not catch this +Mercury-footed Vulcan. As I looked to see him disappear within the +house, he made a dextrous flank movement and circled it. Instantly I was +on his track again. Now he had set his face toward the belt of +evergreens which loomed blackly above us in the brilliant moonshine. A +dread seized me. Was it his sly intention to reach this shelter first, +and hide ere I could come up? I harbored this idea only a second. This +being did not fear me. That he had run when I sought to attack him was +due solely to some antic twist of his unaccountable mind. Any moment his +mood might change. The dense gloom swallowed him, but still, a guide +through the darkness, floated back the chant. How he could keep it up +under such fearful exertion I could not understand. He must have been +made of iron and steel. I pressed on. Bursting through the furthest edge +of the encircling band of trees, I saw him once more. He had quit +running, as this was practically impossible here, and was toiling up the +steep slope silently, for his song had at last ceased. I stood a moment, +legs apart, my chest heaving laboredly, for I felt the hard chase. Up +went the great figure, grisly in its seeming now--up toward the peak. + +A remembrance of that white, crumpled form lying in the glade assailed +me poignantly, and starting beneath it as under the touch of white-hot +iron, I shouted a frightful curse, and threw myself at the acclivity. I +must reach there when he did. I must top the crest at the same time, so +that he would have no chance to make a descent on the other side. For a +while I ran, though the task was Herculean, goaded as I was into +temporary madness by the stinging thought of my lost love. So it was I +came within my own length of the climbing demoniac, who never yet had +cast a glance behind him, and who even now, though he must have heard my +progress, went directly on, without a sign. It was gruesome. In the +midst of the inferno wherein my soul burned I recognized the uncanny +strangeness of the scene. Night. A wilderness. A towering gray-white +peak of earth, and on its slope two crawling specks, one bent on--God +knows what!--the other intent on revenge. The law of Moses reigned +supreme in my mind that night: forgotten was the law of Christ. +Forgotten, or ignored. I knew no law. I was reduced to that simple plane +where I was going to claim a life--a base and worthless life in exchange +for the pure and priceless one he had taken. The united logic of all the +united churches in Christendom or out could not have convinced me that I +was wrong. + +We reached the last ascent, almost perpendicular, and here I expected +the smith to hesitate, or halt. He did neither. He put himself at it +immediately, and I imitated him. His going here was swifter than mine. +It must have been because of his bare feet, which allowed him to grasp, +cling and thrust with his sinewy toes. As we slowly neared the top he +had drawn away from me for an appreciable distance. I increased my +efforts. If I lost him now I probably never would see him again. I saw +his huge arms, looking like moss-draped limbs, shoot up, and his fingers +grip the top of the peak. I shut my teeth and my eyes and put out all +there was in me. Now I was up, and yonder--yonder was Buck, crouched +just across from me at the further rim, preparing evidently to descend, +for one leg was over the rather abrupt edge. I could not reach him; he +would slip down and be gone before I could make the passage, brief +though it was. My hand rested upon a small stone. Impelled by impulse +more than by reason, I threw the stone at him. It struck him a smarting +blow on one arm, and he turned with a snarl, half squatting, half +sitting. + +"Murderer!" I gasped; "come back and fight!" I cannot say if he +understood. I doubt it, but my voice acted as a supplementary irritant +to the cast stone. I heard the infuriate grinding of his teeth as he +rose up, and came plunging toward me with the intention to hug. I had no +wish for these tactics, and dodged just enough to escape him. Thereat he +sent forth a roar, wheeled, and struck at me. The blow was not gauged at +all, and I had no trouble warding it. Then for a little while we stood +face to face, not over five feet between us, while our heavy +respirations were the only sounds. Closely as I watched him, his +subtlety exceeded my caution. He feigned to draw back, as if to circle, +and the next moment was speeding toward me through the air in a +prodigious leap. I might have avoided his onset; I do not know. But even +as I saw him in mid-air the desperate resolve was born within me to end +the score, and that quickly. So, instead of attempting any action which +would mean delay, I gathered my strength and leaped to meet him! We +crashed together both from earth, and locked with such holds as we could +find. We came to our knees from the terrific force of the impact, and +there for a while we stayed, chest to chest, and cheek to cheek. The +deep, strained breath of the smith hissed by my ear in heavy gusts, and +I was in no better strait, for my lungs seemed on fire and my +inhalations brought no respite from the torture. It could not have been +long that we remained thus, and while the lull lasted our embrace was so +intense that we were as one body. Buck made the first move, for I was +content to continue as we were for a time, and so recover in a measure +from the exhaustion caused by the run and the steep climb. All at once I +was aware that the steel-like bands which encircled me were pressing +deeper into my flesh, with a suddenness and a violence which was +terrifying. For a second I writhed, then the muscles of my back +responded, and I felt them ridging and swelling in resistance. Now my +body was wrapped and swathed in rigid folds of strength, and I strove to +force my adversary backward. My brain was veiled in a bloody mist, and +angry seas dashed and thundered in my ears, but I knew that he was +yielding! Teeth set, eyes bulging, I called again upon myself, but now +the shaggy head dropped forward, and the fiend bit me savagely between +shoulder and neck. The shock of the pain caused me to relax, and moved +by a common impulse we arose to our feet. Then I saw his face, and had I +not been well-nigh as crazy as he, the sight would have shaken every +nerve. His curled-back lips were wet and red with my blood, his face +expressed the insane rage which filled him, and his eyes--his eyes will +haunt me to my last day, for there was no meaning in them whatever! Just +two glassy, protruding orbs shining vacantly in the peaceful moonlight. +Then he laughed; hollow, hoarse and rattling, and caught up again that +devilish, rune-like battle-chant. It was only a momentary respite which +came after we were up. This time I took the initiative, and at once +closed with him silently. New strength had come to the smith, and during +the next minute I was off my feet more than once, dragged bodily from +the ground by his superb might. The spot where we fought was perhaps ten +yards across, was almost perfectly flat, and was covered with a sort of +granular deposit which prevented us from slipping. Over this narrow area +we tugged and strove, sometimes approaching dangerously near the edge, +but eventually working back to safer ground. If he had only ceased that +brain-racking, heathenish litany! But after a time it came in gasps, and +jerks, for despite his marvelous stamina, my enemy began at last to feel +the strain. How long we battled upon the peak I do not know, but there +came a time when I felt that I had been fighting Buck Steele since the +dawn of creation. I was sore from head to foot; dizzy, and growing weak, +but I was assured that his case was no better. So, locked like two stags +which war to the death, we staggered and sprawled hither and yonder. +Then our efforts became automatic, for each had reached the point where +he was incapable of intelligent action. Suddenly the moon fell from +heaven, straight down to the top of the forest. Then it rebounded back +into the sky, and began a series of most erratic movements. At this the +glimmer of sense which I yet retained made me grow afraid. I knew that +my limit had been reached. Then was projected upon that spark of +conscious mentality the picture of my stricken Dryad--and now I laughed! +Yea, laughed wildly and mirthlessly, as I slid one arm under the smith's +huge hams, and in a resistless access of frenzied power lifted his vast +bulk as I would have raised an infant. If he struggled I did not know +it, for in that supreme moment a Titan had come to earth. To the +flume-like chute I bore him and cast him down it--down to darkness and +to hell! + + * * * * * + +How I got back to the Lodge I do not know. But as I tottered to the open +door, behold! there stood 'Crombie before the fireplace, the Satyr +crouched on a box, and sitting near the table was my Dryad! + +I fell forward at the sight, senseless. + + * * * * * + +My wife sits near me reading in the first reader as I pen these final +lines of my journal. 'Crombie's presence at the Lodge is easily +explained. The time had come for his annual trip to the great north +woods, and he determined to run down and surprise me before he left, and +see how I was getting along. He drove out from Cedarton, and arrived +just as Jeff Angel was leading Celeste up to the Lodge. Buck's club had +not struck her. When she saw his intention she had fainted from fright. +'Crombie's coming was opportune, for he has told me I would have died +without his ready help. I was in a pretty bad way. + +I am happy to relate that I did not kill Buck Steele. Just how he +escaped destruction I cannot say, but the morning succeeding our awful +combat 'Crombie made a thorough search at the base of the peak, at my +suggestion, but found nothing. In some miraculous way the smith's life +was preserved, although this was contrary to my intent and purpose at +the time. But now, with my golden-haired Dryad here safe in my home, I +am glad. I had some trouble persuading Granny that this arrangement was +best, but Gran'fer stood by me valiantly and Father John also lent his +aid, so the matter was arranged peaceably. I asked the Satyr how he +managed to induce the runaways to come back, and the graceless rascal +informed me that he told them I had gone back home! A blessed lie, dear +Satyr! + +I also questioned 'Crombie about the life-plant, for I had never been +quite easy on the subject. + +"You found it and did not know it, my son," he said, his good, honest +face beaming. "Do you remember my description of it? Well, the vivid +green stem is the universal green of Nature's dress; the golden leaves +is the healing sunlight, and the flower--the cluster of clear little +globules, is the crystalline air and water of the untainted wild. I +deceived you in a way, my son, for it was all symbolical, but it was for +your good. Now I think I was hasty in my diagnosis, and that nothing was +wrong with you. Do you forgive me?" + +He smiled upon me almost in a pathetic way. + +"It was the best thing that could have happened to me!" I replied, +thinking that by it I had gained Celeste. + +Now it comes to me that I have told my story and have never told my +name. Which goes to show that a name amounts to very little. But there +may be some curious readers who would be glad to know it, and for such I +do not mind declaring it. + +It is Nicholas Jard. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Maid of the Kentucky Hills, by +Edwin Carlile Litsey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS *** + +***** This file should be named 35147-8.txt or 35147-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/1/4/35147/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Maid of the Kentucky Hills + +Author: Edwin Carlile Litsey + +Illustrator: John Cassel + +Release Date: February 2, 2011 [EBook #35147] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS</h1> + +<h2>BY EDWIN CARLILE LITSEY</h2> + +<h3>Author of "The Man from Jericho," etc.</h3> + + +<h3><i>ILLUSTRATED BY<br /> +JOHN CASSEL</i></h3> + +<h3>CHICAGO<br /> +BROWNE & HOWELL COMPANY<br /> +1913</h3> + +<h3>COPYRIGHT, 1913<br /> +BROWNE & HOWELL COMPANY</h3> + +<h3><i>Copyright in England<br /> +All rights reserved</i></h3> + +<h3>PUBLISHED, NOVEMBER, 1913</h3> + +<h3>THE PLIMPTON PRESS<br /> +NORWOOD, MASS, USA</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>TO<br /> +SARA<br /> +OF THE SUNNY HAIR</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/front.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3><i>I knelt on the tree, bent down, and took her upheld hand +in mine.</i></h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_ONE"><span class="smcap">Chapter One</span> <br />In Which I Go to 'Crombie</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_TWO"><span class="smcap">Chapter Two</span> <br />In Which I Go to 'Crombie Again</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_THREE"><span class="smcap">Chapter Three</span> <br />In Which I Find a Lodge in the Wilderness</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_FOUR"><span class="smcap">Chapter Four</span> <br />In Which I Meet a Dryad</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_FIVE"><span class="smcap">Chapter Five</span> <br />In Which I Say What I Please</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_SIX"><span class="smcap">Chapter Six</span> <br />In Which I Meet a Satyr</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_SEVEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Seven</span> <br />In Which the Satyr and I Sit Cheek by Jowl</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHT"><span class="smcap">Chapter Eight</span> <br />In Which I Pitch My Tent Toward Hebron for the Space of an Afternoon</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_NINE"><span class="smcap">Chapter Nine</span> <br />In Which I Sit Upon a Hilltop and Reflect to no Advantage</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_TEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Ten</span> <br />In Which I Spend a Pleasant Hour and Hear Some News</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_ELEVEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Eleven</span> <br />In Which Other Characters Come Into Our Story</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_TWELVE"><span class="smcap">Chapter Twelve</span> <br />In Which I Attend an Oratorio</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_THIRTEEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Thirteen</span> <br />In Which I Suffer Four Shocks, Three of the Earth and +One From the Sky, and Find Another Maid A-Fishing</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_FOURTEEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Fourteen</span> <br />In Which Yet a Fifth Shock Arrives, and Rounds Out the +Day</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_FIFTEEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Fifteen</span> <br />In Which the Historian Unblushingly Shows Himself to be +a Human</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_SIXTEEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Sixteen</span> <br />In Which Much Added Light is Shed Upon Miss Beryl Drane, +but Only a Glimmer Upon My Problem</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_SEVENTEEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Seventeen</span> <br />In Which I Entertain Seriously a Chivalrous Notion to +my Great Detriment</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHTEEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Eighteen</span> <br />In Which I Descend Into Hell</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_NINETEEN"><span class="smcap">Chapter Nineteen</span> <br />In Which the Satyr and the Narrator Become Very Drunk, +and the Latter is Lifted to Earth Again</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY"><span class="smcap">Chapter Twenty</span> <br />In Which I View an Empty World, Act a Hypocrite, and Hear +a Confession of Love</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-ONE"><span class="smcap">Chapter Twenty-one</span> <br />In Which, Strange to Say, Time Passes. Also I Receive +Three Warnings, and Witness an Unparalleled Episode in the Smithy of Buck Steele</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-TWO"><span class="smcap">Chapter Twenty-two</span> <br />In Which I Spar With Death</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-THREE"><span class="smcap">Chapter Twenty-three</span> <br />In Which, Though the World is Still a Void, There +is the Shining of a Great Light</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_TWENTY-FOUR"><span class="smcap">Chapter Twenty-four</span> <br />In Which I Vanquish a Demoniac, and Enter Into Glory</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_ONE" id="CHAPTER_ONE"></a>CHAPTER ONE</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE</h3> + + +<p>When a man of thirty who has been sound and well since boyhood suddenly +realizes there is something radically wrong with him, it amounts almost +to a tragedy.</p> + +<p>It was mid-March when I became convinced that I was "wrong." Near the +close of winter I had developed a hacking cough with occasional chest +pains, but with masculine mulishness had refused to recognize any +untoward symptoms. I was not a sissy, to let a common cold frighten me +and send me trembling to the doctor. I began to lose flesh and grow +pale, whereas I had been of fine frame, and decidedly athletic. Then I +discovered a fleck of crimson on my handkerchief one day after a hard +coughing spell. I got up from my desk with unsteady knees and a chilly +feeling down my spine, and went to 'Crombie. He was generally known as +Abercrombie Dane, M. D., but we grew up hand in hand, as it were, and +so—I went to 'Crombie. He was a fine, big animal; head of a Hercules +and strength of a jack and sense like Solon. A rare man.</p> + +<p>I told him my tale shamefacedly, for I realized now I had acted a fool, +and that maybe my day of grace had passed. He knew I was scared, for he +was sensitive, in spite of his bulk and seeming brusqueness. There was +pity in his eyes before I finished, and I had to grapple with myself to +keep the moisture out of mine, his sympathy was so real.</p> + +<p>Then I silently gave him the handkerchief, with the telltale stain.</p> + +<p>He looked at it absently, and rubbed it gently with the tip of one big +finger.</p> + +<p>"My son," he said—it was an affectionate form of address which he +nearly always employed—"you are starting a colony."</p> + +<p>His deep voice was very steady.</p> + +<p>"A <i>what</i>?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"Bugs," he replied, laconically, and looked me squarely in the eyes.</p> + +<p>"<i>Bugs!</i>" I cried, feeling the cold hand of Fear at my heart.</p> + +<p>He shut his lips tightly, and nodded three or four times.</p> + +<p>For a few moments I was literally and positively paralyzed. I felt as if +he had pronounced sentence of death. 'Crombie had dropped his eyes, and +his broad, strong face was serious.</p> + +<p>My nature is buoyant, and presently the reaction came.</p> + +<p>"Are they crawlin' yet, Doc?" I asked, a smile struggling to my lips.</p> + +<p>I cannot understand now why I asked that question. Perhaps it was a +foolish attempt at bravado in the presence of a serious fact just +discovered.</p> + +<p>He did not answer. He recognized the query as flippant, and his nature +was deep. He sat looking at the floor a long time, and I did not intrude +again upon his thoughts. But I imagined I felt a tickling beneath my +ribs, as of many tiny feet at work. <i>Bugs!</i> Ugh!</p> + +<p>At last 'Crombie's shaggy head came up.</p> + +<p>"There's a chance—a good chance," he said, and I felt courage spreading +through me like wine, for 'Crombie never spoke hastily, nor at random.</p> + +<p>"Sea voyages and high altitudes wouldn't hurt," he resumed, "but you +haven't the money for them. Still you've got to hike from town, my son. +Change is all right, but pure air and coarse, good food is your cue. The +knob country is not far away. There you'll find all you'd find in New +Mexico or Colorado or Arizona, and be in praying distance of the +Almighty to boot. I know the spot for you, my son. It is a great knob +which stands in the midst of a vast range, and it is belted with pine +and cedar trees. Find or build you a shack on it half way up and stay +there for a year. That's your prescription, my son."</p> + +<p>"It's a devilish hard one to take!" I protested, in my ignorance.</p> + +<p>"Condemned men are not usually so particular as to their method of +escape," he admonished, with a half smile.</p> + +<p>Then he fell to thinking again, with his finger on his eyebrow. It was a +peculiar attitude, which I had never seen in anyone else. I sat still, +hoping he was evolving some pleasanter plan for my redemption. He was +trying to change me into a hillbilly, a savage! I looked at my white +hands and carefully kept nails, at my neat business suit and shining +shoes, and a slow rebellion awoke within me. I had about decided to +ignore 'Crombie and seek more comforting advice, when his rumbling voice +came again.</p> + +<p>"It's mighty good authority which says you can't kick against the +pricks. Don't try it, my son. Before we begin final arrangements I want +to ask you a question. Have you ever heard of the life-plant?"</p> + +<p>I gazed at him keenly, for the query did not savor of sanity. I knew +that his researches in botany almost equalled his skill in medicine, but +in some vague way I suspected a trick. His expression disarmed me. It +not only was genuine, but yearning. I have never seen the same look in a +man's eyes before or since.</p> + +<p>"No; I never heard of it," I replied. "What is it?"</p> + +<p>His answer was spoken slowly and meditatively.</p> + +<p>"From the same source we get our hint regarding the pricks, we read of a +tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Nature is the +mother of medicine. There is nothing in pharmaceutics that has not a +direct origin from vegetable, animal, or mineral life. It is my belief +that there is a remedy for every human ill if we could only lay our +hands on it. This brings us to your case, and the life-plant."</p> + +<p>"Are you giving me straight goods, 'Crombie'?" I demanded, my suspicions +rising again.</p> + +<p>"It is half legend, my son, I'll admit, but I have strong reasons for +believing it does exist. It's an Indian tale."</p> + +<p>"Probably bosh," I muttered, my common sense at bay.</p> + +<p>"I think not," he answered, calmly and soberly.</p> + +<p>"Have you ever seen it?" I challenged.</p> + +<p>"No, but that doesn't disprove it. Listen to me. The life-plant is the +most peculiar growth in nature, and cannot be confounded with anything +else. The principal accessories to its full development are pure air and +sunshine, hence it is found only in the still places of the woods and +valleys. It is exceedingly rare. You might spend a year searching for it +under the most favorable conditions, and find only one specimen. Again, +you might find none. So far as science has gone, it grows from neither +seed, bulb, nor root. It seems to germinate from certain elemental +conjunctions, attains maturity, flowers and dies. It may appear in the +cleft of a rock, on the side of a mountain range, or in the rich mold of +a valley. It claims no special season for its own, but may come in +December as well as in June. It springs from snow as frequently as from +summer grass. This is how it looks. It is about twelve inches high. Its +stem is a most vivid green; its leaves are triangular, of a bright +golden color, and the flower, which comes just at the top, is a +collection of clear little globules, like the berries of the mistletoe. +They are clearer and purer than the mistletoe berry, however. In fact, +they are all but transparent, and might readily be mistaken for a +cluster of dewdrops. Therein lies the efficacy of this strange plant. +Gather the bloom carefully, immerse it in a glass of water for twelve +hours, then drink the decoction entire. It will rout your embryo colony, +and make you sound and strong as I."</p> + +<p>He leaned back and slapped his chest with his open hand.</p> + +<p>"You're dopey, 'Crombie," I said, doubting, but longing to believe him.</p> + +<p>He wheeled around to his desk.</p> + +<p>"All right, my son. You came to me for advice, and got it. I consider +that I've done my duty by you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, come now!" I pleaded, ready to conciliate. "That's an awful +cock-and-bull story you've handed me, and you mustn't get huffy if it +doesn't go down without choking. I'll try to swallow it, 'Crombie. I do +appreciate your advice, and I'm going to try and take it;—but tell me +more about this infernal flower."</p> + +<p>"Not infernal," he corrected, mollified; "but supernal. I don't think +there's any more to tell. Your stunt is to search till you find it, then +follow directions."</p> + +<p>"You say it grows anywhere?" I continued, assuming interest.</p> + +<p>"Where there's pure air and sunshine," he repeated.</p> + +<p>"And grows out of <i>snow</i>, 'Crombie?"</p> + +<p>"As well as out of warm soil," he averred, doggedly.</p> + +<p>"It appears to me that you're looney, 'Crombie, but I hope you're not, +and I'll hunt for your bloomin' life-plant. But the question now is: who +is going with me into my hill of refuge?"</p> + +<p>"Who's going with you? Nobody! Who would go with you? People nowadays +have neither time nor inclination to burrow in the wilderness for a +twelve-month!"</p> + +<p>I groaned, for I knew that he was right. Martyrdom never has company.</p> + +<p>"There's no other way?" I pleaded. "Couldn't I have a native look for +this healing flower for me?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head. "It withers soon after it is plucked. You had better +carry a sealed jar of water with you on your tramps."</p> + +<p>Resignation came to me with that speech. My own folly had brought me +where I was, and my spirit suddenly rose up to meet the emergency.</p> + +<p>"I'll go, 'Crombie," I said. "Thank you for your prescription."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWO" id="CHAPTER_TWO"></a>CHAPTER TWO</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>'Crombie had said with chilling frankness that I hadn't the money for a +sea voyage, or for extended travel. The statement was distressingly +true. Just at the time he and I finished our college careers, my father +died. Contrary to general belief, and my own as well, he was almost a +bankrupt. It was the old story of the frenzy for gain, great risks, and +total loss. 'Crombie took up medicine, while I, lured by the promises of +a fickle Fate, embraced literature. 'Crombie was wise; I was foolish. +When people are sick they always want a doctor, but when they are idle +they do not always read. If there is one road to the poorhouse which is +freer from obstructions than all others, it is the road of the unknown +author. I had a natural bent toward letters, had been editor-in-chief of +the college magazine, and had sold two or three stories to middle-class +periodicals. So, with the roseate illusions of youth at their flood, I +pictured myself soon among the front rank of American writers, and +equipped myself for a speedy conquest.</p> + +<p>In six months I had sold a half dozen stories, for something approaching +one hundred dollars, and had received enough rejection slips to paper +one room. To this use I applied them, taking a doleful sort of pleasure +in reading the punctilious printed messages with their eternal refrain +of "We regret, etc." I wondered if the editors were as sorry as they +pretended to be. And I thought, too, of the enormousness of their +stationery bills.</p> + +<p>But I persevered. The ten years which followed my embarkation upon this +treacherous sea were not entirely barren of results. I managed to live +frugally, which was something, and established gratifying relations with +two or three magazines which bought my manuscripts with encouraging +regularity. At last I placed a book with a reputable publishing house. +The story fell flat from the press. The firm lost, and I did not receive +a penny. The experience was bitter. I had spent a solid year writing +that book, and I felt that if I could get a hearing my period of +probation would be over. I got the hearing, and I was still in +obscurity. That is the typical literary beginning, and he who finally +succeeds deserves all he gets, for he has a heart of oak. My inherent +optimism and stubborn will bore me safely through the mists and shallows +of defeat, and with the sunlight of hope once more flooding my soul, I +went on. Then 'Crombie handed me my commuted death sentence.</p> + +<p>It is wonderful how news of this sort gets abroad. But it spreads like +uncorked ether. I had proof of this two days later when my minister, an +aged and good man, called on a mission of condolence.</p> + +<p>"God did it, my boy," he said, as he left, "and you must bear it."</p> + +<p>I didn't believe him. I believed that the devil did it, and that God +would help me get rid of it.</p> + +<p>Since I had to go up into the wilderness, the sooner I went the sooner I +would return, and I found my anxiety to be off increasing day by day. +Spring was unusually early this year. March was a miracle month of plum +blooms, and swelling buds, and flower-sprinkled grass. Little spears of +bright green were beginning to show on the lilac bushes, and elusive +bird notes came fitfully from orchard and fence-row—blown bubbles of +sound bursting ere they were scarcely heard.</p> + +<p>When I began to make my preparations, I realized how helpless I was. +What should I take with me in the way of food, clothing, bedding, +utensils, medicine? I had never camped out a night in my life. 'Crombie +would have to tell me. He knew, for every year he hiked off to Canada +and the Adirondacks for thirty days, and lived like a caveman every hour +he was gone. I went to his office. He was engaged, with six people in +the waiting-room. I went out and got him on the telephone. He promised +to see me that night at nine in his apartments. It was then three +o'clock in the afternoon, so I took a walk. I could do nothing more +until I had talked to him.</p> + +<p>Lexington is really nothing more than a great big country town, but we +love it. I reached the suburbs in half an hour, then took the pike, and +walked briskly. The day had been like one huge bloom of some tropical +orchid. Contrasted with the biting winter only a few weeks back, it was +something to exult the heart and uplift the soul. Rain had fallen the +night before. Day came with a world-wide flare of yellow sunshine; her +dress a tempered breeze. By noon a coat was uncomfortable, and the air +was full of music; the droning, charming, ceaseless litany of the bees. +At three in the afternoon, when some strange freak drove me to the open +road, the miracle had not passed. Surely God's hands were spread over +the face of the earth, and His eyes looked down between. A few cumulus +clouds were piled in fantastic groups toward the west, as I stopped +about two miles out, and gazed slowly around me. Overhead was infinity, +and the presence of the Creator. Encompassing me were unnumbered acres +of that soil of which every child of the bluegrass is proud. On the +breast of the world the annual mystery was spread. Death had changed to +life. Where the snow's warm blanket had lately lain uprose millions and +millions of tiny spears; wheat which had been folded safely by nature's +cover against the blighting cold. Billowing fields of richest brown, +where the ploughshare had made ready a bed for the seed corn and the +hemp. Near me were two trees. Their roots were intertwined, for their +trunks were not over a foot apart, and their branches had overlapped and +interwoven. Almost as one growth they seemed. They were the dogwood and +the redbud, and each was in full bloom. At first the sight dazzled me. +The pure white flowers, yellow-hearted, gleaming against the mass of +crimson blooms which clung closely to twig and limb, produced a +remarkable effect. The hardier trees remained bleak, barren, apparently +lifeless. They required more embracing from the sun, more kissing from +the rain, more sighs of entreaty from the wind before the transmutation +of sap to leaf would be accomplished.</p> + +<p>It chanced that I had halted at a spot where no homestead was visible, +and I was absolutely alone. None passed, and no cattle or stock of any +kind stood in the adjoining fields. It was a faint foretaste of the +immediate future, and a peculiar peace came over me as I stood on the +hard, oiled road, and felt myself becoming at one with the universal +light and life of the earth and sky. My breast thrilled, and I drew in +my breath quickly. Was it a message? An assurance from the mother-heart +of Nature that she would care for me tenderly in exile?</p> + +<p>I turned and went slowly, thoughtfully, back to town, reaching it just +as the dusk began to be starred by the rayed arc lights.</p> + +<p>"'Crombie," I said, lighting one of his choicest cigars and sitting +facing him; "you've steered me into an awful mess."</p> + +<p>You know I could fuss at 'Crombie. He was too big to take offense.</p> + +<p>"How so, my son?" he replied, easily, his large face gently humorous.</p> + +<p>"Well, I started to pack for this—er—trip, or outing, and I had no +more idea how to go about it than a pig. What will I need, and what must +I take? You've got me into this, and you've got to see me through it."</p> + +<p>"The first thing you'll need will be a roof with good, stout, tight +walls under it. Remember, you're not going there to bask in sunshine +alone, but you're going to spend next winter there!"</p> + +<p>I looked at him, and I imagine my expression was something like that of +a dog when a youth badgers it, for 'Crombie laughed.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to make it worse than it is," he apologized; "neither do I +want you to be deceived in any way regarding conditions. But by the time +winter comes, take my word for it, you can sleep in a snow-drift without +hurt."</p> + +<p>I smoked in silence. The thought was not encouraging.</p> + +<p>"I believe you will find things pretty much to your hand there," he went +on, in a ruminative voice. "You remember I came from that part of the +country, and the locality is entirely familiar. I have been all over +Bald Knob a dozen times. Eight years ago a shack stood just where you +would want yours. I think a fellow who had a natural love for the woods +built it some eighteen or nineteen years ago, lived there a while, and +later moved to another State. It is made entirely of undressed logs, and +has one room and a kitchen. It ought to be in good condition yet, +because it is protected by the bulk of the knob. I should guess the room +to be about sixteen feet square, and the kitchen is a box, but big +enough. There is a spring near, considerably impregnated with sulphur. +This water can have nothing but a good effect. If the shack still +stands, you should consider yourself very lucky."</p> + +<p>As he drew this picture, I could not help but gaze at the sumptuous +furnishings of the room in which I sat.</p> + +<p>"How close is the nearest town?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"The nearest town is Cedarton, my old home, ten miles from Bald Knob, +but there is a hamlet within three miles. This consists of a few +cottages, a store, a blacksmith shop and a distillery. You will have +occasion to visit neither place often. If you should happen to run short +of provisions, go to the hamlet called Hebron."</p> + +<p>"Then seclusion is as necessary as pure air and plain food?"</p> + +<p>"It is to prevent you from forming the habit that I advise you not to +seek people. Man is naturally gregarious. If you began going to the +hamlet once a week you would soon be going every day, and you would +deteriorate into a cracker box philosopher or a nail keg politician, +spending your time in hump-shouldered inertia rather than in tramping +through the health-giving open in quest of the life-plant. You are going +forth with a purpose, my son; don't forget that."</p> + +<p>I threw my head back against the cushioned leather, and in doing so my +eyes lighted on a magnificent moose head over the mantel.</p> + +<p>"You killed that fellow?" I asked, swerving suddenly from the subject +without apology, as is permitted between old friends.</p> + +<p>"Yes; in northern Maine. I trailed him ten days, went hungry for two, +broke through some thin lake ice in zero weather, tramped five miles +with my wet clothes frozen on me before I could get to a fire, and slept +two nights under snow a foot deep. Then I killed him."</p> + +<p>I stared at him curiously.</p> + +<p>"I confess," I said, "that I have thought you were giving me a +prescription you knew nothing about. I beg your pardon for my unbelief."</p> + +<p>He smiled, and broke his cigar ash into the tray at his elbow.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't miss my annual trip into Eden for a year's income," he said. +"It is during those thirty days I store up life and energy for the +remaining three hundred and thirty-five."</p> + +<p>Then we fell to discussing my departure, and there followed an hour's +talk on ways and means. By eleven o'clock I had a list of everything I +could possibly need which would contribute to my comfort or well being. +But there was one thing more; one supreme thing. All that evening I had +been trying to speak it, and couldn't. Now we were sitting side by side +at the table where we had made my list, and suddenly courage came. I +clasped the ham-like hand lying close to mine, and looking steadily and +beseechingly into my friend's eyes, said:</p> + +<p>"'Crombie, go with me! I don't mean go to stay. I'm not such a +miserable, snuffling coward as that. But companion me there—show me the +way—help me get established. Two days—not longer. That country is new +to me. Cedarton would take me for an escaped lunatic if I should apply +at a livery stable for a wagon to take me and my effects to a shack +which used to stand on the slope of Bald Knob. Don't you see? The people +know you, and a word from you would fix it all right. I'm your patient. +But more than that, 'Crombie, is having your good old self with me. Just +come to the shack with me, help me place my things, hearten me up by +your good man-talk, make me believe and <i>know</i> that I am on the right +track. Just two days. Won't you do it, 'Crombie?"</p> + +<p>I knew that I was asking a great deal, probably more than I should. It +would seem that it was enough for one man to show another where bodily +salvation lay, without taking him by the hand and leading him to it. And +forty-eight hours from town now meant a monetary loss to the man beside +me. But God made men like Abercrombie Dane for other purposes than money +getting.</p> + +<p>Now he gave me the sweetest smile I have ever seen on any face except my +mother's, as he laid his other huge hand over mine.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll go with you, my son," he said.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THREE" id="CHAPTER_THREE"></a>CHAPTER THREE</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I FIND A LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS</h3> + + +<p>I am here.</p> + +<p>'Crombie came with me to Cedarton, engaged two light, serviceable wagons +to convey us and my effects, and then drove out here with me to help me +get settled. We reached Bald Knob just as the sun was setting yesterday +afternoon. The drive out from town was beautiful. Neither talked much on +the trip. I couldn't, and 'Crombie seemed to be thinking. The main +highway, which we traveled for a number of miles, was made of gravel, +brought from a considerable stream which, I learn, runs somewhere +nearabout. When we left the road, our way became quite rough. It was +merely a succession of knob paths, which had been broadened enough for +the passage of four-wheeled vehicles. As we went deeper and deeper into +the wood, the scenery became wilder and grander. We saw vast ravines, +where the earth shore straight down for many feet; tortuous channels +where the fierce rains had plowed a passage to lower ground; trees of +all description growing everywhere, while shrubs, creepers and vines +interlaced and fought silently for supremacy. Once we passed for nearly +half a mile along a broad, shallow stream with a slate bed, bordered on +one side by a gigantic, leaden, serrated slate cliff whereon some +patches of early moss gleamed greenly bright, fed by the moisture which +filtered through the overlapping strata. This cliff was somber; it was +almost like a shadow cast upon us. But when we had passed it the +sunshine came sweeping gloriously through a gap in the hills, and I felt +my spirit leap up gratefully to meet it.</p> + +<p>We could see Bald Knob for miles before we reached it, and as we drove +along, each smoking, neither talking, I found that my eyes wandered time +and again to the bare, conical cap toward which we were creeping. I was +wondering with all the soul of me if I could meet the test, now that it +stared me in the face. It was one thing to sit in 'Crombie's leather +chair and decide comfortably upon this course, and another thing to see +myself approaching a hut in the midst of a primeval forest—and to think +that I was going to live alone there for a twelve-month! I know my face +would not have made a good model for a picture of Hope, as the two +wagons drew up in the ravine which partially circled the enormous hill +whereon 'Crombie had said a shack had at one time stood. At length we +found a sort of road—it was more an opening through the dense +undergrowth than anything else—and by dint of much urging from the +drivers, and frequent rests, we came at last to a little plateau, +perhaps a quarter of an acre in extent, not quite half way up the knob. +On the farther side of the plateau was a small building, resting at the +base of a sheer wall of stone and earth.</p> + +<p>It was then 'Crombie shook off the quiet mood he had shared with me the +greater part of the journey, and became hilarious. He hallooed, laughed, +joked and capered about like a schoolboy on a frolic, and not to hurt +the dear fellow I pretended to fall in with his mood. I really felt as +if the world was rapidly drawing to an end.</p> + +<p>Last night we could do nothing but make ourselves comfortable as +possible, and go to bed early. To-day we have worked hard, and obtained +results. I couldn't have got settled without 'Crombie. He has tact, +ingenuity, invention, and did most of the hard work. He said it would be +better for me not to exert myself too much, which sounds silly, +considering that my bodily measurements would have almost equaled his +own.</p> + +<p>Now he and the drivers and the horses and the wagons are gone. A +half-hour ago I caught my last glimpse of him between a scrub oak and a +cedar. He was looking back, saw me, waved his arm prodigiously, sent up +a hearty hail, and disappeared. I stood for thirty minutes without +stirring from my tracks. Then from afar off, through the wonderfully +still twilight air, I heard a voice singing. The words were lost because +of the distance, but the tune was familiar. It was a rollicking, foolish +thing we had sung at college. 'Crombie was sending it to me as a last +message, to cheer me up. I inclined my ear desperately to the welcome +sound. I held my breath as it fell fainter and fainter, now broken, now +barely audible. At length, strain my ears as I would, it was lost.</p> + +<p>But another sound had taken its place. The sun was down, and now, at +twilight, the Harpist of the Wood awoke and touched his multitudinous +strings. He was in gentle mood to-day; a mood of dreams and revery. The +melody was barely audible; just a stirring, a breath. But it stole upon +my ears as something wonderful, and sweet, and holy. I had never heard +anything at all similar. I stood entranced, listening to the ghostly +gamut lightly plucked from the bare limbs and twigs of the hardy trees +which had not yet responded to the season's call; from the slender green +needles of the pine and the denser plumes which clothed the cedar, and +offered to me. As I hearkened to the elfin harmony I became conscious of +a certain peace. The boundless solitudes which stretched unbroken in +every direction did not seem forbidding and oppressive as I had sensed +them when traveling. A subtle kinship with the wind, and the trees, and +the earth awoke in my mind, and in some vague way which brought a thrill +with it I felt that I had come home. All these things which I had feared +grew quite close at this twilight hour, and I imagined they came with +pleading, welcoming hands, as to a long lost son or brother who was much +beloved. Then as I raised my head a cool, soft breeze smote my face and +rushed up my nostrils, and I smelt the elusive, invigorating tang of the +evergreens. I smiled, and drew repeated draughts of the pure essence +deep into my lungs, filling every cranny and corner again and again. +When I finally turned and went back to the shack, I felt as if I had +taken wine.</p> + +<p>I lit a lamp, made a fire in my kitchen stove, prepared a frugal meal +and ate it. Later I took a chair outside the door and sat for two hours, +thinking. One very important thought came to me during that time. My +book of fiction did not sell; perhaps a book of facts would. So I have +decided to write a history of my exile. To-night it promises to be very +prosy and uneventful. I cannot see how anything could possibly transpire +which would interest a reader. But the task will provide employment for +me, at least. So every night before I go to bed I shall make a record of +anything which happened that day. If nothing occurs, I shall wait for +the incident worth relating. To-night I shall tell of my new home, and +its surroundings.</p> + +<p>I have named my place the Wilderness Lodge, thinking how the ill-starred +Byron would have joyed in just such a spot. We found it much as 'Crombie +said it would be: a substantial, square room built of oak logs, with a +floor of undressed planks. It is covered with clapboards, and the roof +is rain-proof. The front door is heavy, and may be secured on the inside +with a large beam which drops into iron brackets. There is a second door +in the rear which leads into the kitchen, a room highly meriting the +proverbial expression—"Not big enough to whip a cat in." There are two +opposing windows, which are small. Each is provided with a shutter, +hinged at the top. They are propped up with sticks slant-wise to admit +light and air, and to keep rain out. A nice arrangement, I think. Facing +the front door is the fireplace; a huge, rough stone affair, large +enough to sleep in if one were so inclined. It has a broad stone hearth, +and is fitted with black, squat andirons. Already I am planning the joy +I shall derive from this fireplace when next winter comes. To-night I +have built a brisk fire for cheer, company, and precaution, for the +place has been uninhabited for years, and last night's warming did not +drive out all the damp. It is wonderful how satisfying the dancing +flames are; they seem to impart their glow and warmth to me.</p> + +<p>My furniture is very simple, but enough. I have a cot with plenty of +bedding; a table, several chairs, including a rocker; two trunks and +some grass rugs for the floor. Of course, there are hundreds of lesser +things which I could not get along without, but while they have their +places, they are not worth cataloguing. It is also needless to say that +one of the trunks is half full of books. Some of these have already +found their way to the table; Stevenson, Hearn, Rabelais, Villon, Borrow +and some others.</p> + +<p>When I come to tell of my demesne I don't know where to draw the line, +for there are no boundary marks, and I can easily fancy "I am monarch of +all I survey." I suppose I have a yard, for I shall think of the plateau +in that way. Whoever built the Lodge cleared the level place in front, +and around, of all trees and bushes. It is dry and barren now, and +covered with dead leaves, but soon there will be a prying and a pushing +of little green heads and I shall be kept busy if I don't want to be +overrun and driven out. Beginning a short distance back of the Lodge, +and continuing upward for perhaps a hundred feet, a thick band of pines +and cedars belt the hill with a zone of perpetual green. Beyond this the +vegetation dwindles, becomes scarcer, and finally ceases, leaving the +apex of the knob absolutely bare. Below my plateau, and around, +everywhere, as far as I can see, are trees, trees, trees. Trees of every +size and every kind indigenous to the climate. Evergreens predominate. +There are millions of them, but there are also wide expanses of oak, +ash, beech, sycamore, elm, walnut, dogwood. Most of these have as yet +not put forth the tiniest shoot. But here and there in the dun, brown +stretches a dogwood has joyously flung out a thousand gleaming stars +which shine, white and radiant, a pledge and a promise of the general +resurrection nearhand.</p> + +<p>A moment gone I laid down my pen and stepped outside. How vast! How +still! How illimitable! I had never felt my insignificance so keenly +before. I seemed a tiny atom of dust. But as I stood and heard again +those muffled chords from the mighty Harp, and saw the patient planets +overhead again on guard, I suddenly knew that I was truly part and +parcel of the Whole, and in my heart Hope gave birth to prayer.</p> + +<p>Now to bed, tired, but at peace, with both windows flung wide—it is +'Crombie's orders.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FOUR" id="CHAPTER_FOUR"></a>CHAPTER FOUR</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I MEET A DRYAD</h3> + + +<p>A week has passed. Until to-day I had begun to fear that my proposed +plan of making a book would come to naught. One would not care to read +of a daily life consisting of getting up, eating, smoking, reading, +strolling about and going to bed. That is all I have done until to-day, +when something happened. But before I come to this, I must tell of the +labor I undergo in procuring water.</p> + +<p>I have spoken elsewhere of a sulphur spring. It is located in another +ravine across the one lying at the foot of my knob. I have been drinking +the water dutifully, because 'Crombie told me to, although to my mind it +is vile stuff, and I can't see how anything with such a pronounced odor +can be beneficial. I don't suppose I know. But I must have cooking and +bath water as well, and this comes from the small stream which runs +through the center of the nearest ravine. The distance would not be so +great on a level, but to struggle up the steep slope with a bucket full +of water in each hand is no fun. I have had to make two trips every day, +much to my discomfort. This is a problem which I have to solve, or else +go unwashed. Then, too, when the summer comes the stream below will most +probably run dry, although 'Crombie assured me the sulphur water was +plentiful the year round.</p> + +<p>I have been getting located the last seven days; exploring my hill of +refuge, and making little excursions into the neighboring fastnesses. +Almost the last thing 'Crombie told me was to remember the life-plant, +and the sooner I began the search the better it would be for me. I'm not +altogether satisfied about this life-plant, although I know 'Crombie +wouldn't joke with me about so serious a matter. I have at length +decided to take his word implicitly, and begin a systematic hunt for +this most peculiar growth. I am feeling suspiciously well. My cough has +nearly gone, and it seems almost absurd that a strapping man of six foot +two should be out chasing a chimera of this sort.</p> + +<p>This morning I was up before the sun, an experience I have not known +since childhood. I breakfasted bountifully on ham, eggs, bread, and +coffee. Then, flushing foolishly, I filled a pint Mason jar with +water—sweet water—screwed the top down tightly, thrust the jar hastily +in my coat pocket, took my pipe and a stout staff I had cut several days +before, and started on my first tramp for this life-plant.</p> + +<p>I swung down the road—I will call it such—up which the wagons had +come, crossed to the spring and drank of the cold, bad smelling water, +and as I stood puffing my pipe I wondered which way I should go. It did +not matter in the least, but it was human to consider, and I considered. +Before me loomed the prodigious bulk of my home hill. Back of me rose +another, not quite so imposing, but exceedingly steep. To right and left +swept the ravine, silent, shadowy in the newborn morning. It was from +the right we had come. I turned to the left, and presently the thick +soles of my heavy walking shoes were crunching and clattering the loose +shale as I skirted the shallow stream bed.</p> + +<p>I went far that day, climbing ridge after ridge, traversing hollow after +hollow, always with my eyes open for my rare treasure. Again and again I +came upon farm land, small patches of tilled soil which the stubborn +strength of man had wrested from the wilderness to supply his needs. +These fields I went around. Once, from a high point, I saw a tiny +hamlet, caught the cackle of geese, and heard the low of kine.</p> + +<p>Noon came and went before I was aware. I had brought no lunch with me. +It was past midafternoon when I again drew near home. There was never +any danger of my getting lost. Far as I might walk in a single day, that +towering peak would yet be visible, rearing itself in silent grandeur to +guide me back. The thought was comforting.</p> + +<p>I approached in a different direction from any I had ever taken before, +coming almost from due west. I had swiftly descended a slight slope, +hunger giving me haste, and had burst into a glade at the edge of one of +the many creeks which threaded the country, when I stopped short.</p> + +<p>A girl was standing on the further side of the glade. She had not heard +me, for the leaf-sodden mold gave back no sound from my careless feet. +She stood under a dogwood tree, and it chanced, the moment I beheld her, +that the declining sun fell all about and over her. She had plucked a +number of sprays from the tree, and as I stood with bated breath she +began to weave the white and yellow blooms into her hair, which shone in +my eyes like a reflection from burnished copper. She sang as she weaved, +or rather crooned, for I caught no words. It was just an elfin little +tune, with quavering minors strung on a listless monotone. She was +garbed very, very simply; a one piece dress of faded blue, belted at the +waist. A poke bonnet of the same color lay upon the ground near her +feet. Her position in relation to mine was a semi-profile, so I could +make little of her face, but her form was slim and straight, and her +bowed arms displayed a natural grace as she thrust her fingers in and +out of her shining hair, working the star-like blossoms into place.</p> + +<p>As I stood wonder-struck, debating what to do, I saw a commotion in the +tree by which she stood, a scuttling form darted out on the branch +nearest the girl's head, then leaped to her shoulder, where it sat and +nibbled a nut, its tail a graceful gray plume. I think my mouth went +agape; if it didn't, it should have, for here was magic.</p> + +<p>The girl—or dryad, for I was beginning to doubt if she was real—paid +no immediate heed to the squirrel, but went on droning her song and +toiling patiently at the flowers. I stood and watched her, leaning on my +staff, my erstwhile hunger forgotten. Would she vanish into air, or +would she disappear in the cleft of an oak? I determined to see.</p> + +<p>In a few moments her crown was in place. She put her hands down, but +almost at once raised one of her arms, and gave a small, thin, +twittering call. She stood like a statue, apparently waiting, then +repeated the sound, varying it only by a quick rising inflection at the +end. Like an echo an answer filtered sweetly out from the forest to one +side, and I saw a streak of brown cleave the air of the glade, as a +small wood bird, of a species unknown to me, dipped to the outstretched +arm and perched upon the girl's wrist. There it sat, its pert little +tail at a sharp angle, and its head cocked to one side very knowingly.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" I burst forth, involuntarily, then bit my lip for a fool.</p> + +<p>The charm was rudely broken; I had spoiled the tableau.</p> + +<p>With a whisk of his tail the squirrel dropped to the girl's hip, jumped +to the ground, and headed toward the thicker growth with frightened +leaps. The bird vanished as the ball does from between the conjuror's +fingers—it just went, but I did not see it go—and the girl turned with +a quiet movement to see who the idiot was.</p> + +<p>"I—beg your pardon!" I said, advancing several steps and taking off my +cap. "That—er—I have never seen—you know—er—I'm really sorry I +scared them off!"</p> + +<p>She stood perfectly calm, her weight resting rather awkwardly upon one +foot, her hands loosely clasped in front of her, as I made my stammering +speech. I don't know why I should have been so confused, unless it was +from her rare composure.</p> + +<p>"They'll come back," she said, assuringly, and smiled.</p> + +<p>I drew closer. I could not believe the evidence of my eyes. When I saw +her joined hands I marveled; they were white, slender, smooth, entirely +unmarked by toil. Now her face. It was fresh, sweet—not beautiful—and +lighted by gray eyes, which brought a sensation to my spine. It was not +a face I would have expected to meet in the Kentucky knob country. True, +there was a superficial expression which reflected her environments, her +associates, but this appeared to me even in that moment as a veil to be +taken off, that the true nature might shine forth. Her voice was low, +rich, and held a strangely haunting note which made for unrest in the +heart of a man. She was totally wild; that I could not doubt. +Illiterate, crude, a child of the locality, but when I first looked in +her face, when I first heard her voice, I knew that I stood before one +whom Fate had cheated. That she was not abashed, not even startled by +the sudden appearance of a total stranger, I attributed rightly to her +mode of life, which was untrammeled by convention, thoroughly natural, +and free from the restraints artificiality begets.</p> + +<p>"You—live near?" I said, never once thinking of passing on now that my +apology was spoken.</p> + +<p>"Uh-huh; at Lizard P'int. 'Tain't fur—up th' holler a bit."</p> + +<p>The simple words struck me almost like a blow. The voice was sweet as a +flute in its lowest tones, the lips were red and curving, but the speech +was the uncouth vernacular of the hills. Fate had indeed cheated her.</p> + +<p>As I nervously drew out my pipe, thinking what I should say next, she +discovered a rent on her shoulder where the careless claws of the scared +squirrel had torn the fabric of her dress. She gave a little exclamation +of annoyance, thrust one finger in the torn place, pouted as a child +might for an instant, then laughed and tossed her garlanded head.</p> + +<p>"I don't keer! Granny'll fix it!"</p> + +<p>It was my cue.</p> + +<p>"Who is Granny?"</p> + +<p>"Granny?... Oh! <i>my</i> granny. We live together."</p> + +<p>"On Lizard Point," I supplemented. "Doesn't anyone else live with you?"</p> + +<p>She nodded her head brightly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Grandf'er does, but he don't count."</p> + +<p>Her ingenuousness was bewitching, and I essayed to prolong the +interview.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you afraid to wander around in the woods this way alone?"</p> + +<p>"Me!... <i>Skeerd?</i>"</p> + +<p>For a moment she looked at me with dropped chin and a tiny frown of +wonder, then a glad stream of laughter came pouring from her upheld +mouth, filling the forest with rippling, echoing cadences. I gazed on +the round, gleaming column of her young throat, milk-white and firm, and +a subtle, primal call stirred in my breast. When her boisterous +merriment had subsided, I could see her teeth, like young corn when the +husks are green, between the scarlet of her parted lips.</p> + +<p>I came closer yet. I was bewildered, puzzled, but strangely attracted. I +scarcely knew how to answer her.</p> + +<p>"You see," I tried to explain, "it—that is, where I came from young +women go nowhere without an escort, except in town."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>Her face was serious now, and she seemed trying to comprehend.</p> + +<p>"Whur'd you come frum?" she demanded, with disconcerting abruptness.</p> + +<p>"From Lexington."</p> + +<p>"Whut's that?"</p> + +<p>"A town—a little city."</p> + +<p>"I don't like city people!"</p> + +<p>The sentence sprang forth spontaneously, and she looked displeased.</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>I did not receive an answer. She was kicking a small bunch of moss with +the toe of her ugly, coarse shoe, which was rusty, and laced with a +string. But for all its shapelessness, the shoe was very small.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you like city people?"</p> + +<p>"'Cause Buck says they're mean an' stuck up!"</p> + +<p>She flashed the sentence at me with a rapid glance of defiance.</p> + +<p>"Who's Buck?"</p> + +<p>Now the girl's face took fire, and dire confusion gripped her. Hair and +skin became indistinguishable. But she flung her head up bravely, and +with burning eyes looked straight into mine.</p> + +<p>"Buck Steele. He's th' blacksmith over to Hebron, an' he's—my frien'."</p> + +<p>She had grit. I honored her for that speech.</p> + +<p>"You know I'm a stranger," I ran on, easily, making a pretense to fill +my pipe, and so help her over her embarrassment. "I came just about a +week ago. I'm in the house up on Bald Knob yonder. The city didn't agree +with me, and my doctor sent me out here to get well. I'm not mean and +stuck up, believe me. I've got the poorest sort of an opinion of myself, +although I've lived pretty clean. Now I want to be friends with you, and +all the folks about here. You'll help me, won't you?"</p> + +<p>Her self-possession had returned while I was talking. When I stopped, I +smiled, and looked at her as frankly and honestly as I could.</p> + +<p>"You don' 'pear puny!" was her startling rejoinder.</p> + +<p>I took another tack.</p> + +<p>"Pray tell me how it is the birds and the beasts obey you?"</p> + +<p>"I love 'em!" she answered, promptly, and with warmth. "I know 'em, an' +they know me."</p> + +<p>She turned without warning, and walking to the bank of the creek, which +at this point was raised several feet above the water, leaned over and +peered down into the pool below. Could Eve have been more artless? She +was looking at her reflection in the mirror of the stream!</p> + +<p>I picked up her bonnet by one of the strings, then went and stood beside +her. A compliment arose unbidden to my lips, but I stifled it. It would +not have been fair.</p> + +<p>"I mus' go," she said, straightening up, and twisting a hanging curl +near her forehead back beneath her hair.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you—"</p> + +<p>I started to ask if she wasn't afraid, and if I mightn't go with her, +but remembered in time.</p> + +<p>"—and your granny very lonely?" I finished, lamely, but she did not +appear to notice it.</p> + +<p>"La! No! Th' Tollerses 's jis' t'other side o' th' ridge, 'n' they've +got a pas'l o' kids. No time to git lonesome!"</p> + +<p>My spirit writhed. Such language as this—from her!</p> + +<p>She held out a hand for the bonnet.</p> + +<p>I brought it forward slowly, still holding it by the string. Her hand +rested against mine for an instant as she took it. At this juncture I +made a—to me—significant discovery. <i>Her nails were pared and clean!</i> +It seemed paradoxical, but it was true. I did not attempt to account for +the phenomenon then, but I did later, with no results whatever.</p> + +<p>"Where is Lizard Point—exactly?" I asked, my voice more serious than it +had been during our talk.</p> + +<p>She pointed her finger down the creek, as it flowed gently murmuring to +the south.</p> + +<p>"Th' crick 'll lead yo'. Nigh onto half mile frum here."</p> + +<p>"I'm coming to see you and your granny some day soon. May I? You know +it's lonesome for me out here. I'm not used to it. May I come?"</p> + +<p>She gazed at me with steady gray eyes for a few moments.</p> + +<p>"Ye-e-es; I s'pose so," she answered, reluctantly; "if yo' git +lonesome.... Whut yo' keer'n' that jar fur?"</p> + +<p>Her glance had just espied it, and now it was my turn to blush.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you—when I see you again," I compromised, laughing.</p> + +<p>She started off, but stopped and turned.</p> + +<p>"Live on Baldy, yo' say?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; in the old log house there."</p> + +<p>"I go thur sometimes. Maybe I'll come 'n' see you!"</p> + +<p>"All right. You'll be mighty welcome."</p> + +<p>"Good-by."</p> + +<p>"Good-by."</p> + +<p>She did not look back, and I stood with a distinct sensation enveloping +me until her copper-gold head, crowned with the star-like dogwood, had +passed from view.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FIVE" id="CHAPTER_FIVE"></a>CHAPTER FIVE</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I SAY WHAT I PLEASE</h3> + + +<p>A prodigious miracle has happened.</p> + +<p>It is not yet mid-April, but the Spirit of Life has stirred in every +bole and bough; every twig and tendril. The awakening has been so +gradual, so stealthy, so silent, that not until this afternoon did I +notice that the far reaching brown world over which I daily looked, had +changed.</p> + +<p>I had been doing some rough carpentering—building a bench on either +side of my doorway outside, using a broad plank I had found in the +kitchen for the purpose. It is true I had chairs, and chairs are more +comfortable, but it has struck me that the Lodge would look better with +these benches in front; would have a more finished appearance. So I +knocked them up quickly. Now on the further rim of my plateau grows a +single pine; a tall, many-limbed, graceful tree. Somehow the thought was +born that a bench under this pine would not be placed amiss, so I walked +toward it to investigate the idea at close range. Its lowest branches +shot out more than two feet over my head, and as I passed under them I +obtained a fresh and unobstructed view of a tremendous reach of +landscape. Instantly my mind received the impression that something had +happened. The entire perspective was subtly transformed.</p> + +<p>Before me was nothing but trees—a vast valley full; slopes clothed with +them and peaks capped with them. And each tree was touched with mystery; +the familiar, never to be understood transmutation of sap to bud and +leaf. The effect from where I stood was not beautiful only; it awoke a +positive awe in my heart. The immense area comprehended by my gaze was +undergoing resurrection. Painless, soundless, without effort, the +ancient forest was coming back to life; to green, vigorous, waving and +dancing life. The process was as yet scarcely begun, but already it was +a veracious promise of perfect fulfillment. A tenuous, lacey veil of +pale, elusive green seemed stretched over all growth within the scope of +my vision. A misty, unreal something it appeared; a gossamer covering +which would vanish before the first breath of wind, or touch of sun. But +well I knew the truth! It was the sun, and the wind, and the rain which +had compassed the wonder. Beneath their united power the sluggish sap +had first stirred in the hidden roots, and when the insistent summons +became more and more powerful, had mysteriously arisen through +successive cells of fiber, up and up, into every branch, into every +limb, into the smallest and most insignificant twig, where Nature's +final marvelous alchemy was performed, and moisture turned to bud, and +bud turned to leaf. A leaf perfectly shaped and veined, each to its own +tree.</p> + +<p>Dusk came upon me as I gazed, enraptured. Softly the light stole away, +and the shadows came. Now the horizon range was a wall of gloom, and +then, like billows which made no sound, velvety waves of darkness +overflowed all before me, blotting it out. But I know that to-morrow the +lacey veil would have a deeper shade, and that soon, with millions upon +millions of leaves astir, the Harpist of the Wood, when he touched his +responsive strings, would draw yet a grander measure.</p> + +<p>No bench went under the pine tree that night, but the next day I builded +it well. It is a fine spot to sit and dream—a pastime I love.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SIX" id="CHAPTER_SIX"></a>CHAPTER SIX</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I MEET A SATYR</h3> + + +<p>Two weeks have passed since I talked with the dryad in the glade.</p> + +<p>I am getting along splendidly. That is, my appetite is good, I sleep the +night through, and my trouble remains at a standstill. I'm not expecting +this to leave me at once. I read some every night. The days I force +myself to spend outdoors. If I do not go on a tramp, I prowl around my +hill of refuge. Yesterday I found a creditable cave some score of rods +from the Lodge, in about the same latitude. There is an irregular, +outjutting ledge of rock here, and it was beneath a moss-splotched +bowlder I found a hole leading into the knob, its entrance large enough +for me to stand erect in. I am not averse to a mild adventure, so I +began a tentative exploration. I had proceeded but a few steps, however, +when I stopped. I heard something. I had my revolver with me—I make a +habit of taking it with me wherever I go—so I drew this and advanced a +little further. The sound was repeated, louder and more menacing. I +would have thought it the hiss of a serpent, but for its remarkable +volume. I looked, but could see nothing. The passage ended in darkness. +The floor was littered with small stones, and pebbles mixed with fine +sand. I picked up one of the stones and tossed it sharply into the +darkness ahead. The response was instantaneous. The hissing was renewed, +but now it was accompanied by a scuffling sound, and I became aware that +some formless thing was approaching me. I could see the bulk of it +making for me—but that was enough! I turned and ran, ignominiously, +forgetting my weapon in my fright. As I made my exit from the cave at +full speed I grasped a near-by sapling desperately, described an erratic +and ungraceful arc, thus saving myself from tumbling down the steep +declivity which faced me, and finally brought up some score of feet +away. I turned to see if I was pursued, but there was only an anxious +and solicitous mother buzzard in the cave-mouth, her ugly neck +outstretched toward me, and her broad wings bowed in anger. I laughed. +It was a little late for their nesting season, but this one doubtless +had a pair of miserable little yellow goslings back in that hole.</p> + +<p>I give this incident to show how quiet my life was up to this time, and +how such a trifling occurrence really caused me much excitement.</p> + +<p>I began my chronicle to-night by saying it had been two weeks since I +talked with the dryad in the glade. Why should I reckon time from that? +I wrote the sentence unconsciously. Now, when I come to think about it, +I realize that the dryad has been in my mind a very great deal during +the last fortnight. You must know there is to be no concealment in this +narrative. It is to be a record of absolute truth. Not only what I do, +but what I think and feel, shall be faithfully set down. She—I don't +even know her name! I can't see why I should have parted from her +without asking her name, since I shall in all likelihood see her many +times during the coming year. Perhaps it was her eyes which made me +forget such an important question. I have never seen eyes like +hers—never. They are the Irish gray. That's a different gray from all +others, as I suppose you know. Don't ask me how they are different, for +I don't propose to attempt an explanation. But they are, and especially +is this true in women's eyes. A woman with Irish gray eyes can be +dangerous if she wants to. In addition to their remarkable color, the +dryad's eyes have very white lids which droop the least bit, perpetually +shading the iris. She is something of a paradox. She has small feet, +smooth hands and carefully kept nails, but her language, while spoken in +a peculiarly pleasing voice, is so ungrammatical and colloquial that it +makes rigors creep over me. I told her that I was coming to see her and +her granny, but I haven't gone. Why haven't I? I told her I was coming +to see her because I got lonely. Have I been lonely? Yes; very. Three +days ago I bravely started for the glade where I had found her, +intending to follow the guiding creek on to Lizard Point. I turned off +before I reached the creek and went ten miles in another direction. Why +did I do that? I want to see the dryad again. She interests me; I feel +that we shall be good friends. She has a bright and ready mind, and is +absolutely natural. She says what she wants to, laughs when she wants +to, does what she wants to. I verily think she would be incapable of +deception or guile, but I may be wrong in this. I suspect I am. Such +things are not conditions resultant from culture and refinement; they +belong to the human organism, and so, by virtue of her being, the dryad +must possess them.</p> + +<p>To-morrow I am going to Lizard Point.</p> + +<p>This afternoon I came in before sunset from a very leisurely tramp of +about four hours. Whenever I stir abroad my pint Mason jar full of fresh +water goes with me, for I have banished all doubt, and believe +steadfastly in the life-plant. You may be sure I am always looking, +always watching. That is my sole object in life just now. I feel that I +will find the thing if it grows in this part of the world, for my search +is to be most thorough. Thus far I have discovered nothing whatever to +arouse hope or anticipation.</p> + +<p>I came home early to-day because I am to have a garden. I decided upon +this last night after I was abed. Just before I toppled over into sleep +I remembered that the ground to the left of the Lodge was loamy, with +few rocks, and not many stumps. So to-day I despatched an early supper, +took a rake and began to clear the ground. It was nice, easy work, and I +soon discovered that my garden would run sixty feet one way by +forty-five or fifty the other. There was a heavy layer of decaying +leaves to scrape away, a number of loose stones, and quantities of +sticks fallen or blown from trees. I stopped in about fifteen minutes to +refill my pipe, found that I had left my tobacco on one of the benches, +and went and helped myself. As I touched match to bowl I heard a high, +harsh voice singing in the most dolorous key imaginable the following +doggerel couplet:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rabbit in th' log.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ain't got no rabbit dog."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I stopped drawing on the stem, and turned my head in the direction of +the sound. The burning splinter of pine nipped my fingers, and I dropped +it. The crazy tune came from down the road, which curved not a great +distance away. Again, louder, and in a more positive tone, some one +declared:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rabbit in th' log,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ain't got no rabbit dog.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chick'n on my back,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Houn' on my track,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'm a-makin' fur my shanty—<br /></span> +<span class="i8">God knows!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The last word was carried through fluctuations which would almost have +stood for a cadenza in a music score, and as it trailed off into silence +the singer appeared from around the bend.</p> + +<p>In the half light he presented a strange, almost a grotesque figure, as +he toiled up the road repeating over and over his peculiar lines. I +stood perfectly quiet, and watched his approach. There was a certain +limp to his gait, coupled with a decided unsteadiness, which made his +seeming yet more uncouth as he drew nearer and nearer through the +gloaming. His head was bent, and he was unaware of my presence until he +reached the plateau, and advanced some distance across it. Then he +looked up, saw me, and came to a standstill with a jerky motion. He was +perhaps twenty feet from me, as we stood and exchanged stares.</p> + +<p>An exceedingly tall, loose-jointed individual faced me. His clothing was +nondescript, mostly rags and tatters. His trousers, frayed at the ends, +came to an abrupt stop several inches above the tops of his run-down, +rusty shoes, and the spaces between showed a dust-begrimed skin. He wore +a coat of the Prince Albert pattern, much too small. Beneath this was +some sort of shirt which would not admit of description. His face was +gaunt and hairy. I will not say he wore a beard; the term would be +incorrect. The hair grew in patches; sickly, stringy strands, with an +extra tuft on the chin which curved sideways. I was forcibly reminded of +a goat when I saw this chin-tuft. He wore a colorless, conical felt hat, +broad-brimmed and bandless. The brim continued the slope of the crown in +an unbroken line, producing a startling effect. There came to my mind +the headgear of Hendrik Hudson's crew as depicted in the play of Rip Van +Winkle. This specter-like apparition might well have been a ghost, but +for the recent evidence of a strong pair of lungs. Beneath one arm, +hugged to his side, the figure carried a bundle covered with oilcloth.</p> + +<p>For the length of a half-dozen breaths we stood motionless and +speechless. Then the figure began to nod its head at me, slowly, +soberly, up and down, up and down, and with each movement the curved +chin-tuft would shake. This senseless action irritated me. I don't know +why, for it might just as well have caused amusement. But for some +reason I felt anger rising within me; not violent, but enough to barb my +tongue.</p> + +<p>"Who are you, and what do you want?"</p> + +<p>My words were sharp, but that they did not cut I knew from the sprightly +reply.</p> + +<p>"I'm a fiddler, 'n' I don't want nothin'!"</p> + +<p>Still the head bobbed, and the goat-tuft shook.</p> + +<p>"You're nothing of the sort," I retorted; "you're a satyr, and you want +a drink of whiskey!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SEVEN" id="CHAPTER_SEVEN"></a>CHAPTER SEVEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH THE SATYR AND I SIT CHEEK BY JOWL</h3> + + +<p>He looked the first, and from his antic disposition I was convinced he +was already more than half drunk. But I was entirely unprepared for the +result which my statement brought about.</p> + +<p>The angular figure became convulsed with immoderate laughter on the +instant. He shouted and screamed with mirth, bending forward, thrusting +backward, holding his ribs with one hand—the other was busy with the +oilcloth bundle, which he never forgot—turning that repellent chin to +the sky, and yelling his insane, cackling, demoniac merriment to the +first stars. I thought he would surely have some sort of fit before my +eyes, so overcome was he with glee. I stood erect and dignified, waiting +for his stormy risibles to allay. After a full two minutes of noisy +rapture, he calmed down somewhat, drew forth a bottle of remarkable size +and tilted it with the neck between his lips. Making a smacking sound of +satisfaction as he finished the draught, he half lurched, half walked +toward me, extending the bottle as he came.</p> + +<p>"Good fur rheumatiz," he said, stopping at arm's length, and +good-naturedly leering his invitation for me to partake.</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>"No.... Thank you."</p> + +<p>There was an expression on his countenance which disarmed me of my +wrath. At close range I searched his features. They were irregular, +undecided. His nose was pug—another satyr touch—and his neck long, +thin and ridged. I could not see his eyes. But something about him came +out to me as an appeasing and soothing agent. Worse than useless for me +to speculate as to what it was. A nameless something, probably, which +acted upon my spirit, or nature, and charmed it in a way. I knew this +thing before me was a fragment, a waif, a bit of flotsam on Life's sea. +He could be nothing else. And yet—and yet, as he stood patiently with +that enormous bottle stuck under my nose, and the genial, whole-hearted +leer of invitation on his pagan face, I knew a sudden kinship; a quick, +sympathetic rush of feeling, and as I waved the bottle aside with my +left hand I thrust out my right and grasped his as it hung limply in +front of the bundle he still pressed to his side with his elbow.</p> + +<p>"I don't want your liquor, Satyr," I said; "but you may sit down and +talk to me if you want to."</p> + +<p>"Don't want good liquor?" he repeated, batting his lids, and lowering +the bottle as though puzzled beyond understanding.</p> + +<p>"Not now; not often. Sometimes I do. But what sort of stuff is that?"</p> + +<p>I had just noticed the contents of the bottle was clear.</p> + +<p>"White lightnin'," he replied, carefully stowing it away in a pocket I +could not see.</p> + +<p>I knew then. It was moonshine whiskey.</p> + +<p>Suddenly his cadaverousness struck me afresh.</p> + +<p>"Have you had supper—or dinner—or breakfast?" I demanded, with such +vim that he answered hurriedly:</p> + +<p>"Naw; neither; nothin'."</p> + +<p>The grammar was bad, but the meaning was good.</p> + +<p>"Then let's eat—you and I—and become acquainted."</p> + +<p>I did not tell him my supper was over, though this bit of tact was +doubtless unnecessary. Neither did I invite him indoors. While it is +true I had really warmed to his outcast condition, the sentiment did not +embrace the hospitality of my roof. I felt a desire to cultivate him, +but the acquaintance must grow in the open.</p> + +<p>He grinned appreciatively at my suggestion, and I saw him lick his lips +surreptitiously, after the manner of a starved animal which smells food.</p> + +<p>"Get busy about a fire, and I'll find the grub," I continued, not +waiting for the assent which I knew he would give.</p> + +<p>With that I went in the house, took from my larder some bacon, eggs, +bread and coffee, all of which, with a skillet, I carried out. Quickly +as I had moved, I found the Satyr's fire ablaze when I returned. This he +had made from dry leaves and sticks which I had already scraped into a +pile from off my garden plot.</p> + +<p>As host, I prepared the meal. While it was cooking, my strange guest sat +just across from me in a most uncouth attitude. His shoulders and a +portion of his back rested against a stump; the small of his back he sat +upon. His long, spider legs were flexed in such a manner that his sharp +knees shot up into the air above his head. He had placed his dust +colored hat upon the ground, and I could see pale, lifeless strands of +hair waving in the early night breeze on top of his partly bald head. +The oilcloth bundle lay across his stomach. Neither spoke during the few +minutes in which the eggs, meat and coffee were being prepared. One of +his claw-like hands lay upon the bundle. Once I saw his other hand stray +rather aimlessly under his coat, but it brought nothing out when +withdrawn.</p> + +<p>"Go to it!" I said, cheerily, when all was done, shoving the skillet +toward him, and rising to find a cup for his coffee.</p> + +<p>When I came back it was to see him with the skillet between his knees, +devouring its contents with the voracity of a starved wolf. He was using +a stick and his fingers to convey the hot food to his mouth, as I had +forgotten to provide either knife or spoon. I watched him in amazement, +for he bolted the bacon and eggs as a dog might. It was very plain he +was badly in need of nourishment.</p> + +<p>"Good, Satyr?" I asked, squatting down and pouring out a running-over +cupful of steaming coffee.</p> + +<p>He tried to reply, but the words were unintelligible because of the +fullness of his mouth. So I wisely made no further effort at +conversation until the skillet was clean—literally clean—for the +hungry man took chunks of bread and sopped and swabbed until the black +iron glowed spotless. Three cups of strong coffee he drank, three big +cups; then, because, I suppose, there was nothing left, he drew his +ragged sleeve across his mouth, sighed and voiced his thanks.</p> + +<p>"Hell 'n' blazes!"</p> + +<p>It meant more, from him, than the most polished bit of rhetoric from a +scholar.</p> + +<p>"Glad you liked it," I said. "Do you smoke?"</p> + +<p>For reply, he began to search his garments silently, and directly +produced a cob pipe, as remarkable in appearance as its owner. To begin +with, it was made from a mammoth corncob. I verily believe it was two +inches in diameter. Around its middle was a dark band, where the +nicotine had soaked through. The reed stem was so short that it brought +the pipe almost against the smoker's lips. He helped himself to the +twist of tobacco I offered him, dexterously flipped out a red coal from +the edge of the fire with a stick, then deliberately picked the live +coal up between finger and thumb and laid it on top of the pipe. I had +heard of this feat, but had never believed it true.</p> + +<p>Now my guest sat Turk fashion, contentedly puffing away, so I followed +his example on my side the fire, after tossing on a few more sticks to +keep the blaze going. The red embers would have sufficed for heat, the +night being warm, but I wanted to see more of this queer being. Above +all, I wanted to see his eyes. This I could not do, because the +firelight flickered, smoke arose from the burning sticks, and the man +had bushy brows.</p> + +<p>For several minutes there was no sound but the gentle crackling of +wood-fiber, or the occasional sizzling of a little jet of steam escaping +from its tiny prison. Then I heard a question which almost startled me.</p> + +<p>"Whut mought a satyr be, no-how?"</p> + +<p>I laughed low, and pressed the spewed-up ashes down into my pipe.</p> + +<p>"A satyr?" I repeated, thinking swiftly, for really I did not want to +cause affront. "Oh! A satyr is a fellow who runs loose in the woods. +That's you, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>He was looking in the fire, and presently he began to nod.</p> + +<p>"I reck'n it air; yes, I reck'n it air."</p> + +<p>"But you've another name," I went on; "what is that?"</p> + +<p>"Jeff Angel."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't suit," I made bold to answer. "Satyr is much nicer than +Angel. Where do you live, pray?"</p> + +<p>"Anywhur; nowhur. Jis' use 'roun' th' country, eat'n' 'n' sleep'n' fust +one place 'n' 'nother."</p> + +<p>Feeling cramped, I now reclined upon my elbow with my head away from the +fire. In this position my companion was invisible.</p> + +<p>"Why did you come here to-night?" I resumed, pulling leisurely on my +briar-root, and noting idly that the stars had become much thicker.</p> + +<p>"I's goin' to sleep in th' shack," was the prompt reply. "Lots 'n' lots +o' times I've slep' thur."</p> + +<p>"And now I've rooted you out. I'm sorry."</p> + +<p>"'Tain't wuth worryin' 'bout. I'll go on to th' P'int d'reckly."</p> + +<p>I twisted my head in his direction with a swift movement.</p> + +<p>"The Point?... Lizard Point?"</p> + +<p>"Lizard P'int."</p> + +<p>He evinced no surprise that I knew the name.</p> + +<p>"Who do you know there?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"All on 'em. Granny, Granf'er, Lessie. They's my folks."</p> + +<p>So her name was Lessie.</p> + +<p>"Your folks! What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Granny's my aunt."</p> + +<p>That would make the Dryad and the Satyr cousins! Heavens! Could this be +true? I sank back on my elbow, and slowly dragged the pipe stem over my +lower lip into my mouth. Somehow I did not relish this news.</p> + +<p>"Then you are some sort of cousin to Lessie," I murmured, confusedly, +and I doubt if he heard. At least, he did not reply, and I lay and +looked at the sky and the somber bulk of the forest below, pondering +this strange news which I could not comprehend. Was it possible that +bright creature's blood could flow in the veins of this derelict? The +idea did not suit me, and yet I had no reason to doubt it. My interest +flagged; I no longer felt the inclination to question, and a long +silence fell. I could not order my guest away, especially after he had +broken my bread, but I would not be sorry when he went. The minutes +passed; the fire sank low. My pipe burned out: I could feel it cooling +under my hand. A drowsiness stole over me. I must have been on the +borderland of sleep when I became dreamily conscious of a strange, +pervading harmony. Ethereal echoes seemed to wake within my brain, and +the hushed night was suddenly tuned for a fairies' dance.</p> + +<p>In stupefied amazement I swung my head around, and my mouth fell ajar +and my brows knit when I saw from whence these heavenly strains +proceeded. Jeff Angel was back against the stump. His knees were +sticking up like the broken frame of a bicycle, and he had a violin +under his chin. The goat-tuft was spread thinly out over the tail of the +instrument. His peaked slouch hat was a dirt-colored cone on the ground +at his side, and by it lay a crumpled piece of oilcloth. His eyes were +closed, and there was an expression of deep peace upon his homely +countenance. His long, big-knuckled, claw-like fingers moved over the +strings with the apparent aimlessness of a daddy-long-legs in its +perambulations, and they thrilled to the caress of his frayed bow as the +lips of a chaste lover to the lips of his beloved. I did not speak, nor +move, for I was dumfounded, and the night had been transformed into an +elfin carnival of dulcet sounds. My imagination was aroused, and I could +almost see nymphs and naiads uprising from the dense growth all around, +crooning as they came of woodland delights, and chanting the stories the +low wind told them when the world was asleep. The quiet ravine was +peopled with a ghostly company which made sad, eerie, but entrancingly +sweet music, such as might have been heard in heaven when the morning +stars sang together. The notes were liquid, living, colorful. Sometimes +there were brief silences between them, which were filled with +palpitating echoes. Suddenly a trembling flood of impassioned sound +rushed forth on swallow wings into the star-filled night, and I sat up +with a gasp.</p> + +<p>"<i>Jeff Angel!</i>"</p> + +<p>A downward crash of the bow which set all the strings to jangling +horribly; then silence.</p> + +<p>The man was abashed, confused, for he hastily reached for the cloth bag +and thrust both violin and bow therein. He spoke as he fumbled nervously +at the drawstring.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know you'd keer!" he said, contritely.</p> + +<p>He had misinterpreted my exclamation.</p> + +<p>"Care? Care!" I burst forth, leaning forward with my palms on the +ground. "I never heard such music in all my life, and I have heard men +play who receive a thousand dollars a night! Where did you get it?... +How do you do it?"</p> + +<p>The satyr secured his worn coat across his chest with one button, then +bent toward me and replied earnestly.</p> + +<p>"I guess it's bornd with me. I've never ben no 'count frum a kid. Wuzn't +wuth shucks—never. Jis' wouldn't work—I couldn't. They's no work in +me. When they tried to make me I'd run off. I'd run fur off in th' woods +'n' lay 'roun' all day, a-lis'n'n'. I heerd thin's." He stretched out +one gaunt arm and waved it with an uncertain, twisty motion. "I heerd +thin's. More 'n' th' birds a-cheepin' 'n' a-twitt'r'n' 'n' th' squir'ls +a-barkin' 'n' a-yappin' 'n' th' bees a-junin' in th' flowers. They's +other thin's—lots o' thin's I heerd. Th' crick's got a song—it's +<i>sich</i> a song—'bout th' purties' 't is' I reck'n, 'cus it's +changeabler. 'N' they ain't no en' to th' chune th' win' sings. +Sometimes it's lazy 'n' sleepy, 'n' yo' wan' to duck yo' head 'n' +snooze, 'n' ag'n it's pow'ful strong 'n' loud 'n' almos' skeers yo' with +its shoutin'. 'N' they's other thin's—thin's I can't tell yo' 'bout +'cus I don't know whut they air—but I hears 'em. I c'n jis' shet my +eyes any day out in th' deep woods whur they ain't nothin' but woods, +'n' fus' thin' I know I'm a-floatin' on a cloud with music ever-whurs. +When I's a kid I went hongry fur some 'n' to play on, so one day I foun' +me a big reed, 'n' I made me a w'is'le with holes in it. I jes' mus' +play."</p> + +<p>He rose to his feet, put his pipe away without knocking the ashes out, +and carefully tucked his oilcloth bundle under his arm.</p> + +<p>"Pow'ful good supper, 'n' I wuz hongry <i>right</i>! 'Blige' to yo', sho. +Good-by!"</p> + +<p>He swung around and started across the plateau.</p> + +<p>I leaped up quickly.</p> + +<p>"Come back again soon, Satyr!" I called. "A supper any time for ten +minutes fiddling!"</p> + +<p>He waved his hand, but made no reply.</p> + +<p>A few moments later, from down the road, growing fainter and fainter, I +again heard that fantastic rhyme:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rabbit in th' log,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ain't got no rabbit dog."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_EIGHT" id="CHAPTER_EIGHT"></a>CHAPTER EIGHT</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I PITCH MY TENT TOWARD HEBRON FOR THE SPACE OF AN AFTERNOON</h3> + + +<p>I have been to Lizard Point.</p> + +<p>Before sunrise this morning I was up, and out. I sleep with both windows +open and the shutters up, so the first daybeams rouse me. Thereafter I +do not attempt to sleep, but rise at once. This is another of 'Crombie's +commands. He said the air was fresher and sweeter, and the distillations +from the earth and vegetation purer and more efficacious. He said all +this would do me good, and I am trying to follow out his wishes to the +letter, because life is sweet to me, and I want to get well. (I must say +that I never felt more vigorous than I do to-night.) It went hard with +me at first—this rising with the lark—for, in common with most bookish +folk, it had been my custom to sit up into the small hours, and sleep +late the next morning. Now I am growing used to it, and I love it. I +find that I feel better; stronger, more active and alert. There must be +some tonic properties in the early morning air to affect me in this way.</p> + +<p>The world is never so lovely as when she wakes from sleep. Not even when +her old tirewoman, the sun, flings her golden coverlet over her just +before nightfall, does she appear so bewitchingly beautiful. This +morning, for instance, when I stepped without my door, I felt as if I +had been transported by magic into some new and mystical land. Like a +maiden whose virginal slumbers have been filled with peaceful dreams of +her beloved, the earth was waking. Gently—so gently—she pushed the +fleecy fog-billows from her breast. Afar the folds of night seemed yet +to cling about her, as though loath to leave her form. Nearer, but way +up the valley, grayish, shifting mists writhed slowly, uncoiling +vaporous lengths before the ever increasing light. Nearhand, trees, +bushes and stones showed dew-sweet and clean. And when, at length, the +day had triumphed, and I beheld the rim of a gold ball topping the far +eastern range, my breast throbbed with a quick elation, and a song burst +from my lips.</p> + +<p>I spent the morning working on my garden. It is my peculiarity that when +I begin a thing I find no rest until it is finished. By ten o'clock I +had cleared the surface of all the available area, and felt much pleased +with my efforts. I had worked hard, for there were loose rocks to be got +rid of, some of them large and difficult to handle, in addition to the +leaves and sticks. But prospects seemed excellent for a fine crop. There +was no doubt that this was virgin soil, and as it lay in sun for several +hours each day, there was no valid reason why it should not produce +abundantly. I must now let it dry out for a few days, then spade it up +and plant my seed. Seed! Why, I hadn't so much as a pea or a bean on the +place, except in cans! I had several sacks of potatoes, but I wanted a +diversified garden. Almost immediately the solution came. I would go to +Hebron and buy all the seed I wanted. Comforted by this thought, I set +about an early dinner. I hummed contentedly as I bustled around in my +small kitchen. It was not until I sat down to eat that I realized the +song I had been persistently repeating was the absurd tune which had +heralded Jeff Angel's coming and farewelled his departure.</p> + +<p>Later, with the sun swinging exactly at meridian, I took my staff and +headed down the road, intending for the Dryad's Glade. Ever since my +brief talk with the girl there had been a slow, steady pulling within me +toward that creek which flowed south. It didn't worry me especially; in +fact, it didn't worry me at all—why should it? But it was there. When I +was employed I was not aware of it, but whenever my mind rested there +flowed into it, like the resurgence of a low, moon-touched wave, the +picture of one standing on the brook's bank, with copper-red curls +crowned with white stars. It was a pleasant picture, and I did not try +to banish it.</p> + +<p>Now, fairly started on my way, I wondered that I had not gone before. I +moved with restive eagerness, and presently reached the spot where I had +encountered the girl—Lessie. I did not like the name. It was empty, +vapid, meaningless, ugly; just a sound by which one was known. She could +not help it, of course. It might have been Mandy, or Seliny. Lessie did +not seem so terrible when I thought of others much worse, but it did not +fit her.</p> + +<p>I tarried for a moment under the dogwood tree. Its blossoms were fading +now. I saw the jagged ends of several low branches where she had broken +off her coronal. But there was no sign of squirrel or bird. Passing on, +I plunged into the undergrowth which lined the creek bank as far as I +could see, and made my way along. There was something of a valley here, +and it would have been easier going nearer the base of the knob several +rods away, but the stream's course was erratic, so I clung to the bank +and fought my way forward. It was a toilsome journey, and the half-mile +was beginning to seem interminable when all at once I burst, perspiring, +into an open, and found I had arrived.</p> + +<p>Just before me the creek split on a tongue or wedge of land, which came +sweeping gradually down from a vast spur in the background. Shaping +itself to a sharp point represented by an enormous, deeply imbedded +bowlder, the formation broadened backward rapidly and generously, widely +deflecting the halved stream. A quarter of a mile away I could see a +house—or cabin—surrounded by a dilapidated rail fence, with sundry +pens and outbuildings in miniature clustered in the rear. In the +foreground, to the left, was an acre or two of tilled soil. Paralleling +the left fork of the cloven creek, looping the point and fording the +right fork, was a mountain road. In front of me, spanning the left fork, +was the trunk of a huge beech tree, lopped of its branches, and that +this was a bridge which some far-gone storm had placed I knew at once, +for a crude ladder led up to its root-wadded butt.</p> + +<p>For several minutes I stood, panting from my exertions, and conscious of +a slight pain in my right side. This did not alarm me, for I was +convinced it was nothing but what old people call a "stitch," caused by +my recent strenuous walk. I had reached Lizard Point—a most +insignificant name for such an impressive portion of country. There was +but one dwelling visible; therefore there could be but one place for me +to seek for Lessie. I came to the ladder, and had placed my foot upon +the bottom-most cross-piece when I halted, and in secret manner, +although there was no need of secrecy, drew the jar from my pocket and +hid it under the tree's lowest roots. I had promised Lessie I would tell +her why I carried it with me the next time I saw her, and this I did not +want to do, for she would fail to understand, and I would only appear +ridiculous. Queer how a man shuns being made ridiculous, but after all +it is only natural, especially if one is inclined to sensitiveness.</p> + +<p>I mounted to the tree, and saw that the bark along its top surface had +been completely worn away. The tree had evidently been in use as a means +of passage for a long time. I walked across, sure-footed and steady, and +found a slight path winding up the easy ascent toward the house. This I +followed, keeping my eyes on the log dwelling ahead. As I drew nearer, I +made out a small porch, or stoop, and on this some one was sitting. +There was no other sign of life, if I expect a bony, yellow dog which +came slowly into sight from around the corner, and a string of white +ducks filing sedately down to the creek. I passed through a gap in the +crazy fence and traversed the yard. I now saw that it was an old woman +who sat on the porch. She was very fat, and she sat in a low +rocking-chair with her knees apart. A ball of yarn lay in her lap, and +she was knitting and rocking, knitting and rocking. Her great bulk +completely hid her support, but I knew it was a rocking-chair from her +motions.</p> + +<p>As I stopped at the edge of the stoop and respectfully took my cap off, +the dog gave a low growl, then lay down, keeping one topaz eye fastened +upon me suspiciously. The fat old lady paid no more attention to me than +if I had been a hen or a duck, but sent her needles flying the faster. I +regarded her in silent wonder for a moment. Her dress was a plain +one-piece garment of some dark, cheap stuff, utterly unrelieved from +somberness except for a row of shiny white horn buttons down the front. +Her feet were large and flat, and were encased in carpet slippers with a +gaudy pattern of alternate crimson and green. She wore iron rimmed +spectacles which rested so near the tip of her pudgy nose I wondered +they didn't fall off. Her gray hair was parted very precisely in the +middle and slicked back close to her head. Her mouth was thin and hard, +and her face acrid looking.</p> + +<p>"Uh-h-h—good morning," I said, hitching at my trousers; an +unconsciously nervous action.</p> + +<p>"<i>Marnin'!</i>"</p> + +<p>I jumped—really I did—for it was as though she had let a gun off in my +face. I had never heard such a voice. Vinegary? Well!</p> + +<p>I curled my fingers around my chin and looked at the dog. His fiery eye +had not wavered. Then I looked at the cat—for in that moment I was +firmly convinced this old beldam <i>was</i> a cat. Her mouth had squared into +yet firmer lines, and her brow had grown portentous. Still her needles +fussed about the half-made sock in her yellowish hands, and her gaze was +down, as before.</p> + +<p>"Do the—"</p> + +<p>I started to ask if people by their name lived here, but when I came to +the name I could not supply it; I had never heard it. I stammered, +coughed, then knew that a pair of fierce little green eyes were flashing +at me.</p> + +<p>"Air yo' a plum' fule? Whur air yo' wits 'n' yo' tongue 'n' yo' commin +sinse? Can't yo' tell a body whut yo' want wi'out stam'rin' 'n' +stutt'rin' 'n' takin' all th' day? Folks as has got work to do ain't got +no time to waste on tramps 'n' sich! <i>Talk!</i>"</p> + +<p>Like a cyclone this tirade enveloped me, bursting upon my ears in a +high, rasping voice which dragged on my nerves after the manner of a +file.</p> + +<p>I became desperate. This old virago should not oust me. I thrust my body +forward, and, chin out, replied with some heat:</p> + +<p>"Is this where Granny, and Granf'er, and Lessie live? That's what I want +to know?"</p> + +<p>"Land sakes! Jony 'n' th' w'ale!... Air <i>you</i> him?"</p> + +<p>Her hands dropped in her lap; she cocked her head and viewed me afresh.</p> + +<p>During the momentary silence which followed I heard shuffling footsteps +within, and an old man appeared in the open doorway in front of me. He +wore a shirt made of bed ticking; his trousers were not visible, because +of the coffee-sack which wrapped him from his waist to his shoes. He was +bald, his white beard was a fringe about his face, his upper lip shaven. +He was drying a white dinner plate of thick ironstone china with a +cloth.</p> + +<p>"S'firy!" he said, in a squeaky, timorous voice; "S'firy!"</p> + +<p>He got no further.</p> + +<p>Granny turned her head sideways, at right angle to the speaker, and +promptly exploded.</p> + +<p>"Jer'bome! Git right back to yo' work! Git! 'N' don't let me see nur +hear yo' till them dishes is washed 'n' put away!"</p> + +<p>Granf'er (it could be no one else) retreated obediently, without a word. +Granny's face swung around to me again.</p> + +<p>"If all men wuz as triflin' 'n' ornery as that air'n o' mine, Lord knows +whut th' worl' 'd come to. <i>E</i>-tern'l perdition, I reck'n! He jes' lays +'roun' 'n' chaws terbacker, pertendin' he carries a ketch in 'is back. +Plum' laziness, I tell yo'! But I don't 'low no vagrints 'roun' me. +Jer'bome's got to work 's long 's he b'longs to me.... Now! I said, air +you <i>him</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I'm the stranger who lives in the shack on Bald Knob."</p> + +<p>Granny resumed her knitting at this point. I noticed that her shining +needles seemed to be fighting each other as she continued:</p> + +<p>"Look whut I'm a-doin' fur 'im now! Slavin' to git somethin' to keep 'is +feet warm 'gin winter comes. He's not wuth it! Lak as not he'll crack +one o' them dishes 'fo' he gits 'em done. He's that keerless. Most +do-less man I <i>ever</i> seen.... Yes, I've heerd 'bout yo'—twict."</p> + +<p>"I hope you received a pleasant report?" I ventured.</p> + +<p>"Jes' las' night he lef' th' dish tow'ls a-hangin' on th' lot fence 'n' +th' calf et 'em up. 'N' th' day befo' he fed a gang o' day old chick'ns +meal 'n' wadder 'n' they swelled up 'n' died. 'N' chick'ns wuth fifteen +cents a poun' at th' store!... Lessie come home a fo'tn't ago with a +tale o' meetin' some feller. I tol' 'er gels 'd better leave all tramps +be."</p> + +<p>"But I'm not a tramp!" I protested. "I'm usually considered a +gentleman."</p> + +<p>"That's whut Jeffy 'lowed. He's here last night—pore feller!—'n' tol' +us 'bout eat'n' a snack with you on Baldy—whut in th' name o' the sevin +plagues does a man in 'is right min' wan' to live thur fur?—tell me +that!"</p> + +<p>"I find it very pleasant—"</p> + +<p>Then the light went out, soft hands were pressing hard over my closed +lids, and a cool, ferny perfume drifted to my nostrils. I was conscious +of warm wrists alongside my head, and a stifled giggle just behind me.</p> + +<p>"Lessie!" I cried, remembering the childhood prank.</p> + +<p>The blinding hands were at once withdrawn, and as she leaped back new +vials of wrath were opened.</p> + +<p>"Of all outlandish doin's!"</p> + +<p>Granny had raised her head only at my exclamation, but she saw enough.</p> + +<p>"Whut on airth air gels comin' to this day 'n' time?—tell me that! +Never seen 'im but onct—mought be a redhanded 'sass'n—ur a +thief—ur—ur—ur <i>any</i>thin'! 'N' all my teach'n' all these years. W'en +I've <i>tol'</i> yo' that all men were 'ceptious, 'n' <i>tol'</i> yo' to b'lieve +nothin' they say, 'n' <i>tol'</i> yo' to have no talk with 'em but 'Howdy' +'n' 'Good-by,' 'n' here yo' air a-huggin' a stranger—teetot'l +stranger—'fo' my eyes!"</p> + +<p>Granny's jelly-like body really trembled with rage, and I began to have +fears for the outcome of the incident. Of course, it amounted to nothing +at all so far as right or wrong was concerned. It was simply a natural +expression of the primeval simplicity which marked all the Dryad's +movements. She was a child, and she had played a child's trick.</p> + +<p>She now stood a few feet to one side, looking at me in unfeigned +amazement, apparently indifferent to the old woman's outburst. She was +dressed nicer than when I saw her before. Her garment was pale green, +with little wavy stripes of darker color. Her shoes, too, were a grade +better, but still clumsy, and she had a ribbon on her hair, which hung, +as before, down her shoulders. She seemed averse to wearing anything on +her head, for she held her bonnet—a poke bonnet, like the one I had +handed her in the glade—in her left hand.</p> + +<p>As she looked fully and squarely at me with her peculiar Irish gray +eyes, I felt the same sensation come as when I had first beheld her. It +was a feeling I cannot adequately describe, because no definite word I +can think of would do. If the word existed, and if I knew it, I would +set it down. I should be just as glad to know what that feeling meant as +you. Perhaps each of us shall find out later.</p> + +<p>She gazed at me and I gazed at her, and Granny gazed at us both. Our +eyes met for a full breath, and then somehow mine fell to her throat. +When a woman's throat is beautiful it is altogether as attractive as a +lovely face. The Dryad's throat was a poem. If John Keats could have +seen it, another golden ode would have come down along with the famous +seven. It was simply a perfect column of warm, white, vigorous young +life. Not too slender, and swelling on to the shoulders in the gentlest, +most marvelous contour. It was while I was engaged in fascinated +contemplation of her throat she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Land sakes!... How'd yo' know my name?"</p> + +<p>"The Sa—Jeff Angel told me."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>Her face underwent a rapid change, and the next moment she had leaped +lightly upon the porch, flung her arms around Granny's neck and snuggled +her head against the old woman's bosom.</p> + +<p>"Don't you bother 'bout me, Granny!" she said, in soothing tones, and +again that indefinable haunting cadence smote my ears and caused me to +stir uneasily as I stood watching the scene. What a creature of moods +this girl was!</p> + +<p>Now one hand patted Granny's fat cheek, and another smoothed the +lusterless gray hair. The expression which stole over the truculent face +made me think of the sunlight falling suddenly upon some forbidding +cliff, and that moment I knew how deep and wonderful must be the love +which beat in that old heart for Lessie.</p> + +<p>"La! Now, chil'," said Granny, "have yo' way if yo' mus', but be +keerful—always be keerful. 'Specially o' men folks, 'cus they's so full +o' Sat'n 'n' mischief."</p> + +<p>With that she sniffed resignedly, uplifted her brows, carefully freed +herself from the caressing arms and picked up the sock and the ball of +yarn, both of which had fallen to the floor under Lessie's onslaught.</p> + +<p>As the girl arose to her feet Granf'er appeared a second time. He had +not removed the badge of domestic toil which had enveloped his nether +half when I first saw him, and he was dragging a low, shuck-bottomed +chair behind him. It came down the step leading from the porch into the +house with a bump and a clatter, and Granny blazed out again.</p> + +<p>"Jer'<i>bome</i>. Look at yo'! Tryin' to break that cheer to splinters! Ain't +yo' got stren'th to carry ev'n a <i>cheer</i>? 'N' is thim dishes washed 'n' +put in th' pantry, whur they should orter be?"</p> + +<p>Granf'er dumbly lifted the chair, conveyed it stiffly to the furthest +front corner of the porch, and quietly placed it. Then he turned to me, +and with a show of dignity said, in his thin voice—</p> + +<p>"Set down!"</p> + +<p>I at once stepped upon the porch, advanced and shook hands with the old +man, then took the proffered seat with a word of thanks.</p> + +<p>He turned and hurried indoors, returning immediately bearing two other +chairs identical with the first. One of these he handed the Dryad, just +across the porch entrance, and the other he brought around and gingerly +lowered to the floor about a foot from mine. When we were all seated +Granf'er stretched one leg out to its fullest length, in order to gain +freer access to his pocket, and after some tugging produced a half twist +of tobacco. This he silently extended to me with a comical facial +contortion which plainly meant that I should take all I wanted. I shook +my head, and smiled.</p> + +<p>"Light Burley!" he explained. "Skace 's hen's teeth. Don't yo' chaw?"</p> + +<p>"S'pec' ever' man yo' meet to <i>live</i> on terbacker?" snapped Granny, +without looking up.</p> + +<p>"No," I replied; "I smoke."</p> + +<p>"Then smoke. Yo' come too later fur dinner, so now we'll hev to mix +terbacker instid."</p> + +<p>It dawned upon me that it was a sort of guest rite he was offering me, +so I crumbled some of the light yellow leaf into my pipe and fired it. +Then he gnawed off a satisfactory chew, and stowed the remainder away.</p> + +<p>He crossed his legs—by this time I had discovered that he wore boots +with his trousers legs stuck down in the tops—in that comfortable, +sagging way all old men have, and with one hand in his lap holding his +elbow, he plucked gently at the front of his fringe of whiskers while +his jaw worked erratically as he slowly adjusted the savory particles in +his mouth.</p> + +<p>No one spoke now for two or three minutes. It certainly was a new +experience for me. A swift glance showed me that the Dryad had weighed +the situation and was amused. Imps of fun danced in her eyes, and there +was a tightening about her mouth which told me that she was holding +herself in check with much effort. She was speechless from choice; the +other two from nature.</p> + +<p>Without warning Granf'er twisted his neck and ejected a curving stream +of amber. It came down with a splash on the back of a half-grown chicken +loitering near. There was a squawk of alarm, a flutter, a scurry from +danger.</p> + +<p>"That's right!" shrilled the bundle of fat. "Ef yo' can't kill 'em no +other way, drownd 'em with terbacker juice!"</p> + +<p>"Granf'er didn't see it!" championed Lessie. "It's under th' aidge o' +the po'ch, 'n' 'tain't hurt no-how."</p> + +<p>Once more I saw her teeth, like two rows of young corn when the husks +are green.</p> + +<p>Granf'er paid no more heed to his helpmeet's words than if it had been +the wind blowing down the chimney. Even his expression did not change. +Already a real pity was creeping into my heart for Granf'er. It took +neither seer nor mindreader to discern that he belonged to that most to +be pitied class of all who live and breathe—a man who has become simply +a woman's creature. A man who, for one or more of a hundred reasons, had +abdicated his kingship in the home, suffering a reversal of rule +contrary alike to all divine decrees and natural laws. Such a man +deserves what he gets, it is true, live he in a mansion or a hovel. Man +was created to rule, and woman knows it. It is by ruling only that he +retains her love. When his reign ceases, then not only does her love +cease, but her respect also. Look about you!</p> + +<p>Granf'er drew the palm of his hand across his lips, mechanically—and +with what seemed like a very natural motion—smoothed out some puckers +in his coffee sack apron, and spoke. He was looking out upon the quiet +majesty of the encircling hills, but I knew that he was addressing me.</p> + +<p>"Y' see, Jeffy's S'firy's nevvy. He come wrong, we-all 'pine. Leas'ways, +they's some'n' in 'is head that's somehow onbalanced 'im. No nat'r'l man +'d go tromp'n' thoo th' woods frum morn'n' till night 'ith nothin but a +fiddle fur comp'ny. S'firy's special'y sot ag'in a fiddle, holdin' 'ith +lots o' folks that th' dev'l's in it—"</p> + +<p>"I'd jes' love to smash it to smithereens over a stump!" interpolated +Granny.</p> + +<p>"—but ez fur me 'n' Lessie, we kind o' en<i>j'y</i> Jeffy's scrapin' 'n' +sawin'. Lessie's re'ly plum' cracked 'bout it, 'n' 'd foller Jeffy over +th' hull durn county if we didn't p'suade 'er pow'ful."</p> + +<p>"Seems to me, Jer'bome, yo' c'n tell it 'ithout cussin'. Only las' +Sunday I had to speak to Father John 'bout yo' increasin' wickedness!"</p> + +<p>"The hull durn county!" repeated Granf'er, quietly and reflectively, his +gaze still fixed on the high hills. "They has big times—thim +two—though Jeffy's mos' unsartain in 'is visits. Sometimes it's a month +w'en we don't ketch sight o' 'im, 'n' ag'in he lingers with us a day or +so at a spell. We sets lots o' store by Jeffy, 'cus th' Lord in 'is +wisdom has saw fit to 'flict 'im. Th' wus' thin' 'bout 'im is th' +liquor—"</p> + +<p>"I'd hev <i>some</i> pride, Jer'bome!"</p> + +<p>"—n' w'en he gits holt o' that he goes plum' lunatic crazy sometimes. +Y' see, it's th' shiners 's whur he gits th' mos.' Th' ryavines over yan +air full o' the'r still-houses, 'n' Jeffy fiddles fur 'em fur 'is bottle +full o' liquor. Puss'nly, I hol' that a little liquor is pow'ful +he'pful, but S'firy 'lows it's no good fur nothin' 'cep' to make +dev'lment 'twixt people—"</p> + +<p>"Ef I had my way not another drap'd go into a bottle!"</p> + +<p>"—'n' I 'gree they's some sinse in her argyment, though it's my b'lief +that a w'ite man 's got to drink some'n', 'n' 't' 's well be pyore +whiskey as anythin'."</p> + +<p>He stopped to relieve his overcrowded mouth, uncrossed his legs and +recrossed them the other way, "to keep 'em frum goin' to sleep," and +continued:</p> + +<p>"'Pears to me Lessie said yo' come frum Lets'nt'n—uh-huh—some little +ways off. 'S never thur. Walked over to Ced'rt'n onct, but home 'n' +Hebrin's good 'nough for weuns. We ain't th' wanderin' kin', yo' mought +say, but live peaceful 'n' work our—"</p> + +<p>"<i>Work!</i>"</p> + +<p>"—work our lan', whut little we've got that's fit'n'. You's good to our +Jeffy—to S'firy's Jeffy, that is, fur he ain't no kin to me (not that +I'd be 'shamed o' Jeffy, onderstan', on 'count o' his not bein' jes' +right in th' head)—so I says to yo' here 'n' now 'ith S'firy 'n' Lessie +to witness, as head o' this house I says yo're welcome here to-day 'n' +any day!"</p> + +<p>Then, quite unexpectedly, he clamped his hand across my leg above the +knee, and gave me a squeeze which hurt.</p> + +<p>I spent the remainder of the afternoon on that small front porch. +Granf'er entertained me in the manner I have outlined; a mixture of +opinion, native philosophy, and local news, with occasional caustic +interruptions from Granny's two-edged tongue. Lessie said very +little—what chance had she in the face of Granf'er's garrulity?—and +once she went in the house and stayed for half an hour. When she came +back she had on yet another dress, pure white this time. There were some +frills and tucks and a touch of imitation lace here and there. I'm sure +it must have been her Sunday frock. She was showing off her wardrobe, +after the manner of a tot of eight or ten.</p> + +<p>The sun had halted for a moment in its downward course on the crest of a +range as I arose to go.</p> + +<p>Granf'er was voluminous in his invitation to "Come ag'in 'n' set a +w'ile"; Granny tendered me a defiant nod in response to my polite +good-by, and lo! as I turned to bid Lessie farewell last, she had +already moved into the yard, and was waiting for me! Side by side we +started down the narrow, hard-beaten path. That is, she took the path +and I walked in the new grass which bordered it.</p> + +<p>"I'll go to th' crick with yo'," she said, demurely; then, with +characteristic irrelevance—"Ain't Granny tur'ble?"</p> + +<p>"Granny's jealous of you, and I suppose she has nagged at Granf'er so +long it has become a fixed habit. I'm really sorry for the old fellow, +Dryad."</p> + +<p>"Whut?"</p> + +<p>She turned a quizzical, puzzled face.</p> + +<p>I laughed, gently, and made known to her the meaning of the word.</p> + +<p>"There are lots of things I'm going to tell you when I get a chance," I +added. "Wouldn't you like to know about this big world, and about the +many kinds of people who live in it? About the great cities, and about +what people have done and are doing? Wouldn't you like to learn how the +trees grow, and what makes the wind, the lightning, and the thunder? +About all the birds and animals; streams, rocks and hills? Wouldn't you +like to learn all these things, and lots more?"</p> + +<p>Her eyes had widened as I talked, and now on her fresh, unlined face a +wonder and a hunger grew. It seemed as if her fallow mind was struggling +to emerge from some dark, concealing mist—to leap up and meet the +knowledge I had promised. A look almost of distress, born of futile +longing. We were moving very slowly. She spoke.</p> + +<p>"I've—sometimes—w'en by myse'f—mos' often in the deep woods—I've +felt some'n <i>crawlin'</i> in here"—she put her hand to her head—"some'n' +that 'peared to be want'n' to say some'n'. 'N' I's diff'ernt then. I +didn't wan' to go home to Granny 'n' Granf'er. I wanted to go some'r's +else—way off, maybe, 'n' I'd be mis'ble 'cause I couldn't +tell—couldn't make out whut 'twuz, yo' know. 'N' after w'ile it'd go +'way 'n' leave me, 'n' I wouldn't git right fur a day or so. I ast +Father John 'bout it one day 'n' it looked lak it hurt 'im, 'n' he tol' +me not to have them spells if I c'd he'p it. Said they wuzn't good fur +me. 'N' jes' now, w'en yo' tol' me 'bout all them things you's goin' to +learn me—it come back—come back lak th' crick comes down w'en it rains +in th' hills—with a rush 'n' pour, 'n'—'n'—oh! I wan' to know!—I +<i>do</i> wan' to know!"</p> + +<p>She clasped her hands with something like a tragic gesture, and stared +hard at the ground in front with forehead a-frown.</p> + +<p>I did not answer her at once. How could I? A new facet of her many-sided +nature had flashed upon me, and I was a little dazed. We reached the +tree-bridge before I attempted a reply.</p> + +<p>"I shall be here a year. Come to see me on Baldy. Or come to the place +where I first found you, and I will meet you there. I'm going to give +you the things for which you long. I can do it, but not with Granny or +Granf'er. They would object; they would not understand."</p> + +<p>She looked up at me—for I had climbed to the tree—dumbly, yearningly.</p> + +<p>"I'll come," she said. It was scarcely more than a half-whisper.</p> + +<p>I did not like to leave her in that mood.</p> + +<p>"All right, Dryad!" I returned, cheerily. "Now tell me where that road +goes."</p> + +<p>My aim was to bring her mind back to its accustomed channel for the +present. She brightened at my query.</p> + +<p>"T' 'Ebron," she said.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Yes! Some day soon I'm going there. I have a garden at home and I'm +going there to buy seed."</p> + +<p>She laughed at this, and I felt relieved.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, Dryad."</p> + +<p>I knelt on the tree, bent down and took her upheld hand in mine. It was +warm, soft, and, that moment, clinging. Forerunners of dusk had come, +and the gray pools of her clear eyes made me release her hand and get on +my feet.</p> + +<p>She moved away, and as I turned to set my face in the opposite +direction, something halted me in the very act.</p> + +<p>On the Hebron road, two hundred yards or more distant, I saw the figure +of a man. A young, tall, bareheaded, roughly clad man, standing very +straight and still. He saw me; he was looking at me. Of that I was sure. +His position was by a great stone, which cast him in deeper shadow. +There was something portentous in his attitude, natural though it was. I +stopped and returned his inspection of me, but he made no sign, no +gesture. He might have been a tree of the forest, for all of his +immobility. A feeling, not of fear, but of premonition, swept over me as +I went on across the tree.</p> + +<p>I knew it was Buck Steele, the smith of Hebron.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_NINE" id="CHAPTER_NINE"></a>CHAPTER NINE</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I SIT UPON A HILLTOP AND REFLECT TO NO ADVANTAGE</h3> + + +<p>I did something to-day which I have had vaguely in mind ever since I +took up my abode in the wilderness. I climbed to the very top of my hill +of refuge.</p> + +<p>The principal reason why I have never attempted it before was that I +feared it would prove too much for me; would require too much exertion. +And 'Crombie, while advising and insisting upon continuous exercise, had +also warned me not to overdo it.</p> + +<p>This morning I felt mighty as Tubal Cain. My walks, my regular hours, my +wholesome diet, are having effect. I am beginning to brown. At seven +o'clock, when I shaved, the path of my razor showed a firm, tanned skin. +My eyes are clear, and I can feel life coming into me. Oh, what a +glorious thing it is! Just simple, primitive, animal life! I don't know +when I have coughed. I can inflate my lungs, and imagine the +consternation of that "colony" at the inrushing flood of this ozone +laden air. I am not deluding myself that I am sound. 'Crombie said it +would take time, and 'Crombie knows. But I am better. My recent walks +have not caused me to pant and blow. That is why, this morning, I felt +the assurance within me that I could surmount old Baldy's peak, and feel +no bad results.</p> + +<p>Rain fell last night. It began just as I went to bed, and I lay and +listened to it. There is something most fascinating about rain on the +roof after you have gone to bed. Last night it dropped gently, a steady +murmur. It came to my ears as a cradle song of Nature. I could hear it +outside the window near which I sleep. The patter, patter, and after a +while the gurgling of little streams over the clapboard eaves. I +remember of thinking what a good soaking my garden spot would get, and +of the consequent delay waiting for it to dry out before I could spade +it up, then I went to sleep.</p> + +<p>This morning I was awakened by the orchestra of the birds. I had heard +stray notes before about daybreak. Snatches of song, broken trills, +single cries, and challenging calls. But this morning it was different. +I don't know how to account for it. Whether the rain had something to do +with it; whether they met by accident or appointment. The solution of +that question is a minor thing, however. I received the full benefit of +the gathering. I have never heard an exhibition which equaled that +forest symphony. There must have been nearly a dozen varieties of birds. +And each little fellow was singing with all the heart of him. I tell you +they made music. Each had a different tune, and among humans this would +have represented bedlam. But among the feathered kind—take my word for +it if you have never heard it—the effect was wonderful. It was one +great alleluia chorus, and the air throbbed with the sweetest music I +ever heard. I recognized many of the vocalists by their songs. I knew +that about my plateau were gathered the cardinal, the thrush, the +oriole, the catbird, the jay and the mockingbird. And when I mention the +jay, let no one rise up and point the finger of scorn, exclaiming on +that blue-coated fellow's harsh and grating scream. Mr. Caviler, your +voice is harsh and grating too when you get very angry, isn't it? But +have you never heard the love-note of the jay? Have you never, in the +dappled shade, when their half-fledged nestlings are flapping and +hopping about and stretching cavernous yellow jaws for worms and +moths—have you never heard the parent birds, watchful in the overhead +branches, make love? There was never a sweeter, mellower, richer tone +drawn from flute or harp than the love-note of the jay.</p> + +<p>Many others were there that were strange to me, but the effect of the +whole was so sweet that I had to drag myself from bed, so charmed was I +by that chorus in the early dawn.</p> + +<p>The sky was clear when I came out; a deep, rich, fathomless blue. Night +had taken the rain-clouds with it when it left. A woodsy, wet, earthy +odor, than which there was no perfume rarer, delighted my nostrils. +Everything was washed clean. The leaves, the trunks of the trees, the +very stones. It was then, as I stood and felt the might of the +everlasting hills entering into me, that I decided on my task for the +day. As yet it was too early. The ground was soft. It would be wet and +slippery on the slope above, and perhaps muddy. I determined to wait an +hour or two, so went down to my favorite seat under the pine tree, +taking with me Spencer's "First Principles," which is a book calculated +to make one use his mind, at least.</p> + +<p>It was eleven o'clock before I looked at my watch—too late for mountain +climbing that morning. Upon reflection, I saw that this was just as +well. In fact, the afternoon would be a much better time to make the +ascent. The sun had been shining generously for several hours, drying +both the vegetation and the surface of the ground. So Mr. Spencer had +really done me a good turn in carrying me through the forenoon. I left +the book on the bench and went back to the Lodge, thinking to resume my +reading after I returned from the peak. I did not expect to be gone over +an hour and a half, allowing for plenty of time to rest.</p> + +<p>After a leisurely dinner, I took my alpenstock, and imagining myself at +the base of the Matterhorn to lend zest, bravely fronted the upward +climb.</p> + +<p>It was rather stiff work from the beginning. I flanked the Lodge for a +score of yards, and started up where the ascent was comparatively +gradual. This did not last long. Before I reached the encircling band of +evergreens I had to force my way through bushes which insisted on +rapping my nose, and vines which were equally determined to tie +themselves into knots over my toes, and trip me. At length I came to the +dark line of pines and cedars, where I stopped to investigate my +condition. My breath was coming pretty heavy, but I was not really +tired. So after a few moments' rest I went on. My going was tolerably +easy now while the trees lasted. Beneath their shade the earth was +barren. Some half dead moss and a plentiful sprinkling of pine cones was +all. As I walked over the latter they yielded softly to my feet, and +sent up a pungent odor. I heard no bird notes here, but once a +brown-winged shape flitted soundlessly by in front of me, low to the +ground. Everything was very still. There was no wind astir. The belt +proved to be a somber spot, and I was not sorry when I had passed it. +The dense shade had a depressing effect.</p> + +<p>Then I came to open ground; open and bare. Two hundred and fifty feet +above me rose old Baldy's head. For perhaps half the distance a scrub +growth strove for existence in the rocky soil; beyond that the surface +was absolutely denuded. The incline had grown much sharper, but the +earth was knotty and uneven, in many places indented with excoriations, +and I found I could go forward with much greater ease than I had +anticipated. A quarter of an hour later found me facing the last ascent, +which was all but perilous in its sheer rise. My staff was of no avail +here; hands and feet must win. So I laid my alpenstock down, drew a deep +breath and started up. Just how I got to the top I cannot say. But there +is a big element of tenacity in my nature, and I fought on with squared +jaws and set teeth, slipping, scrambling, sprawling, until I had won. I +crawled over the crest on my hands and knees, and for quite ten minutes +I lay prostrate, recovering my wind and my spent strength. Then I got +onto my feet and looked about me.</p> + +<p>It was a glorious prospect; even solemn and majestic. A prodigious sweep +of country was laid bare before me. I hesitate to say how many miles I +could see, for distance is most deceptive at great altitudes. But it was +the topography, more than the far reaching view, which impressed me. I +was standing in the midst of a world newly created, the only living +creature. Leagues upon leagues of virgin forest flowed back from my +point of vantage till the perspective ended in a misty blur. East and +west stretched the mighty ranges, with constantly diverging spurs, each +clothed with its own garment of green and glistening glory. Anon the +ancient hills valleyed into troughs whose length had no visible limit, +and it did not require the imagination of a poet to behold beneath me +the effect of an immense sea which had suddenly been frozen into +permanent form. How illimitable! How overpowering! Slowly I turned to +the different points of the compass. Far to the north a smudge of smoke +fouled the tender bosom of the sky, and I quickly looked another way. +Cedarton lay in that direction.</p> + +<p>For a half-hour I stood and gazed, and wondered, and thought. Here was +incentive for rumination, and when I at length withdrew my eyes from the +bewildering panorama I felt infinitesimally puny, and weak, and small. +What was I? A mote in a sunbeam; an atom of matter; no more.</p> + +<p>The point upon which I stood was an irregular circle, approximating +thirty feet in diameter. An imperfect stone formation marked its outer +boundaries; the effect of some Titanic convulsion in forgotten time. In +one place—toward the southwest—the rim of rock broke, and here the +earth had sloughed away before the ages-long war of the elements, the +result being a broad, flume-like chute leading downward. Instinctively I +drew back from this place, for it suggested unknown terrors. A sort of +sandy, granular deposit covered the top of the knob; the grinding caused +by years upon years of wind and rain.</p> + +<p>My inspection of the peak occupied scarcely a minute. Then I sat down in +its exact center, lit my briar-root, hugged my knees, and allowed myself +for the first time that day to think of yesterday's experience. You +could never guess my first thought. It was that material would quickly +accumulate now for my book. I sensed the approach of things—of many +things, and not all of them were pleasant. In fact, some wore grisly +aspects. I believe in premonitions. I don't know what they are, or what +causes them, or anything about them except they exist. But one came to +me as I sat on the tiptop of old Baldy this afternoon, smoking my pipe +and hugging my knees, and feeling very much like a bird in its eyrie. I +was troubled and elated in turn; a queer experience, but common to all. +There was no reason in the world why I should have been either depressed +or uplifted. But somehow the near future looked to me to be vibrant with +incidents waiting their chance to happen, and in some unformed way I +felt that, innocently enough, I had set in motion a train of events +which would quickly envelope me in their workings. I say it was a +premonition—a prescience—and I believe I am right.</p> + +<p>I can make nothing yet of Lessie or her household. Granf'er and Granny +have their prototypes among those who call themselves ultra refined. +Each is interesting to me, in his and her way. Granny has a suspicious +nature. I cannot think she is as down-right mean and crusty as she +pretends to be. Maybe Granf'er is trifling, and trying, and Granny might +have to lash him with her tongue to keep him in the traces. I am sure +the old lady's dislike for me is real, though why this should be I +cannot fathom just now. I have a strong suspicion that deep down in her +heart Granny has a feeling of worship for the Dryad, and in everything +which presents itself in masculine shape she sees a possible cause for +Lessie leaving her. That seems the most plausible reason for her +dislike. Lessie has plunged me into a quandary where I can see no light +at all. Her personality is the most complex I have ever encountered. She +is absolutely baffling. I can't understand the way she talked to me as +we came down the path from the house scarcely twenty-four hours ago. +What was it within her that suggested the things of which she spoke? If +she had delivered an oration in Latin I could not have been more +surprised. She—the product of many generations of hill dwellers, whose +intelligence always remained at a minimum, among whom the stirrings of +ambition were never felt and where knowledge had never gained the +slightest foothold—she to suffer the travail of a fettered mind +striving for light; of a shackled soul struggling for expression! What +could it mean? And to make the enshrouding darkness yet more dense, <i>she +was cousin to the Satyr</i>! The Satyr! That whimsical, hapless +ne'er-do-well who strolled the woods day after day, drinking white +whiskey, and bringing strains from his old fiddle which made one's flesh +creep with their weird sweetness. Is it a wonder I was puzzled? I +promised to help her, and I am going to do it. I know the task will be +pleasant. I will escape monotony, and she will be improved, and in this +way it will work good to both of us. I shall begin—but at this point in +my cogitations there floated suddenly across the field of memory that +tall, dark shadow standing on the Hebron road, still and stern.</p> + +<p>I took the pipe from my mouth and stood up. The sun had more than half +completed its journey from zenith to horizon. I made another detour, +looking for the best place to descend. I found it a short distance from +where I had come up; almost a path, surprisingly easy to traverse. I +carefully noted its location with reference to the points of the +compass, and went down with practically no labor. Already I knew I +should come back, for the spot held a strong attraction for me. Not +alone for the view, which in itself was sufficient compensation for the +climb, but there was also a sense of such complete aloneness—and I have +that peculiarity. At times I want to be where no one can see me, or talk +to me. I want to be utterly alone, without the possibility of +interruption. Such a place I knew I had found on the peak of Bald Knob.</p> + +<p>When I reached the evergreens I realized that it must be almost twilight +on the plateau. At least a cooling, grateful shade was there, and the +philosophy of Spencer.</p> + +<p>A few moments later I crashed through the bush in the rear of the Lodge, +came around and flung my cap boy-like on one of the benches alongside +the door, then hurried toward the lone pine. When I had taken a +half-dozen steps I looked up, and halted abruptly.</p> + +<p>Lessie was standing under the tree, holding "First Principles" open in +her hands.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TEN" id="CHAPTER_TEN"></a>CHAPTER TEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I SPEND A PLEASANT HOUR AND HEAR SOME NEWS</h3> + + +<p>She saw me the same instant, and her eyes brightened with what seemed to +me pleasure, while slow waves of color came into her cheeks. She smiled, +and stood motionless, waiting for me to approach.</p> + +<p>I lost no time in bidding her welcome. When I took her hand in greeting +the contact was electrical—it may have been my imagination, I +grant—but I'm sure I felt as if a charge of some kind had been +projected into me.</p> + +<p>"Whut's this book?" she asked, closing the volume but still holding it +with a clinging touch. It was to me as if she wanted to make it a part +of her, her hands and fingers were so enveloping in their grasp.</p> + +<p>"That's heresy—rank heresy!" I laughed. "If Father John saw me reading +that he would tell you to run from me as fast as you could."</p> + +<p>She glanced up with a most attractive blending of alarm and amusement on +her face.</p> + +<p>"Then whut yo' read it fur?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"It was written by one of the smartest men the world has ever known, and +I want to find out what he thinks. We don't have to believe all we read, +you know. We can read for various reasons."</p> + +<p>I saw she did not understand.</p> + +<p>"Sit down," I continued. "Here, the bench is big enough for two. I'm so +glad you have come to see me to-day. You almost missed me; I've been up +on Baldy."</p> + +<p>We sat side by side. There was barely room enough; as it was our hips +came in contact. Then I told her of my little trip toward the clouds. +I'm sure she was not at all interested. In fact, after the first +brightening of her face at the moment of my appearance, a sort of shadow +had come upon it, as though cast from a mind not at rest. I watched her +as I talked, and I know she was paying no heed to my recital. She toyed +with the book, pressing the pages together, bending them in her fingers, +and allowing them to slip under her thumb with a rustle. Now I saw her +hair at close range for the first time, and it was truly a crown of +glory. Solomon's wisdom was not at fault. A woman's hair holds some +mysterious power for a man fully as potent as any of her other charms. +There is sorcery in it—and sometimes love-dreams—and sometimes +oblivion—and sometimes madness! As I gazed at the Dryad's hair my voice +unconsciously dropped to a lifeless monotone. Quickly I noted a fact +which formed a fitting supplement to my former discoveries regarding the +care of her person. By all legitimate courses of reasoning her hair +should have been stringy, sleek, unkempt, and—dirty! But I beheld it +the reverse in every particular. No boudoir bred Miss of any city could +have produced better cared for tresses. Each silken strand lay separate +from its fellows. The whole mass was shining clean, and fresh, and +fluffy; the well-shaped ears were transparently spotless, and her neck, +where the yet finer hair grew upward and where tiny rings of cobwebby +gold fluttered, was immaculate. Fellowman, do you marvel that my tale of +climbing the peak came to an end almost in drivel?</p> + +<p>As I stopped, rather sheepishly, she lost her hold on the book, and it +slipped from her knees to the ground. Each bent to recover it. I was the +quicker, but in the forward and downward movement which she made the +Dryad's hair tumbled over her shoulders onto my neck, head and face, in +a subtly scented, smooth, tickly mesh. It lasted but a moment; I think +the shortest moment of my life. We came up laughing, both our faces red. +But as for that, one's face is always red when one bends to pick up +something.</p> + +<p>I opened the book at the front, found a big capital A, and pointing to +it, asked Lessie what it was.</p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"I don' know."</p> + +<p>The pity of it! I could scarcely credit her reply.</p> + +<p>"Would you like to know? Would you like to know all the letters in this +book, big and little, so that you could read them at a glance?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Again that hungry, helpless look came to her.</p> + +<p>"Oh!... Yes!"</p> + +<p>The first word was spoken with a sharply indrawn breath of eagerness. +The last one fell softly a moment later.</p> + +<p>"You shall, Dryad. It's a shame you can't do it now. Is there no school +here—in the neighborhood—at Hebron? Why have you never been to +school?"</p> + +<p>"They wuz a school in Hebron. Granny wouldn't let me go."</p> + +<p>She was fingering a ruffle on her dress just above her knees in an +embarrassed way.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't let you go!" I exclaimed, indignantly ... "Why?"</p> + +<p>"A man had it—a young man—'n' Granny hates men, 'specially young men."</p> + +<p>"Why does she hate young men?"</p> + +<p>"I don' know—you heard whut she said 'bout 'em. She's always preachin' +that to me."</p> + +<p>I thought my former reading of Granny's attitude correct now, but I did +not speak of this to Lessie.</p> + +<p>"Granny has done you a great injustice," I said, gravely; "however +honest her intentions. I'm going to see that you have a chance, Dryad. +But if I'm to help you, I must speak of things exactly as they are, and +there shall have to be many corrections. You won't mind this, will you? +I mean you will understand why it is done—that it is absolutely +necessary for you to get along. You won't take offense—won't get mad, +will you?"</p> + +<p>She turned her eyes full into mine, her mobile face for the moment +serious and calm.</p> + +<p>"I'll do <i>anythin'</i> to learn—to know! Oh! I git so lonesome fur—fur +<i>knowin'</i>! I'm all shet up, 'n' they's things in my head 'n' in here +that's jes' bustin' to git out!"</p> + +<p>She placed her hand on her breast. Her brows had drawn together and I +knew each word was the exact truth.</p> + +<p>"All right; it's a bargain," I answered. "We'll begin this very minute. +Have you noticed that I talk differently from you, and Granf'er, and +Granny'?"</p> + +<p>Her mouth was set firmly as her chin moved up and down. I think she was +a little scared at the beginning of her lessons.</p> + +<p>"I talk correctly, and you talk incorrectly. That's hard to say, but we +can't build without solid truth for a foundation. You should learn to +speak correctly in a very short time, if you will be very careful, and +try. It will take longer to learn to read, and write, but even that will +not prove such a great task. Now, answer me—why did you come here +to-day?"</p> + +<p>"I come 'cause I wanted to!"</p> + +<p>Quick as a flash her reply was out, and I could see she was watching me +in a fascinated, apprehensive manner. I smiled to reassure her.</p> + +<p>"You should say—'I <i>came be-cause</i> I wanted to.' Say it that way."</p> + +<p>"I—came—<i>be</i>-cause I wanted to!"</p> + +<p>There was something almost pitiful in her fearful earnestness. This was +the beginning of the opening of a sealed door before which she had stood +so long, with no one to break the fastenings for her. She had put one +hand against the dark trunk of the tree, and now her finger tips were +white around the nails from the pressure she had unconsciously brought +to bear, and she was trembling the least bit. Poor little Dryad in her +windowless house! It must have been an ordeal for her.</p> + +<p>How queerly that simple sentence broke upon my ears. It was the first +perfect one she had ever spoken, and she enunciated it with painful +precision, breathing each word forth in trepidation.</p> + +<p>"Good!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands, whereat her tenseness vanished, +and her bearing became like one who is somewhat confused, but happy. +"Don't forget that, now. Always say 'I came.' Many of your words are not +words at all, but fearful corruptions which long use and carelessness +have made worse. Then you drop your 'gs' outrageously, but that is a +fault you'll overcome by practice."</p> + +<p>Thus for an hour we sat on the narrow bench under the tall pine, while I +made her answer question after question in her own way, then had her say +them again the right way. Her aptness was amazing. Her mind seemed to +seize and absorb the elemental instruction I gave her as a parched plant +does moisture. She remained constantly intent, alert, ready; and when at +length the slowly deepening shadows warned me that she should be going, +and I told her the lesson for the day was over, I saw that she was +agitated, excited, and her eyes shone as if brightened by wine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're a capital pupil!" I complimented, warmly, as we arose and +stood for a moment side by side. "Now how would you answer me, Dryad?"</p> + +<p>She cast me a sidewise glance; partly mischievous, partly shy, partly +earnest.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad!" she said, quickly.</p> + +<p>I knew that she had evaded my trap cleverly, and I did not lay another +for her.</p> + +<p>"Now you must go."</p> + +<p>I spoke reluctantly, for the hour had been an unusually charming one for +me. I had always maintained that I had rather be a roadmender than a +school teacher, and generally speaking, I hold to the idea still. But I +can think of no more delightfully pleasant experience that has ever come +my way than when I gave Lessie her first instruction under the pine on +the edge of the plateau.</p> + +<p>At my words the shadow sprang to her face again, more noticeable than +before. It was almost a look of distress now.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Dryad?" I asked, suddenly; "what worries you?"</p> + +<p>She did not answer, but stood meditatively with the tips of her fingers +resting upon her lower lip, and her eyes intently focussed downward.</p> + +<p>"Come," I added; "I must get some water from the creek, and I'll go that +far with you—farther, if you will let me, because it will be late +before you get home."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" she burst out, with what looked like unnecessary vehemence. +Then her agile mind took a turn, and she added—"But why don't yo' git +yo' water out o' the well?"</p> + +<p>I forebore to correct her. The lesson was over, and I must not worry +her.</p> + +<p>"Well?" I repeated, open mouthed. "What well?"</p> + +<p>"The well over yonder—the well the man dug!"</p> + +<p>She pointed to a distant corner of the yard, overrun with a +heterogeneous mass of greenery.</p> + +<p>I almost gasped. A well had been here under my nose all these weeks, a +well of cool, good water, and I had been slaving rebelliously to supply +my needs from the creek below, which had lately become infested with +tadpoles!</p> + +<p>"Show it to me!" I cried.</p> + +<p>With a hearty "All right!" she started running, and I followed at a +smart walk. It was just like her to run. She was a creature of impulse. +I watched her skimming over the ground, lightly leaping little +obstacles, her wheat-gold hair all a-tremble. When I came up she had a +stick, and was diligently prodding about in the weeds, vines and +brambles.</p> + +<p>"It's here," she muttered, intent on her business. "I've saw it, 'n' +drunk out o' it. It's jes' as cold as the spring at home whur granny +keeps 'er milk 'n' butter. W'en I—"</p> + +<p>My eyes had been fastened on her face, and now she evidently remembered +and checked herself purposely, for I saw her teeth clamp her lip for an +instant. Then she went on, softer and more slowly, never looking up.</p> + +<p>"When—I—came—las'—time—it's—<i>here</i>!"</p> + +<p>With the last word she jabbed her stick down, and straightened up +triumphantly.</p> + +<p>I pressed forward to her side, and peered into the bush. The end of her +stick rested upon a piece of wood. With a word to Lessie to wait a +moment I hurried back to the lodge and procured a scythe from the store +of miscellaneous things which had accompanied me when I came out to make +friends with the wilderness. Directly I had uncovered the well's top, a +surface of oaken planks four feet square. In the center of this lay a +large, smooth stone, covering the hole which gave access to the water +below.</p> + +<p>"By Jove! Girl, how can I thank you?" I cried, elated at the discovery. +"I've been drinking sulphur water and bathing with tadpoles, never +dreaming this was here!"</p> + +<p>"It'll be a big savin'," she agreed. "Tot'n' water's pow'ful hard work."</p> + +<p>She turned to go. I dropped my scythe and said:</p> + +<p>"You must let me go part of the way. I know you're not afraid, but won't +you? I'd feel better."</p> + +<p>She clasped her hands, wrung them once, and took two or three forward +steps silently. Something was wrong with Lessie, but nothing like a true +solution entered my thick masculine head until she stopped, halfway +turned, and flung from tight lips—</p> + +<p>"It's 'bout Buck!"</p> + +<p>Buck! The ominous figure I had seen watching me in the deep twilight the +day before. Buck! Of course, Buck! He had seen me part from Lessie; he +had come to her immediately afterward, and had doubtless told her some +things which were not good for her peace of mind. Is man really a +savage, at rock bottom? In the moment following Lessie's intense +announcement of the cause of her distress, what were my feelings? Simply +these. There came to my mind the realization that I, too, was a man of +physical might; that I, too, had immense muscles of thigh, and chest, +and arm; that the trouble which had sent me here was surely checked as I +felt my vigor growing day by day, and that if somebody wanted to fight I +would give him his fill, rather than be hectored into forsaking Lessie's +company—for I felt assured already that this was the burden of Buck +Steele's demands.</p> + +<p>Something of all this must have showed in my face as I stepped +deliberately to Lessie's side and took one of her hands, for I saw +traces of terror in the gray eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yo'—yo' mustn't git together!" she exclaimed, tempestuously, her +fingers closing around mine in a grip which caused me to wonder. "Oh! +Yo' mustn't!—Yo' mustn't! Yo' don't know Buck; he c'n ben' a +horse-shoe!"</p> + +<p>"Lessie," I said, returning her grasp and looking at her determinedly; +"I'm not afraid of any man that lives and moves. I don't believe in +violence, but there are times when it becomes necessary. And when the +necessity arises in my life, I'm going to face it. You have said that +you wanted me to help you, and if you still feel this way, nothing and +no one is going to prevent me from carrying out my part of the +agreement. I've a notion I know pretty much what took place last night, +but you must tell me now, as we walk along. We must talk it over—come."</p> + +<p>I kept her hand until I had faced her about and we had gone a short +distance. Then I let it go.</p> + +<p>"Yo' see," began Lessie, in a perplexed little voice, and without +waiting for further urging, "Buck's ben comin' to see me fur mos' a +year, off 'n' on. He's the only young feller Granny'll 'low on the +place. He's ben pow'ful good to me, 'n'—'n' well, he's ast me to marry +'im. But I don't love Buck. I can't he'p lak'n' 'im, 'cause he's so good +'n' kin' 'n' 'd do anythin' on earth I'd ask 'im to. He don't pester me +'bout comin', neither, 'n' w'en I don't feel lak seein' 'im he'll go on +'way, meek lak 'n' not complainin'. 'N' after w'ile here he'll be back +ag'in, tryin' to tell me thin's I don't wan' to lis'n' to. I jes' can't +hurt 'is feelin's. Somehow 'r 'nother he heerd that you'd come out here +'n' had seen me by the dogwood tree that day—I s'pec' Granny tol' 'im +'bout it, 'cause I didn't tell nobody but the home folks. 'N' so las' +night he come—he <i>came</i> out home to 'quire 'bout it, 'n' he saw you +tell me good-by at the bridge. 'N' after you'd gone he came on—'n' I'd +never seen 'im look lak he looked then. His eyes wuz black 'n' had fire +in 'em 'n' his face wuz lak a piece o' gray rock 'n' his voice wuz +diff'unt 'n' ever' now 'n' then he shuk all over."</p> + +<p>Her words had gradually increased in velocity until, when she stopped, +she was speaking so rapidly I could hardly understand what she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I replied, but nothing more until we had come to the foot of the +knob. Here, as we turned westward toward the creek leading to Lizard +Point, I spoke again.</p> + +<p>"He talked to you, Dryad, of course. Now you must tell me everything, +and keep nothing back—nothing. Even though he said very ugly +things—things which may have frightened you, you must tell me them, +too."</p> + +<p>She stooped to pluck a cluster of little wild flowers growing on a +single stem, giving a low exclamation of pleasure as she did so. Then, +as she twined the flowers in her hair over the ear away from me, she +answered.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he talked to me. I tried to make 'im hush, but he wouldn't. 'Twuz +'bout you, mos'ly. He said he knew city fellers 'n' they's all wicked +'n' dang'rous, 'n' that you's jes' tryin' to run with me to pass the +time 'n' make a fool o' me—but I didn't b'lieve 'im!"</p> + +<p>With the last words she turned toward me a frank and honest countenance.</p> + +<p>"No, Dryad; you mustn't believe him when he talks that way. I'm sure +that Buck is a good man naturally, but he was excited when he told you +that. There are some bad men in the cities, and there are some bad men +in the country. There are more bad men in the city because there are +more people in the city. But he was wholly wrong when he spoke of my +motive in going with you—go on."</p> + +<p>"He said he wasn't goin' to have yo' comin' to see me, 'n' that I mus' +promise 'im not to see you agin. I tol' 'im I couldn't do that, 'cause +you's goin' to learn me. Then he went plum daffy crazy, 'n' cussed 'n' +damned, 'n' bruk a great thick stick he had in 'is han's—bruk it 'n' +kep' a-breakin' it till it wuz all in little pieces in 'is fis'—'n' +then he flung 'em all on the groun' 'n' stood lookin' at me lak he's +goin' to hit me, but he didn't. We's down at the en' o' the path nex' to +the road, fur we hadn't gone up to the house. I's skeered fur a w'ile, +he looked so big 'n' he's so mad. I didn't know a feller c'd git so +crazy 'bout—'bout a girl;—did you?"</p> + +<p>Her candor never ceased to amaze me. She seemed to be utterly unaware of +anything existing within herself which might lead a man up the dangerous +heights of Love, whither this brawny one had plainly gone.</p> + +<p>"Ye-e-s," I answered, slowly. "When a man loves a girl, Dryad, he will +do anything when the circumstance which calls for that thing exists." +Then, realizing that I was talking riddles to her, I added: "I mean, +that when a man's in love, especially if he be a strong man, he won't +allow any one or anything to come in the way, if he can help it. And +that's Buck's position, exactly. He thinks he can't live without you, +and he's a big, husky animal whose feelings largely control him. When +another man approaches you, he grows jealous, and jealousy is about the +hardest headed, most unreasonable, meanest passion the human family +has.... What else did Buck say?"</p> + +<p>It was too dark now for me to see her expression, but when she replied +her voice shook with apprehension, and that haunting note—like a rare +minor chord in music—which so moved me when we first met had crept +strangely into it, dominating the natural, lighter quality of her +speech.</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>An exclamation formed of a trembling sigh was her first word, but she +went on almost at once.</p> + +<p>"He—he said <i>awful</i> thin's! He said he couldn't <i>stan'</i> to see me 'n' +you together no more, 'n' he said he's goin'—he's goin'—to <i>kill</i> yo' +if—if—"</p> + +<p>Here Lessie broke down and began to weep in little, spasmodic snuffles, +as you have seen small children do.</p> + +<p>I took her hand again and tried to assuage her fears as we went on under +the big forest trees through the shadowy, dimly luminous atmosphere. I +told her that Buck had spoken in the heat of anger, and that he did not +really mean what he said, and that his passion had gotten away with his +discretion, and had made him act very foolishly. I ended by laughing at +the threats, and treating them in the nature of a joke, but my companion +would not have it so.</p> + +<p>"Yo' don't know 'im! Yo' don't know 'im!" she insisted, drawing the back +of her free hand across her eyes. "He <i>did</i> mean it, 'n' he <i>will</i> do +it—I know he will!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you think I can take care of myself?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know; maybe—but Buck's so strong!"</p> + +<p>"I'm strong, too, Dryad."</p> + +<p>She did not answer, and soon we came to the glade. Here Lessie stopped +and faced me.</p> + +<p>"Yo' <i>mustn't</i> come no fu'ther," she said, so emphatically that I almost +blinked. "'N'—'n'—yo' mustn't come to the P'int no more 'n' I won't +come to Baldy no more 'n'—"</p> + +<p>"Why, Lessie!"</p> + +<p>I dropped her hand, and put all the reproach I could summons into the +words.</p> + +<p>"Yo' know—w'y—"</p> + +<p>"And give up all the things I am going to teach you just because—"</p> + +<p>It was too much. She turned with a hurt, despairing cry which somehow +cut me savagely, and ran swiftly from me across the open ground. I saw +the misty fluttering of garments in the gloom, caught the dull glow from +her flying hair, then knew that I was alone.</p> + +<p>I have just written to 'Crombie. I did not tell him of any of the people +I have met. I wrote a chatty letter describing my daily life, my +improved condition, and telling of my inability, so far, to locate the +life-plant. But on this point I had hopes. I'm sure he will scratch his +head when he reads my postscript, and wonder if I have developed brain +trouble. Here is my postscript:</p> + +<p>"Kindly forward me by mail to Hebron, at once, a primer and a copybook."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_ELEVEN" id="CHAPTER_ELEVEN"></a>CHAPTER ELEVEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH OTHER CHARACTERS COME INTO OUR STORY</h3> + + +<p>I went to Hebron to-day to mail my letter, and to lay in a supply of +garden seed.</p> + +<p>It was still early morning when I reached Lizard Point, and came upon +the road leading to my destination. The sun had not yet topped the high +knob range; the air was cool, balmy, moist with dew, and clear. I stood +for a moment after I had crossed the bridge, and looked intently up to +where Lessie lived. Had I seen her I would have sent her a hail, and +told her where I was going. Light blue wood smoke was coming from the +kitchen chimney, and spiraling straight up to a great height before it +dissipated—a sure sign of fair weather, I have been informed. Soon I +descried Granf'er's stooped form plodding across the back yard. He still +wore his coffee-sack apron, and was carrying a dishpan of water. This he +emptied into a chicken trough, and trudged back to the house. But Lessie +did not appear, so I faced about and went on.</p> + +<p>The road paralleled this branch of the creek for nearly a mile, running +along the base of a steadily curving knob. It was not a bad road, +either, considering its location, and I found some pleasure in tramping +through the yellow dust between the ruts which the wheels of passing +vehicles had made. On the creek side was a rod-wide strip of verdure; +flowering weeds choked with long, tough grass, bushes of many kinds, and +an occasional tree. On the knob side the rise began at the very edge of +the highway. Here was moss, dead leaves, many varieties of creepers, +sumac, wild grapevine, and now and again eglantine, its flat, pink-white +blossoms brightening the heavy shade. It was on this side the road my +eyes dwelt oftener, for in my pocket was the jar of fresh water, and in +my heart the hope of ultimate reward. It is true I had found nothing +which resembled the life-plant in the least, and already I had traveled +far. But I was prepared for disappointment, and schooled for patience. +The prize was too valuable to be come at easily. I had already learned +that great truth—the things worth while are the things you give your +heart's blood in getting. Nothing you can grasp by merely stretching out +your hand is worth even that slight effort. It is a law of nature and a +law of life that hard work is the price of true success; that attainment +means sacrifice; that the natural inclinations and desires of the flesh +must be fettered and chained before we can reach any eminence +whatsoever, or achieve any noble task. That unalterable decree of life +applied to this case as well, and I bowed to it. I would wait and +search; I would go on until the last day of my twelve months' exile had +sped, believing that sooner or later my reward would come.</p> + +<p>Now my mountain road debouched upon a county highway, made of gravel, +well packed and smooth. For a moment I was surprised, wondering where +all this gravel came from. Then I remembered that a river ran near, and +the mystery was plain.</p> + +<p>The sun came out as I started on again, pouring its quickening light in +a wondrous cascade of shimmering beauty over the dark green sea of +foliage. The leaves rustled a welcome, and a breeze which was like a +sigh of gratitude from the Earth's big heart, arose. This greeting of +nature unto nature that still morning stirred me deeply in some way; I +could feel the answering thrill in my breast, and I stopped in my +tracks, took my cap from my head, and faced the great golden ball with +what I imagine was almost the ardor of a sun-worshiper. I was alone with +my ancient mother; the mother from whence I came and unto whom I would +return, and clearer than ever in my life before I felt the kinship of +the sturdy trees, and knew that the sap and fiber of every growing thing +about me was part and parcel of my being. Tiny waves of emotion began to +tingle along my nerves as I stood bareheaded, at one with the universe, +and then slowly the waves grew in magnitude until every vein and artery +was inundated with a mighty surge of joy.</p> + +<p>A puff of wind blew a spray of blackberry bush across my cheek, +scratching it with a thorn. I started and looked, to find that I had +unknowingly come to the edge of the road.</p> + +<p>At a turn a quarter of a mile further on I saw the hamlet. Five or six +houses, a railway station, the superstructure of an iron bridge, and to +one side a formidable building of brick, which I correctly surmised to +be the distillery. Between me and the hamlet lay a stretch of cleared +bottom land, fenced off into fields. I saw an expanse of wheat, green +and full eared; another of oats, not so tall, and having a peculiar +bluish shade. Other fields were simply bare, brown reaches of freshly +turned earth, prepared for corn or tobacco.</p> + +<p>Now to my ears came a sound which has been heard since the world was +young; the musical ring of iron against iron; the song of the forge. +Across the lowland it drifted to me, losing all harshness in its coming, +and falling in pleasing cadences upon the air. I knew it was no +uncertain hand which held the hammer, for the strokes were vigorous and +in time, interrupted now and again by the drum-like roll as the hammer +danced upon the anvil. I went forward leisurely, crossed a stream on a +suspension foot-bridge of native manufacture, then up a slight rise till +I stood in the broad doorway of the smithy. The worker, intent upon his +task, had neither seen nor heard my approach. I stood and looked at him +silently.</p> + +<p>He was a young man, near my own age. He was quite as tall as myself, and +maybe a trifle heavier. He wore a short brown beard. His flannel shirt +was open at the neck for two or three buttons, revealing his thick +throat and corded chest. His sleeves were rolled above his elbows, and +his fore-arms were knotted and ridged with muscles. His face was rather +heavy, and not intelligent. He was welding an iron tire, and I watched +his deft manipulations admiringly. Certainly he was no bungler. After a +while he thrust the cooling irons back into the fire, and as he grasped +the handle of his bellows with one grimy hand, I spoke.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Buck Steele."</p> + +<p>He wheeled with the quick movement you have seen a cat display when +surprised, his brown eyes widening perceptibly. He knew me. I saw his +mouth set, and the outer corners of his eyes contract. In that first +long look which he gave me he did not say a word, neither did he move. I +could not help thinking what a splendid looking fellow he was, his +posture one of natural grace and dignity, at the same time feeling and +recognizing the antagonism which radiated from his entire person. I met +his gaze unflinchingly, and with a straightforward look. I could see his +eyes traveling from my head to my feet, and knew that he was taking +stock of me. Then his uncompromising stare settled on my face, and +instantly a bitterly hostile expression gathered on his own. For a few +moments we stood thus, then his big chest rose over a deep long breath, +his mouth went tighter still, his smutty fingers closed on the handle of +the bellows and began a downward pull, then he calmly turned his back +upon me and resumed his work. My greeting had remained unanswered.</p> + +<p>I turned away. I was sorry, but there was nothing I could do. To have +forced myself upon his notice would have resulted in violence, I was +sure, with probable disaster to myself. I went on past a house or two +until I reached the store, a low, narrow building beside a railroad +track. A man, bareheaded and in his shirt sleeves, sat on a cracker-box +on the small porch, his back against the wall, his hands folded +peacefully in his lap.</p> + +<p>"Got any garden seed?" I asked, stopping in front of him.</p> + +<p>He lazily raised his bleary, red-rimmed eyes, and regarded me stolidly. +Absolute vacancy sat upon his countenance. He batted his lids, and +stared at me, his lower lip slightly pendulous. His silence became so +protracted that I smiled, and repeated my query. A sort of grunt came +from him, presently followed by—</p> + +<p>"Whut kind o' gyard'n seed?"</p> + +<p>I named the varieties I wanted.</p> + +<p>Again he grunted—a louder grunt than the first, because now he was +preparing to get up. This he presently accomplished, and went into the +store, sliding his feet along over the planks of the porch. In process +of time I got my seed.</p> + +<p>"What's up there?" I asked, as we came out together, pointing to a hill +across the railroad up which the pike wound sinuously.</p> + +<p>The storekeeper dropped upon the cracker-box and resumed the same +position he had when I accosted him, before replying.</p> + +<p>"Chu'ch 'n' pa's'nage; s'p'intend'nt's house. 'Stillery yonder; river +under th' bridge."</p> + +<p>Whereupon he immediately relapsed into his former inertia, and I +forebore further questions.</p> + +<p>I decided I would take a look at the river. Hebron lay beneath my gaze: +small, ill-kept houses; small yards with some dismal attempts at +floriculture; dirty children and work-worn women. These latter I +glimpsed as I walked on to the railroad, at windows and on porches, +staring apathetically at the stranger. I soon reached the bridge, which +I found spanned a river of considerable size. It had a gravel bed, and +its banks were heavily lined with trees. Its western sweep was +particularly attractive from where I stood, and I at once determined +upon a closer acquaintance, for the day was but begun, and there was no +need for me to hasten home. After a brief search I found a path which +conducted me to the side of the stream. The channel here was rather +narrow and the water seemed deep, its flow being gentle and placid. +Somewhat to my surprise, the path continued, running worm-like between +the thick growth of willow and sycamore. I went forward, with no purpose +whatsoever, merely yielding to an idling spirit, and the charm of an +unfamiliar track through the woods by a river. I may have gone half a +mile, never more than a dozen feet from the brink, when I espied a boat +snugly beached, and tied to a scrubby oak whose roots were partly +submerged. Why not take a ride? The thought was born instantaneously, +and quickly took the shape of resolve. Here was a delightful diversion +ready to my hand. I loved to pull an oar, and the gleaming, dark-green +surface before me seemed to invite. I placed my bundle of seed on the +ground, slipped off my coat and flung it across a limb, then laid hold +of the painter. It was not locked, as I half feared it would be. The +boat was a delicate, shapely affair, painted white, and I marveled that +such a dainty craft should be moored here in the wilds about Hebron. The +painter was loose, and one of my feet was in the boat as I prepared to +shove off, when—</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," I heard; "but may I have my boat a little while?"</p> + +<p>I arose, holding the painter in my hand.</p> + +<p>A young woman faced me. Low and slight, dressed in tan from her jaunty +straw hat to her russet shoes; short walking skirt tailored to +perfection; a laced bodice very low in the neck; a tin fish bucket in +one hand. She had evidently taken me for one of the rustics in the +neighborhood, for I could see that she was as much surprised as I. A +glance sufficed to tell me her story. A jaded society woman, old and +<i>blasé</i> at twenty, having nothing but a sniff for the world and all +there was in it. She was pitifully young to wear those marks of +experience upon her face. Her features were inclined to be peaked; her +chin sharp, her blue eyes so weary, in spite of the momentary light +which flashed up in them now. There were faint lines about her unstable +mouth, and well defined crowsfeet at her eyes. She must have lived hard +and furiously from her early teens to have acquired that indescribable +expression which needs no interpreter. Whoever she was and whatever she +was—and I was convinced she could boast the blood of gentle folks—she +had seen some life in her score of years.</p> + +<p>"I guess if there is any pardon to ask,—I should ask it," I replied, +dragging my cap off as I spoke. "I didn't know it was yours. I'm a +stranger. I was out walking, and ran up on the boat, and couldn't see +any harm in using it for a half-hour. Shall—that is, may I assist you +to get afloat?"</p> + +<p>She had gotten rid of all tokens of surprise as I was speaking. Now, +with the ready action of a woman of the world, she came forward and held +out the bucket.</p> + +<p>"You may stow that away.... I'm going to visit my lines."</p> + +<p>"Lines?" I repeated, blankly.</p> + +<p>"Trot lines," she explained, adjusting a pin in her hat when I was +absolutely sure such a thing was unnecessary. "I set them yesterday +afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Oh! You're a fisherman!" I exclaimed. "Well, I hope you've had luck."</p> + +<p>She stepped into the boat before I could offer assistance, got down and +took the oars—then stopped. She appeared to be thinking. I stood ready +to shove off at her word. Suddenly she looked up with a half smile.</p> + +<p>"Would you like to go?"</p> + +<p>I was not surprised. Poor little world-worn creature. How many men had +she molded with that half smile! I answered without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Certainly!"</p> + +<p>There could be no harm to either of us. It was unconventional, but +conventionality is a terrible bugbear. She was lonely, I knew, and the +echo from a civilized world which I would get in her company would be +most welcome to me.</p> + +<p>"Come on, then. Day before yesterday I caught a bass which almost wore +me out before I could get him aboard. You see you could be of help on an +occasion of that kind."</p> + +<p>I offered to take the oars, but she declined, and subsequently displayed +a degree of skill in rowing that surprised me. She took the middle of +the stream and went with the sluggish current. From my position in the +stern I faced her, and feeling that conversation was almost imperative, +I said:</p> + +<p>"Surely you don't live at Hebron?"</p> + +<p>She smiled—a bright, winsome smile which somehow awakened a deeper pity +in me. Her true nature seemed revealed in that expression. She was not +wicked; not inherently bad, but was weak-willed, easily swayed, +susceptible to association and environment. One who loved the smooth +road of pleasure more than the stony highway of rectitude; one who had +given gratis and unthinkingly the perfume of the fresh flower of her +girlhood. Kind of heart, warm of sympathy, impulsive of temperament, +irresponsible.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, with a cheery nod; "I live at Hebron."</p> + +<p>"But you don't <i>belong</i> there?" I insisted.</p> + +<p>She laughed in a high, not unmusical key, and suddenly dipping her oars, +began to propel the boat swiftly through the water. Rowing shows a +graceful girl off to advantage, and my companion was richly endowed in +this particular. Her little russet shoes were firmly braced, the short +skirt revealing a few inches of tapering, tan-stockinged legs; her brown +hands gripped the oars firmly, and as she swayed forward and backward +with the rhythmic strokes I was conscious of a feeling of admiration for +her prowess. In a few moments we had rounded a bend, and here I saw a +line stretched across the river, with smaller lines depending from it +into the stream. The girl glanced back over her shoulder, dipped one oar +and adroitly piloted the boat toward a certain hook, before she spoke.</p> + +<p>"I belong up yonder—for the summer," she said.</p> + +<p>I followed her short gesture, and discovered upon a hill to my right +what I took to be a brick church, with a brick dwelling near it.</p> + +<p>As I turned to make reply I saw that something was happening. The girl +was doing her best to haul in one of the sunken lines, but the hidden +force beneath the surface was combatting her strength fiercely. Before I +could offer assistance she had loosed her hold, and instantly the line +shot out and tightened, swaying this way and that, cutting the water +silently.</p> + +<p>"I believe I have a whale!" she declared, in big-eyed seriousness, +shifting her position and kneeling before taking up her task afresh. +"No, don't help me yet"—as I made a forward movement—"it's lots more +fun to land one's own fish!"</p> + +<p>She bent again to the vibrating line, while I held the boat steady and +eagerly awaited developments.</p> + +<p>"I'm from Kansas City," she flung over her shoulder all at once, "and +I'm spending the summer with my uncle, the Rev. Jean Dupré—Father +John, the villagers call him. I am Beryl Drane."</p> + +<p>The catastrophe cannot be told in detail. It may have been partly my +fault, for my guard was lax at the moment. Before I realized what had +happened Miss Drane was gone and I was in the water clinging to the +upturned boat. A sucking, gurgling whirlpool was moving down the stream, +and the cable line had disappeared. For a moment a cold horror crept to +my vitals and chilled me so that I could not move. Then my duty swept +over me with a swift rush, and, letting go the boat, I dived +desperately. Madly I swept my arms to left, right, everywhere, grasping +blindly for the touch of flesh or clothing. Dimly I seemed to realize +that I was in a measure responsible for the accident, and that I must +find the lost girl. Back and forth I fought through the water savagely, +my lungs hurting, my head throbbing. I could not give up. I had to find +her. She was there, somewhere in that silent, treacherous element. Into +my chaotic mind leaped the thought that perhaps she had risen to the +surface. Instantly I ceased my efforts and rose. Dashing the streaming +drops from my eyes and mouth I gulped in a deep breath, and glared +around despairingly. Silence; solitude; a shining, disc-like spot where +the reflection of the sun lay, and a dozen feet off the glistening +bottom of the boat. That was all. A man's length to the south I saw some +bubbles rise and burst. There can be no bubbles without air. Maybe—</p> + +<p>Resurgent hope filled my breast as I plunged downward again, striking +out with all my might. I grasped a sodden something. I opened my eyes. +The water was clear and the sunlight filtered dimly through it. A +confused shadowy shape confronted me. I could get no outlines. An +instant later I touched a hand, and knew it was Beryl Drane. A +conception of the truth came then. When the fish, or whatever it was, +had dragged her overboard, she had become entangled in the lines, and +the thing which had power to pull her from the boat likewise had power +to hold her below the surface while it struggled to escape. I clasped +her in my arms, gave a tug, and together we shot upward. I looked at her +as we reached light and air. She was limp, and to all appearance +perfectly lifeless. Her lips had a bluish tinge, and were parted the +least bit. Her eyes were half closed; she did not breathe.</p> + +<p>Filled with foreboding which trembled on the verge of certainty, I swam +for the shore. The distance was short, and presently I was struggling up +the slippery mud bank with the senseless form of the girl. My mind had +been busy while I was swimming. Should I stop on shore and attempt +resuscitation, or should I hurry on to the priest's house, just up the +hill? I decided on the latter course as the most expedient, as the delay +would be practically nothing, and proper restoratives could be had at +the house. There probably was a road. Straight up the wooded slope I +dashed. My exertions in the water had tired me, and now as I made my way +through the dense undergrowth up the steep hill I was conscious of +intense physical fatigue. But I pressed grimly on, with a dread in my +heart which far outweighed any physical weakness.</p> + +<p>At length I reached a rail fence. How I surmounted it with my burden, I +do not know. Beyond the fence was a pasture lot with only a gentle +incline, and across this I raced. Another fence, the back yard of the +parsonage, wherein squalling chickens fled precipitately as I tore by, +around the house to the front porch, where sat a little old man in a +swinging chair, clad in a priest's robe. I knew it was Father John. He +was quietly reading, and smoking a meerschaum pipe with a stem as long +as my arm, but the sound of my feet aroused him, and he raised his head.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mon Dieu!</i>" he exclaimed, jumping up, dropping his book, but holding +to his pipe, which he waved wildly. "In ze name of heaven, m'sieu! What +was it zat has happen?"</p> + +<p>The front door stood open, and I rushed into the house without replying. +A couch was in the hall, and on this I laid the form of the girl. Father +John, his wrinkled face stamped with terror and anguish, was beside me +in an instant.</p> + +<p>"Madonna! Jesu!" he wailed. "My blessed Bereel!"</p> + +<p>I began the treatment for the drowned, explaining hurriedly how the +accident had occurred.</p> + +<p>"Call your housekeeper!" I added. "Her clothes must be loosened. Quick! +If no doctor is near there is no use sending. I know what should be +done. Bring brandy, or whiskey—hurry!"</p> + +<p>Father John ran from the hall crying at every step:</p> + +<p>"Marie! Marie! Marie!"</p> + +<p>His tremulous voice receded in the rear.</p> + +<p>I unfastened the girl's belt, tore open her clothing at the waist, and +as I worked feverishly, was conscious of a gaunt, austere woman of +fifty-five or sixty suddenly falling on her knees at my side, and +unhooking the tight corset which my rude haste had exposed. Thereafter +we worked together, in silence, moving the arms up and down and striving +for artificial respiration. Father John hovered just out of reach, an +uncorked flask in one shaking hand; the long stemmed pipe, which he had +never abandoned, in the other. In the stark silence which accompanied +our efforts I could hear him whispering incoherent but fervent prayers +in his native tongue.</p> + +<p>Closely I watched the pallid face—the poor, peaked face which had +looked upon so much that a woman ought not to know exists—but no signal +flare came to the waxen cheeks. I took the flask and carefully poured +some brandy between the parted lips—poor lips, which I knew had taken +kisses not given by love. The fiery liquid trickled down her throat, but +there was no movement, no attempt to swallow. I gave more, for this was +the sovereign test for life. There came a rigor, so slight that I was +not altogether sure of it. More brandy. A shiver passed over the limp +form; a choking, gasping sound issued from her throat, followed by a +moan of pain. I stood erect, looking down at her intently. Almost +imperceptibly the faintest glow showed in the marble pallor of her skin. +She was reviving. The danger was past. The gaunt woman crouched at my +feet looked up at me mutely, interrogatively.</p> + +<p>"Continue to rub her hands and feet," I said. "Keep all her clothing +loose. Give her very small quantities of liquor from time to time. She +had better not see me immediately on awaking."</p> + +<p>Then I took the priest by the hand and silently led him out on the +porch. A wooden settee was placed against the railing at one end. I +conducted him here, and we sat down. My clothes were still wet, but I +gave this no thought.</p> + +<p>I proceeded first to assure Father John that his niece was practically +out of danger, then recounted everything in detail pertaining to the +accident in the river. He listened in eager silence, his expression +still one of amazement and distress. I looked at him as I talked. He was +a very small man. His skin was yellowish brown, like parchment. His +brows projected; his eyes were black and keen; his nose was straight and +thin, but quite large. His chin protruded into rather a sharp point, and +his mouth was the most sensitive I have ever seen on a man. His lips +were beautifully bowed, and had retained their color. They were never in +perfect repose, but were constantly beset by what I am tempted to +describe as "invisible" twitchings. As I spoke on, he gradually became +calmer, after a while relighting his pipe. This seemed to act magically +upon him, for soon after he began to smoke the wild expression vanished +from his face.</p> + +<p>"So you are ze stranger on ze Bal' Knob?" he queried, when I had +finished my recital.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I am out after health."</p> + +<p>"Health?" he repeated, sweeping his keen eyes over my stalwart form in +open astonishment.</p> + +<p>"I don't appear to be an invalid, I'll admit," I hastened to add. "But +something started up in here"—I touched my chest—"and the doctor sent +me to the woods."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Ze—ze—ze lungs.... You never struck me to have ze consumption. +You are ze stron' man."</p> + +<p>"It was just a beginning—a fear, rather than an actuality. I have been +there a month, and I am already much better."</p> + +<p>The housekeeper appeared in the doorway.</p> + +<p>"Miss Bereel ees awake, and has asked for you both," she said.</p> + +<p>When we again stood beside the couch, the girl made an effort to take my +hand, but was too weak. Seeing her purpose, I grasped hers instead.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," she said, in a thin, ghostly little voice. "It was not his +fault, uncle; he saved me. Come to see me sometime, and we'll go—rowing +again!"</p> + +<p>She tried to smile, but was too exhausted.</p> + +<p>"I shall certainly come to inquire about you," I replied, gently laying +her hand down. "I fear I was somewhat to blame, and I hope you will be +all right very soon."</p> + +<p>She looked at me with a wan light of gratitude in her eyes, and a few +moments later I was bidding Father John adieu on the porch step.</p> + +<p>"Come again, m'sieu," he said, squeezing my hand warmly. "You shall have +ze welcome!"</p> + +<p>I thanked him, again expressed my hope and belief that his niece would +be quite all right in a day or two, and struck out for Hebron.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWELVE" id="CHAPTER_TWELVE"></a>CHAPTER TWELVE</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I ATTEND AN ORATORIO</h3> + + +<p>It is one o'clock in the morning—and I have been going to bed at nine!</p> + +<p>You will wonder what has happened to so outrageously disturb the +rigorous routine governing my night hours, and I shall tell you, for +that is the purpose of this chronicle.</p> + +<p>It is now three days since I went to Hebron. After leaving the priest's +house I came on down the hill, trudged back to the river to get my coat +and garden seed, then turned homeward. The sun was hot by this time, my +clothes quickly dried on me, and I have felt no bad effects since. +Another sign, it seems to me, of my increasing physical sturdiness. +These three days have passed without sight or sound of a soul. I have +pottered about my yard, mowing down the insistent heterogeneous growth +which daily now threatens to take me; clearing a broad space about my +precious well—whose water, by the way, is sparkling, clear and +cold—and this morning spading in my garden for two hours or more.</p> + +<p>I cannot explain that which follows, but a little before nine, as I was +preparing to light my bedtime pipe and sit down for a chuckle with that +old pagan monk, Rabelais, I felt the call to go up. As I said, I can +offer no explanation. But all of us have been subject, many times in our +lives, to sudden, inexplicable yearnings; silent longings as powerful +and real as though a voice had spoken them. There is no need to +specialize. You, if you have a spark of temperament, will understand, +because you will have experienced something of the sort. You have felt +that mysterious tugging toward a certain thing, when there was nothing +on earth to incite it. What was it? I felt it to-night as I held my pipe +in one hand and a lighted match in the other; felt it growing and +expanding until it became a fierce desire. I tossed my half-burned match +among the logs in the fireplace, put my filled pipe in my pocket, and +with something akin to awe sobering my face, drew my cap on my head and +walked softly outdoors.</p> + +<p>It was a perfect moonless May night. I had never seen the stars brighter +or nearer. I felt that by tiptoeing I might almost reach them. And their +number amazed me. The sky was looking down at me with a million eyes, +and each eye was a voice which said "Come up! Come up!" I went, not +stopping to question, analyze, or combat. Something irresistible urged +me to surmount the peak, and I bent to the climb. As I came out of the +Stygian gloom of the belt of evergreens I knew that some subtle change +had taken place. The atmosphere had a different feel; a different smell. +There was no wind, but when I swept my gaze around I saw many horizon +clouds; jagged, mountainous looking outlines, with floating fragments +everywhere. Some of the cloud fragments would touch and merge even as I +watched them. I did not know the significance, if there was any. I +turned to the slope again. Before the last steep stretch I halted the +second time. Far as I could see the perspective was bounded by a black, +towering wall, which seemed to grow taller every moment. This wall was +topped by fantastic turrets and towers which swayed, lengthened, +expanded, or disappeared at will. Still there was no wind, even at the +great height to which I had already come. The day had been suffering +hot, and the perspiration was streaming from me. I breathed softly, and +listened. No sound but the monotonous call of the night insects, except +from a point far below, like the muffled cry of a lost soul pleading for +grace, the ineffably sad tones of a whip-poor-will pulsed dimly through +the dark. I turned my face upward. The calm stars still called, and I +answered.</p> + +<p>Presently I could go no further. I stood on the apex of my high hill, a +jubilation of spirit making my breast to heave in deeper breaths than my +exertion had caused. Then, ere I knew what I was about I had flung my +arms out and up, toward the vast deeps from which had come the still +summons I had felt in the quiet peace of the Lodge. I felt unreal; I was +trembling. I knew not what impended, but the air was charged with an +electrical tenseness, and the pall of utter silence which hung over the +world was pregnant with import. My arms dropped, and a sweet calm stole +over me. Slowly I turned my gaze in every direction. That mammoth wall +of blackness encircled the earth in an unbroken line, and was now +quickly mounting to the zenith. How grand the sight! I bared my head +before the majesty of it. How like battlements and ramparts the grim +expanses appeared, crowned with their changing towers! And to make the +comparison still more true, I now saw the flash of cannon through the +jagged embrasures, and caught the distant thunder of their detonations. +Quickly the conflict grew. North, south, east and west, and all between, +the batteries of the sky unveiled. Not loud, as yet, but perpetual, and +furious in the very absence of thunderous sound. There were constant +growlings and incessant flashings, as back and forth over the aerial +battleground the challenges were sent and answered. Now, a girdle of +glory, the lightning zoned the middle sky, and ever upward, as though +propelled by forces set in the earth beneath, the walls arose, blotting +out stars by the thousands, and steadily converging toward a common +meeting point directly overhead. Then, for the first time, I knew that +the Harpist of the Wood had awakened.</p> + +<p>The unnatural stillness was disturbed by motion which became a breath of +music. I leaned forward involuntarily, my lips apart, my hands +out-thrust from me in the attitude one unconsciously assumes when +listening intently. From the thick darkness hundreds of feet below I +caught the first faint pianissimo notes from a million strings, all +attuned by the unerring touch of Nature. In gentle waftures of sound the +vast prelude arose, filling my soul with an eerie delight, and causing +me to draw a deep, shuddering breath. Then I crept to the rim of the +peak and sat down, both humbled and exalted. Faintly now I sensed the +reason of that imperious call to come up. Each succeeding measure struck +by the invisible Harpist became louder, sweeter, and more stupendous. It +seemed as if all creation was one mighty instrument, and a +myriad-fingered master was sweeping the throbbing strings. The clouds +were now a canopy without a rent. From a dozen points at once the +lightning flashed and staggered and reeled in dazzling splendor across +the sable field. There were no terrific thunder crashes. But, like the +pedal bass of a pipe organ, there was the ever present subdued +reverberation like far-off guns fired in unison. Then the strength and +skill of the Harpist increased simultaneously, and waves of barbaric +melody rushed upward. There was shriek and groan; there were living +voices awfully mingled in one wild chorus, and in brief lulls trembling +tones as sweet as a mother's good-night song to her babe. Flute-like and +full of delicate color a cadenza breathing of sylvan joys rippled forth, +and as its last bubbling notes yet fluttered like apple-blossoms of +sound against my ravished ears, they were drowned and whelmed by a +crashing diapason of majestic harmony which rushed on wide wings over +leagues and leagues of forest; a thundering gamut fearfully blended into +an oratorio inexpressibly sublime! Wild and shrill came a fife-like call +from the west, whistling out of the gloom in a quivering cadence of +victorious escape. Then it was blended with a multitudinous legion of +loosened chords, and dashed over me as a surging, resplendent sea of +mind-numbing melody.</p> + +<p>So the oratorio advanced, and I sat enthralled.</p> + +<p>The lightning increased. Not for the space of a single breath was +darkness absolute. In the vivid flashes I could see the bending +tree-tops far below, and the tossing, swaying, writhing branches. And +ever in my ears was the awful roll of that supernatural music; so full, +so deep, so filling all the universe with its changing rhythm! There was +something of the ocean's voice in it all, when the wind whips it to +fury. I sat dazed, imperfectly comprehending what was passing, but aware +all the time of a physical sensation of exquisite pleasure. Music had +always wrought upon me thus, but before the presence of this new and +strange manifestation my sensibilities were quickened twentyfold. I did +not know till later that I was on the peak three hours. I would have +said it was only a few minutes.</p> + +<p>When all was over, and the strings of the Harp were still again, or +vibrating only as an echo, I got on my feet, dizzy and weak. All was +dark. The lightning, too, had ceased. But as I turned my eyes upward, a +rent showed in the cloud canopy, and through this a blood-red meteor +fell burning toward the earth. So I knew that the Maestro was pleased +with the performance, and from the blooming fields above had cast down a +flower in token of His favor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THIRTEEN" id="CHAPTER_THIRTEEN"></a>CHAPTER THIRTEEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I SUFFER FOUR SHOCKS, THREE OF THE EARTH AND ONE FROM THE SKY, +AND FIND ANOTHER MAID A-FISHING</h3> + + +<p>Now that has come to pass of which I had a premonition the first time I +sat on the top of old Baldy and hugged my knees. In consequence thereof +I write to-night with my left wrist rudely bandaged, from a hurt I took +this morning. The day has been full of adventure and surprise, and I +find it difficult to harness my leaping brain as I start about my record +of events. Truly I have encountered enough to set my mind buzzing, and +two long, full pipes since supper have failed to tranquilize and soothe. +But the happenings of the day must be transcribed before I go to bed.</p> + +<p>I went to the post-office soon after breakfast, to see if a reply had +come from 'Crombie. A package and a letter awaited me. The thought came +to me to run on up the hill and inquire about Beryl Drane, but I didn't. +I can't say why I didn't. But I merely asked the sloth-like storekeeper +about her instead, and learned from him that she was "putty peart," and +was up and about the house. When I passed the blacksmith shop I saw the +door was open, but there was no one within. I started to ask the +storekeeper where Buck was, but refrained on second thought, and betook +myself up the railroad instead, intending to reach home by a circuitous +route. By this time I was fairly familiar with the lay of the country, +and I had a natural longing for exploration anyway. Then, too, deep in +the bottom of my mind, I had laid a plan to come down the huge spur back +of Lessie's house, and surprise her with a short visit.</p> + +<p>I followed the railroad for perhaps a mile, made some calculations as to +distance and location, then descended into a heavily wooded ravine and +continued my way in a northeasterly course. I had never been in this +part of the knobs before, and I found the country more rugged, if +possible, than that to which I was accustomed. As I proceeded, I closely +scanned the ground before me and on either side as far as my eyes would +go. I had scant hope of finding the life-plant here, because one of its +requisites was sunshine, and the shade was so dense that I walked in a +sort of cool, green gloom, wonderfully attractive to the senses. Now and +again a sun-shaft would come trembling and swaying down, brightening the +brown forest floor with shining, shaking spots of pale yellow. But no +green stemmed plant with golden leaves rose up from the mold to confront +me. I have begun to think my quest is almost as elusive as that for the +Holy Grail, but, like Sir Launfal, I shall persevere.</p> + +<p>I became engrossed in the natural beauty of the hollow I was traversing, +and forgot my secret determination to go by Granny's house. After a time +the ravine opened and broadened into a little amphitheater, grass-set, +jungle-like in its wildness. But few tall trees were here. Dozens of +smaller ones grew on every side, and many of these were covered with the +odorous green mantle of the wild grapevine. The birds had likewise +sought out this spot, and the air was musical with chirp, and twitter, +and song. I stopped to regale myself with Nature's prodigal loveliness, +and as I drew a deep breath of satisfaction and appreciation I heard +something which had come to my ears once before. A long-drawn bird note, +shrill but sweet, and ending with a quick upward inflection. I started +guiltily, and knew that my whole body was a-tingle. Then I stared about, +trying to locate the sound. Again I heard it, and again I thrilled. +Straight ahead, beyond that bosky wall of herbage. Eagerly I started +forward, my pulse bounding. I reached the screening leaves and thrust +out one hand to make a way, but a vagrant gust of wind at that moment +formed a lane for my eyes, and the next instant I was staggering back, +choking, muttering crazily, my face afire, my chest tight as though +bound by constricting bands of steel. God above! Suppose I had crashed +through, as I would have done a second later! With gritted teeth and set +eyes I tiptoed away—away—anywhere, so that spot was left to Nature and +to her!</p> + +<p>She was there, bathing in a sheltered pool in the secluded heart of the +everlasting hills. My one swift glance had showed me the Dryad in her +haunts. The curling mass of her copper-gold hair she had piled +regardlessly on top of her small, shapely head; she was almost entirely +immersed; her back was toward me, and I saw only her head with its +bewildering crown, one ivory shoulder upthrust from the water, gleaming +like wet marble in the sunlight, and a naked, outheld arm whereon sat +the tiny bird she had summoned. Small cause for wonder that I reeled, +grew dizzy with the hard-pumped, hot blood which deluged my brain, and +crept like a thief from that hidden pool—crept crouching, with rigid +face and bated breath. Dear Christ! How thankful I was that the +protecting water had covered her! Had it been otherwise; had my +unwilling gaze dwelt upon her revealed beauty from head to foot, I think +I could have taken my own life from shame. Certain it is I never again +could have looked into those honest Irish gray eyes. It was what might +have been, rather than what was, which planted the volcano in my breast, +and sent me trembling and quaking through the bird-sung silence of that +secret, sacred glen. As I went, I heard a bubbling laugh, and the tinkle +of falling water drops.</p> + +<p>Now I was speedily destined to another shock, almost as great. How far I +had gone I cannot say, but all at once I knew that I was looking down +upon a plant about a foot in height, with green stem and yellow leaves. +I halted as though turned to stone, but I did not think. I couldn't +think. My mind refused its office, and in the face of what I took to be +a momentous discovery, stood still. Almost simultaneously with my +finding this significant growth the third shock came, as important in +its way as either of the other two, and far more ominous.</p> + +<p>"Whut 'n' hell yo' doin' prowlin' 'roun' here?"</p> + +<p>The voice was harsh and deep; indignation and rage ran through it.</p> + +<p>The savage tones brought me to myself; they acted on my senses as a +battery might on my flesh. I stood erect and threw my head up. The smith +was not a dozen steps away. Where he had come from, how he had got +there, and why he was there I could not guess. He was dressed as I had +seen him at the forge on the occasion of my first visit to Hebron; +plainly he had not come courting in that garb. One hand held a large +club, in a position almost of menace. I brought a serious, determined +expression to my face, and looked him squarely in the eyes. In that +moment as we stood in silence, a darkness spread over the glen, and a +cool breath as from a summer storm cloud blew upon us; I saw it lift and +drop the brown hair on the forehead of the man facing me. He had me at a +disadvantage. He had doubtless seen me coming from the direction of the +pool, and weaker circumstantial evidence than this has condemned many a +man. If he supposed for a moment that I had been spying upon the privacy +of the girl he loved—and that this idea was in full possession of his +mind I did not doubt—then mischief was brewing, and from his +standpoint, justly so. Had our positions been reversed, had I seen him +skulking away from that fringe of greenery, I doubt if I would have +given him the chance he offered me. All this raced swiftly through my +brain in that short period following his hard question, and though my +first feeling, a very human one, was of cold and haughty resentment, I +quelled this immediately as both dangerous and unjust, and decided to +speak him fairly and honestly. So I said:</p> + +<p>"I might ask the same of you, Buck Steele."</p> + +<p>I purposely pitched my voice low. Not that I feared she would hear it, +for I realized the pool must be out of earshot from where we stood, but +there is a certain low tone which permits of modulation and inflection +carrying greater convincing power than when spoken in a higher key. I +paused only long enough to take breath after my first sentence, then +resumed.</p> + +<p>"It's none of your business what I am doing here, but I am going to tell +you, because, in a way, you have a right to know."</p> + +<p>There flashed upon me the thought that I must play for time. If Lessie +had not left the pool she would leave soon, for a storm impended. In +what direction she would go to reach home I had no notion. She might +come straight down the glen where we were. In any event, if blows were +to be struck, and in my heart I believed they would come before we +parted, it would be better if the girl was not in the neighborhood. This +train of reasoning came and passed without interrupting my flow of +speech.</p> + +<p>"It's not my fault we're not friends. I came to these knobs a total +stranger, intending to treat everybody right. But when I spoke to you in +Hebron, you turned your back on me. Why did you do that? I know why, and +in a measure I forgive it. But it was not a manly thing to do. I'm going +to talk plainly to you, Buck. I'm glad of this chance to have it out +right here in the woods. But before we go any further tell me +this—what's that thing?"</p> + +<p>I pointed at the plant before me.</p> + +<p>My audacity stupefied him. He blinked at me with scowling forehead—at +me and at the plant—probably deeming me crazy.</p> + +<p>"I mean it," I insisted; "I'm not fooling with you. Tell me what that +thing is, if you know, and then I'll tell you what I'm doing out here in +the wilderness."</p> + +<p>"That's a May apple," he said, suddenly and reluctantly.</p> + +<p>"May apple!" I gasped, my high hopes shattered and gone. "I didn't know; +I'm obliged to you."</p> + +<p>Then I told him the object of my stay in the hills, not sparing words to +prolong my story, and ended by asking him if he had ever seen the +life-plant, ever heard of it, or ever heard of anybody that had heard of +it. He shook his head to each question, then said, emphatically:</p> + +<p>"They ain't no sich thing!"</p> + +<p>I knew that the Dryad was safe and away by this time, so now I came back +to the topic of the moment. Indeed, the smith had listened to my speech +with ever increasing restlessness. I think he suspected I was trying to +delay my explanation, but I doubt if he guessed the true reason for it.</p> + +<p>"You asked me at the beginning what I was doing here, and I'm going to +tell you, and tell you the <i>truth</i>; mind you that—the <i>truth</i>. I've +never told a lie since I was old enough to know how base a thing it +was." I took two steps toward him. "You suspect me, Buck Steele, of the +lowest, most contemptible, hell-born, dastardly trick one who calls +himself a man could commit. I'm not going to put it into words, because +it's too damnably vile!"</p> + +<p>The smith began to move forward as I spoke; short, hurried steps, like +one takes when about to spring. But whatever his impulse he checked +himself, and waited, his broad chest heaving in troubled breaths, his +face contorted, his eyes veined and bulging. I knew that I fronted a +deadly peril. I knew the man was surely insane that moment; that reason, +argument or logic could find no place in his perceptions. He had grasped +the idea that I had knowingly and willingly violated the sanctity of +this secret place, and nothing that I could say would sweep that +illusion from his disordered brain. He saw red. The blood-lust was on +him in all its primal force; in every lineament of his twisted +countenance was written the word—"kill."</p> + +<p>A strong gust of wind tore down the glen, shuddering among the murmuring +leaves, and with its coming the gloom deepened. The shape before me +assumed a more formidable aspect in the lessened light, but I felt no +fear. I thought of my revolver—and was ashamed. Still it might serve a +purpose. It might help bring this madman to his senses. I drew it +quickly from my pocket, and holding it out in the palm of my hand, said:</p> + +<p>"I could kill you, man; I could shoot you down, and no one would ever +guess I did it. You're bent on trouble; you're prepared not to believe +anything I say. But for this revolver I am unarmed. I am not going to +take an unfair advantage of you. See?" I broke the weapon, emptied its +chambers, then put the cartridges and revolver in separate pockets.</p> + +<p>The act had no apparent effect. It may be the look of ferocity deepened; +certainly there was no recognition of my attempt to place our relations +upon an equal basis. Now I knew that nothing short of physical violence +would bring about a reaction to sanity, and for an instant I hesitated. +The temptation to evade the whole truth assailed me wickedly. Something +within told me that I could not cope with this giant in a personal +encounter; that death or disablement awaited the revelation I was +contemplating. The something which gave this warning also suggested the +remedy—the lie whereby I might pass Buck Steele with a whole skin and +an outraged conscience. I believe I wavered. I believe that for the +shortest time I came near to yielding, then my manhood asserted itself +in a swift rush, before Buck's words stung my blood hot.</p> + +<p>"Go on, yo' damn sneak'n' fox!—Whur'd yo' ben w'en I seen +yo'?—Whur?—Whur?"</p> + +<p>I stripped off my coat as I answered, for I knew there was work ahead. +And Buck laughed as I cast the garment aside; a hoarse, growling laugh +in which dwelt no note of mirth. It was simply an indication that he was +pleased with the meaning of the act; that the pagan desire to give and +take blows which possessed him would be satisfied.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to tell you. I went to Hebron this morning, and started home +by the railroad. I don't know this country as well as you, and as I was +making my way back toward Lessie's house—for I wanted to have a word +with her—I stumbled into this place."</p> + +<p>A malevolent grin of disbelief greeted this speech. The fellow's +insolence nettled me, but I went on.</p> + +<p>"I heard a bird-call which I knew—which I had heard her give before. I +went to look for her. I came to the line of bushes which fringe the +pool; I was preparing to pass through them in my search for her, when +the wind blew the leaves aside and I saw——"</p> + +<p>With a roar like a wounded bull he was on me. He had been holding +himself back for this confession. Too late I realized that I had +blundered. I might have approached the denouement more circumspectly; I +might have prepared him for things as they actually had been, instead of +allowing him, by my extreme candor, to suppose that matters were worse +than they really were. He swung his club as he rushed, and it hissed +above me. I crouched and leaped aside, striking up blindly with all my +might. I had flung my left arm out to balance myself, and the descending +club caught my wrist a slanting blow. I am sure now it scarcely more +than touched it, but an arrow of acute pain shot through my entire arm. +The bludgeon hit the earth with a force which splintered it into a dozen +pieces, and Buck wheeled more than half around, for my fist had found +his ribs. Even as he turned with a harsh, bellowing, wordless oath, I +was at him. I thrust deliberately, coolly, but with all my concentrated +power, aiming over his shoulder at his neck. He saw the stroke coming, +but, in the attitude where my former blow had forced him he could parry +but ineffectually. His shoulder went up, off and over it my fist slid +and with all the weight of my body behind it caught him on the ear. Then +back he staggered, his windmill arms waving hugely, aimlessly, his knees +wobbling, his feet slithering uncertainly over the short grass. Back and +back he went, seeming to try to stop, but couldn't, till fifteen paces +must have separated us. I did not follow him, though I suppose I should +have done so. I think I was a trifle dazed at my success, and the +spectacle of the great body of the smith moving crazily backward with +wide arms threshing the air over his head, must have unconsciously +served as a check for any further assault.</p> + +<p>When nearly a score of yards lay between us Buck came to himself. His +arms dropped, he shook his shoulders, felt his damaged ear, now covered +with blood,—and saw me. Instantly he made ready to rush me. He +possessed to the full that instinct held by all fighting animals which +does not allow them to give up. As long as he could stand on his feet he +would do battle. I squared myself and awaited his onslaught. My +temporary advantage had not deceived me. I knew too well that chance had +a hand in the operations just concluded, and that if I ultimately +succeeded in whipping Buck Steele it would be a miraculous happening. I +saw him bend his body to advance, then earth and sky and air became +blended in one burning, blinding, deafening, fiery chaos. My eardrums +vibrated under a volume of sound such as I would not have deemed +possible; a white sword of dazzling brightness was laid across my eyes, +searing the balls and scattering a myriad colored sparks dancing and +ricocheting through my brain. Vaguely I seemed to see an oak tree back +of Buck slough its bark as a snake does its skin—shake it out and away +from its white trunk; saw it rip off its own limbs and cast them down; +saw it take its leaves by vast bunches, strip them from their hold, and +scatter them abroad like feathers. Accompanying this phenomenon I saw my +enemy sink down in his tracks. It all happened within the fractional +part of a second, for on the heels of the crash and the awful light, a +great blackness and silence settled over me.</p> + +<p>I awoke with a quivering, indrawn breath, and knew that the little fists +of a heavy rain were pounding me in the face. Slowly my mind grasped the +situation. Struggling to my hands and knees, my arms trembling under my +weight, I looked at Buck. He lay perfectly still. He had been much +nearer the tree which had received the bolt than I, and the fear that he +was dead took hold of me. Painfully I dragged myself toward him over the +wet grass, my head buzzing and swimming, and throbbing with queer, +unnatural pains. I reached his side and grasped his wrist, sliding the +tips of my fingers back of the small bone where the pulse manifests +itself. I held my breath in fear, at once conscious of no perceptible +movement. A few moments longer I waited, but the signal of life failed +to come. Then I firmly seized the shirt where it opened at the neck, and +ripped off the remaining buttons with a quick jerk. A big, deep chest, +covered with black hair, was revealed. I know a moan came from me as I +drew my body over his, and fell across him with my ear pressed to his +heart. As I lay the pounding rain revived me more and more, the +thrumming in my head ceased, and then, muffled, weak, but real, I heard +the feeble beating of the engine of life. There was nothing I could do +for him, but I sat there and waited his return to consciousness, knowing +that it would be wrong to leave him absolutely helpless. My strength +came back momentarily, and when Buck began to stir I was capable of +standing erect. So presently I went away, realizing that his iron +constitution would quickly right him.</p> + +<p>I did not have the heart to get dinner, but ate what cold stuff I could +find, then went to the seat under the tall pine, and thought. I was not +scared. Fright did not enter into my feelings in the smallest way, +although, when I reviewed the incident, I was confident Buck would have +worsted me had it not been for the unexpected and startling +intervention. He was unquestionably the stronger man, and had I defeated +him, it would have been due to my skill in fisticuffs. I was not a +stranger to the science of the ring, while abhorring prize-fighting. I +believe it every man's duty to himself and those he loves to equip +himself physically for life's battles. So I had trained, and kept myself +in training. But the smith had been transformed into a raging demon of a +man; his great natural power had been doubled, quadrupled, and had his +clutching hands once found me I would have fared as Carver Doone fared +at the hands of John Ridd.</p> + +<p>I was sick at heart because of what these things which had just +transpired foretold. Would Buck voice his hellish belief in my +poltroonery to Lessie? A shiver shook me at the thought; it seemed as if +a thousand-legged worm with feet of ice was laid along my spine. Then my +neck and face burned, and my throat grew tight, so that my breath came +hard. What ailed me? Never before had such a sensation possessed me. Why +did it matter so very greatly what Buck told? I knew that I was entirely +innocent of any wrong—what else mattered? I know the good opinion of +our fellow creatures is worth striving for and maintaining, but why +should I be so concerned as to what these hill people thought of me? A +few months more and I would be gone, would never see them again in all +my life. Why—then suddenly, in the midst of my reflections the Dryad's +face swam before my mind, and I saw it as it would look when Buck, +crudely but earnestly, told her what he believed to be true. I saw the +expression on her face when she heard the hateful words; the swift, +responsive blood bathing her cheeks into red peonies—the terror and +shame in her eyes—the anguish of betrayed faith—and in that moment I +knew that I cared more for what Buck should say to Lessie than for +anything else in all the world. I got up, breathing fast, and looked out +over the great valley of billowing trees. In former days this sight had +a magical effect; it brought a sweet calm and content. This afternoon I +did not feel the response to which I was accustomed. Instead, I knew +that war was in my breast, and that every passing moment loosened a +lurking devil with a shape of fear. Peace cannot come from without when +there is strife within. Had Buck already told her? I found myself +wondering. Had he gone direct to her after he recovered, and poured out +the poisoned tale? He would do it, I felt assured. His passion had +reached a stage which not only suggested, but declared this course, and +he, rough, untrained, with no restraining leash of civilization and +refinement to hold him back, would make instant capital of his supposed +discovery to further his wooing. If I could see her first—</p> + +<p>Down my hill of refuge I tore, bareheaded, coatless. Along the familiar +route I ran, to Dyrad's Glade, to the creek which flowed south, to the +tree spanning the creek. Midway across the tree sat the object of my +quest, fishing. A pool of some depth spread out beneath her, and here +her hook was cast. Her rod was a slender hickory pole, while a rusty tin +can at her side held her bait—the fishing-worms of our boyhood. As I +appeared she drew up and at once became engaged in impaling a fat bait +on the hook. With the greatest nonchalance she drew the wriggling thing +over the barb, and sighted me just as the operation was concluded. She +smiled, and the relief wave which swept over me threatened to inundate +me root and branch. By this I knew I had reached her first. Then, as I +climbed eagerly up, she deliberately pursed her lips and spat on that +worm!</p> + +<p>"Hello!" she said, and cast her line.</p> + +<p>I did not say hello, nor anything else for a time—for an appreciable +time. I felt foolish; light-headed, light-footed, light all over. +Something inside my breast seemed spreading and spreading, and I wanted +to sing—to shout insanely. This most candid confession will probably +arouse grave suspicions in the mind of the reader, but that is so much +in favor of a narrative which always sticks closely to the truth. Had I +intended to practice any deception, just here is where I would have +begun, for I realize, after writing the above, that I am laying myself +liable to almost any charge one would care to bring along the line of +general idiocy. Just why the ordinary sight of a girl on a log +fishing—a back country girl at that—should make a man of the world who +has long since left the adolescent stage behind feel like singing and +dancing and yelling, is beyond my ability to explain. Let him who reads +draw his own conclusions.</p> + +<p>"You did that for luck, didn't you?" I asked, when I was seated tailor +fashion beside her. It had been a boyhood belief of mine; I had simply +outgrown it. She was still primitive.</p> + +<p>She nodded, and put a finger on her lips, turning to me wide eyes of +warning. She evidently harbored the other belief that fish won't bite if +you talk. I turned to her cork—an old bottle stopper—and saw that it +was bobbing; short little ducks sideways which suggested a minnow to me. +But the Dryad was all engrossed with the prospects, and watched the +stopper's movements intently. Presently it went under in a slanting +sweep, and the pole came up promptly and vigorously. A sun perch the +size of a small leaf glinted and leaped at the end of the line. +Dexterously the girl swung her prize within reach, skilfully removed the +hook from its hold in a gill, and dropped her catch in a tin milk bucket +at her other side.</p> + +<p>"I tol' you!" she said, triumphantly, referring to her treatment of the +worm before committing it to the stream.</p> + +<p>At once her tapering fingers began burrowing in the dirt which half +filled the can, in search of more bait.</p> + +<p>"Hold on, Dryad!" I whispered. "Let up on fishing a few minutes, unless +you'll allow me to talk, too. I've something to tell you. Don't you know +it seems an age since I saw you last?"</p> + +<p>"I tol' you not to come no more," she said, eyeing me closely to see the +effect of her words.</p> + +<p>"But you didn't believe I would stay away!" I retorted, and her face +instantly lighted with laughter. "You rogue!" I went on; "I have stayed +longer than I should as it is."</p> + +<p>One of the quick transitions which marked her now took place, and in a +twinkling she was serious, and her eyes grew darker, as still water +changes when a cloud hides the sun.</p> + +<p>"If Buck sees you here there'll be trouble; you'd better 'a' kep' to +Baldy."</p> + +<p>"Buck saw me to-day, and there was trouble," I answered. "Now let me +tell you all about it."</p> + +<p>How frightened she was, although I endeavored to speak in a +matter-of-fact way. She regarded me as though she found it difficult to +believe that I really existed after "trouble" with Buck, and her face +turned white, leaving her freckles oddly prominent. Her pole dipped, +too, so that its further end went under the water. So she sat, her hands +in her lap, her feet with the ugly, shapeless little shoes swinging, and +listened to my story. I told it with absolute truthfulness, but very +carefully, even condoning Buck's jealous frenzy. She remained very still +while I was talking, but when I came to the place where I had +inadvertently glimpsed her in the pool she dropped her head with a +short, shuddering gasp, and grew crimson. I, too, looked away then, and +tried to tell her how sorry I was of the incident, at the same time +endeavoring to make it plain that I was the victim of an accident. I did +not dwell upon the situation, but soon hurried on to my encounter with +the smith.</p> + +<p>"I wanted you to hear just how it was," I ended; "because Buck will tell +you another story. You believe me, don't you, Dryad; and we are good +friends still, aren't we?"</p> + +<p>I did not get an immediate reply. Her head remained sunk, and I could +not see much of her face. The portion which I saw was still flushed, but +not violently. I waited, knowing that I had stated my case as well as I +could, and believing that further argument would be dangerous. The spot +where we sat was the natural abode of silence. Now I could hear only the +gentle breath of the low wind rustling the leaves, the musical gurgle of +water, and the sweet song of a thrush hidden in the foliage to my left. +I grew restless as the silence continued: apprehensions arose, and the +sinister form of fear cast its shadow over my heart. Was she offended +past forgiveness? Had Fate prepared this trap for me to rob me of—what +was I thinking? What was this girl to me that I should wait her next +words with set teeth and softly drawn breath? That I should now behold +the wonder of her hair and the marvel of her face with inward quaking, +fearing that they might depart from me forever? That the echo of her +voice became a mocking, maddening refrain to my consciousness, and the +sorcery of her simple presence made my brain swim? This waif of the +woods; this fragment from one of the lower stratas of civilization; this +half wild, ignorant, nameless, plebeian creature—what was she to chill +my blood with the dread thought that from this meeting we went as +strangers? I cannot answer. Leave the solution to biologist or +sociologist. I only know the fact as it existed. I had rather have seen +those gray eyes flashed upon me in perfect trust that moment than to +have seen the sun rise the next morning!</p> + +<p>What was she thinking? No movement, no sound, no sign. Like an image +fashioned of flame and snow and draped with a moss-green garment, there +she sat by my side, so close—so close. Then I knew something of what +Tantalus felt when the cool water arose just beneath his cracked and +burning lips, and receded as he bent to drink. So close I could have +drawn her to me with a sweep of my arm, but mute and changeless as +though made of stone.</p> + +<p>Presently I could stand it no longer. I placed my palms upon the tree on +either side of me, and leaned forward.</p> + +<p>"Dyrad—Lessie—little girl! For God's sake—speak!"</p> + +<p>Then came the miracle.</p> + +<p>Again she started, as from a revery rudely interrupted. Her head was +lifted quickly, gladly, and her big moist eyes gazed into mine glowing +with tender faith. I know the dawn of an eternal Day will never thrill +me as did this. I drew my face closer to hers.</p> + +<p>"Then you—do forgive? Why were you silent so long, Dryad?"</p> + +<p>"I's thinkin' 'bout—if Buck—ur th' light'n'—had killed you!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Who-a-a-a—Lessie! Who-a-a-a—Lessie! Whur air yo'?</i>"</p> + +<p>We jumped, and a revulsion of feeling which came near to suffocating me +swelled in my throat. Granf'er was coming down the winding path from the +house. He had a brown jug in one hand. He had halted to give his hail, +and an instant later Lessie was on her feet, waving her sunbonnet and +sending back a lusty yell.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FOURTEEN" id="CHAPTER_FOURTEEN"></a>CHAPTER FOURTEEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH YET A FIFTH SHOCK ARRIVES, AND ROUNDS OUT THE DAY</h3> + + +<p>This certainly has been a big day, the first one which has required two +chapters of my story. I could have put it all in one, it is true, but I +believe there exists a general preference for frequent "stopping +places," and I shall defer to this opinion, partly, perhaps, because I +heartily endorse it myself. Granf'er sighted Lessie at once, brought his +jug up and down twice at arm's length by way of recognition, and resumed +his way with the shuffling, elbow-lifting gait which usually attaches to +men advanced in years when in a hurry.</p> + +<p>How straight the girl's young body was! Uncorseted though I knew she +must be, the lines of her figure conformed to the demands of physical +beauty. From her naturally slender waist, belted only with the band made +in her one piece frock, her back tapered up to shoulders which were +shapely even under the poorly fitting dress. Her head, held more than +ordinarily high now, as she watched Granf'er, was nobly poised on a +firm, round neck, which I am most happy to record was not at all +swan-like. I should like to add, in passing, that I have never seen a +girl with a swan-like neck. If such exist, their natural place is in a +dime museum, or a zoo. Such a monstrosity would, from the nature of her +affliction, look like either a snake or a goose, neither of which have +come down in humanity's annals as types of beauty. I must say it to the +credit of most moderns, however, that the swan-necked lady is seldom +paraded for us to admire. There were no crooks or loops in the Dryad's +neck. Like a section of column it was; smooth, perfect, swelling to +breast and shoulder.</p> + +<p>I clambered to my feet behind her, cursing mentally the harmless, +hospitable, doddering old fellow approaching, and singing a pæan of +rejoicing in my soul at the same time. Such things can be. The breeze +freshened, and began sporting with the dazzling, home-made coiffure on +the Dryad's head. She had not loosened it since she came from her bath, +and that is why I saw so plainly the classic outlines of her head and +throat. The madcap wind caught her dress, too, as she stood exposed to +its sweep down the ravine, and cunningly smoothed it over her hip and +thigh; tightly, snugly smoothed it, then took the fullness remaining and +flapped and shook it out like a flag. So I knew, again through no fault +of mine, that this girl who had never even heard of a modiste—of her +skill to make limb or bust to order—had grown up with a form which +Aphrodite might have owned. She did not know the breeze had played a +trick upon her; or knowing, thought nothing of it. The seeds of our +grosser nature sprout more readily in the hotbed of a drawing-room of +"cultured" society, than in the windsweet, sun-disinfected acres of the +out-of-doors.</p> + +<p>She spoke.</p> + +<p>"Granny's picklin' to-day. She's run out o' vinegar 'n' has sent +Granf'er to fin' me to go to town 'n' git some more."</p> + +<p>"Let me go with you!" I urged.</p> + +<p>"No," she answered, promptly; "'t wouldn't do. Don't you see?"</p> + +<p>"I see what's in your mind," I replied, knowing that she was thinking I +would likely meet the smith again; "but I should be glad to go anyway."</p> + +<p>"No; you mus' stay here."</p> + +<p>Firmly she said it, and my saner judgment told me she was right. It +would have been a fool's errand for me to undertake.</p> + +<p>"I know it is best," I assented reluctantly, "but <i>why</i> did Granny have +to run out of vinegar this afternoon?"</p> + +<p>Lessie threw me an amused glance over her shoulder, burst into a peal of +laughter, and began waving her pole over her head in wide circles, +taking this method to wind her line. When this was in place, she grasped +the hook between finger and thumb, and imbedded it in the stopper.</p> + +<p>"You bring th' fish 'n' th' bait," she said, and ran along the tree, +sure-footed and nimble as a squirrel.</p> + +<p>I picked up the can and bucket and followed. I looked at her catch as I +went, and saw that it represented some half-dozen minnows only. Granf'er +was waiting for us in the road. He had already transferred the jug to +Lessie and given her instructions when I came up and cordially shook +hands.</p> + +<p>"How are you getting along?" was my greeting, as I wisely smothered the +impatience I felt.</p> + +<p>"Oh! fust rate;—'cep'n' th' ketch."</p> + +<p>He put his left hand to his side and drew a wheezy breath.</p> + +<p>Lessie gave her fishing-pole into Granf'er's care, smiled a farewell and +started toward Hebron. It wrenched me for her to begin that lovely walk +alone. She was twenty steps away when the old man suddenly turned.</p> + +<p>"Don't go trapes'n' in th' woods fur flow'rs 'n' sich! Granny's wait'n' +fur that air vinegyar!"</p> + +<p>She waved her hand as a sign that she heard, but made no reply.</p> + +<p>"A quare gal!" mused Granf'er, beginning to delve in his trousers pocket +for his twist. "Fust 'n' las', they ain't no onderstand'n' 'er. She +washes in th' woods lak a wil' Injun 'n' plays 'ith th' birds 'n' th' +beastes. Oncommin quare, by gosh!"</p> + +<p>He opened his mouth and allowed to roll therefrom his chewed-out quid, +ran his crooked and cracked forefinger around his gums to dislodge any +particle of the leaf which might still remain in hiding, and took +another chew.</p> + +<p>"But she is a most attractive young lady, nevertheless," I ventured, +tentatively, putting one hand in my pocket for my pipe and holding the +other out in dumb request. I remembered the guest-rite of my first +visit, and shrewdly suspected this move of mine would please the old +man. It did.</p> + +<p>"Lak it, don't ye?" he grinned, his wrinkled face lighting with pleasure +as he eagerly thrust the tobacco into my palm. "Light Burley 't is, 'n' +skace 's' hen's teeth. Mos' craps plum' failed las' year, but I growed a +plenty fur you 'n' me—yes, fur you 'n' me!"</p> + +<p>The expression tickled him into a creaky, croaky sort of laugh.</p> + +<p>"It's good stuff, Granf'er," I agreed, compromising with my conscience +by supposing that it was good to chew, although to smoke, it bit my +tongue abominably and had a green flavor. "I've been intending to come +back to see you and Granny and Lessie ever since I was here last, but +one thing and another has prevented. I hope you are all well?"</p> + +<p>I turned toward the path and moved forward a few steps, as though +assuming we would now go on up to the house. But Gran'fer's thoughts did +not run with mine.</p> + +<p>"Well? Yes; that is to say, tol'ble." His manner was somewhat excited. +"Granny, y' know, 's pickl'n' to-day, 'n' w'en she's pickl'n' she's +turble busy, 'n' turble—turble techous.... Fine terbacker, ain't it?" +as he saw the pale blue smoke beginning to come from my lips. "Yes, +we're putty well, but Granny's ben kind o' contrairy these fo' days +pas', 'n' bein' she's pickl'n' I 'low you 'n' me 'd jes' as well set +down right here 'n' hev our chat."</p> + +<p>He tried to speak in an ordinary way, but simulation did not abide in +his honest, open soul, and I knew he felt he was breaking hospitality's +rules in suggesting that we remain away from the house. The thought +worried him, and he could not hide it.</p> + +<p>"All right!" I answered, heartily, donning the hypocrite's cloak with +perfect ease. (This is one of the advantages of our ultra civilized +state.) "Women are different from men, anyhow, and take notions and +ideas which we have to humor. And some people are so constituted by +nature that they must be let alone when they are busy."</p> + +<p>"Yes! Yes! That's it! Notions 'n' idees!" Gran'fer eagerly approved. "I +don't see how yo' kin know so much 'bout wimmin if yo' 've never ben +married.... Notions 'n' idees!" He chuckled with a dry sort of rattling +sound, rubbed his leg, and thumped the ground with the butt of the +Dryad's fishing-pole. "By gosh! Notions 'n' idees!" he repeated, for the +third time, his eyes narrowed and his face broadened in a fixed +expression of unalloyed pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we sit on the big rock here?" I said, with a gesture toward the +immense stone which formed the tip of the Point.</p> + +<p>I walked out upon it as I spoke, and the old fellow dragged after, +doubtless still caressing in his mind that chance phrase which had +caught his fancy. The stone was a dozen yards across, and its creek side +arose perpendicularly from the water, its top being five feet or more +from the stream's surface. Here we sat, hanging our legs over as boys +would. I smoked, and Gran'fer chewed. He really didn't chew much, +because I am sure he was inherently opposed to the slightest exertion +which was unnecessary, but now and then he would defile the limpid +purity below, a fact which convinced me he was enjoying his marvelous +tobacco far more than I was.</p> + +<p>"Wimmin <i>is</i> curi's," began Gran'fer, when we had arranged ourselves +comfortably. He twirled his stubby, funny looking thumbs contentedly and +leisurely. The end of each was overhung with a remarkable length of +nail, black and thick. "I s'pose they's nec'sary ur th' Lord wouldn't +'a' put 'em here, but it's a plum' fac' they's no read'n' 'em, 'n' no +tell'n' whut they gunta do. S'firy 'n' me, come November twinty-fust, +nex', hev ben married forty-two year. Right there in Hebrin wuz we +married, forty-two year ago come November twinty-fust, nex'. At th' +Cath'lic chu'ch on th' hill, th' same whut's now Father John's. He +wuzn't here them days. 'Nother pries' married us. S'firy's a Cath'lic +'n' I wus n't nothin', but I wuz bornd o' Prot'st'nt parints. 'N' I made +th' fust mistake right there. Onless two people hev th' same b'lief, +they oughtn't to jine in wedlock, 'cus trouble's comin' shore 's sin."</p> + +<p>He took off his worn, soiled, and shapeless straw hat to scratch his +head.</p> + +<p>"I suspect you are entirely right about that. I know of a number of +unhappy marriages for that reason."</p> + +<p>Gran'fer grunted, twice.</p> + +<p>"S'firy's a buxom gal, ez th' sayin' goes," he continued, reminiscently. +"Purties' gal hereabout she wuz, ef I do say it, but they's allus fire +on her tongue. Jes' lak a patch o' powder her min' wuz, 'n' th' leas' +thin' 'd set it off. 'Tain't in th' natur o' young people to look ahead, +ur I never 'd 'a' tried life with S'firy. A young feller in love is th' +out 'n' out damndes' fool on airth. I'se sich.... I couldn't stan' ag'in +'er."</p> + +<p>He shook his head slowly, and fell to combing his straggling fringe of +whiskers with his bent fingers.</p> + +<p>I did not reply. I was not much interested in the old man's recital. I +had guessed already practically all that he was telling me. My mind was +full of other things; my thoughts were back on the Hebron road, +following the footsteps of the girl with the jug.</p> + +<p>"I fit, though; I fit to be boss o' my own house,"—the querulous, +cracked voice broke in upon my reflections. "See here?" He drew his palm +down over his long, shaven upper lip, and looked at me craftily with his +little blue eyes. "I knowed a man onct, in them days, whut wore his +beard jes' that way, 'n' he's the w'eelhoss o' the fam'ly. Th' wimmin +wuz skeered uv 'im es a chick'n is uv a hawk. Whut he said they <i>done</i>, +'n' done 'ithout argyment. 'N' I took th' notion that if I shaved my +lip, too, 'n' looked kind o' fierce 'n' hard lak, that I c'd manage +S'firy. So one mornin' I gits my razor 'n' fixes that lip, 'n' w'en I +saw myseff I felt I c'd boss anybody, I looked that mean. So in I comes +to S'firy, 'n' tol' 'er, kind o' brash, that I wanted sich 'n' sich a +thin' done, 'n' kind o' squared myseff 'n' put my han's on my hip +j'ints, same 's I saw that other feller do, y' know.... Chris' Jesus!... +Whut happ'n'd? 'S ben a long time ago 'n' I can't ricollec' all th' +doin's. But she called me a babboon fust, 'n' then she lit into me.... +Well, I kep' on shavin' my lip, 'cus I 'proved o' th' style, but I +didn't order S'firy no more, bein' 's I'm nat'rly a man o' peace."</p> + +<p>"How many children did you have, Gran'fer?" I asked, presently.</p> + +<p>"Jes' two. Th' fust 'n' wuz a boy whut died o' fits w'en he 's two weeks +ol'. Th' nex' 'n' wuz Ar'minty, Lessie's mammy. She died w'en Lessie 's +skacely more 'n a baby."</p> + +<p>"What was the matter with her?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Quick as a flash Gran'fer turned on me, an expression of alarm and anger +mingled showing on his face. What had I done? Surely my question was +simple and natural enough. He saw my surprise and astonishment, and his +feelings softened instantly.</p> + +<p>"She jes' pined 'way lak," he replied, dropping his eyes and smoothing +the back of one hand with the palm of the other. "Didn't hev no fevers, +nur nothin'. Jes' drooped, lak a tomater plant does w'en it's fust sot +out 'n' don't git no rain. Got weaker 'n' weaker. Wouldn't eat nothin'. +Didn't try to live. Couldn't do nothin' with 'er. So she jes' wilted up +'n' died, lak a tomater plant in th' sun.... Ar'minty."</p> + +<p>The plain, brief recital stirred me, and awoke within me a wondering +interest. Gran'fer's head was low now, so low that the hair on his chin +spread out fanlike over his faded, checked shirt. His hand had ceased +its caressing movement, and lay above the other. I could see that each +had a slight palsied motion. The little bent figure at my side struck me +as infinitely pathetic just then. Dull indeed must I have been not to +have sensed the shadow of some dire tragedy occurring in the years he +had mentioned. For a number of days past vague imaginings and sundry +conjectures had come to vex my mind with their unsatisfying presence. I +had known for some time that Lessie was not all she seemed, and now, +this moment, I stood on the borderland of enlightenment. Unfamiliar +thrills shot through me, flame tipped and eager. My heart pounded oddly, +and my eyelids were hot against the balls. Instantly a thought had +sprung full-born into existence, and it was the acceptance of this +thought which sent that tingling, vibrating current shooting throughout +my entire being. Where did Lessie get her refined features? Where the +instinct to care scrupulously for her person? Where that mute, painful +longing for something she could not name? From generation after +generation of ox-minded hill folk? Impossible! From them came her +wonderful simplicity, her extreme naturalness, her kinship with the wild +places and the things which dwelt there. But—I felt now as if a force +pump was connected with my chest, and that any moment it might burst +asunder. Dare I ask Gran'fer? Dare I, almost a total stranger, intrude +here, and seek to pry behind the veil these old people had drawn between +their grandchild and the world? I resolved to make the effort, but with +great caution, feeling my way with carefully chosen words. I did not +want to offend, but the desire to know the truth about the Dryad was all +but overpowering. It was not vulgar, idle curiosity. For I knew the +deeps were stirred; that underlying all else was the strange, full +throbbing of a new force.</p> + +<p>So I put a hand on the old man's sagging shoulder in friendly way, and +said, speaking softly—</p> + +<p>"And is Lessie's father—"</p> + +<p>I got no further.</p> + +<p>It was as though I had put him in contact with a live wire. His drooping +body straightened, his boot heels clicked against the face of the stone, +and his stiffened arms shot over his head.</p> + +<p>"Damn 'im! <i>Damn 'im! Damn 'im!</i>" he exclaimed shrilly, each expletive +more forceful than the one which went before. He tossed his clenched +fists skyward, and followed such a lurid stream of malediction, in +consideration of some lily-minded reader, I will not set it down. I was +almost alarmed at the storm my luckless speech had loosened; it seemed +for a short time as if Gran'fer would really go into a spasm. His lip +curled back brute-like till his teeth showed, while his face was +grooved, seamed and twisted uglily. The evil memories which gripped him +tore him roughly for several moments, and then his passion was spent, +leaving him with eyes red and blazing, chest heaving and arms trembling. +I learned nothing from his volcanic, torrential downpour of curses which +in any way lightened the mystery I was burning to solve. It was merely a +meaningless jumble of heated invective, delivered with deadly +earnestness and the most emphatic inflections.</p> + +<p>At first I was dumb. His violence came on him so suddenly and quickly. +From the little I had seen of him I had set him down as a rather meek +character, what manhood he may formerly have had henpecked out of him; +an entity, forsooth, but nothing more. When the shock had passed I did +not essay to soothe him. My judgment told me this would not have been +wise. There are some people, especially rural ones and others of no +education, who will not take soothing. In fact, it acts as oil, rather +than water, to flames. I believed Gran'fer to be of this sort, and while +I had no doubt his rage was both righteous and genuine, I let it wear +out before I spoke again.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, sir; but I did not know."</p> + +<p>He swallowed twice; I could see his hairy Adam's apple rise and fall.</p> + +<p>"We don't—talk 'bout him. 'N'—yo' mustn't ast!"</p> + +<p>The tones were trembling and weak now, but there was dignity in them. A +feeling of true respect came to me for Gran'fer. There was something +sterling in him. A man may crawl on his belly before a sharp-tongued +shrew, and yet hold that within him which will arise at the command of +necessity; stunned and brow-beaten worth quickened by chance, +opportunity, or need.</p> + +<p>Now there surged within me another wish—a wild desire to know one other +thing. It would harm no one to tell me, and to me it meant much.</p> + +<p>"Gran'fer," I said; "I'm your friend—your true friend. Perhaps I should +put it that I am Lessie's friend. I apologize for what I said; I didn't +intend any harm. I promise not to mention the subject again to you. But +I pray that you will tell me this—does Lessie know—know about her +father—who he was—and all?"</p> + +<p>I waited for his answer, trembling inwardly. He seemed to be thinking. +The cloud had come again to his face, and he began cracking his +knuckles, a succession of vicious little snaps. Then one word burst from +him, hard as a pellet of lead.</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you," I said.</p> + +<p>Then there fell a silence between us. Gran'fer's mind was back in the +past, and I was groping blindly in the mists of wonder and supposition. +There was a reason, then, for the complex, warring nature of the Dryad. +How I longed to know the whole truth! But I could go no further here. It +was a painful subject, a guarded secret to the old man sitting humped +over by my side, and for the time I must hold my curiosity in check. The +revelation would come. I was determined to learn the story, one way or +another, though from what source I could not remotely guess.</p> + +<p>Gran'fer's customary garrulity had deserted him; he even forgot to spit +in the water. When my pipe burned out I did not refill. I know both of +us were oppressed, were quieted by the thought of this great wrong which +had been inflicted nearly a score of years ago. So the creeping shadows +came upon us, and beyond the high western spur the sky glowed salmon, +and gold, and mauve. I heard a screech-owl's sudden chatter, and a crazy +bat wheeled in a wide curve just in front of us. The surface of the +creek grew leaden hued, and the mighty Harp of the Ancient Wood thrilled +gently in response to the low twilight breeze. Gran'fer stirred, and got +stiffly to his feet. I did the same. Somehow I felt awed. Out here +creation seemed so immense, so <i>recent</i>, that it was hard to believe the +trail of the serpent had passed over this spot, too. We turned in +silence and went back to the road.</p> + +<p>From down Hebron way came the sound of singing. Not blatantly loud and +shrill, but very mellow and rich-toned. It was a woman's voice. A change +had come over me, and I did not want to meet her again just then. She +would have marked the difference. I turned and held out my hand. +Gran'fer took it and gave it a mighty squeeze. His eyes were wet, and +his face looked pained. As I came down the ladder at the other end of +the bridge I glanced across at him. He was standing where I left him, +gazing down the road up which the girl was coming, with that song of +light-hearted, carefree youth upon her lips.</p> + +<p>I moved away, quickly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FIFTEEN" id="CHAPTER_FIFTEEN"></a>CHAPTER FIFTEEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH THE HISTORIAN UNBLUSHINGLY SHOWS HIMSELF TO BE A HUMAN</h3> + + +<p>I have spent all of this day on the bench under the lone pine.</p> + +<p>Last night when I came away from Lizard Point without waiting for +Lessie, I knew that I loved her. That was why I did not stay. I have +sensed the coming of this affection for some time, and I have not set it +down before because I wanted to be sure. To-night I am sure. Last night +I was sure, but I wanted a little time in which to analyze this feeling, +and be positive of it. My sleep was peculiarly sweet and peaceful after +the day of trial. I do not know that I dreamed, but soothing waves of +rest permeated me entirely, and a number of times I was conscious just +enough to know that this unusual sensation possessed me. To-day I have +not touched a book—the first day in years! Think of it. Was not that +alone a portent? I got breakfast mechanically. The kitchen utensils +looked almost strange, and I would pick up a dish and turn it over, and +view it as though I had never seen such a thing befor. Queer, wasn't it? +I wonder if any other man in his senses has acted this way. If he has, I +venture to declare he wouldn't set it down for the world to read. But +why not? We are all children, playing our little games, which are the +same world-old games in different hands. And so, when I stopped and +stared at my skillet this morning as I was washing it—stared till it +turned to a beautiful, laughing, freckled face framed in gold, it was +nothing to shame me. I recall the fact now with the full assurance that +the big majority of my fellow men will not ascribe the action to lunacy.</p> + +<p>When I stood in the front door the yard looked the same, but different, +too. The area which I had cleared for the garden was dry, and invited my +spade. Not now, Mr. Earth! You shall have another day's rest before I +drive the steel tines again into you! I walked about, this way and that; +thinking, not thinking. Sometimes I hummed; sometimes I smiled; +sometimes I stood still with open eyes which did not see. All the time I +was aware of some lack, but it was nine o'clock before I realized that I +had not tasted a whiff of smoke. The thought did not make me blush, nor +abash me. I went quietly in and found my pipe on the shelf where I kept +it. It did not stay alight more than two minutes. I was standing at the +place where the road went down when I realized that I was drawing the +atmosphere alone through the stem between my teeth. Then I walked down +to the bench under the pine, thrust my hands in my trousers pockets, sat +down and crossed my legs.</p> + +<p>I have been a sane man all my life, except the day when I embraced the +business of literature for a living. I am not nervous; sudden events do +not startle me. I have taken life honestly and bravely, and I believe I +have faced all the conditions which mere living brings, with courage. +But to-night I have to relate that I sat on that hard bench without +changing my position until two in the afternoon, when I just happened to +drag my watch out. The mere position of the hands brought about a mental +reaction, or I should say served as a powerful mental stimulant, for up +to that hour I am not conscious of a single coherent thought. I had been +sitting all that time in mindless apathy. Then I began to think. My +first gleam of intelligence informed me that my watch must be wrong. +Then I gained sense enough to look at the sun, to find that it had +passed the meridian considerably. Followed at once a keen introspective +query, to which no answer was forthcoming. Then I am sure I breathed +gently, "You damn fool!" and became a man again.</p> + +<p>I did not eat any dinner—punishing the body for a fault of the +mind—but smoked instead. My pipe did not go out a second time. Hour +after hour the black briar bowl stayed burning hot, and hour after hour +I drove my mind, now thoroughly aroused and under control, along the +various byways of thought, action and incident which had a common +meeting point at the feet of the Dryad. It required an effort for me to +do this—a great effort. Had I followed my inclination I would simply +have brought her before my eyes in retrospection, and gazed upon the +picture throughout the day. But she had ceased to be an incident. She +was a reality—an abiding reality—a concrete fact impinging sharply +upon the horizon of my life. I was not alarmed to know that I loved her, +and I wondered at this. Perhaps there really was no occasion for alarm, +but there were plenty of disturbing elements attending such a state of +feeling; a number of persons and things to be weighed and considered, to +be classified and given their relative places.</p> + +<p>When all was summed up I was confronted with the result: Did I love her +well enough to marry her? I was of good family and had the highest +social standing. She was almost nameless. And here a sinister, +insinuating thought came stealing along a lower corridor in my brain; a +creeping, skulking, devilish thought which I caught and choked as I +would have a mad dog on my threshold. When I had killed the noxious +thing I knew that I did love her well enough to marry her.</p> + +<p>What were her feelings toward me? She liked me, but I could not bring to +mind a single word or expression which would lead me to infer her heart +was touched, unless it was the incident on the log bridge, when she had +remained silent for such a long time, and her words when she finally +spoke. Surely her interest was more than casual to dictate a speech like +that. If Gran'fer had not come I think now I would have told her then, +for the simple sentence had set light to a powder train in my breast.</p> + +<p>I believe in caste. I am something of a democrat, and much of a +socialist. While the dream of universal brotherhood in its broadest +meaning is Utopian from its very nature, yet all humankind has a claim +upon us, for the body of Socrates and the body of Lazarus were wrought +from the same material. Yet caste, if correctly applied, instead of +offensively and arrogantly, as it more often is, is almost indispensable +to society. You would not have your daughter marry a drayman, nor your +son marry a waiting-maid. That is what I mean when I say I believe in +caste. But while we draw and maintain the line of distinction, we can +still display a proper and becoming degree of courtesy.</p> + +<p>I have said that I love Lessie well enough to marry her, but I have not +said that I love her well enough to marry her as she is. I know that +would be a mistake which I would regret were she to remain as she is. +But she does not belong in her present environment. I am as sure of that +as I am that I live. Fate has cheated her, has imposed upon her, has +grossly taken advantage of her helplessness. At the foundation of her +being are lying inert, but real, many wonderful and beautiful and +mysterious attributes and traits which go to make up the perfect, +polished character of refinement. This also I know, because I have +witnessed her pitiful strugglings against the degrading bonds of +ignorance which Life has tightened about her. She feels this better +part, which is unquestionably her true self, but she does not know what +it is; to her it is simply a hidden, powerful, inner force which +torments her with intangible, wordless protest and rebellion. She tries +to obey—she has told me so—but she does not know what to do, or say. +Poor little Dryad! How should she?</p> + +<p>When I wrote to 'Crombie for the primer and the copybook I was moved +only by a sincere interest in a pretty ignoramus, seeing at the same +time an opportunity to relieve the tedium of long hours alone here. Now +that they have come, I know that I shall begin at once to loosen the +prisoned thoughts and emotions in my pupil for a different purpose. Will +she learn quickly? No fear of that. I think I shall write for the first +three readers when I have done my journal to-night. A long, loyal, +heart-felt letter came along with the books. I shall not transcribe it, +for it would fill up my pages without furthering my story, and this is +the reverse of craftsmanship, I am told. But I must say that 'Crombie +conceived the idea that I was going to open a school of two or three +pupils—a natural idea, by the way—and earnestly advised me not to, as +it would mean a degree of confinement which would work against me. He +also gave various instructions and suggestions, and insisted in +underscored lines that I pursue diligently my quest of the life-plant.</p> + +<p>Who was Lessie's father? I do not doubt that this is the key to the +whole mystery of her paradoxical personality. He was not a dweller in +the wilderness of Hebron. He was a man of mental power; a man from the +higher world of action, advancement and achievement. Assuredly, he was +likewise a conscienceless knave. He had betrayed Araminta—Gran'fer's +Ar'minty; Lessie's mother. A man who would do that is the best qualified +candidate for hell imaginable. I am no hypocritical moralist, awaiting +my own opportunity to despoil. Very frequently it is one of this breed +of skunks who cries out the loudest against things of this sort. But I +trust I do recognize humanity's rights.</p> + +<p>Does Lessie's unknown parentage present a barrier to the progress of my +love? No. That does not worry nor concern me in the least. It is true +she is—she must be, the fruit of a brief union unblessed by preacher or +priest. That does not make her the less charming, the less human, the +less lovable. She is as blameless, as natural, as inevitable, as any +other pure and stainless growth arising from baser elements. The fact +that Lessie would be unable to produce the marriage certificate of her +parents proved not the slightest obstacle to the current of my +affections. Indeed, when I dwelt upon this, I became aware of an added +tenderness; a desire to spread over her sunny head the shielding +strength of my arms. The world is so ready to mock at infirmities and to +reproach frailties. But I must discover her father's name, and what +became of him. I cannot present this subject to the two old people with +whom she lives.</p> + +<p>Perhaps Father John would know. How long has he held this parish, I +wonder? Most likely for many years. In remote country places priests, +especially old ones, do not often change their field of labor. To-morrow +I shall go to the priest's house again, and ask him. I do not know that +he will tell me, but he holds the secret. If it came to him under seal +of the confessional, of course he will not reveal it. But I've a notion +it was countryside gossip at the time it occurred, and I will not be +asking Father John to betray any confidence when I seek him for this +information. Then, too, I have waited longer than I should to go and +inquire about Beryl Drane, the girl with a face of twenty and the +experience of a lifetime. Perhaps it would be better to see her first, +before accosting her uncle on the subject. I am not sure that I can do +this without arousing suspicion, for I am convinced Beryl Drane has a +mind capable of keen and clear deductions, and I have no desire that my +love for Lessie should become generally known yet. But I will try.</p> + +<p>My love for Lessie! I look at that sentence written down on this white +paper with my own hand, and something goes radiating through every +cranny of me. I am in love—in love with an untamed Dryad of the oak +glade, the deep, clear pool, the sun-dappled spaces of the whispering +wood. Why do I love her? I ask myself. Why fares the bee to the flower, +the bird to his nest, the squirrel to his tree? I love her; let that +suffice. Alone here in my lodge on the lap of Old Baldy, beside my +table, I write these words in a mood which never before possessed me. I +am recklessly happy. I have—shall I write it—I have stayed my pen just +now long enough to sit dreamy eyed for a quarter of an hour; to imagine +that warm young body tight in my arms; those Irish gray eyes looking +long and deep into mine; those, red, red lips against my own, and the +blinding shimmer of her hair around and about my face and neck. God! My +pulses leap and thrum in my temples at the thought, and my throat feels +full and thick. My brother, have you never felt this way? Then you are +missing a large portion of your human heritage.</p> + +<p>When shall I tell her? Not at once, I think. It will be better to school +her some first. And—Buck! By some strange chance I have not reckoned +with Buck to-day. Buck must be reckoned with. He will not efface +himself, and I respect him the more that he will not. Diplomacy and +arbitration and plain reason are all out of the question with Buck. When +I come to reckon with him it will be by the might of my good right arm. +It is the old, old method of medieval times of settling a difficulty +where the favor of a lady is involved, but it is an honorable one, if +conducted fairly, and I suspect as good as any. I must begin a system of +physical training, so that I may be fit for the final bout. That will be +some fight, my masters!</p> + +<p>Eight weeks ago I dreaded the weary monotony which awaited me in this +forsaken spot!</p> + +<p>Well, events yet unborn are on the knees of the gods. I intend to go as +straight to my destination as my judgment and will can carry me. I have +but written that I shall not tell the Dryad of my love yet. Now I should +like to modify that statement and say that I shall not tell her if I can +help it. For a sudden sense that my passion is broadening and +intensifying has come to me, and I shall make no promises—no, not one. +Now, this moment, I quiver at the recollection of her cadenced laugh; I +tremble as I see again the eyes which might craze a man of wood. Ah! +Dryad, if you were here to-night—if you were here—if you were here—</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SIXTEEN" id="CHAPTER_SIXTEEN"></a>CHAPTER SIXTEEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH MUCH ADDED LIGHT IS SHED UPON MISS BERYL DRANE, BUT ONLY A +GLIMMER UPON MY PROBLEM</h3> + + +<p>"This is a beautiful day."</p> + +<p>Such was my exceedingly original and extremely interesting greeting to +Beryl Drane this morning. I arrived at the house at eight o'clock, +found, as I thought, no one astir, and was preparing to knock when I +discovered the young lady diligently clipping roses from a hedge near +the back. It is not often that I descend to sheer banality, but I can +offer no excuse for my opening remark as I came up over the grass behind +her. She was a little startled. She turned quickly with a short "Oh!" +and looked at me curiously. Somehow I did not like the look. It was +possessive, in a way; intimate, as though we shared a secret, or +something like that. She was dressed in a polka dot brown gingham, and +had on an old bonnet whose projecting hood softened those lines which +seemed to shriek of the things which made them. A low collar encircled +her firm neck snugly. She wore leather half mitts, had a pair of shears +in one hand, and from the elbow of her other arm hung a wicker basket +over half filled with voluptuously red, dew-bright roses. She regarded +me with that subtly smiling, upward glance which coquettes have, and in +that morning air, with the flowers, under the shielding bonnet, she was +pretty. She was too adroit to overdo the pose. It lasted scarcely two +ticks from a grandfather's clock, then she smiled frankly, deftly looped +the shears on a finger of her left hand, and held out her arm.</p> + +<p>"I'm <i>so</i> glad to see you!" she said, winningly, and for the soul of me +I could not help but feel my heart grow warmer in response to her tone. +Ah, little sibyl! You have conjured more than one man's mind into deadly +rashness, but you have paid, little moth with the soot-spotted wings!</p> + +<p>"Are you?" I replied, surprisedly, as I grasped her grippy, slender hand +and uncovered.</p> + +<p>"Sure!... Don't you suppose Hebron is a trifle monotonous to me after +the fleshpots of Egypt?"</p> + +<p>"I had thought you would be—not angry, but displeased and disgusted +with me that I had not come sooner."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I have learned to make allowances for men!" she retorted, airily, +with a toss of her head and a half pout; "and I'd have no respect for a +man who'd have to be kicked away from a woman's feet. I've seen that +kind. I supposed you would come when it suited your inclination."</p> + +<p>She deliberately turned to the hedge again and tiptoed to grasp a +heavy-headed bloom which seemed to have dropped asleep, drugged by its +own perfume. She could not reach it.</p> + +<p>"Let me," I said, and stepping forward, caught the thorn-set spray and +pulled it toward her. The action made a little shower of water drops to +patter on her upturned face, and a single rich-hued petal became +displaced, drifted gently down, and actually lodged in the crevice of +her slightly parted lips. Both laughed at the incident, for it was +unusual.</p> + +<p>"You shall have this one," she said, when she had clipped it, "from me."</p> + +<p>I felt foolish, in a way, as she came close to me, fumbling here and +there about her waist and the bosom of her dress.</p> + +<p>"Have you a pin?" she queried, archly, and before I could answer her +swift white fingers were searching the lapels of my coat. "Here's one," +she added, on the instant, and tugged it out.</p> + +<p>Then she secured that rose to my coat, standing so close to me that the +bottom of her spreading skirt brushed my legs.</p> + +<p>"You are very forgiving and very kind," I assured her, "and I thank you +for the favor. I'm sure I do not deserve it."</p> + +<p>"Do men ever deserve what they receive from women?" was her startling +reply, and she did not look me in the eyes then, but instead fingered +the jumble of Jaqueminots in the basket with head averted. Surely this +niece of the Rev. Jean Dupré's who had journeyed to Hebron to rest was +not conventional. Equally true it was that she possessed an unusual +degree of intelligence, and was accustomed to speaking her mind.</p> + +<p>I hesitated briefly. Not that I was in doubt what to say, but among us +men of the South that old chivalry toward women which is always stubborn +and often reasonless, still struggles mightily. And it is a goodly +thing, forsooth, this same chivalry; but truth is better.</p> + +<p>"I think so," was my steady answer, and I held my eyes ready to meet +hers, but she did not move her head. Only the white fingertips with +their whiter nails yet burrowed among the fragrant mass of green and +red.</p> + +<p>"You do?... How can you say that? Uncle says it, too—but he's a +priest."</p> + +<p>"I say it because I think it true. I'm sure you would not have me tell a +lie merely to please you. Your viewpoint must be restricted, +circumscribed, for I know you are in earnest. The question is really too +comprehensive to actually admit of a specific answer. Many women give +all and get nothing; many men give all and get nothing. Many give and +receive on an equable basis, and they are the ones who are happy. It +depends simply upon one's experience or observation how he answers your +question. My life leads me to believe in all sincerity men will do their +part fuller and far more justly than a woman will. Perhaps yours has +convinced you that just the reverse is true.... But for mercy's sake, +let's not drift into a sociological argument this morning."</p> + +<p>"By no means. I just wanted to know what you thought.... Now I must +apologize for keeping you. You have come to see uncle?"</p> + +<p>She started toward the house as though to call him, but I caught her arm +and she halted.</p> + +<p>"I came to see you, primarily. First, to assure myself that you had +really quite recovered from drowning—I have asked of you down at the +store—and second, to discuss a mighty secret with you."</p> + +<p>"You have really—asked about me?" she returned with lifted eyebrows. +"You knew when you left that day I would recover, thanks to your skill. +Was not that enough?"</p> + +<p>I felt annoyed. It appeared as if she was trying to make me confess a +deeper interest than I truly owned.</p> + +<p>"A common sense of decency would have impelled me to assure myself you +were suffering no bad after effects," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that was it?" she responded, I thought a bit coolly. Then—"You +mentioned a secret. How on earth could a secret exist in this +lonesome-ridden place? But of course I'm all curiosity now to hear it. +Let's go to the summerhouse. Uncle rises late, and is now in the midst +of his breakfast."</p> + +<p>She moved toward a conical shaped piece of greenery, and I put myself at +her side. It proved to be some trellis work built in the form of a +square, with a peaked top, the whole completely covered by some +luxuriant vine. Even the doorway was so thickly hung that we had to draw +the festoons aside to enter. Within the light was tempered to a +gray-green tone. A hammock was swung across the center of the place, and +on all sides except the entrance one were placed benches. Miss Drane set +her basket down and promptly dropped into the hammock, where she twisted +about into a comfortable attitude. She apparently took no notice of the +fact that her dress had become drawn up six or eight inches above her +shapely ankles, but quietly loosened the strings under her chin and cast +the bonnet on the floor, then threw her arms above her head, laced her +fingers, and turned to me with a smile which was half humorous and half +pathetic.</p> + +<p>"Now I'm fixed. Settle yourself the best you can, and let's hear the +mystery."</p> + +<p>"May I smoke?" I asked, dodging under one of the ropes, and coming +around so that I might sit facing her.</p> + +<p>"Certainly."</p> + +<p>"A pipe?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! I'm thoroughly smoke-cured."</p> + +<p>I dropped upon a bench and drew forth my materials, while she lay and +eyed me with her inscrutable stare.</p> + +<p>"You're a funny man!" she declared, presently, her flexible lips +twisting into an odd smile.</p> + +<p>I chuckled, and jammed the tobacco in the bowl.</p> + +<p>"How do you get that?" I ventured.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you ask to share the hammock with me?"</p> + +<p>Now though I knew something of woman's ways and woman's wiles, I felt a +blush rising, and to hide it I dropped the match I held and bent over to +pick it up. Clearly his reverence's niece was bent on a flirtation +wherewith to while away the days of her exile. It is needless to say +that in my present state of mind I had no heart for dalliance of this +sort, but I realized that I must not offend her, so I struck the match +on the sole of my shoe and slowly lighted my pipe, thinking hard all the +time of what I should say.</p> + +<p>"You looked so very comfortable," I replied jocularly, between puffs, +"that I could not bring myself to make the request. And—you lay down, +you know, as though you wanted it all to yourself."</p> + +<p>With a quick, lithe movement she turned on her side, rested her cheek on +her hand, and retorted:</p> + +<p>"Was that idea really in your mind before I spoke? The truth, mind you!"</p> + +<p>I was thoroughly uncomfortable. Just what Beryl Drane was driving at I +could not guess, but I knew the simple talk which I had come to have +with her had suddenly assumed the proportions of a task. It would be +silly and egotistic to think this little body was in love with me, and +yet as she lay curled kitten-like within arm's length there was a +seriousness in her face and manner which troubled me far more than what +my answer to her last question would be.</p> + +<p>"No, it was not," I replied, meeting her eyes steadily.</p> + +<p>"All men don't tell the truth," was her unexpected rejoinder; "but you +do.... Don't you think I am worth sitting by?"</p> + +<p>Heavens! Why did she persevere in this strain? Why? God pity her, I +knew. I knew her birthright of womanliness and unsullied purity had been +bartered long ago for the pottage of faithlessness and sham pleasures, +and that now the exceeding bitter cry rang in her soul day in and day +out. She had made sacrifice of the substantial, the real, the true, and +the good, on the shadowy altar of indulgence. She had flung aside the +fruit to devour the husk, and the penalty was an insatiable gnawing of +the evil teeth which she had first guided with her own hand to her +being's core. I shivered inwardly as these thoughts darted +lightning-like through my mind, and my face shaped itself into lines of +gravity.</p> + +<p>"Little girl," I said, gently; "I should be glad to sit by you, but +what's the use in this instance? We are as two birds passing in mid-air. +Soon you will go; soon I will go. Let's be good, honest friends while we +stay."</p> + +<p>I leaned toward her and spoke earnestly, trying to keep any note of +rebuke from my tones. She did not reply, but colored slightly, turned +her head partly away, and lowered her lashes. I smoked in silence for a +few moments to give her a chance to speak, but she remained silent, and +directly I said, throwing my voice into a cheerier key:</p> + +<p>"If you're to help me with my secret we must hurry. Our few minutes on +the river did not last long enough for us to get very well acquainted, +but probably Father John has told you that I am roughing it for a few +months on a certain big knob back in the woods. I've met a few people, +and—"</p> + +<p>Poor, hopelessly stupid mind of man! In my agitation caused by the +attitude Beryl Drane had seen fit to adopt toward me, I had forgotten +that the confidence I had purposed bestowing involved another girl—a +beautiful girl! Now it was too late to hold back. Two slits of eyes were +viewing me cynically, and a low laugh bubbled up from her throat.</p> + +<p>"Who is she?" mocked Beryl Drane, who lived in the world.</p> + +<p>"I don't know!" I answered, boldly. "That's what I want you to help me +find out."</p> + +<p>"What's her name?"</p> + +<p>How cold the words were; like little sharp icicles. Ah! Womankind! +Velvet soft, iron hard; dove merciful, tiger cruel; heaven breasted, +hell armed; honey lipped, gall tongued!</p> + +<p>"They call her Lessie."</p> + +<p>Her sweetly bowed mouth had turned to a straight line of scarlet as she +shook her head.</p> + +<p>"I don't mix with the rabble here."</p> + +<p>She spoke to cut, and she succeeded. The insolent words bit sharply, and +a flame-like resentment set a hot reply on my tongue, but I withheld it. +I waited a while, that my speech might not betray my agitation.</p> + +<p>"She lives with her granny and gran'fer on Lizard Point. Surely you have +seen her at church? Granny is very conscientious, I'm sure, in the +performance of her church du——"</p> + +<p>"I never go to church!" interrupted Father John's niece. "But I think I +know the people to whom you refer," she added, at once. "I cannot recall +the name of the family, however.... You must be extraordinarily stupid +not to have learned her surname, being in love with her."</p> + +<p>Evidently Miss Drane was ignorant of the circumstances surrounding the +Dryad's birth, and a great wave of relief rolled up in my breast when I +was assured of this.</p> + +<p>"A man doesn't love a girl's name," I thought. Then I said:</p> + +<p>"It would seem so, indeed."</p> + +<p>I can't imagine what there was in that innocent sentence to cause +affront, but instantly the girl in the hammock swung her feet to the +ground, arose, and picked up her bonnet and basket.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you are at all nice!" she said. "Go on and love your +little cabin minx if you want to! She'll be sadly wiser when your love +is over and you have gone back where you came from. I know you men—all +alike!... If you want to see uncle you'll find him in the library at +this hour."</p> + +<p>Then out she switched with never so much as a "Good-day," leaving me +staring amazedly at the clustering viney mass which swayed behind her +vanished form. I had known many kinds of women: petulant, spoiled, mean; +gracious, charming, good. I knew the majority of them were not amenable +to logic, and would sometimes take offense at a smile or a wrong +inflection. But when Beryl Drane flung this low insinuation in my face, +I was nettled. It was utterly without foundation or reason. It bore out +strikingly the opinion I had previously formed of her, and as I sat and +turned the matter over in my mind, I knew presently that I was pitying +her. For there is no sadder sight on the world's broad breast than a +woman with a spotted soul. This poor child's perceptions were all awry, +her affections wrenched and twisted, and in that moment I almost cursed +the fate which would permit such a sacrilege. My resentment was gone, or +was directed against the nonunderstandable forces, powers—call them +what you will—which so often, in their workings, flung the spotless +lily under the filthy snout of a hog, and dashed the white soul of a +girl into a pit of smut and slime! Give me the reasons, ye gray-bearded +savants! You are children fumbling in the dark. You do not know.</p> + +<p>I got up and passed without the leafy curtain. Miss Drane had +disappeared. I walked to the porch, found the front door open, and +entered the hall without knocking. I judged the library to be on the +right, and at that door I tapped. The old priest's voice bade me "Come!" +I went in, and when he saw me cross the threshold, Father John leaped up +with a nervous agility which was incongruous when associated with his +many years, and hastened forward.</p> + +<p>"Ah-h-h! Ze pleasure! W'ere have you bene, m'sieu?"</p> + +<p>He smiled cordially, and led me to an easy chair by the table, holding +my hand until I was fairly seated.</p> + +<p>"Roaming the woods, principally," I replied, easily, noting the +extremely comfortable furnishings of the apartment. "I have been here a +half-hour, I should say. I found Miss Drane cutting roses, and stopped +for a chat with her. She seems perfectly well?"</p> + +<p>Father John made a grimace, and spread his hands.</p> + +<p>"Zat chil'! I love 'er m'sieu, but she try me. She plague me wiz 'er +pranks, zen she come wiz 'er arms aroun' my neck—so—an' fix eversing."</p> + +<p>He obligingly essayed to hug himself by way of illustration, and I +nodded my comprehension.</p> + +<p>"You will doubtless miss her when she leaves you?"</p> + +<p>He twisted his features as from a sudden pain.</p> + +<p>"I can't sink of zat, m'sieu. She have bene wiz me t'ree—four—five +weeks; she is one—headstron' chil', but she make me vair happy—<i>oui</i>."</p> + +<p>He sank a little deeper in his soft chair, and pulled contentedly at his +long-stemmed pipe.</p> + +<p>It was hard for me to broach the subject uppermost in my mind. Twice my +lips parted to open the discussion, but each time the sentence which +followed related to an entirely different matter. So for quite a while +we talked of the weather, the crops, the parish, and it was while we +were discussing the neighborhood that I knew my opportunity had arrived.</p> + +<p>"I have become very much interested in the family at Lizard Point. You +know them well?"</p> + +<p>"Vair well. Madame is vair releegious; a good woman. M'sieu +is—is—indeef'rent; ma'm'selle—ah, ze young ma'm'selle!"</p> + +<p>Again his spread hands went out expressively, and he shook his head with +wrinkled forehead.</p> + +<p>Inwardly I smiled, but outwardly my face was set to decorous lines.</p> + +<p>"Does not the granddaughter belong to your fold?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Ah! m'sieu; we try. We try all her life lon' to make her ze Christian. +But she wil'—she wil' as ze bird in ze wood. She an' ze half crazy +Jeff—ze fiddle player—zey heazen, m'sieu. Zey never dark ze door of ze +church. Zey run in ze fores', fiddlin' an' dancin', an' ze devil he +laugh an' skip by zey side!"</p> + +<p>He put his hands between his knees, palm to palm, and rocked to and fro +in genuine distress. I could think of no suitable reply on the moment, +so remained silent.</p> + +<p>"I have ze pity for ze chil', poor sing!" he resumed, presently. "Ze +chance she has not had, like ozzer ones. Meybe ze curse of ze broke' law +follow her; I don' know—I don' know!"</p> + +<p>He sighed, and let his narrow shoulders droop forward in an attitude +both sad and pensive.</p> + +<p>"Tell me about that if you can, Father John," I said, placing my elbows +on the table's edge and leaning toward him. "I will say to you in +strictest confidence that I am deeply interested in Lessie; it is not +idle curiosity which prompts me to ask this. I know her father betrayed +and deserted her mother; Gran'fer has practically admitted this to me, +but he will go no further. You must know the man's name—what was it?"</p> + +<p>Father John lifted his head and looked at me.</p> + +<p>"Zat, m'sieu, I cannot tell you."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>I kept my eyes fastened on his persistently, but respectfully.</p> + +<p>"Because m'sieu has not ze right to as'."</p> + +<p>I felt rebuked. Knowing as little of me and of my feelings for the Dryad +as he did, he was right. Should I tell him more? My words would be safe +with this gentle old man.</p> + +<p>"Suppose I love the girl, Father John? Would I not then have the right +to know everything about her parentage?"</p> + +<p>A pale smile passed over his thin lips.</p> + +<p>"M'sieu—jokes wiz me. You, ze gen'leman, ze areest'crat—to love ze +little wil' ma'm'selle? <i>Je crois que non!</i>"</p> + +<p>"It may seem incredible to you, but I do love her. I feel I can trust +you with the secret, for even she does not know it yet. Believe me, I +beg you. I am very much in earnest."</p> + +<p>The doubting look faded from the priest's face, to be succeeded by one +of amazement.</p> + +<p>"Probably you do not understand this," I hastened to add; "and I should +not blame you. But you, in holy orders from young manhood, with your +mind and time engrossed in spiritual things, have no intimate knowledge +of the powerful call of man to woman, and woman to man. It has come to +me unexpectedly, swiftly, surely; here in the wilderness. In the city it +passed me by. But I truly love the little wild ma'm'selle. Listen to my +plan. I intend to take her far along the road to education and +refinement; I intend to develop the great good which lurks smothered in +her mind and soul; then, if she will, I shall marry her. That is my +reason for asking you to tell me of that man."</p> + +<p>Father John was convinced that I spoke the truth. I could see it before +he replied.</p> + +<p>"Ze—ze <i>aieul</i>, ze <i>aieule</i>; has m'sieu tol' zem?"</p> + +<p>I stared at him bewilderedly.</p> + +<p>"Ze madame an' ze m'sieu she live wiz!" he burst out, desperately. "How +call you zem?"</p> + +<p>"Granny and Gran'fer—her grandparents!" I exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"<i>Bien!...</i> Well zen?"</p> + +<p>"I have not told them. I have not told Lessie. I did not know it myself +until last night."</p> + +<p>"<i>Soit.</i> But ze secret, m'sieu, is zeirs."</p> + +<p>"Is not the girl concerned, my good sir?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"Celeste?"</p> + +<p>"Celeste!"</p> + +<p>"Ze wil' ma'm'selle you call Lessie. I chris'en 'er myself, m'sieu; her +name Celeste."</p> + +<p>"And these boors have corrupted it to Lessie!" I almost shouted.</p> + +<p>"Zey couldn't 'member Celeste," smiled Father John.</p> + +<p>For a time I was silent, gazing at that vision in my mind which bore the +sweet name of Celeste instead of the meaningless one of Lessie.</p> + +<p>"Has she, then, no rights in the matter?" I persisted, and at the words +I knew my voice had changed. Father John's candid and matter-of-fact +revelation had filled me all up, somehow. I am aware there was no good +reason why this should be, but people deeply in love have a constant +abhorrence of anything and everything remotely bordering on reason.</p> + +<p>"Should she, m'sieu, seek ze inf'mation, I sink I should tell 'er."</p> + +<p>Sweetly grave and courteous were the words, and even in my impatience I +recognized their justness.</p> + +<p>"Very well, father. But I must ask you another question which I trust +you can answer without offense to your conscience. Was Lessie's—was +Celeste's father a man of learning; a man who moved along the higher +walks of life, or was he simply a countryman?"</p> + +<p>Only for a moment he hesitated.</p> + +<p>"He was ze gran' gen'leman in manner—ze scholar—ze sinker. His heart +was black!"</p> + +<p>"It must have been," I breathed, as I rose.</p> + +<p>My host again followed me to the low stone step at the porch entrance, +protesting against my departure and begging me to stay for dinner, which +came at noon. I told him I would come again, and I meant it.</p> + +<p>"You have been very kind," I said, in farewell, "and I want to thank you +for the things you told me. In time Celeste will come with her demands, +trust me for that."</p> + +<p>"Vair well, m'sieu!" he cried, twisting his face into a maze of +goodhumored wrinkles.</p> + +<p>At the gate I turned and waved to him again, sweeping the premises with +my eyes as I did so for a sign of Beryl Drane.</p> + +<p>That most peculiar young woman was nowhere visible.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SEVENTEEN" id="CHAPTER_SEVENTEEN"></a>CHAPTER SEVENTEEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I ENTERTAIN SERIOUSLY A CHIVALROUS NOTION TO MY GREAT DETRIMENT</h3> + + +<p>"A, B, C, D, E, F,—H?"</p> + +<p>We sat side by side on the edge of the porch, with our feet on the low +stone step. For fifteen minutes I had been drilling Celeste in the +alphabet.</p> + +<p>But little explanation is necessary to make clear my position in the +hostile camp. To-day is Sunday. When I first arose I began planning a +way to reach Celeste—Lessie no longer for me!—without any unpleasant +attending circumstances. I had recently been assured by the parish +priest that Granny was "a vair releegious woman," and it was upon this +fact that I presently laid my schemes. It was probable that Granny +attended mass twice on Sunday; beyond doubt she went once. Early mass +was over by the time my idea began to crystalize, but the chances were +that Granny would go to the later services, because there was a deal of +housework to be done at the beginning of each day. Then Granny's large +body moved slowly, and the road to Hebron was long. I was vastly +comforted when I reached this conclusion, and about ten o'clock I armed +myself with primer and copybook and hit the trail for heaven.</p> + +<p>I wish the reader—gentle or otherwise—could have taken that trip with +me, and felt as I did. I wish everybody in the world could feel, all the +time, as I did on that leisurely walk to Lizard Point. There would be no +more sin or sorrow, my brothers! It was my first pilgrimage to the +shrine of my recognized affection, and my feet trod not upon the good +earth, but upon separate little pillows of compressed air. The day left +nothing for the most critical to wish for. It was a great, perfumed +bloom of light and color, glowing like a jewel in the Master's hand. And +in the midst of all this perfection I was the one man seeking the one +woman.</p> + +<p>Reaching the bridge, I skulked about in the woods like a wild Indian, +viewing the house with gradually increasing impatience. But I was +rewarded in what my watch declared to be a very few minutes. Granny's +ample shape bustled out upon the porch, and she came waddling down the +path like an over-fattened goose. She had on her Sunday fixin's; a shiny +bombazine black dress and a tiny black bonnet which looked small indeed +atop her big head. A palm leaf fan in one hand, a rosary and a +handkerchief in the other; thus did S'firy sally forth that morning, +while I stood hidden in the shade and grinned, tickled as any schoolboy +would be who sees a guard desert a watermelon patch. I could hear her +puffing as she reached the road and took up her march south—poor old +woman! A long, hot time lay before her, going and coming, and I was +convinced she deserved the blessing she hoped to receive.</p> + +<p>So that is the way I crept into the hostile lines this morning and began +teaching the little wild ma'm'selle.</p> + +<p>She was surprised but glad when she saw me. You may be sure I searched +her face anxiously, and her welcoming smile and warm, strong handclasp +set my heart a-throbbing. I told her at once what I had come for, and +asked how long Granny would be away. Three hours, at least, I learned. +She was ready and eager to begin her lessons. I inquired about Gran'fer, +too, as we sat down together on the porch's edge, and heard that the +dinner had been left in his charge, and he was consequently on duty in +the kitchen, whence he would scarcely dare emerge until relief came. The +fire was to be kept up, and certain vessels holding cooking vegetables +were to be kept full of water. Gran'fer would hardly dare run the risk +of permitting the beans or potatoes to scorch, and the chance for a +happy three hours looked good indeed.</p> + +<p>Celeste wore a white shirt waist, brown skirt, leather belt—and +<i>slippers</i>! I could barely credit the last fact when my eyes noted it. +Where on earth did she get slippers which buttoned across the instep +with a strap? She had on black stockings (and right here I want to say, +parenthetically, that I think black hose the most becoming color a woman +can wear) and altogether presented a far more civilized appearance than +she had ever done before. I placed the primer upon her knees, and while +she held it open I began teaching her the letters, using my forefinger +as an index. Her sunny head bent eagerly to the task, and looking at her +face I saw each freckle had become a tiny island in a sea of crimson. +She was blushing hotly, probably from the simple fact that she had at +last started upon that unknown road which would lead her up and out of +the gloomy valley of ignorance where she had always dwelt. I know an +answering color came to my cheeks, for they began to burn. Had I been +sure Gran'fer would remain faithful to his vegetables I would have told +her that moment, for never had mortal woman seemed so lovely and +alluring, and never had my heart hammered and pounded so loudly on the +stubborn door of my will. I realized that my resolve to hold my tongue +until she had become tutored in some degree was an idiotic +determination, and that I would prove it so the first time I could catch +Celeste where we would be safe from interruption.</p> + +<p>Through the twenty-six capitals we went again and again. Then I took the +book and asked her to say the alphabet. She fell down on G, but if every +failure was accompanied by the doubting, anxious, piteous, altogether +captivating expression which distinguished this one, no culprit would +ever hear a word of censure.</p> + +<p>I hope I am not tiresome. Truth is not always interesting, and you must +not question my veracity. To-night I will not avow that my hitherto well +balanced mind is perfectly plumb. Since I confessed to my journal I +found I have shot into the rapids, and this girl with hair like a +potpourri of sunbeams and Irish gray eyes which starts some trembly +mechanism to going inside me, is going to be the biggest and most +important thing in my life.</p> + +<p>Of course I laughed when she said H instead of G, but it was not a laugh +that hurt. It was the one which soothes and condones. She laughed, too, +and again I saw an upper row of teeth—white as young corn, and as even. +In half an hour she had turned the trick, and in addition could name any +letter which I might choose on sight. Yes, I was proud of her then, +and—yes, I told her so; wouldn't you? We then went through the small +letters once or twice, but I did not ask her to learn any of them this +morning. Celeste couldn't understand why the big letters and the little +letters were not alike, and I couldn't either, so no explanation was +forthcoming. Presently the primer was laid aside, and I produced the +copybook. The Dryad's interest was just as intense when this branch of +her education was brought to her notice.</p> + +<p>"Is this writin'?" she queried, suspiciously, indicating the line in +script at the top of the page.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's writ-<i>ing</i>," I said, but my eyes were kind.</p> + +<p>"—<i>ing</i>, then!" she retorted, with some force, but I knew she was +aggravated with herself, and not with me. Then she sat up very straight, +and defiantly checked off each word of her next sentence on her palm, +using an absurd fist as a checker.</p> + +<p>"It—don't—look—like—Gran'fer's—writ-<i>ing</i>!"</p> + +<p>I roared mightily at this, for her belligerency was irresistible.</p> + +<p>At first she was amazed at my outburst, for her earnestness had +prevented her from seeing how truly attractive her little speech had +been. But as I kept on laughing she presently joined me, and together we +raised such a disturbance that Gran'fer hurried out to investigate. I +jumped up and took his hand, and managed to control myself enough to +tell him the cause.</p> + +<p>"B' gosh! 'S a good thing S'firy's not here!" he exclaimed, leering from +one to the other with his good-natured eyes twinkling. "She'd 'low you +'s bust'n' th' Sabbath, 'n' like 's not 'd 'vite <i>you</i> back to Baldy!"</p> + +<p>He poked a crooked finger in my ribs, thrust his middle out and his +shoulders back and gave a series of piercing screeches which I judged +was his way of expressing superlative mirth.</p> + +<p>I put my arm around his shoulder chum-fashion, and drew him aside.</p> + +<p>"I hid and watched her leave," I whispered.</p> + +<p>Again he screeched.</p> + +<p>"You're a durned wise 'n'!" he said, presently. "S'firy's sot ag'in yo' +somehow, but I's jok'n' w'en I said I'd 'low she'd 'vite yo' back to +Baldy. She wouldn't do sich a vi'lent thin' as that, see'n' as how she's +got no airthly complaint ag'in yo', 'cep'n' you're a young man 'n' +good-look'n', 'n'"—lowering his voice and nodding toward the Dryad, who +sat apparently absorbed in her copybook—"she don't 'low to ever let no +man make love to that gal, 'n' she's skeerd o' yo' on that 'count—see?"</p> + +<p>"Gran'fer, I smell some'n' burnin'!" called Celeste.</p> + +<p>The old man turned with a trembling, low-voiced "Good God!" and bolted +into the house, and instantly I heard a tin cover clatter on the kitchen +floor.</p> + +<p>"Whut'd you tell Gran'fer w'en you took 'im over there?" asked Eve, when +I was again beside her.</p> + +<p>"The truth," I replied, not altogether relishing a like confession to +her.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, too!" she demanded, at once.</p> + +<p>"Suppose I won't?" I parried, grasping the opportunity offered to weigh +her character in different scales.</p> + +<p>She thought a moment, with a queer little squinting of the eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you won't—I don't keer!"</p> + +<p>It was not pique, but perfect candor.</p> + +<p>"I told him that I waited down yonder in the woods until Granny went to +church," I said.</p> + +<p>She smiled, and spread the copybook out afresh.</p> + +<p>"You needn't 'a' done that. I've had a talk with Granny, 'n' she's goin' +to let you come, same as she does Buck ... I p'suaded 'er."</p> + +<p>"Bless your heart, Dryad! How did you manage it?"</p> + +<p>"Granny'll do mos' anything for me," she answered, simply. "I tol' 'er +that you jes' wanted to learn me, 'n' that I wanted to learn—so bad; +'n' that it wouldn't cost nothin'. So she ast Father John, 'n' he said +it'd be all right. He said he knowed you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I've met Father John—and his niece."</p> + +<p>"I don't like her," said Celeste, turning the leaves idly.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you like her, Dryad?"</p> + +<p>"'Cause—'cause—oh, jes' 'cause!"</p> + +<p>She pouted her lips slightly, and shook her head.</p> + +<p>So she, too, had that unanswerable reason which all women can claim.</p> + +<p>"I feel sorry for her, because I don't think she has been happy. She has +lived in cities all her life, and the cities have taken something from +her they can never give back."</p> + +<p>"Whut?"</p> + +<p>"All things which you, living here in the hills, possess, and which are +a woman's most precious gifts; purity, innocence, womanhood."</p> + +<p>"I don't know 'zackly whut you mean."</p> + +<p>"I shan't try to put it into simpler words just now, Dryad. But in the +eyes of all true people you are worth more than a thousand Beryl +Dranes."</p> + +<p>She pursed her lips and gave a whistle of astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Has Buck been here lately?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Not since I seen—I saw you on the log bridge."</p> + +<p>Then for a time we remained silent. The day was intensely hot. The +encroaching sun burned the yellow dog which had been lying in the yard, +and he arose reluctantly and slouched over into the deeper shade by the +foundation of the house—into a dusty hole which no doubt he had +previously dug in a search for coolness. There, after gnawing his ribs, +his black nose wrinkling oddly as he did so, he dropped his chin upon +the ground and slowly closed his eyes. A rigor passed over the side +where the uncaptured flea still lingered, then, with a sigh, the dog +slept. A brown hen, wings outheld from her body and bill agape, strolled +dazedly through the shimmering air, singing that dolorous, unmusical, +droning song begotten by the temperature. I have never heard that song +from a hen's throat with the thermometer under ninety. It must have been +an effect of the heat. Beyond, the green vastitudes stretched +endlessly—away to where the big wicked world throbbed and seethed and +strove. All these externals passed before my vision in a twinkling, and +then my gaze was back on the girl sitting quietly by me, looking with +eyes which sent no message to her brain upon the curving lines which +meant knowledge. Her hair was up again to-day—for bodily comfort, I +judge—and damp, curled strands clung flat to her milk-white neck. Below +these, tiny drops of moisture stood, like baby pearls upon porcelain. I +could not grow accustomed to the dazzling effect produced by her +piled-up tresses. I could see neither comb, barette, nor pins, but no +doubt a number of the "invisible" variety of the last were tucked away +somewhere in the intricacies of that matchless coronet.</p> + +<p>I asked if there were pen and ink on the place. She thought there was, +and directly returned with both. Then the need arose for something +suitable to hold the copybook while she traced her first letters. I knew +there must be a table in the dining room, but I much preferred to remain +where we were.</p> + +<p>How I ever thought of such a thing I cannot guess, but I suggested the +ironing board, and in another minute it was across each of our knees, +and I was twisting the pen-staff about in Celeste's warm fingers to the +proper angle. Her forefinger persisted in bending in at the first joint, +and I as diligently straightened the contrary digit, not minding the +task at all, for some occult reason. Naturally a huge blot was the first +result, and the Dryad was for licking it off, as she had seen Gran'fer +do once upon a time. I told her that wasn't nice, and laid the ink in +the sun to dry, no blotting paper being available. When she finally got +a start the girl did remarkably well. It was quite plain she had talent +in this direction. I permitted her to rewrite the model line half way +down the page, then told her lessons were over for the day. Nor did I +neglect to bestow some well deserved compliments upon her aptness.</p> + +<p>Granny may have been gone three hours, but I was nevertheless amazed +when I saw her toiling up the winding path a short time later. Surely I +had not been there over thirty minutes, all told! Far off as she was +when I first sighted her, there seemed to be something menacing in the +very way she got over the ground. As she drew quickly nearer, I observed +that her round, red face was set in lines of furious anger, and she +opened and closed her mouth in gasps, as a fish does on land. In spite +of the assurance the Dryad had given me, a subtle sense told me that I +was the object of her rage. I turned to Celeste, to find wonder and +astonishment depicted on her countenance.</p> + +<p>"Whut on earth ails Granny?" she whispered.</p> + +<p>"God knows!—and we will too, now"; for the old lady had halted a man's +length away, a truly formidable spectacle.</p> + +<p>Her emotion for the moment was actually so intense that she could not +speak. Her throat rolled red and fat over the collar of her dress, and +she was shaking visibly. I knew the storm would break presently, though +I was totally in the dark as to what I had done to arouse such a +tempest, so I gently lifted the ironing board from our laps, propped it +carefully against a post, and got up, that I might take the blast +standing. I gave no greeting, nor made any attempt at pacification. But +the breath almost left my body when the first vial was uncorked.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> sneak'n' fur'ner! Mak'n' love to Father John's niece, then try'n' +to fool 'n' ruin my Lessie!"</p> + +<p>I fell back a step and threw up my hand, a deadly, numbing horror +spreading through me. Before I could recover enough for speech Granny's +needle-sharp tongue was going again.</p> + +<p>"I know yo'! I've knowed yo' all 'long, but that daffy Jer-bome 'n' that +pore fool gal 'lowed I's wrong 'n' too hard on yo', I tol' 'em way back +yan whut yo' 's hang'n' 'bout fur—yo' <i>scamp</i>! W'en a w'ite-faced, +slick-tongued city feller comes spark'n' a gal whut lives whur this 'n' +does, yo' c'n put it down he 's a-doin' th' dev'l's work. I knowed it, I +tell yo', 'n' yo' didn't pull no wool over <i>my</i> eyes! I've had +'sper'ence 'ith sich, 'n' onct in a lifetime 's 'nough, heav'n knows! +Now take yo' seff off, yo' hyp—hyp—yo' 'ceiv'n', 'ceptious vilyun, 'n' +never so much as lay eyes on my gal—my precious lam'—ag'in, ur I'll +<i>scratch</i> 'em out o' yo' head!"</p> + +<p>I paid little heed to this lurid denunciation. After the astounding +revelation of her first speech, I strove to get my mind in working +order, for it had suffered temporary paralysis. Before the voluble, +bitter flow of words had ceased, I knew what had happened, and my face +crimsoned with shame and anger. I dared not look at the girl at my feet +yet, to see how this harsh accusation had affected her. Granny saw the +red in my cheeks, and blazed out afresh.</p> + +<p>"Yo' mought well blush, yo' blaggard; a-comin' 'ith yo' hellish notions +to do hurt 'n' harm to this motherless chil'! Yo'—"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" I cried, drawing nearer the angered old woman in my deep +earnestness. "Don't say those things again in the presence of—her! They +are lies! Everything you have said is a black, cowardly lie!"</p> + +<p>"Do yo' <i>dare</i> to tell me that his rev'rence, that holy pries', lied to +me? Yo'—yo'—"</p> + +<p>She thrust her hands toward my throat with her fingers working +convulsively.</p> + +<p>I controlled myself, grasped her wrists and brought her arms down, then +looked hard into her eyes as I answered:</p> + +<p>"No, Father John did not lie, but Beryl Drane did. I have never spoken a +word of love to her. I have seen her only twice. Once when I got her out +of the river when her boat upset, and a second time when I went to see +Father John. I believe I offended her, unintentionally, at that time, +but I have never made love to her for the best of reasons—I have no +feeling for her but that of pity. She told a dangerous, dastardly +falsehood when she declared to her uncle that I had spoken of love to +her. All of this I swear to be the truth; on the cross, on the Bible, on +my mother's sacred honor! And I respect and honor Lessie as I would my +own sister!"</p> + +<p>Truth alone is a powerful weapon, and I could see that Granny was +impressed, though not convinced. She still viewed me in truculence and +disgust, but there was a subtle change in her demeanor. I could feel it +more than I could see it. I waited, knowing that I must not be too eager +in my disclaimers. Granny stood, plainly taken aback, and when she spoke +her voice had sunk to its natural compass.</p> + +<p>"I dunno. It don't 'pear right to me.... Whut cause has a gal to make up +sich a yarn as this?—tell me that!"</p> + +<p>She flung the question at me with a triumphant flare.</p> + +<p>I hesitated. Should I tell the true reason? Should I tell how this girl +had tried to flirt with me, and then, when I had refused, had concocted +this devilish scheme which only a bad woman could have thought of? I +owed her nothing, not even consideration now, and she had made a bold +stroke to blacken me irretrievably in the eyes of Celeste. But something +held my tongue. I could not betray her baseness except as a last resort. +I stood with eyes down, thinking. The old beldam facing me deemed it was +from shame, and my inability to answer her question. I remained silent.</p> + +<p>"Yo' 've lied to me!" came her voice, shrill again, and carrying a +victorious note. "Whut cause has she, I say? Yo' dunno. Cause 'nough, I +'low! 'N' yo' can't answer, git yo' gone frum these premises, 'n' never +sot yo' foot on 'em ag'in!"</p> + +<p>I lifted my head at this, and replied in low, even words.</p> + +<p>"I know, but I cannot tell you. But believe me, I am innocent of this +charge."</p> + +<p>Mingled with Granny's vindictive scream of derision was a heart-broken +moan from the door-step. I turned quickly, to see my Celeste, hands over +her eyes, run weeping in the house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_EIGHTEEN" id="CHAPTER_EIGHTEEN"></a>CHAPTER EIGHTEEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I DESCEND INTO HELL</h3> + + +<p>I have descended into hell.</p> + +<p>I had no idea of the intensity of my own nature until the deeps were +stirred. Few of us ever come to a full realization of what we are, or +may become. I have always thought with some degree of pride that my +acquaintance with myself was perfect. More than that, I was positive +that my ego was entirely subservient to my will. So it always has been +until now. But the reason for this is that I have lived upon the crust +of life, have walked calmly and confidently upon the tops of things. It +is indeed a poor sort of fool who does not know himself in his relations +to the superficialities of his daily existence. How satisfied I was! How +willing to meet emergencies and demands, in the full faith that I could +cope with all such. I do not think I am an exception to my fellow +creatures in this. All men whose natures are well rounded and adjusted +have this same idea. It is essential to their progress. We must perforce +believe in our own abilities before we can perform any achievements. So +I am not ashamed to write these words. I have never been conceited, nor +puffed up. I have had no cause to be, but I don't believe I would have +been had I reasons—or what silly people give as reasons, for really +there is never any justification for such a mental attitude.</p> + +<p>Neither am I ashamed to say that I have descended into hell. At first +sight it may seem weakness, but upon investigation it will be found the +reverse is true. I did not take the plunge voluntarily, although my +perhaps foolish adherence to a Quixotic theory undoubtedly had a deal to +do with precipitating me downward. From the fact that my feet have +strayed along the gloomy, thorn-set paths of hell for the past week, I +have awakened to a newer and truer knowledge of myself. Had my feelings +been on the surface only, the past seven days would have found me +philosophically plodding through the forest recesses in search of my +mystical life-plant, or busily engaged in my garden, or curled up in an +easy chair reading one of my favorites. Not one of these natural things +have I done, for the simple reason that I have been a dweller in hell +instead, and in this grim demesne there is neither life-plant, garden +nor books. But there is torture, in exquisite variety. The world-worn +and cynical may sniff and declare that a man beyond thirty should have +passed this sentimental, simpering age. I don't know how that may be. I +cannot answer. I can only set down that which befell me, and I choose to +regard as strength, rather than weakness, that quality which has enabled +me to suffer like unto a damned soul. Surely if any doubt ever flickered +on the horizon of my conscience, that doubt has been swept away and +annihilated utterly. I am possessed by a legion of devils which escort +me hourly on my way; grinning, fiendish, sleepless devils which leap +about my feet with gibe and curse, and dance upon my pillow in a fiery +saraband when I fain would forget in sleep. Sleep! When did I sleep? +Sunday night? No, God's mercy! Sunday night I wandered bareheaded, +coatless, for miles and miles, hour after hour. I did not choose my way. +I did not even take the road leading down from the plateau. I think I +must have eaten something mechanically, then came out of the Lodge whose +walls were shutting off my breath, and made straight for the closest +point of descent. It was near the lone pine, between cedar bushes which +ruthlessly scratched my unheeding face. Here the declivity was steep and +rough. Had I been moving in the world I never would have taken it, but +in hell one cannot choose his path. I went down. I fell. I collided +roughly with the trunks of trees. I tripped, I stumbled, I cursed, and +went on. I came to a cliff. It sank sheer, and below was darkness. I lay +down, rolled my body over, hung by my hands, and dropped. I knew not, +neither cared, where I might alight. I splashed into a shallow pool not +over six feet beneath. Then came leagues after leagues of tireless +walking. I noted neither distance nor time. At last I burst out upon a +huge, flat rock, overhanging a valley of majestic length and breadth. A +gibbous moon brightened the sky and silvered the slopes about me. Then +for a few moments I was on earth again, brought back by the magical +beauty of the scene. But my respite was indeed brief. The black gulf of +perdition closed over me again as the merciless hand of Fate twisted +anew the iron in my soul, and I turned away from that glimpse of the +earth with my teeth chattering. How far had I strayed? Heaven knows. But +it was past midday when I again sighted that sentinel-like peak beneath +which I shelter.</p> + +<p>The next night I sat face to face with the devil through the long, +lonely, hideous hours. Ah! but he is a specious rogue! There never was a +tongue on earth like unto his. But I met his arguments with a sort of +bulldog, mean combativeness. So we talked back and forth, out there, in +front of the Lodge. I occupied one bench, he the other, and our meeting +was gruesome. How full he was of guile, sleek insinuation, plausible +persuasion. At first his method was violent—but I shall tell first of +how the encounter happened.</p> + +<p>After a pretense at supper I clutched my cold pipe for company and crept +out to the seat. I did not light up. Burning tobacco makes for solace at +most times, but I knew my erstwhile cherished weed would be an affront +to my taste and a stench in my nostrils that night. And as I sat, humped +over and almost a-shiver because of the powerful emotions which had been +racking me for forty-eight hours, and more, thinking of all I had lost, +the Prince of Demons leaped full armed upon me, all unexpectedly, and +his assault was fierce. At first I crouched under it sinisterly, as a +man will when an evil takes him unawares. But another moment my heart +and mind and soul had arisen simultaneously to my rescue, and together +we fought a good fight. I doubt me if many unwritten battles were harder +contested. Thus, beneath the stubborn resistance of my staunch and +faithful allies, the Enemy's violence abated. But presently I knew that +he had changed his tactics only, and had not withdrawn. For there he +crouched on the bench just across from me, apparently unhurt, while I +realized with much sadness and shame that each of my champions bore +marks of the conflict. I remained silent, hoping my unwelcome visitor +would depart, but instead he began now to leer and smirk at me +ingratiatingly.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" I asked, surlily enough, for my spirit was sore +within me, and this presence was most distasteful.</p> + +<p>Said the Devil: "What do <i>you</i> want?"</p> + +<p>Thereat he grinned ghastily, and wagged his head, while I felt my heart +turn sick, and my bowels tremble. But I answered:</p> + +<p>"I want that which is as far removed from you and your accursed power as +God and his angels—a real woman's love!"</p> + +<p>Now he laughed in raucous glee.</p> + +<p>"And that's what you have lost—by playing the fool! Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"That's what I have lost—perhaps by playing the fool," I replied.</p> + +<p>Said the Devil to me:</p> + +<p>"And that very day you went back about sunset, driven by the barbs of +your passion, to tell the old woman the truth. You could not gain +admittance to the house. You saw no one. You have been back twice. You +have laid in wait. But you have failed to get speech with any in the +house. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>I nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"Then what?" continued the Devil.</p> + +<p>"Hell—and you!" I retorted, in desperation.</p> + +<p>Then the Devil edged closer to me along the plank; he seemed to writhe +across it like something with a hurt back. It made my flesh creep to see +him. He leaned toward me through the intervening space, and stretching +out his ugly, snake-like neck, hissed:</p> + +<p>"Honor and virtue are lies! Pleasure is truth. Take her—"</p> + +<p>Up I sprang, fist at shoulder, and lunged at that fiendish visage with +all the power of my body. I hit nothing, the impetus of the stroke +wheeled me entirely around, and there stood mine Enemy, hands on hips, +shaking with silent laughter.</p> + +<p>I stood and glared at him in angry helplessness.</p> + +<p>"Easy—easy!" he chuckled. "You are not the first to shrink at giving up +a cherished chimera. You see I am much older than you, and know all of +humanity's foibles and make-believes. I am your friend. In your mind you +have created an angel out of a piece of ignoble clay. Listen, while I +prove to you that I am your friend, and show you a way to success."</p> + +<p>Thereupon his vileness became so bold and horrible that I will not soil +this white paper with a transscript of it, and I sank upon a bench, +elbows on knees and face in hands, listening to the damnable rigmarole +because I could not help it. My visitor was beyond personal +violence—witness my recent fruitless attempt to strike him—or time and +again I would have closed with him and slain him, or been slain. +Shudders of shame and rage swept me from head to foot, and my cheeks +grew so hot they burned my palms. Hours passed. At times the Devil +relaxed, and a sort of armistice prevailed, then he would renew his +merciless planning for my destruction, and how smooth and easy the road +appeared under the magic of his voice! Throughout the entire night I +remained humped over, shaking at intervals as some especially diabolical +sentence fell upon my unwilling but helpless ears; holding my tongue, +because I knew that no words of mine would avail to move the monster at +my elbow.</p> + +<p>Hast ever sat up o' night with the Devil, my brothers? It comes to me +that every one who lives, or has lived must have had this experience. +'Tis a blood chilling one, forsooth; at least when resistance is +offered. Only when daylight stole ghost-wise through the still aisles of +the immemorial wood did mine Enemy depart, and I got to my feet, +trembling as one risen from a bed of grievous sickness, groped my way +within, and fell with a groan across my cot.</p> + +<p>Throughout that day I slept, and arose in the late afternoon feeling +refreshed. My trouble was mental, and this long rest for my brain was +most beneficial. I put as firm a check upon my thoughts as I could bring +to bear, and methodically set about preparing my supper. Looking back as +I write to-night, I know that my movements were erratic and strained. I +built my fire in the kitchen stove calmly, but soon thereafter memory +made a breach in the flimsy wall of reserve which I had upreared, and +havoc began afresh. I burned my food. I broke two dishes. I blistered my +fingers on the hot oven. Then I ate voraciously, almost viciously, and +leaving the things unwashed, tore out to the companionship of my vast +host of faithful trees. Read? I could no more have held my eyes to +printed lines that night than I could measure the sun's diameter. The +Book says there is a time for everything. This week has been my time to +visit the nether world, while yet alive; to become almost insane, while +retaining a degree of sense. It may be I shall omit this chapter entire +when the end of my story is reached. I am writing it to-night, because +in doing so I open a safety valve. I have been fearfully surcharged with +the intensest sort of feelings, and I find that it gives me some relief +to pour them out upon the pages of my journal. When I grow again to be +the reasoning man I was last Sunday—if I ever do—I shall read these +lines again. If they seem perfervid, unnatural, overdrawn, I shall wipe +them out, in deference to the gentle critic who never saw a red-haired +Dryad, and consequently cannot have the least understanding of what I +have been driving at in this night's record. I know I have already +penned thoughts and emotions which will cause the phlegmatic cynic to +damn my story as unreal and banal. In like manner I know there are +others—scarcely will they be found in the critic class, I fear—whose +hearts will warm to me in kindest sympathy. These, mayhap, will be those +of like excessive temperaments, who have looked on Beauty to their cost. +Yea, like Priam, and Menelaus, and that old war-dog, Ulysses himself, +and the hosts of others whose eyes beheld the ruinous loveliness of +Argive Helen. On her pylon tower she sang, and men died, demented and +hopeless, struggling for a single smile! Why were all famous beauties in +history and mythology red-haired? Who can answer? From echoless time it +seems to have stood as a type of perfection. I know what it has meant to +me—dear Christ!—since that spring day when I saw it intertwined with +dogwood blossoms. To-night—I am writing in desperation, that I may +perchance get some sleep when I have worn myself out at the table by +which I sit—I say to-night that I would rather live here on Baldy's lap +forever with Celeste for my wife; here, in the Lodge, alone with her, +than to be the consort of the mightiest queen of earth!</p> + +<p>I rushed out to the sheltering arms of my faithful trees, and stood +among them. I had nothing on my head. The moon was larger, and in its +light I seemed in some enchanted place. Then the craze to move—to walk, +drove me down to the ravine. Unthinkingly I turned toward the Dryad's +Glade. After a while I halted, overcome all at once by the supernatural +radiance which permeated every cranny of that spreading wilderness. Just +where I stood the trees were not so dense. Twenty and thirty feet apart +some of them grew, and though many lateral branches thrust far out to +intermingle, the myriad moon rays found numerous paths and peepholes to +the earth below. It also chanced that I had stopped in a spot where the +spiring trunks rose naked of boughs to a considerable height. This +peculiarity was a great aid to the diffusion of the blue-white, misty +atmosphere which was all about me. I seemed to stand in a ghost land; +everything was shadowy; even the rough boles appeared tenuous, ready to +dissolve and disappear at a breath of wind. But there was no wind. I +stared all about me, marveling at this common mystery of moonshine which +was yet so unfathomable; feeling it sink into my soul in peace giving +waves, comforting my tired breast. So I folded my arms and leaned +against a near-by oak, determining to stay just there. It was the first +moment of waking calm I had known since—How blissful it was! How +peaceful! How past all poor words of mine to describe! Picture primeval +creation. No hewn-down trees, no unsightly stumps, no chips from the +relentless ax. Merely a mighty forest which had been such always. +Solitude, silence. An all-enveloping, blue-white night, and one lone man +striving for ease of mind and soul in the midst of these eternal +realities. How good it was to feel my tight breast loosen; to feel that +awful clamp dropping away from my temples, where it had been pressing +and fretting me almost to madness. I breathed deep of that clear, sweet +air; huge, delightful respirations which made me feel light-headed. And +even as a smile of appreciation crept to my lips, and my eyes half +closed under the weird spell of the place, I knew that I was not alone. +Down a winding vista, far off, something was moving. The distance was +too great and the light too poor for me to tell what it was. A gray +shape was disturbing the nebulous perspective; a shape which at moments +almost assumed proportions, to become at once as something almost of the +imagination. I did not change my attitude, for as yet only a mild +curiosity was present. It might be anything from a stray cow to a +moonshiner on his way to work. Be it what it might, I hoped it would not +disturb me, but wend its way. It was coming toward me; I could not doubt +it directly. It would pass me at a right angle, perhaps thirty feet off. +I did not care to be seen if it was human; I was in no mood to sacrifice +a portion of this wonder-night to rustic inanities. I slipped quietly +around into the shadow of my oak. There came a sound, like a silvery +laugh wedded to a harsh cackle, and this was followed by the swift +patter of running feet, tapping in a muffled tread the moss- and +leaf-strewn ground. I thrust out my head to see what these strange +sounds meant. God above! The Dryad and the Satyr, hand in hand, dashed +by my hiding-place like a hurricane. She was next to me. What she wore I +cannot say. It was something all white, girded at the waist with a vine, +for I saw leaves and tendrils hanging from it. She had shaken her hair +down. The Satyr was without his hat, and his ragged coat streamed out as +he tore along. I glimpsed his face, and it reflected honest merriment +only. Just opposite me they laughed again, without apparent reason, as +children do in a frolic, and how incongruous it sounded; Celeste's +musical bell tones, and Jeff Angel's cracked and jarring voice. So, hand +in hand, in perfect understanding and good-fellowship, these two +Children of Nature romped through the moonlit lanes of their beloved +woods, happy in their very wildness and unrestraint.</p> + +<p>Before I could recover from my profound astonishment they had +disappeared down a misty aisle hung with trembling, diaphanous, luminous +shadows; had merged with the pearl-gray gloom of the middle distance, +and a wild, eerie strain of something which might well have been +borrowed from a barbaric chant drifted back to my stunned sensibilities. +I caught the notes only, but they drove through to my brain like +fire-barbed arrows, and stung it into action. She had passed almost +within reach of my arm! She! The one because of whom this awful abyss +had opened up for me. She had passed, and I had stood like a dolt and +let her go! "Lessie! Lessie!" I sprang forward, goaded by love and +despair, and ran after them with all the swiftness I could command. +"Dryad! Dryad!" I called, at the top of my voice, but no answer came. I +stopped, and with hand against a tree held my breath to listen. Not a +sound but my own blood hammering in my ears. Then as a full realization +came to me of the opportunity which had been offered, and which I had +stupidly missed, a feeling of mad recklessness seized me, and I bounded +forward again, blindly, knowing only that somewhere ahead of me was +Celeste. Once I saw something white, and rushed toward it with outheld +arms and a strangled cry of gladness. It was a portion of a projecting +earth-bank, covered with a growth bearing tiny white blossoms. The moon +struck it full, and had worked the cruel deception. I fell upon the pure +little flowers and tore them savagely; flung them down and ground my +feet upon them, then took up my search once more. Rage filled my breast. +Rage at myself, at Fate, at Granny, at Beryl Drane, and this animal +emotion must have blinded my eyes, for in my headlong, methodless +pursuit I at length ran full force into a huge beech, and dropped +senseless at its feet.</p> + +<p>I don't think it could have been long before I roused, for there was no +lessening of the brilliant light, such as happens when the moon +declines. It was well for me that I was unconscious but a short time, I +suspect, for as my eyes came open I at once became aware of another pair +above me. A pair which seemed made of sulphur, marked with alternate red +and green rings, glowing wickedly. Then I made out the contour of a dim +body perhaps three feet in length stretched upon a low limb just over +me. It was a gigantic wild-cat, and he was stalking me. I doubt not he +would have dropped within another five minutes, for even as I watched, +his back began to arch and the claws of his hind feet to rustle along +the bark. With that suggestive motion his head also drooped below the +limb, and it came to me he was gauging the distance for his spring. I +was no hunter, but 'Crombie was, and from him I had learned that +wild-cats will not attack a man unless driven by hunger, or brought to +bay in a corner. So I sat up incontinently; threw out my arms and +shouted. With the agility of his tribe he turned promptly, and another +second was scuttling up the tree.</p> + +<p>I found I had a painful welt across the top of my forehead, but no other +injury was apparent. My heart turned sick as recollection came back on +swallow wings. There was nothing left but to go home. I had myself to +thank for my predicament. But where was home? Whither my flight had led +me I possessed no idea. I had tried to follow the elusive wake of two +night-roamers, and they had proven will-o'-the-wisps. Why had not the +Dryad stopped at my call? I wondered, as I moved doggedly away from the +spot. Surely she had heard. Surely she knew who it was, for no one else +called her by that name. Could it be that Granny had perverted her mind? +Or was it that she did not care? That I was only an incident, and had +been cast from her life as quickly and suddenly as I had entered it? I +would not believe this; I could not believe it. The blow which I had so +recently sustained wrought a radical change in my mental condition, and +while my breast still burned with implacable resentment toward the +nameless something which had caused me to miss catching Celeste, I found +that my thoughts were freer, and comparatively lucid. I could not +believe that she had thrust me below her life's horizon, and gone +singing through the woods as though nothing had happened. The idea was +monstrous, appalling, revolting. It was wholly unacceptable. That my two +visits to her home bore no fruit I laid at Granny's door. The old beldam +had managed it in some way. Had kept the girl hidden, and had prevented +anyone within the house from answering my summons. Why had the Dryad +burst out weeping and run indoors when Granny thought she had convicted +me of duplicity, and ordered me from the place? Ah! my soul! there was +comfort in that! Celeste did not cry from fright; she was used to +Granny's tantrums. She cried because for the moment she saw things in +the same light and from the same angle as that old termagant—may her +bones lie unburied! She did care for me—she <i>did</i> care for me—she <span class="smcap">DID</span> +care for me, and I knew it. I could not solve her frolicking in the +forest with her half crazy cousin. I could not unriddle her laughing and +singing. Such things do not go with a heavy heart in the world I know, +but it may be she sought relief in following her beloved habit of +running, untamed and free, wherever her hoyden steps led her. I will see +her yet, and I will find out. I will make her see the truth, and outwit +that old she-devil who has cast me into torment with her meddling.</p> + +<p>Moonset found me laboring up the road to the Lodge. I had stumbled upon +my hill. Sleep came at once, and how doubly sweet was that deep, +soundless, shoreless sea when I slipped out upon it in my Barque o' +Dreams!</p> + +<p>Next day was Wednesday. All the bulldog in my nature unleashed—and a +major part of my nature is represented by the hybrid breed of bulldog +and mule—I went to Lizard Point, with the determination to have speech +with some one before I came away. I was no schoolboy, or callow youth, +to be trifled with in this manner. I had certain rights as a gentleman, +and these rights I intended to demand. But alas for human hopes—and +determinations! I could not demand aught of an empty porch, or a closed +and locked door, or blind-drawn, nailed down windows. I suppose they +were nailed down, for my peculiar nature caused me to try and raise two +of them, when repeated calls and much banging on the door did not bring +any results. The sashes did not even tremble under my hands. I saw a +broken rail lying near one corner of the house. I looked at it, and at +the blank window. That would get me in, or get somebody out. Either +would serve. I was so wrought up that I actually started toward that +piece of wood before I realized what I intended doing. It would be +house-breaking; malicious destruction of property—both of which were +jail offenses. I must forego the execution of this project, much as it +appealed to me at the moment. Nothing would suit Granny better. She +would have the law on me in a trice, and be rid of me for good and all.</p> + +<p>I went home.</p> + +<p>It is not my purpose to recount in detail my wanderings the remainder of +this week. Some of it would prove a repetition, and other of it +uninteresting. If my sojourn in the Inferno was not as gruesome as the +hero's of Ithaca, nor filled with majestic horrors like the immortal +Dante's, yet it was undeniably true. One night I climbed the peak thrice +between nightfall and daydawn. The last ascent found me so exhausted +that I lay prone upon the table-like top, and watched the miraculous +mystery of morning. It was the first time I had ever seen it from a +great height, and the impression cannot be put into words. I am tempted +to try—oh! the untold glory of the magical metamorphosis!—but no, I +will withstand the inclination. The result would be akin to that a +three-year-old child would obtain if given the necessary pigments and +told to paint a sunset. There are times when even fools will not rush +in; this is one of them.</p> + +<p>Sunday night again as I pen these words. Seven days! Seven æons! My +watch tells me it is twelve o'clock. As I pause for a moment a sound +floats through my open window. It is not any night bird's trilling, for +I know my singers of the dark, every one. Now it comes plainer. A sort +of whistle, I should say, though it is a kind I have not heard for a +long time. Its impression is fuzzy, as though done carelessly. I have +heard boys whistle so, between their teeth. What is happening without my +door, I wonder? No one bent on mischief, for such do not advertise their +approach. The whistling has stopped. I declare I hear feet, and they +draw nearer. I am not one bit alarmed. I think I prove this by +continuing my task as the unknown footsteps steadily come closer. They +stop. I look up. Arms crossed on my window-sill, head bobbing in +greeting and goat tuft wagging, stands the Satyr. Before I can speak he +loosens this tipsy stave:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Say, Mr. Rabbit, you're look'n' mighty slim!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Yes, by gosh! ben a-spit'n' up phlim!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_NINETEEN" id="CHAPTER_NINETEEN"></a>CHAPTER NINETEEN</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH THE SATYR AND THE NARRATOR BECOME VERY DRUNK AND THE LATTER IS +LIFTED TO EARTH AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>"Come in here, Jeff Angel!" I cried, joy at sight of him mounting, and +brightening my face with a smile of welcome. I dropped my pen and +beckoned eagerly.</p> + +<p>His grin broadened as he accepted my invitation forthwith, through the +window. I meant that he should enter by the door, naturally, but instead +he gave a leap, and came squirming and wriggling in like a great +caterpillar. I was up and had him by the hand as soon as his feet +touched the floor.</p> + +<p>"Where's Lessie? How is she? How does she feel toward me? Why didn't you +stop when I called you the other night? Talk, man! Hurry!"</p> + +<p>The Satyr's grin seemed fixed.</p> + +<p>"Whur 'n hell yo' ben?" he drawled, disengaging my clasp and sliding +around the table to a seat on a box.</p> + +<p>I rattled my chair on the floor impatiently and begged him to take that, +but he demurred.</p> + +<p>"Ain't used to 'em," he explained. Then, once more, in genuine and open +curiosity—"Whur 'n hell yo' ben?"</p> + +<p>"You've said it—in hell!" I answered, savagely, slipping my papers to +one side and sitting upon the table's edge. "And Granny, your blessed +aunt, is the one who shoved me in—good and deep!"</p> + +<p>"Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!" roared Jeff Angel, with an intonation +indescribably ludicrous had I been in the humor to enjoy it. His head +went back and his curving whisker shook at me like a bent forefinger.</p> + +<p>"Damn it, man!" I gritted, worn irascible by that week's awful +experiences; "don't laugh and joke the night away! Tell me about +Lessie—then we'll make merry till morning if you wish!"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"We'll drink, till we sink, in th' middle o' th' road,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But we won't go home till mawn—'n'!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Thus caroled this irrepressible Antic, and drew from some recess in his +rags the bottle which I had seen before.</p> + +<p>I glared at him helplessly. Perhaps he was a trifle drunker than he was +that other time, when I gave him his supper. There he sat swaying his +head from side to side, peering mischievously at me with his watery blue +eyes, irresponsible as an infant. Then I recognized the futility of +anger, or importunity. This queer being would speak when he got ready, +and not before. I made a great effort, and threw off the impetuousness +which desired to know everything at once. I would humor this half +civilized, half crazy person.</p> + +<p>"Let us drink, then!" I agreed, bending forward with outstretched arm. +"I need a bracer, anyway."</p> + +<p>At this the Satyr sat up with distended lids and mouth ajar, holding +himself to a rigid perpendicular by planting his hands on either side of +him and putting his weight upon them.</p> + +<p>"Shore 'nough?" he burst out.</p> + +<p>"Shore 'nough!" I answered, with a positive nod. "Give me some of your +white lightning; I've grown used to fire."</p> + +<p>He picked up the bottle haltingly, as though constrained to unbelief in +spite of my words and my waiting hand, and placing his thumb over the +cob stopper, began to shake the contents furiously.</p> + +<p>"What's that for?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Shakin' th' fusic off!" he enlightened me, and it was a moment or two +before I figured out what he meant. Fusil oil in whisky rises; Jeff's +vigorous action was to diffuse it. His corruption of the word told me +that he was totally ignorant of what he really was doing.</p> + +<p>He drew the stopper with his teeth, and handed me the bottle. I think I +have said elsewhere in this narrative that drinking whisky is not one of +my weaknesses. That is to say, it is not a habit. I can scarcely +conceive of a man living thirty years in Kentucky without drinking a +little whisky. I knew the stuff I held was vile, but I put it to my lips +for two reasons. I was dead tired, and I wanted to set this contrary +creature's tongue to going on topics which would interest me. I took a +big mouthful, swallowed, and thought my time had come. Hot? My throat +closed up, tight, and for a time I could not breathe. My mouth burned as +though it had been cauterized. I slid from the table, choked, coughing, +my eyes running water. Back to the kitchen I tore for a draught from the +bucket on the shelf—for something that would unstop my windpipe. +Pelting my ears as I ran were the high-pitched, cackling notes of the +Satyr, volley after volley, as he hugged his knees and rocked and weaved +in unrestrained delight.</p> + +<p>"Whut's the matter?" he queried, in mock surprise, as I reappeared with +my handkerchief busy about my eyes and mouth.</p> + +<p>"No more o' that junk, Jeffy!" I replied, thrusting my hand into the +medicine chest on the wall and producing a quart of ten-year-old rye +whisky. "If I make merry with you I'll choose my beverage."</p> + +<p>"That's spring wadder!" he returned, contemptuously. "We feed that to +babies out here."</p> + +<p>"Spring water it may be, but it's stout enough for your uncle."</p> + +<p>I drew the cork as I spoke, placed my private brand upon the table, +found my pipe and sat down facing my strange guest.</p> + +<p>He proceeded to shame me by indulging in a very liberal potation, +smacking his lips with greatest zest at its conclusion, and winking +across at me in a manner intended to indicate his superiority.</p> + +<p>"Where's your fiddle?" I asked; not that I cared especially, but it was +incumbent upon me to be agreeable.</p> + +<p>The Satyr jerked a grimy thumb toward the window which had just admitted +him.</p> + +<p>"Out thur on th' binch. 'S wropped up 'n' th' jew won't hurt it."</p> + +<p>In the short silence which followed, we got our pipes to going.</p> + +<p>"Was that you whistling a while ago?" I continued, after waiting vainly +for my visitor to say something voluntarily.</p> + +<p>"That's me a-play'n'."</p> + +<p>"Playing?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, play'n' a reed. Fus' thing ever I got music out o'."</p> + +<p>Again his hand was hidden in his tatters for a moment, and came out with +what appeared to be a long, slender stick. This he placed to his mouth +after the manner of a clarinet player, and blew a pure, flute-like note. +Then I saw the instrument was hollow, with little round holes along its +length.</p> + +<p>"Pipes o' Pan, by Jove!" I breathed. "Make me some music, Satyr."</p> + +<p>Already I was aware of the effect of that mouthful of white lightning. A +slow but sure elation was beginning to buoy me up unnaturally, and I +felt the ebullience of spirit such as follows the knowledge of some +great joy.</p> + +<p>"Pipe for me, you heathen minstrel!" I added, smiling at him with +narrowed eyes. "Draw from that piece of wood the things the birds, and +the trees, and the brooks, and the flowers have told you. Trill me a +moonlight roundelay, such as inspires the feet of fairies; make me see +the wood violets nodding in the warm dusk, and let me hear the drone of +bees in the tiger-lily's cup. Sound for me the dream-song of the runlet, +as it whispers and babbles over its pebbly bed and between its +moss-draped banks in the silver starlight. Bring me the low love-message +of the dove when the breeze is but a sigh, and the witch-light from a +sun just sunk fills all the forest with a chastened radiance, and makes +it one vast sanctuary upheld by a million pillars. It is there your +patron lives—the great god Pan! Tell me not you've never heard him by +the river bank o' quiet days, when the squirrels sleep, and the +chipmunks drowse, and the birds forget their tunes. Belike you've never +seen him, for to mortals he remains ever invisible; but you, O Satyr, +are most surely a cousin, if not nearer kin, and it may be you and he +have danced many a bacchanalian revel together. Dost know him—the great +god Pan? Goat-legged, horn-headed, pleasure-loving, with his pipes to +while the time?"</p> + +<p>I did not stop to consider that this outburst was jargon pure and simple +to the ears which received it. My mind had suddenly become gorged with +poetic thoughts, and I poured them out upon the helpless head of Jeff +Angel.</p> + +<p>"Fur Gawd's sake!—air yo' plum' gone?" he exclaimed, in unfeigned +alarm, casting a rapid glance around as though meditating flight.</p> + +<p>"That's what your juice did for me," I explained, laughing to reassure +him of my sanity. "One more swallow, then we'll have a tune!"</p> + +<p>We pledged each other from our respective bottles, and the Satyr played.</p> + +<p>Again I find myself hampered, for I cannot translate that performance +through the medium of words. It was the most astounding exhibition I +have ever listened to. His work on the violin had been entirely beyond +the range of my comprehension, but then the dormant possibilities were +in the violin. What was there in this slender reed? Unguessed miracles +of sound! I sat and stared at the grotesque form on the box, wondering +at first if I really was so intoxicated that my imagination was acting +the ally for this vagabond artist. No, the ability of this uncouth +musician was real, and my appreciation was only heightened by the subtle +power of the draught of mountain dew. As I sat and puffed in lazy +contentment, many a woodland pageant passed before my eyes. I saw all +the things for which I had asked, and more. Beneath his hands the dumb +reed became a sentient power; became a living, speaking force. Nature's +infinite secrets dropped from it in purest pearls of sound. I heard the +twitter of birds; the love-call, the anger-cry, the alarm-shriek, the +mother-croon. I heard the wailing sweep of the wind when the storm +gathers and hurls its invisible battalions upon the countless army of +trees. I heard the wordless lisp of the matin zephyr when a new, fresh +breath moves across the world at dawn. I heard the vesper sigh like a +prayer from tired lips. I heard the whistle of the dove's wing in its +startled flight, and the quail's liquid call. I heard the holy hymn of +midnight when the moon hangs big and yellow, and the numberless strings +of the Ancient Harp vibrate softly to her summons. I heard the sweet +purling of running water, and the barely audible echo of an insect's +hum.</p> + +<p>I had no word of praise or compliment when Jeff took the pipe from his +lips and carelessly laid it aside. What I had just given ear to was +beyond platitude or fervent adjective; beyond comment. Silence was the +only true meed which might be accorded it, and this I gave.</p> + +<p>Jeff sighed, twisted his shoulders as though to rid himself of a cramp, +ran his tongue over his lips, and picked up his bottle.</p> + +<p>"Wuz that whut yo' wanted w'en yo' 's talk'n' out o' yo' head?" he +ventured, with a coy, sideways movement of his chin.</p> + +<p>I nodded. Here was a combination worthy of profound study. Totally +unlearned, depraved but not debased, with a soul so full of music that +even his besotted state had no power against it. I failed to understand.</p> + +<p>For an hour thereafter I strove with all the skill at my command, used +every artifice, to draw the Satyr out, and make him tell what he knew. +In vain. He saw through each device; he avoided each veiled trap. He +drank often, and good-naturedly insisted that I should imbibe every time +he did. There was no help for it, but presently I was taking no more +than a thimbleful at a time, for I realized that my condition was +becoming most uncertain. Jeff seemed proof against the stuff, for he +poured it down recklessly, without any noticeable effect. But when he +arose to his feet after a while to feel in his trousers pocket for a +match, I saw results. He giggled, swayed, and quite suddenly sat down +again. I hospitably got up to supply his needs from a box on the mantel, +when to my dismay and great surprise I discovered that the room was +beginning to turn around and the furniture to do a silent jig. I drew my +face down sternly to rebuke myself for this hallucination, and started +determinedly toward the mantel. Where was the mantel? As I sat it was to +my left. When I stood it was in front. Now it was to my <i>back</i>! I +whirled angrily, and bumped into Jeff Angel, who had risen to renew the +investigation of his trousers—I mean pants. Jeff didn't wear trousers; +he wore pants—and that's too dignified a name for them. We bumped, +instinctively grappled, and naturally came to the floor. Jeff fell on +top; I felt that abominable chin-tuft tickling my neck. I pushed him +off, and in a few moments we had gained what I shall term an oblique +perpendicular. That is, both his feet and mine were on the floor, but +his were some distance away from mine, and we were mutually supported by +our intertwined arms. He regarded me with a watery leer, and one eyebrow +tilted, while I endeavored to look very dignified; with what success I +of course cannot say.</p> + +<p>"Y's damn good feller!" averred my cup companion, blinking laboredly.</p> + +<p>I managed to move my feet forward a little, and to straighten my leaning +body correspondingly. Then I bethought me that I was host, and my guest +wanted a match. I looked for the mantel; it was not in sight. I turned +gravely to my <i>vis-a-vis</i>.</p> + +<p>"Whersh man'l?" I asked, when a weakening of my waist muscles caused me +to bend forward and then back in a most awkward manner.</p> + +<p>Instead of replying to my question, the Satyr, with eyes glassily set on +vacancy, began some more of his infernal doggerel.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Possum live in a holler tree,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Raccoon any ol' place;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rabbit takes a drink o' booze<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'N' spits in a bulldog's face!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This classic quatrain was delivered after repeated efforts, and I bowed +my approval as the silly sing-song came to an end.</p> + +<p>Just how it was managed I cannot say to-night, as I sit with aching head +and write the story of my shame, but in some way we found our original +seats.</p> + +<p>"Hongry, ain't yo'?" asked Jeff, with what I thought a sardonic look.</p> + +<p>"No 'm not 'ung'y."</p> + +<p>"Yes yo' air—hongry fur news! Huh? He! He! He!"</p> + +<p>I swallowed, and fixed on him a stony stare. He was going to relent.</p> + +<p>"I's hongry onct—belly hongry—'n' yo' give me good grub. Now yo're +hongry—heart hongry—'n' I'm a-goin' to fill yo' plum' up!"</p> + +<p>I essayed to cross my knees to assure myself that I was actually all +right, but something went wrong with my lifted leg. It fell short, slid +down my other shin, and lodged on the instep in a most unique twist. I +let it remain. Bemused as I was almost to the point of helplessness, I +yet knew that the Satyr had far greater control of his faculties than +myself, despite the enormous quantity of poison he had consumed. I could +listen acutely, however, if my speech was difficult.</p> + +<p>"Go on," I encouraged, doing the two monosyllables without a hitch.</p> + +<p>"Th' gal lied to th' pries' 'n' th' pries' tol' Granny, didn't he?"</p> + +<p>This abrupt and startling declaration almost dazed me.</p> + +<p>"Howje know?"</p> + +<p>"I's to th' P'int t'other day; jes' drapped 'roun' 'n' heerd d'rec'ly +thur'd ben a tur'ble stew. Granny tol' me 'bout it, 'n' how she'd druv +yo' off on 'count o' whut th' pries's niece tol' 'im. She lied, though, +sho!"</p> + +<p>"Howje know?"</p> + +<p>"Granny 'lowed yo' said so, but I knowed it w'en it hap'n'd, 'cus I'm +al'ays perk'n' 'roun' in onexpected places. I wander consid'ble."</p> + +<p>"Whurruz zhe?"</p> + +<p>"That vine-house ain't fur frum th' hedge, 'n' I jes' hap'n'd to be +layin' 'long t'other side 'n' heerd all yo' said. So I ups 'n' 'lows to +Granny 'n' Lessie that you tol' th' truth 'n' th' gal lied, 'cus I heerd +ever'thin'."</p> + +<p>"Whusshe do?"</p> + +<p>"She sot thur lak a mud woman, a-wink'n' 'n' a-swaller'n', her mouth +hung open lak a dead fish's—"</p> + +<p>"Whus <i>she</i> do?—Lesshe?"</p> + +<p>"She hugged Granny, 'n' she hugged Gran'fer, 'n' she hugged me, 'n' ez +she's hugg'n' me she tol' me we'd go runnin' that night, jes' on 'count +o' th' good news I'd brung."</p> + +<p>"I shaw you."</p> + +<p>"Huh?"</p> + +<p>"I shaw you—called—wouldn't stop. Why didn't yo' stop?"</p> + +<p>"Never heerd yo'; we's runnin'."</p> + +<p>The Satyr's recital was not given with the lucidity of my transcription. +It was halting, stammering, uncertain in places, but it imparted a +glorious truth which rolled a stone from my breast. Even in the depths +of my state of inebriety I was uplifted. I saw the light of day once +more, who had been following paths of gloom and horror. I remember that +I arose with the intention of grasping his hand to thank him, then a +veil dropped before my eyes and my mind went blank.</p> + +<p>I awoke this morning with my head splitting and every joint stiff. I had +spent the remaining hours of night upon the floor. My first thought was +of my visitor. I sat up and looked around, but he was gone. All of this +day I have been trying to get myself together. I was never drunk +before—beastly drunk. I never shall be again. It is not the physical +discomfort which causes me to make this declaration. That is bad enough, +but I am no cringing coward, and am ready to pay the penalty for any +conscious misdemeanor. It is the shame of it which makes me say it.</p> + +<p>When a man sets out to tell the whole truth about himself he has a task +before him. Willingly would I have omitted this scandalous episode; not +willingly, but gladly. I feel humiliated; I feel unworthy of that great +joy which surely will be mine as soon as I can see my Dryad. True, it +was for her I did it. I had to humor that antic creature to worm his +secret from him. My soul is at peace to-night despite the misery of my +mistreated body. Now I must go to bed, and I believe I can sleep. +To-morrow—to-morrow—oh, my brothers! did you ever go to bed in the +firm belief that to-morrow heaven's gate would open for you?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I VIEW AN EMPTY WORLD, ACT A HYPOCRITE, AND HEAR A CONFESSION +OF LOVE</h3> + + +<p>I sometimes wonder why it is that troubles pile up. Why they are not +scattered along through our lives, instead of being accumulated, and +then dumped upon our heads all at once. It doesn't seem like a fair game +to me. It seems as if something was taking advantage of our +helplessness. You see a fellow can rally under one or two back licks of +Fate, if they are not too hard, and if there's any sort of fighting +stuff in him. But when they come often, and come big and strong, his +knees get wobbly and his spirit sickens. Is he to blame?</p> + +<p>I find myself in some such strait to-night, for the open door of heaven +which I went to sleep thinking about is not open, at all. It might be—I +believe it would be if I could see Celeste, but she is gone. I marvel at +the steady hand with which I trace these words. It is not because I do +not feel. There are invisible fingers at my throat, and a spiked hand +about my heart. Each spasmodic throb seems to thrust the cardiac walls +against nettles. If my journal had not progressed so far I think I would +end it right here. It appears as if this is to be the logical end +anyway. Perhaps when I rise from my work to-night I shall gather up the +written sheets and toss them, so much scrap paper, into the black jaws +of the old fireplace. I don't know. I have come to look forward to my +night's writing. It is not a diary, you see. It is—well, it must be a +story, in a way, but how could we call such simple and homely things as +I have jotted down a story? I'm sure it is not like the other story I +wrote; the book which was published, and which no one would read. I made +that up out of the whole cloth. I wonder if people knew—and I wonder if +they will believe my word that this is the truth. But if I stop writing +to-night I won't have a story. Things have gone on and on, and here I am +mortally in love with Celeste Somebody, and elsewhere are the others I +have met who have touched my life in various ways. All in suspense, as +it were, awaiting developments. I can't end my journal to-night. That +is, I can't end it and expect any sane people to put it between book +covers. Wouldn't it be an innovation! The thought amuses me in the midst +of my heartsickness. But Celeste is gone, and with her gone there is +nothing more to say. I could offer little else than Mark Twain's +memorable diary on shipboard: "Got up, washed, and went to bed." She +must come back, that is all. I don't know where she is, nor how long she +will be away. These things I will find out. Here I have wandered on much +like a maundering old man, without first setting down the adventure of +the day, and then commenting, if so inclined. I beg pardon. To-night I +really am not fit, and should not attempt to write. But I have begun; +inaction would be galling, so I will continue.</p> + +<p>Was I astir early this morning? The first gray arrow, barbed with silver +and feathered with gloom, had not found my small window ere I was up +with a snatch of song welling from my throat, and hurrying for the big +washtub back of the kitchen which does the duty of a bathtub in +civilization. I had never been so completely happy since I was a boy on +my grandad's farm. I even wanted to whistle while I was shaving, I was +so full of song and laughter. Cooking breakfast was a jolly lark; eating +it a delicious pastime. Then I was gone like a deer breaking cover, the +door to the Lodge open to its fullest extent. She knew the truth, and I +might even meet her coming to me.</p> + +<p>As I ran easily through the forest on the now familiar way, I noticed +that my exuberant spirits began to decline. A foreboding of some +disaster crept stealthily and steadily upon me, until I actually had a +chilly sensation down my spine, and a woeful sinking in my breast. This +phenomenon, in common with many others attendant upon our daily life, +cannot be explained. I really suffered until I came in sight of the roof +which sheltered my beloved; then, as I mounted to the tree-bridge with +feet suddenly grown leaden, a numb calm gripped me. I stood and leaned +against the section of the root-wadded disk which projected above the +butt of the oak, little spiders of feeling scurrying out all over my +chest from a center above my heart. No signs of morning activity greeted +my despairing gaze. The house was silent and lifeless as the trunk +beneath my feet. No blue wood smoke curled up from the kitchen chimney. +Not even the dog was visible. Only from the comb of the chicken house a +lonesome guinea fowl squawked harshly. I dragged myself forward. When I +reached the house I went in a mechanical way to each door and window in +turn. They were fastened, but I discovered the dining room window was +without a shade or curtain, and to a pane of glass here I pressed my +face, shielding my eyes from the light with my hands. Slowly the +interior took shape. A table covered with oilcloth; a few low-backed, +shuck-bottomed chairs; a smaller table against the wall holding what +appeared to be a jar of honey; a safe with tin paneled doors stuck full +of holes in some kind of design; a fly-brush in the corner made of +newspaper slit into strips and fastened to the end of a piece of bamboo +fishing-pole. A bare floor, well scrubbed. I saw no one; I heard +nothing, though I listened for several minutes with parted lips. They +were gone. Everybody was gone. Where? Maybe just to spend the day with a +neighbor. I knew this was a rural custom. Hope flared up with a quick +rush to welcome this idea. Where were those neighbors? Ah, yes! The +Tollers! Celeste had told me of them the first time I had talked with +her. She had said they lived over the hill. So over the hill I fared in +a bee-line, ignoring the road below which in all probability would +conduct me to my destination. It was a hard climb, for the spur rose up +rugged and forbidding, but I was growing inured to such things and +scarcely noticed the exertion. When I reached the valley upon the other +side I came upon the road. Following this for a short distance I +discovered a log cabin, set dangerously near the bank of a creek. To one +side a huge black kettle was a-boil over a faggot fire, and by it stood +a woman stirring with a long stick the clothes she was getting ready for +the wash. Children were everywhere, like squirrels in a hickory tree in +nutting time. There must have been fourteen, and the oldest was far from +grown. At sight of me one gave a shrill little yelp, then there began a +mighty scuttling for hiding places. The majority made for the door of +the cabin, several found refuge behind convenient trees, while one of +the boys shinned up an ash as though in mortal fright. Two or three more +dropped over the shelving bank of the stream, and holding to the sod +with tenacious, grimy paws, thrust their heads up and watched me with +brilliant, dancing eyes. The smallest sought the protection of their +mother's bedraggled skirts, which they pulled over their faces, thus +stifling in a measure the piercing wails which had marked their progress +to her side. The woman turned impatiently at the hubbub, brushed the +smoke from her eyes, and peered at me with puckered face.</p> + +<p>I came boldly toward her. Already I knew she whom I sought was not here, +but I had to make my errand known.</p> + +<p>"I'm looking for—a person," I began, conscious that I was stating my +mission very lamely.</p> + +<p>A look of mingled craft and truculence spread over the seamed, sallow +face of the woman. What a pitiful appearance she made! I was assured she +was not over thirty, but she seemed nearer fifty. Hipless, +flat-breasted, stringy-necked; her hands and wrists red and rough. Her +scanty hair was pale straw in color, showed dirt, and was slicked back +and screwed into a knot about the size of a walnut on the crown of her +head. Her dress was—simply a protection against nakedness.</p> + +<p>"I 'low yo' 'd better git!" presently exclaimed this mother of many, +with painful directness.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I assented; "I'll git in a minute. Have you seen Lessie this +morning? It is she I want!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>The washed-out blue, almost vacant eyes popped open wider in instant +relief. Then I knew. Her man was a 'shiner, and she, seeing at a glance +that I was not of the vicinity, had visions of revenue officers and +penitentiaries when I vaguely declared I was looking for a person.</p> + +<p>"Air you him?" she resumed, squinting one eye and giving a little jerk +of her head.</p> + +<p>From which I judged that my fame had gone abroad throughout all the +region round about, and that her ambiguous query related to the unhappy +dweller on old Baldy's lap.</p> + +<p>"I'm him," I acquiesced, a dull misery making me careless of speech. +"Have you seen Lessie this morning?" I repeated, listlessly.</p> + +<p>The woman drew a deep breath of visible comfort.</p> + +<p>"Naw. She 's gone a-visit'n'. Th' hull kit 'n' bil'n' uv 'em tuk train +this morn'n' at peep o' day. I's over to Granny's yistiddy to borry a +chunk o' soap. She 's tur'ble worrit, 'n' tol' me she 's go'n' 'way fur +a spell."</p> + +<p>"Where have they gone?"</p> + +<p>"Snack Holler."</p> + +<p>"Where 's that?"</p> + +<p>"Lard knows! T' other en' o' th' worl', some'r's, lak 's not. Granny's +got folks thur."</p> + +<p>She turned to the kettle again and began to stir the clothes.</p> + +<p>"You say they left on the train from Hebron?"</p> + +<p>"I never said Hebrin, but that's whur they tuk train.... I wouldn't git +on one o' th' murder'n' thin's fur a sheer in th' railroad," she +confided, almost instantly.</p> + +<p>"Then they must be going on a long trip?"</p> + +<p>"To Snack Holler, I tol' yo'. Granny's got folks thur."</p> + +<p>"You don't know whether or not Snack Hollow is in Kentucky?"</p> + +<p>A doggedness born of desperation was goading me to find out all I could +about the destination of the fugitives, for I had no doubt this was a +move on Granny's part to elude me utterly and permanently.</p> + +<p>"'Pears to me yo' 've axed questions 'nough fur a plum' stranger, 'n' +I'm too busy to be pestered no mo'. 'T ain't none o' my business whur +Snack Holler's at, 'n' thin's whut ain't none o' my business I let +'lone. That's a mort'l good thin' to 'member, stranger—don't bother +'bout other people's business!"</p> + +<p>The unkempt brood among whom my approach had wrought such consternation +was beginning to make itself manifest again. Those who had fled +creekward now squatted on the verge of the bank; those who had rushed +indoors had inched out and lined up by the cabin wall; those who had +hastened to place the thickness of a tree between themselves and the +deadly danger which emanated from my simple presence now stalked boldly +in the open, while the infants had forsaken the folds of their mother's +dress and, on hands and knees, were diligently pursuing the erratic +journey of a spotted toad, punching him in the rear with their fingers +when he fain would rest. The tree climber was still wary; I could see +his slim brown legs and knotty knees dangling below a limb where he sat +astride.</p> + +<p>I had a prescience that this hill woman knew more than she had told me, +but how was I to get it from her after that last speech? It was safe to +assume the Tollers were good friends to Granny, and confidences were +just as essential to these people as to those more civilized. I +determined to employ strategy. Would it hurt my conscience? Bah! For +Celeste I would lie, or steal, or kill!</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Toller," I began, as though I had at that moment made a discovery. +"I declare you have a fine, handsome lot of children. All of them +yours?"</p> + +<p>I turned smiling from one group to the other. When my eyes came back to +the woman I saw with joy that her features had relaxed, and something +resembling a grin played about her bloodless lips. She quit work, and +beamed upon her frowzy, tatterdemalion progeny, proud as if each had +been a world conqueror instead of a dirt-enameled midgit of ignorance. +Ah! the simplicity and the beauty of motherhood!</p> + +<p>"Ever' chick 'n' chil' 's mine 'n' th' ol' man's." How her voice had +changed; a silver thread had crept into it where before iron had rung. +"Fo'teen uv 'em, sir, 'n' we've marrit fifteen year come th' fust o' +Jinnywary!"</p> + +<p>"Fine, healthy lot!"</p> + +<p>I rubbed my chin and took a fresh view of the spindle-shanked, +pinched-cheeked, tallow-faced little creatures, salving my conscience as +best as I could by bringing to mind that faulty old saw that the end +justifies the means. But I knew I was lying, and I wasn't used to it. +True this lie would do good. It would give happiness unalloyed to Mrs. +Toller, and I felt that I had put in a wedge with which I might prize +out the information I coveted.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Toller relinquished her grasp on the stick, turned her back on the +clothes, and folded her arms contentedly.</p> + +<p>"They <i>air</i> a likely look'n' set o' young-uns, since yo' 're kind 'nough +to say so. Co'se it ain't fur me to brag, seein' 's I'm they mammy"—she +could hardly speak that sentence because of the pride which tightened +her throat—"but they ain't none here-'bout, not ev'n over to Hebrin +way, whut's nice 'n' man'erly 'n' <i>ree</i>-specb'l, sho!"</p> + +<p>The peregrinations of the persecuted toad, after describing an irregular +semi-circle, had now led him near the spot where I stood. After the +patient reptile toiled the three infants; two of the same size and +apparently the same age, and one who had but recently reached the +crawling period. This one, by the way, was perpetually in the rear of +the procession, its single garment hampering its knee action and making +any sort of speed out of the question. The frog had become tired of his +enforced journey, and was getting harder to move after each diminishing +leap. Now it sat with palpitating sides, stubbornly refusing another +jump, while the finger of the lead tormentor prodded with dull +persistence at its posterior.</p> + +<p>Up to this time Mrs. Toller had paid no heed to the unique pastime of +her three youngest, such pursuits possibly having lost interest from +their commonness. Now, however, she bent suddenly forward, exclaiming +shrilly:</p> + +<p>"You Stephen Alec! Don't tech that varmint ag'in! Yo' wan' to hev warts +all over yo'?"</p> + +<p>Stephen Alec promptly drew back and thrust the hand which stood in +jeopardy behind him. He turned a loose-lipped visage to his angry +parent, then began a series of extraordinarily piercing yells.</p> + +<p>Behold my chance! I stepped forward and gathered Stephen Alec up in my +arms and sat him upon my shoulder. Then I tossed him gently. Next I was +sitting on the ground with my watch out against his ear. The yells +ceased, and presently brothers and sisters were crowding around me. I +told them a story—one of the old, old favorites which our grandmothers +used to quiet their children with, and before it was done a little girl +had slid up so close to me over the bare ground that, still talking, I +put out my arm and curled it around her and pulled her up onto my knee. +At that another came voluntarily and crouched against my leg. Presently +the whole ragged, unwashed crew were squeezing about me as close as they +could get, and I was digging in the unused recesses of my mind for the +most correct version of Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs. Poor Mrs. +Toller! Happy Mrs. Toller! She fluttered from the black kettle to my +group, back and forth, listening in silence, like one of the children, +then hastening back to the clothes. I must have acted entertainer for a +full hour, although I found it interesting, and did not tire. When I +signified my intention of going I encountered a vociferous denial, and +perforce must relate a number of the tales a second time. But at length +I was on my feet, and with urchins clinging to every available hold +about me, advanced to bid Mrs. Toller good-by.</p> + +<p>"I'm awfully glad to have seen you and all these bright little people!" +(I should have been ashamed; I know it.) "I must be getting on now."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Toller was actually embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"I mought 'a' spoke a bit mo' ceev'ly to yo' ef I'd 'a' knowed yo' 's +sich a nice man. A pus'n can't be too partic'ler, yo' know, 'specially +w'en th' man's 'way mos' o' th' time. Since th' chil'n' hev took to yo' +so I don't mind sayin' that Granny 'lowed to me she's tak'n' Lessie 'way +from th' neighborhood 'count uv a man, but she nev'r named 'im 'cus +people don't tell names 'n' tales too, ez a gin'r'l thin'."</p> + +<p>"Much obliged to you, indeed. Glad to have seen you. Good-day."</p> + +<p>"Good marn'n'. Come back ag'in ef yo' git lonesome."</p> + +<p>A half-hour later I was sitting in the porch entrance of the deserted +house at Lizard Point. Right there we had sat such a short time before, +and she had learned her A B C's. Down that winding path we had strolled +the first time I came to call, and she had struggled so to tell me of +the darkened house in which she dwelt. And I was going to help her. +Already I had helped her, and now—I ground my teeth in sudden rage and +leaped up. Where was Jeff Angel? Gone with them? Where was anybody who +could point me a way out? Father John! He might know something of this +remote spot with the classic name where Granny "had folks." I wanted to +see Beryl Drane, anyway. I had not gone to her before because I knew +well no good would come of it. To-day I wanted to stand before her face +in the presence of her uncle, and ask her why she had told that vicious +lie which had wrought such evil. I wanted to confront her with her +baseness, and demand an explanation of her wanton wickedness. The sense +of chivalry which was born in my blood and which had caused me to +shield her once at the sacrifice of myself, was gone. It was consumed +in the hot furnace of my wrath and indignation. I wanted +Celeste—Celeste—Celeste! I would move heaven and earth to get her, for +the wonder and mystery of her rare beauty and the hypnotic effect of her +sweet personality had combined fearfully to work havoc within me. The +elemental peace which brooded like a living presence over the earth this +sunny, summer morning became to me a disturbing, harrowing force by very +contrast with the awful tumult which boiled within my breast. I was +lonely—lonely and desperate. I had borne all I could. That terrible +week wherein I never saw the sun, nor heard a bird voice, nor felt the +soothing benediction of a breeze, had well-nigh worn me out, bodily and +spiritually. This crowning calamity I would not accept meekly. I would +fight it; I would disclaim its existence. It was unjust, unfair, +treacherous and cowardly. I had been honest from the beginning, and when +a man plays the game of life fairly and squarely, not even Providence, +or whatever Great Power there be, has the right to take advantage of +him, and seek to overwhelm him. I would dare everything—heaven and +hell, if need be—for the sake of this golden haired Dryad with the lips +of flame. She had been removed by force. Even a lover's mind is acute +when the object of his adoration is concerned, and I knew—I knew that +Celeste loved me! What else mattered? This compulsory separation? A +great surge of triumph heaved up within me, and the light of victory +came to my eyes. What poor, ignorant puppets these were, who had tried +to rob me of my rare jewel? The beacon of her bright coronal would guide +me to the furthest corner of the earth, and if need had been I would +have followed across sea and plain and mountain and desert; followed +with a fire-wrapped heart of deathless devotion, even as Three of old +followed a certain Star.</p> + +<p>Filled with mingled emotions, all primal, all superlative, so that my +head seemed encircled with a close fitting metal band, I took up my +march to Hebron along the dusty road. My mood was reckless. I wanted to +see that little she-cat whose low vindictiveness was at the bottom of my +present luckless plight. I would neither spare nor choose my words. +There was no gallantry lurking in my soul now to temper the accusations +born of an outraged and agonized spirit. I felt sorry for the little +priest, for he loved her well. But innocent suffer with and for the +guilty daily. It is part of that plan we are told to accept blindly, and +when we question it, however meekly and with the true and earnest desire +for light, we are haled forth with a rope around our necks as heretics +and atheists. Father John would have to witness the destruction of an +idol, for I was merciless, and knew the power was within me to beat down +any brazen denial this creature might utter. A mighty strange thing is +love, my masters!</p> + +<p>Across the home-made bridge I tramped, striding heavily. A figure stood +in the door of the smithy, leather-aproned, tall and strong. I strode up +the slope with bent head, and reached a point opposite him before I +looked at Buck. Arms akimbo, sturdy legs apart, a grin on his face which +broke into a low, deep chuckle as he caught my eye. I almost stopped, +while my fists knotted with the instinct of a savage. But I went on, +that rumbling, mocking laugh echoing in my ears. He knew she was gone. +Perhaps he had something to do with her leaving. That insulting, +gloating chuckle could easily give rise to a suspicion of the sort, or +it may have been he was in equally bad case, and had simply adopted that +method of tormenting me.</p> + +<p>I gained the priest's house with a feeling such as I imagine a tiger +possesses when it gathers itself together to spring upon its prey. It +was entirely alien to my nature, but it had been born of circumstance, +not of my will, and I made no effort to remove or curb it. The front +door was closed, probably against the heat. I pounded upon a panel with +my fist, ignoring the gentler and more refined summons it is customary +to give with the knuckles. As I stood waiting, restlessly turning from +side to side, I observed that the shades to the two windows visible were +drawn to within a foot of their respective sills. At this discovery a +wild and reasonless alarm seized me. I renewed my hammering on the door, +and even seized the knob, shaking it vigorously. A key grated and the +door was opened, revealing the gaunt face and bony form of Marie, the +housekeeper. Wonder and a sort of terror shone in her bright black eyes.</p> + +<p>"Father John!... Miss Drane!" I exclaimed roughly, brushing past her +into the hall. "Where are they? In the library? I must see them both at +once—together!"</p> + +<p>I stopped and glared at the woman with a menacing forehead.</p> + +<p>"His rev'rence an' Mees Bereel ees not here!" she said, simply and +calmly.</p> + +<p>"Not here! <i>Not here!...</i> Where are they?"</p> + +<p>"Gone. Mees Bereel goes home yest'day. His rev'rence go to Lou-ees-ville +wiz her, an' have not return'; <i>oui</i>."</p> + +<p>I made no reply, but left the house and mechanically turned back toward +the little hamlet. Gone! Was that the monotonous and deadly refrain to +which the world had been set running? All gone. Everybody gone. Wherever +I turned—gone. With sagging shoulders I plodded on, trying to think of +something else. Where was Snack Hollow? Where was Snack Hollow? Where +was Snack Hollow? This sentence raced through my brain with the +regularity of a pendulum's swing. Why, the station agent would know! I +had reached the foot of the steep hill, where the track ran, when this +illuminating idea was conceived. To my right was the small depot, +fronted by a platform of a height to unload freight upon from a car +door. Looking up suddenly under the force of my discovery, I saw Jeff +Angel seated upon this platform, his thin legs hanging from it, an +oilcloth-covered bundle at his side. He was leisurely eating cheese and +crackers from a yellow paper sack. What a glad sight he was to me in the +midst of an empty world!</p> + +<p>"O you blessed old Satyr!" I yelled, and ran toward him forthwith.</p> + +<p>"Whut's th' furse 'bout?" he asked, quietly, trying to smile a welcome, +but only succeeding in showing some imperfect teeth caked with cheese +and dough.</p> + +<p>"Why, damn your dirty, good old hide, I'm glad to see you!" I continued, +jumping to a seat at his left and squeezing his disengaged hand. "I'm +about two-thirds crazy, you know, and I need somebody to hold me when +the other third slips over. Think you can?"</p> + +<p>I nudged his skinny ribs jocularly. My mental condition truly was not up +to standard that moment.</p> + +<p>"Huh!" grunted Jeff, casting me a quick, amused glance.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you wait and have breakfast?" I asked, drawing a breath +which flooded the deepest cell in my lungs.</p> + +<p>I tell you it was good to sit by the side of that ragged piece of +flotsam. I felt hope coming back, for I knew he was my friend.</p> + +<p>"Woke up—thirsty 's 'ell. Your'n gone; mine gone. Had to hev some +liquor, so I lit out, easy, so 's not to wake you up. Had some muster, +didn't we?—Huh?"</p> + +<p>I nodded. I didn't care to review that night's doings.</p> + +<p>"See here, Satyr," I said, abruptly; "where's Lessie?"</p> + +<p>"She's 'ith Granny 'n' Gran'fer, I reck'n," he replied, with a +naturalness which for a moment caused me to wonder if he knew of their +departure. "Leas'ways, they lef' together," he added, after a brief +interval.</p> + +<p>"Where have they gone?—what did they go for?—when are they coming +back?"</p> + +<p>My companion tossed the last bit of cheese, rind and all, into his +mouth; inverted the sack and allowed all the crumbs to go the same way; +blew the sack up and burst it on his knee, and began to feel for his +pipe before he replied.</p> + +<p>"I don' know whur they gone. They went to git Lessie 'way frum you. They +'s com'n' back putty durn soon."</p> + +<p>"I know where they've gone! It's to Snack Hollow!"</p> + +<p>"Who tol' yo'?"</p> + +<p>The look he bent upon me was a mixture of pity and contempt.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Toller. I've just come from there. She was uncivil at first, but I +made up with the children, then she said Granny had told her she was +going to Snack Hollow, where she had some folks. Where is this place, +Satyr? I'm going, too, next train."</p> + +<p>"No ust, pardner."</p> + +<p>He scratched the dirty stub of a match on a plank, and lit up.</p> + +<p>"Granny—'n' Gran'fer—'n' Lessie—ain't a-nigh Snack Holler!"</p> + +<p>The fateful sentence came out in jerks, between puffs. I thought he was +trying to scare me.</p> + +<p>"You can't fool me, Jeff," I retorted, but my voice lacked assurance. +"How far is this Snack Hollow, and how soon can I get there?"</p> + +<p>With the greatest air of insouciance the vagabond fiddler chanted, in +the same sing-song with which I had grown familiar:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Raccoon got a ring-a-roun' tail,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Possum tail am bar';<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rabbit got no tail at all,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Jes' a little bunch o' ha'r!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was plainly immaterial to Jeff whether I believed him or not. Equally +plain it was that he knew what he was talking about.</p> + +<p>"I believe you, Satyr. But who told you?"</p> + +<p>He was instantly placated.</p> + +<p>"Nobody to' me noth'n', but I ain't no plum' ejit."</p> + +<p>"But Mrs. Toller—"</p> + +<p>"Look-y-here, pardner!" Jeff squirmed around and thrust his goat-tuft +forward. "Granny tuk Lessie 'way frum these here parts on 'count o' you. +She 'peared to b'lieve whut I tol' 'er 'bout th' gel lyin' on yo', but +they ain't no manner o' 'pen'ence to be put in Granny's notions. She's +made up o' contrair'ness, anyhow. She jes' got to mull'n' 'n' +a-brood'n', 'n' whut 'ith her trouble 'ith Ar'minty 'n' all she jes' +'lowed it's well 's not to light out fur a spell. 'N' hev yo' got little +'nough sinse to 'low fur a minute she 'd tell that long-tongued Ab'gail +Toller whur she's a-goin'? Yes, she tol' Ab'gail Toller she's a-goin' to +Snack Holler—'n' fur why? 'Cus she knowed yo'd come a-nosin' 'roun' +axin' questions, 'n' th' fust place you'd go 'd be right thur."</p> + +<p>I felt the water closing over me afresh at these words of doom.</p> + +<p>"But don't you know?" I urged, desperately. "Didn't you ask Granny?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I axed 'er, 'n' she 'lowed it's none o' my 'fair."</p> + +<p>"But you said they would be back soon. How do you know?"</p> + +<p>A sly grin crept to his thinly bearded lips.</p> + +<p>"Look-y-here, pardner. Me 'n' you's frien's. I've et yo' grub 'n' drunk +yo' liquor 'n' slep' on yo' floor. I know yo 're lovin' Lessie 'n' +lovin' her hones'. I 'm a-gunta bring 'er back to yo'. I said I didn't +know whur they went, 'n' I don't, but I've got my s'picions. It mought +be a week, 'n' it mought be a mont', 'n' it mought be longer. But I 'm +a-gunta do it. Never yo' min' jes' how I'll manage. Th' day I fin' 'em +that day they start home, 'n' I don't 'low they 's so tur'ble fur, +neither."</p> + +<p>I felt my throat choke up at this totally unexpected act of generous +devotion. I know my eyes grew moist, and it was several moments before I +could say anything.</p> + +<p>"Satyr, I—I—you don't know how much I appreciate this. I don't deserve +it. But—can't I go with you on the search?"</p> + +<p>Jeff Angel laughed his mirthless, jackass laugh before answering.</p> + +<p>"Lord, no! This here pleasure trip 's all fur me. You jes' hang 'roun' +'n' wait fur nooze!"</p> + +<p>"You'll need money—how much?"</p> + +<p>My hand started toward an inner pocket, but instantly Jeff's long, wiry +fingers had gripped it, and dragged it down.</p> + +<p>"Naw yo' don't, pardner!"</p> + +<p>There was a peculiar earnestness to his voice and an exalted look in his +bleary eyes as, holding my hand hard down on the platform, he resumed:</p> + +<p>"I wen' to hear Father John preach onct—jes' out o' cur'os'ty. He tol' +a tale 'bout a Feller whut some heath'ns nailed on a cross, 'n' that +Feller c'd a-he'p' Hisself if He'd a-wanted to, but He let 'em kill 'im +so 's a pas'l o' other fellows c'd live. Father John said 't wuz fur you +'n' me, too, 'n' ever'body, but I 'low he kin' o' got that part o' the +story crooked, 'cus that ain't natch'l. Anyhow, he 'lowed that whut that +Feller done saved th' worl', 'n' He done it 'ithout money 'n' 'ithout +price. That's whut stuck in my craw. Jes' think uv it! 'Ithout money 'n' +'ithout price! I ain't no sort o' eddicated, but it 'pears to me that +w'en a feller c'n do some'n' fur another feller 'ithout no sort o' +pay—some'n' that's shore 'nough, yo' know—that it'd make 'im holler'n' +'n' shout'n' happy fur quite a spell. That's whut I mean, pardner; 'n' +that's whut I 'low to do fur you—fur, b' gosh! I love yo'!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-ONE" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-ONE"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH, STRANGE TO SAY, TIME PASSES. ALSO I RECEIVE THREE WARNINGS, +AND WITNESS AN UNPARALLELED EPISODE IN THE SMITHY</h3> + + +<p>Four weeks have passed since Jeff Angel departed on his quest. Until +to-night I have not had the heart to face my journal. But to-day a +premonition came to me that my period of waiting was drawing to a close, +and pinning my faith to this invisible, silent herald which has spoken +to me before with prophetic voice, I take up my pen again.</p> + +<p>Jeff's loyal, true declaration almost stunned me. It was entirely +unexpected. I could not conceive of such self-sacrificing nobility in +him. I had given him no serious thought, accepting him for what he +appeared to be on the surface; a harmless, almost half-witted wanderer +in the wilderness about Hebron, cursed with an inordinate love for +strong drink, and blessed with the pure soul of music. And here, when my +case seemed all but hopeless, he had gladly and willingly volunteered +for a task which could be no light one.</p> + +<p>I pressed him to take some money—even a little; enough to insure him +against hunger, but he refused. He said he never had any trouble getting +food, and he was going to tramp. He needed nothing. He was going to +start at once—that afternoon. I made him come to the Lodge with me for +dinner, wished him quick success, and bade him God-speed with a strong +handclasp. He strode away chanting one of his absurd couplets.</p> + +<p>With his going a great sense of loneliness descended upon me. I felt the +cold hand of despair feeling at my throat. With an effort of will I +flung the deadening weight from me, and began to pace my plateau +vigorously, my hands behind me, my head bent in thought. I must not +prove a weakling or a craven now. Celeste would return. Jeff would find +her—or if he did not, I would. The world was not big enough to hide her +from me. A kind of mad joy flared out in my breast at the thought, and I +smiled fiercely. Jeff had said positively that they would start home the +day he found them. How did he know this? I had urged him to tell me, but +he had only laughed, and repeated his statement. I could not clear this +point, but I would not let it depress me. I was convinced the Satyr was +genuine, and that he knew what he was talking about.</p> + +<p>His time of absence was indefinite. That was the hardest of all to bear. +Had there been a fixed day in the future toward which I could walk with +the assurance that on that day I should greet my beloved again, I could +have gone laughing through the hours. But the uncertain waiting—the +rising of sun after sun and the falling of night after night, and the +still, empty minutes which must be lived! I strove to comfort myself in +those first few hours after my self-appointed messenger had left. He +knew these knobs intimately. He had been born in them, he had roamed +them all his life, he knew every nook and hiding place in them for +miles. He had also expressed his belief that the fugitives had not gone +far. Perhaps a few days would bring about our reunion; surely it would +not be longer than a week, or a fortnight at the farthest. There was +solace in this thought. And as I hugged this phantom belief to me my +furious pace slackened, and I continued my walking at a soberer gait, +still too perturbed to sit down and think quietly.</p> + +<p>How my heart ached for my vanished Dryad that afternoon! Let another +opportunity come! Nay, let her but come, and I would make the +opportunity. I had dallied. I had not listened to the promptings of my +heart early enough, and now a jealous old woman who did not understand +had snatched her from me. Then came the distracting thought that perhaps +Jeff would fail! Perhaps Granny's plan was deeper than it seemed, and it +might be that she had hurried away to some far and obscure part of the +Commonwealth, or even to another State. The fact that they were poor +presented no foil to this theory. People like her and Gran'fer were not +as poor as they seemed. They never spent except for the absolute +necessities, and during their long life together they had doubtless +saved and pinched until a goodly hoard was stored away in some nook or +hole. I believe I knew Granny's mind. It could never entertain but one +idea at a time, and it was an utter impossibility for her to view both +sides of a question. I pitied her even in my vexation. She had had ample +cause for the course she had adopted, and I was being made to suffer for +the sin of a cultured renegade from the higher world. Granny had decided +that all relations of whatsoever nature must cease between her +granddaughter and myself. She mistrusted me, in spite of the evidences +she had had of my sincerity and honesty. Since I would not go away, then +she would take Celeste away. To carry out her idea, I am sure she would +have sacrificed the savings of years. This was the thought which burned +hotly in my breast now. Then to my mind came the vision of Jeff Angel, +coming dejectedly up the road to my plateau, with the news that the lost +ones could not be found. Oh, it is a terrible thing, my brothers! To be +suddenly and swiftly swept into the maelstrom of a mighty love, and then +to be confronted by the possible loss of the girl who aroused this +feeling.</p> + +<p>That night I climbed the peak; climbed it by the soft light of the stars +alone, for the moon was young, and I saw it only after I had reached the +top—a crescent thread of silver cradled on the tops of the trees on the +furthest western range. Up there, between creation and infinity, as it +were, I applied all the philosophy I could bring to bear upon my case. I +got results, too, thank goodness! Had I not been able to persuade my +mind into a certain channel of common sense, I can't say what would have +become of me, for I was idiotically in love. Howbeit, I levied on the +very bases of my reason for strength and guidance, and deep down where +the fundamentals of character perpetually abide, I found that which +saved me.</p> + +<p>It was thus my sane self argued with my insane self:</p> + +<p><i>Insane Self</i>: If Celeste is not restored to me within a short time, I +shall go wild.</p> + +<p><i>Sane Self</i>: What's the good of going wild? Then you will be in no +condition to greet her when she does come, and may lose her forever.</p> + +<p><i>Insane Self</i>: I cannot rest, or sleep, until I see her again.</p> + +<p><i>Sane Self</i>: A suicidal attitude. Be sensible instead. Take the best +care of yourself, and so be fit in every way to welcome her back.</p> + +<p><i>Insane Self</i>: But, I must see her; I <i>must</i> see her soon!</p> + +<p><i>Sane Self</i>: Perhaps. Be calm. Nothing is to be gained by rashness. You +will only succeed in wearing yourself out.</p> + +<p><i>Insane Self</i>: I am on this peak to-night because of a racked mind. I +may climb it again before morning.</p> + +<p><i>Sane Self</i>: What of Buck Steele?</p> + +<p><i>Insane Self</i>: Ah!</p> + +<p><i>Sane Self</i>: What of Buck Steele? His love is just as great as +yours—perhaps greater, for he has not the restraining leash of a +cultivated mind. He is your rival. Is he sapping his strength by doing +without food, straying through the forest, and climbing mountains? No; +he is making those iron muscles harder every day at his forge, and when +the time comes when you and he face each other—as come it inevitably +must—he will twist you in two like a winter-rotted weed! He is +sensible; you are a fool!</p> + +<p>My insane self made no reply to this last speech, because it no longer +existed. I was effectually sobered. What Buck's laugh that morning may +have meant did not really matter. All day he had been on the outskirts +of my mind, but I had been too busy with other subjects to admit him for +intimate inspection and consideration. Now my sane self proceeded to +shove him forward relentlessly, and I accepted his presence as something +quite necessary, but undesired. Whether or not he sensed the approaching +encounter as plainly as I, of course I could not say. But I knew that a +bulldog resolve had lodged in his mind to have Celeste for his wife, and +it took no seer to declare that he would use every weapon in his reach +to prevent me from taking her. He had only one weapon—his superb +physical strength—and I knew he would arrange or provoke a meeting, if +none arose naturally. What would become of me then? Instinctively I +flexed my right arm and grasped the bulging biceps. Like rock. Not as +large as the smith's, I was sure, but might dwelt there. I felt my other +arm, my legs, and thumped my chest with my fist. Yes; I, too, was some +man. I was hard as nails all over, but I was fearfully tired. All I +needed was rest; good, sound, eight hours a day sleep, and presently I +would be fit. I must adopt a rigid system of living, and hold to it +faithfully until these parlous times were over.</p> + +<p>For perhaps two hours then my mind worked along rational lines, and when +I left my perch to carefully descend the perilous declivity, I realized +with intense satisfaction that I had myself admirably well in hand.</p> + +<p>The door to the Lodge stood open. I remembered distinctly drawing it to +after me when I came out, although I never locked it. The night was +calm. It could not have been blown wide by the wind. Not alarmed, but +vaguely uneasy, I entered and walked to the table. I knew a box of +matches was here, and I thrust out my hand. It encountered something +upright in the darkness; something which did not belong there, for the +object yielded to the force of my touch, to fly back in place when I +removed my hand. Nervously I fumbled about until I grasped the matches. +Swiftly I struck one, and in the light of its tiny flare I saw what the +foreign thing was. But I lighted my lamp very calmly, in spite of the +disturbing nature of my discovery. Then I thrust my hands in my pockets +and stood staring at the long hunting knife which had been driven +through the orderly pile of manuscript composing my journal, deep into +the oak top of the table. There it was, horn-handled, hafted, with a +murderous blade six inches long.</p> + +<p>I could not doubt its meaning, were I so inclined, any more than I could +doubt the big brown hand which had planted that steel blade so deeply +and firmly in the wood. It was a warning; a warning such as was given in +the middle ages, but the man who had delivered it belonged by right just +there. He dwelt in the same mental and moral atmosphere as did his +forebears hundreds of years ago. And his declaration of war was +assuredly convincing. Nothing could be more real, more significant, more +productive of contemplation, than that bit of imbedded steel, shining +threateningly in the lamplight. I gathered one comforting fact from this +sinister messenger. All was not well between Buck and Celeste. He, too, +was in the dark as to her whereabouts, and he, too, failed to nurse in +his heart any reassuring message given before she went away. Plainly +this man had reached a stage in his infatuation where he would employ +any means to rid himself of me. Doubtless he had come to square accounts +that night. He had found me out, had very likely waited, and when I had +not come his wild hate and mad rage had found expression in the savage +act whose result now confronted me. I remained for a long time looking +at that knife, and my thoughts were many. Grave, too, they grew to be, +as I traced the near future to a climax as fixed as Fate. There were two +ways, as there always are, but no third consistent with honor. I must +give up the Dryad, or I must kill or be killed. Neither alternative bore +rosy tints. The thought of taking a human life filled me with a +rebellious horror, but the thought of resigning Celeste—my +golden-haired, gray-eyed Dryad—to the uncouth caresses of the smith of +Hebron charged my inmost soul with a white-hot denial. I would not do +it. I could not do it. The decision had passed from my control. I would +wait for her; I would yearn for her sweet presence with all the power of +my spirit, and I would fight for her unto the death! Strange that not +once did the thought come that I might be vanquished.</p> + +<p>I put out my finger and rocked the weapon to and fro. It had been +planted well. Then I grasped the handle and strove to draw it out. What +a hold it had! In the end I had to get on the table with my knees and +take both hands to force the blade loose. A silly and jealous anger now +seized me at the power here shown. I took some unused paper, and made a +bundle as near the size of my manuscript as I could, and placed it on +the table. Then I set my teeth, gripped the knife, and lifting my arm +drove downward furiously. The stroke fully equaled Buck Steele's, as a +quick investigation showed, and brought a warm glow of animal +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>For the first time since I began life at the Lodge, before I went to bed +I dropped the heavy bar of wood into the brackets on either side the +door, thus making it absolutely secure. The windows remained open, as +usual, but I placed my revolver under my pillow.</p> + +<p>The next ten days would have been idyllic had I been entirely at peace. +As it was, I managed to absorb a great deal from them which strengthened +and comforted. Each was a miraculous procession of perfect hours. I had +laid down some simple rules of conduct which I followed strictly. I +arose early, bathed, breakfasted, took a course in calisthenics which +brought muscles into action mere tramping would not reach except +faintly, and did some garden work. The rush of recent events had +interfered with my horticultural notions lamentably, and now it was too +late for anything except corn and beans. I rested an hour after dinner, +and then walked until dusk. The quest of the life-plant had long ago +become mechanical, and I never stirred abroad without the consciousness +that I might find it this time. But I had come to believe of late that I +had no need for it now. Perhaps 'Crombie had diagnosed my case +wrong—had taken too much for granted, and had banished a man with an +ulcerated throat, or a bleeding gum. For the first time I remembered my +throat <i>was</i> sore at that interview! Could it be possible? I had never +felt better than at present, when the longest walks and the hardest +pulls over the steep knobsides were play. I was abed every night by nine +o'clock.</p> + +<p>My poise was speedily regained under this regimen. Vigor seemed to flow +into me, and I must confess to a certain pride in my superb physical +condition.</p> + +<p>Then one pearl-gray morning which promised a flawless day, I flung open +the door to find a piece of paper fluttering in my face. Right on a +level with my eyes it hung and writhed in the twilight breeze, as if it +was a live thing suffering from the bright new horse-shoe nail which +impaled it. With finger and thumb I disengaged the soiled, flimsy sheet. +It was a torn portion of wrapping paper, and bore a brief message; a +formless scrawl traced with a blunt lead pencil.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"THES HERE HOLERS AINT HELTHY<br /></span> +<span class="i0">FOR SITY FELLRS PLANE TALK<br /></span> +<span class="i0">IS BES UNDERSTUD"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was Buck's second warning for me to leave. Could he have known my +mental condition when I read the ignorant, threatening lines, I believe +even he would have hesitated before attempting any radical move to be +rid of me. I was not alarmed; I was not even annoyed. I am sure my heart +action was not accelerated at all. It may be surmised that I did not +comprehend the full significance of the words. But I did. They meant, +differently presented: "If you don't get away from here I'm going to +kill you." I knew what he meant to say, and I knew what he meant to do. +It must have been the consciousness of my bodily power which prevented +even the slightest tremor as I labored through the misspelled, scarcely +intelligible missive. I looked at it almost disinterestedly a moment +after I had mastered it, then crumpled it into a wad and tossed it +aside. At various times during the day I thought of it, but only as +one's mind naturally reverts to an incident. I did not suppose the smith +would ambush me. Apart from assassination, the belief was strong within +me that I could hold my own, and more, with him.</p> + +<p>The third Saturday after the disappearance of the family at Lizard +Point, I went to Hebron in the afternoon. A sense of supreme loneliness +assailed me that day, and I realized more than I had ever done that +mankind is by nature gregarious. In common with other animals, he must +have the fellowship of his kind. That Saturday morning the billowing +ranges seemed types of eternal loneliness, and the old walks which +heretofore had charmed were alive with the echo of dead voices. I +suddenly became aware that I wanted to see somebody, to hear a human +voice, however rough and untaught. I wanted to look into somebody's +eyes, to talk to somebody, to sit down by somebody, cross my legs and +smoke. The longing grew, until, at noon, I knew that I must see some of +my fellow creatures. Should I go to the priest? He was kind, cultured, +hospitable. No; I didn't want kindness and culture. I just wanted to rub +shoulders with mere <i>humans</i>. Besides, I would have been more or less +constrained with Father John. It was not in the nature of a mere man to +forget that Beryl Drane was at the bottom of all this miserable +condition of things, and had I gone to chat with his reverence, I should +have had to listen to fulsome praises of that—person, and should also +have been expected to add my little word of appreciation and compliment, +since I had had the rare pleasure of a brief acquaintance with the +paragon.</p> + +<p>I went to Hebron, with a fine large twist of tobacco in my pocket, and +an aching desire just to be with people.</p> + +<p>It was Hebron's busy day—or busy half-day, of all the week. Not until I +hove in sight of the little settlement and saw a row of horses hitched +to the pole near the store, and at least eight or ten persons in plain +view, did I realize the truth. In nearly all rural communities, all farm +work is knocked off at noon Saturday. Then dissipation follows in going +to the store. There is nothing else to do, unless one sneaks off to the +barn and goes to sleep on the hay, or slips down to the river and goes +seining. But seining was unlawful, and this was the wrong time of year, +anyway. It was early in the afternoon—not past two o'clock—and only +the advance guard had arrived. But the sight made me glad. I wanted to +mix, move and talk with the yeomanry that day. So I sauntered up the +road toward the store, paying no heed to the open-doored smithy as I +strolled by. Buck was one who could not let up this day, for more than +one horse's hoof had grown sore going barefoot a portion of that week, +waiting for this afternoon. Though I did not turn my head, I knew there +were a number of horses standing under the shed in front of the shop. I +had barely passed it when I heard a harsh, prolonged—</p> + +<p>"<i>Who-oa!</i> Durn ye! Can't ye stan' still a <i>minute</i>?"</p> + +<p>This was accompanied by the sound of scuffling within. I turned to see a +couple of urchins make their escape through the broad doorway, and I +could discern fright on their faces as their bare feet patted the hot +yellow dust of the road. They were headed toward the creek over which +hung the home-made bridge, and they did not stop nor lessen their speed +until they splashed into the shallow water. It was not sham terror, +either, for now they stood holding each other by the arms, and gazing +back at the shop.</p> + +<p>I wheeled in my tracks, and walked under the shed.</p> + +<p>I did not enter the smithy because there was no need. It was light as +day in there, and I would have been in the way then. I saw three people +and a mule, evidently young, and evidently fractious. It was a fine +yearling; fat, sleek, shapely. Buck Steele, with a small, elongated iron +shoe in his left hand, stood in a semi-profile position, facing the man +who had brought the animal in. A negro boy lolled by the forge, his hand +on the handle of the bellows.</p> + +<p>"Whut's th' matter 'ith th' fool critter?" Buck was saying, as I halted +under the shed. He had not seen my approach.</p> + +<p>"Fus' time, yo' know," returned the man, in a wheedling kind of voice, +thrusting his thumb under his bedticking suspender, and chasing it over +his shoulder with that member. "Yo' 'll hev to be kind o' durn keerful, +Buck"—he shifted his hold from the rope of the halter to the halter +itself—"'cus he didn't miss yo' an inch las' time."</p> + +<p>The mule was scared. It trembled at every move Buck made, and its eyes +were distended and rolling.</p> + +<p>"Nothin' 's ever passed out o' this here shop bar'-footed that a man +wants shoes on!" maintained the smith. "If yo' want this animile shod, +I'll shoe 'im!"</p> + +<p>"I shore want 'im shod!"</p> + +<p>The speaker took a fresh grasp on the halter, and his hairy visage +became contorted in an expression impossible to translate, as Buck +stepped forward and put his hand on the smooth withers of the young +mule. It shrank down under his touch, and blew short, gusty breaths. +Buck waited, patiently, until the animal became quiet, then, gently +patting the reddish-brown skin, he gradually moved his hand along its +side until he reached its flank. There he stooped, with low, soothing +words, and a great admiration for his courage found birth within me as I +saw him bend beside that sinewy thigh corded and bunched with muscles. +Gently his big brown fingers slid down the slender hock, then like the +rebound of a crossbow the satiny limb shot out in a paroxysm of untamed +fear. It was a lightning stroke, delivered so swiftly my eyes could not +follow it. Buck saw it start, infinitesimal as the time must have been +from its inception to its execution—perhaps he felt the steel thews +hardening under his hand—for he leaped backward simultaneously. This +action saved his life. As it was, the edge of the small hoof slashed his +forehead like a razor, leaving a crimson, dripping gap. It went just +below the surface, and did not even stun the smith. He staggered, it is +true, but from his own recoil, and was erect an instant later. Then I +witnessed a sight I shall never forget though I round out a century.</p> + +<p>The sting of the hurt and the treachery of the brute took all of Buck's +sense and judgment for the time. He was as much animal as the +four-legged one in front of him that moment. His bearded face became +convulsed horribly, his eyes shot fire, and with that red gash in his +forehead from which tiny streams trickled unheeded, he advanced one +step, drew back his arm, and struck that mule a blow which stretched it +dead before our eyes!</p> + +<p>I write the culmination of this incident with reluctance. Not from its +brutal and somewhat harrowing complexion, but from the fear that many +will be tempted to smile tolerantly, and in the kindness of their hearts +forgive this one most palpable fiction in a book of fact. But it is +true, nevertheless, and I venture to declare it will be a tale in the +knob country long after later and lesser things have been forgotten.</p> + +<p>As the mule fell the negro boy screeched and climbed out the nearest +window. A minute later the shop was full of an excited, noisy, inquiring +crowd. Some one led Buck to the tub of water in which he cooled hot +iron, and bathed his wound, never worrying as to whether this especial +water would be entirely sanitary. The carcass quickly became the center +of a circle of amazed countrymen, and I, the only silent one present, +leaned against the jamb of the door and slowly filled my pipe. The +demonstration which I had just witnessed was not particularly +comforting.</p> + +<p>A youth of about nineteen stood near the mule's head. He was barefooted, +and the sum total of his apparel consisted of two garments; a shirt with +only one button, which was at the throat, and a pair of pants (not +trousers) which came to an abrupt conclusion several inches above his +big ankle bones. He wore no hat of any description. Had he possessed one +when the alarm was given, it had disappeared in the hurried rush which +followed. This youth was powerfully impressed.</p> + +<p>"Daid!... Plum' daid!" I heard him exclaim, in an awed undertone, +withdrawing for a moment the fixed gaze with which he had regarded the +mule ever since he came, to give a sweeping glance of incredulity +around.</p> + +<p>"Daid ez a nit he is, fur sho!" agreed another, a merry-faced fellow +with a rotund paunch, over which the band to his pants refused to meet. +"A hunnerd 'n' fifty dollars' wuth o' live meat turned to cyarn in a +secint.... Who's gunta pay fur it? Whut 's th' law, 'Squar?"</p> + +<p>He looked at a big, full-whiskered man with his back to me.</p> + +<p>The 'Squire cleared his throat and felt for his tobacco.</p> + +<p>The mule's owner thrust forward in the interim, and brought up just in +front of the magistrate.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I wan' to know th' damn law on th' subjic', too!" he bellowed, +making no apparent effort to curb his feelings. "Wuth a hunnerd 'n' +sev'nty-five—wuth two hunnerd wuz that mule! Six foot 'n' 'n inch—thar +he is! Measure 'im if yo' don't b'lieve me! Th' bes' yearlin' in my +barn—mealy-nosed, to boot! So much good cash to be drug out to th' +buzzards—<i>damn</i>!"</p> + +<p>He spat on the ground and twisted his booted heel in rage.</p> + +<p>"This is a onusual case—I mought say a on-pre-ce-dinted case," drawled +the 'Squire, in a conciliatory voice. "We'll settle it right here 'n' +now, a'cordin' to th' test'munny 'n' my readin' o' th' law, ever'body +bein' 'gree'ble. Yo' c'n take it to th' cote, sholy, but th' lawyers 'll +eat yo' up. Bes' settle am-am-am'c'ble, right here 'n' now."</p> + +<p>At this juncture Buck's tall form arose from beside the tub, where he +had been sitting on a nail keg while a motherly Hebron matron had put +balsam to the hurt, and bound it with a white cloth. He came slowly +forward, his leathern apron still about him, and pushed his way through +the ring.</p> + +<p>"Whut yo' mouth'n' 'bout, Bart Crawley?" he demanded. The fire in his +eyes had died to a smoldering gleam, but his mood was ugly.</p> + +<p>The man addressed looked at him, then immediately shuffled back a +little.</p> + +<p>"That's th' bes' hoss mule in these parts—"</p> + +<p>"Yo' mean he <i>wuz</i> th' bes' hoss mule!" interrupted Buck, in a spirit of +reckless deviltry.</p> + +<p>Crawley flushed, paled, clenched his fists and glared hate at the +speaker.</p> + +<p>"Here now, men," spoke up the 'Squire, laying a knotty hand upon the +shoulder of the owner. "Leas' said's soones' mended. They's no manner o' +ust carry'n' hard feelin's any fu'ther.... Buck, shet up!... Bart, keep +<i>yo'</i> trap shet till I git th' straight o' this. Whur's th' witnesses'? +Who saw th' killin' o' this here mule?"</p> + +<p>His head went up, and his eyes roved over the packed interior of the +shop.</p> + +<p>Just then I wished myself away. Could I have foreseen the public inquiry +now afoot, I certainly would have put myself beyond reach, for Buck was +to blame in this affair, and my testimony would necessarily show it. +Naturally I did not want to arouse any ill-feeling I could avoid. +Perhaps even now I might slip away unobserved. But the thought was +doomed even as it flashed into my mind. Bart Crawley promptly made +answer.</p> + +<p>"Me 'n' th' nigger 'n' Buck—'n' him!" pointing triumphantly at me.</p> + +<p>Instantly every eye was turned upon me. I looked straight at Buck, +calmly and steadily. His return stare was ominous, and during the brief +time we held each other's eyes, I believed I read in his the message +that he had waited as long as he was going to—or could.</p> + +<p>The voice of the 'Squire, speaking in slurring accents, broke upon the +silence which had fallen. He plainly was making an effort to uphold the +dignity of his high office, from the painstaking way in which he +delivered himself.</p> + +<p>"Bart, ez owner o' th' defunc' animile, I 'low yo've got fus' say. Tell +jes' how, 'n' w'y, this here yearlin' hoss mule wuz struck'n down daid +by Buck Steele."</p> + +<p>Mr. Crawley, holding that the relation of any incident would be +imperfect shorn of the minutest circumstance preceding, as well as +accompanying it, began thus:</p> + +<p>"Well, 'Squar, this mawn'n' at feed'n' time, 'long 'bout sunup, I +s'pose, ur it mought 'a' ben a bit before, I tol' my boy Tommy—my +secint boy, th' one 'ith th' harelip, yo' know 'im—that I 'tended to +hev shoes—"</p> + +<p>"They 's no ust o' tellin' whut yo' et fur breakfus', Bart," broke in +the magistrate, with unconscious irony. "Begin at th' time w'en yo' +entered into this here shop with yo' mule."</p> + +<p>"Well," resumed Mr. Crawley, "I rid up to th' do' 'n' slid off o' my +mule, 'n' said, 'Mawn'n', Buck, how's yo' corp'ros'ty?' kind o' churf'l +lak, 'cus yo' know I don't hate nobody. Buck 's foolin' 'ith a wag'n +tar, 'n' 'peared kind o' grumpy as if he had n't slep' good ur else +some'n' he et had n't sot well with 'im. He grunted, sort o', by way o' +answer, 'n' I led my hoss mule in 'n' tol' 'im whut I wanted. They's a +couple o' Hir'm Toddler's kids in here then, scratch'n' 'roun' in th' +hoof-shav'n's hunt'n' hoss-shoe nails, lak young-uns 'll do. Well, Buck +didn't 'pear overanxious 'bout th' job, so to sweet'n his sperit a +little I tol' 'im a joke 'bout—"</p> + +<p>"I objec' to th' joke, Bart," interrupted the 'Squire again, in a very +judicial manner, clearing his throat as he had heard the judge do in +Cedarton.</p> + +<p>"All right, 'Squar, we'll pass th' joke but it's a durn good 'n'. Well, +then I tol' Buck that th' mule wuz green 'n' had never saw inside a +blacksmith's shop befo', 'n' Buck 'lowed kind o' vicious lak: 'Damn th' +mule, he'd shoe 'im green ur broke!' My joke didn't 'pear to sof'n 'im +one bit, but it's wuth lis'n'n' to, 'Squar. We've tol' it in our section +off 'n' on fur a matter o' two year, I reck'n, 'n' ever' time it's good, +sho! Well, Buck stayed grumpy 'n' got th' shoes, 'n' spite o' whut I +tol' 'im he marched right up to that animile's hind parts 'n' rech down +'n' grabbed a hock same 'twuz a ol' plow-hoss. Then th' critter let +drive, b'gosh! 'n' it come blame near bein' th' end o' Buck, I'm here to +tell yo'! Right then Hir'm's kids skedaddled same as if a skunk 'd let +loose 'n' d'rec'ly <i>he</i> come sa'nter'n' 'long 'n' leaned ag'in th' +door." The speaker's toil-twisted forefinger again pointed straight at +me. "Then I tol' Buck to be keerful, 'cus I saw he's in a' ugly way, 'n' +I tried to w'eedle 'im, kin' o' lak yo' would a spoilt kid. 'N' he did +go after that hin' foot some keerfuller th' nex' time, but fus' thin' +yo' know that hin' leg riz same as a snare-saplin' 'n' th' aidge o' that +hoof plowed a furrer plum' 'crost Buck's head. My guts went all trimbly +w'en I seen it, 'n' my knees got weak. 'Fo' God I thought he's killed! +But no, sir! Up he riz frum whur he'd jumped back 'n' scrooched down, +'n' he paid no more min' to th' blood in 'is eyes than if it'd 'a' ben +sweat. He retch back 'is fis', gen'lemen, same 't wuz a sledge-hammer, +'n' he slewed that mule! Same as Sam's'n killed th' 'Malekites in Holy +Scriptur 'ith th' jaw-bone uv a jinny! Down he fell, quiv'r'n' 'n' daid! +Didn't even bresh 'is tail onct, nur snort, nur bat a' eye! That +yearlin' hoss mule whut I say is wuth two hunnerd 'n' fifty dollars uv +any man's money, black ur w'ite. 'N' now he's buzzard-food, not wuth +haul'n' out o' this here shop. Gen'lemen, I want jestice!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Crawley had managed to work himself up into rather a fine frenzy as +he talked, and he gave a dramatic and telling illustration of how the +mule met his end. When he concluded with a sweeping gesture entirely +devoid of meaning, a quick survey of his audience showed me plainly that +public sentiment was on his side. A few moments of absolute silence +prevailed, broken at length by the rustling of the 'Squire's horny hand +as he shoved it into his pants pocket for another chew. The occasion was +one which required plenty of tobacco. He gnawed off a generous portion +of the plug after much head-twisting, but as he prepared to resume the +investigation something happened.</p> + +<p>The smith had remained quiet and silent during Bart's elaborate recital, +but his somber eyes had never left the other man's face. With the +impassioned, if crude, harangue with which Bart concluded his testimony, +I noted portents of a storm. The dominant elements in Buck's nature were +purely barbarian. He had suffered much of late, and self-control was +something which he did not know, even remotely. Later he probably would +be ashamed of the blow he had dealt the harmless thing at his feet which +had been obeying its instinct in offering resistence to something which +it feared. But that moment such reason as Buck habitually possessed was +submerged in a black wave of hate. I saw it coming, from my position by +the door. I saw flashes beneath the down-drawn lids, restrained heaving +of the big, hairy chest, hands which were fists and hands alternately, +and on the heavy features an expression nothing short of devilish. He +waited a while after Bart finished—waited until the 'Squire had +succeeded with his chew, then he took two swift steps and faced the mule +owner.</p> + +<p>"Yo' damn dog!" he hissed. "I c'd th'ow yo' thoo that winder! I c'd +wring yo' naik lak a chick'n! I c'd lay yo' 'crost that anv'l 'n' break +yo' back lak a splinter o' pine, 'n' yo' know it! But yo're not wuth it! +Damn yo' 'n' yo' mule! Damn th' 'Squar! All o' yo'—to hell with yo'!"</p> + +<p>Accurately, deliberately, he spat a mouthful of ambier on Bart Crawley's +nose, then turned and left the shop, people falling back in fright +before him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Two hours later I turned my face toward Bald Knob. The investigation was +never finished, partly because it was unanimously conceded Buck was in +the wrong from the manner in which he had behaved, and partly because +Bart struck out at once for Cedarton to prefer charges against the smith +and swear out a warrant for his arrest. The unexpected and startling +denouement wrought consternation in the shop, and the opinion was given +freely that Buck must be "off." Certain it is he left Hebron at once, +going up the railroad, and no one followed him. The crowd instantly +gathered around me with many honest, well-intentioned questions, and I +told them frankly that as far as I knew Bart had told the truth. Many +and divers were the comments anent Buck's queer actions, but a simmering +down resulted in the generally accepted opinion that he surely was +"off." I thought this, too, in a measure, although I did not speak it, +for I knew things which the people of Hebron did not.</p> + +<p>But I tarried among them for the space of two hours, listening to their +uncouth colloquialisms and provincial sayings; and when, finally, a game +of horse-shoes started in the middle of the road just in front of the +store, and a self-appointed committee of two began to ascend the hill to +acquaint Father John with the only real event of the year, I started +home.</p> + +<p>I was not at ease. One of the reasons I had lingered was in the hope +that Buck would return. But he didn't. The man was desperate. I could +doubt it no longer. He was half crazy. Ordinarily he would have +compromised with Bart. He was now simply an unchained devil, loose and +bent on mischief.</p> + +<p>My feelings were not soothed when I reached the Lodge. Pinned to the +door with the same nail which had held the message was a sheet of my +writing paper, and on it was a large, rude cross, traced with a finger +which had been dipped in blood.</p> + +<p>It was the third and last warning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-TWO" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-TWO"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I SPAR WITH DEATH</h3> + + +<p>The past week, culminating on the night in I which I sit and write with +barred door and shuttered windows, has been a hard and dangerous one for +me. Three times have I escaped death so narrowly it would seem +Providence had a hand in the game. On no occasion was the would-be +assassin visible, but I knew well chance had not aimed these well +directed blows at my life. I can't understand Buck's tactics. They are +hidden, merciless, savage in their deadly intention. I had not thought +he would stoop to this. I had eliminated this contingency when +considering my plan of action. It was incredible, but no doubt lingers +in my heart to-night. Buck Steele is trying to murder me secretly, and +in such a way that it would seem the result of an accident. His plots +suggest the cunning of an unsettled mind, but, while it certainly is +strained under the force of his mad passion, I do not believe Buck's +brain is unbalanced. He wants me out of the way, but at the same time he +wants to avoid any odium, and be free to live his life here at Hebron. +He knows that if he kills me openly it will mean, at the least, exile. I +have thought long and often over the problem, and I am sure I have come +upon the right solution. That he does not compel a meeting which could +result in a fair fight, from which no especial blame would revert to him +should he prove the victor, is simply because he is afraid to undergo +the risk—to accept the possibility of being killed instead of killing. +I do not mean by this that he is a coward, but his desire for Celeste +has so wrought upon him that he is casting aside all chances for defeat, +though his sense of honor and fair play, if he had any, goes with them. +He has become a scheming machine, and a most formidable one, I must +confess. Now I will make a brief record of what has taken place the last +seven days.</p> + +<p>Saturday night, at bedtime, I debated the question of closing the Lodge, +following the discovery of the final, crimson warning. I hesitated to +confess to myself that I had begun to feel fear, but something had waked +within me that whispered I must be careful from that hour. I don't think +I would have known this feeling had my enemy been open and fair in his +movements. But it is human nature to dread the invisible terror which +lurks in the dark, and I knew that I was doing the sensible thing when I +barred my door and dropped the shutter of the window next my cot. I made +this shutter secure by a long hook which fitted into a large staple. +Before I blew out the lamp, I looked at the other window for a long +time. At last I decided that Buck could not squeeze his bulk through the +opening, and went to bed.</p> + +<p>I fell asleep quickly, although my mind was not at ease. This mental +condition must have led to my waking about midnight, which was an +unprecedented thing. I lay and listened. I heard something, and it was +not the wind; for, though a breeze was soughing in the pines without, +the sound of footsteps was distinctly audible. They paused at the door, +passed on to the closed window, paused again, then went around to the +open window. Quietly I slid my hand under my pillow and drew out my +revolver. Luckily, I lay facing the small opening. Otherwise I would +have feared to turn, on account of the noise the act would have +involved. The square aperture was barely discernible, and I judged from +this the night was cloudy. Fixing my gaze on the window with the utmost +intensity, I raised my weapon and waited, determining at the same time +not to fire until I saw that my life was in danger. A formless shape +blotted the square of less dense gloom, and for a time there was +silence. I think the prowler was trying to locate me, and I breathed +softly, making no sound. The wait was interminable to me, though in +reality I suppose it was not over a minute. Then the shape at the window +swayed from side to side, noiselessly, sank down, to reappear at once. I +heard a rustling, a muffled tattoo like a dry bean pod makes in an +autumn gust, and while my mind was yet filled with wonder as to what was +going to happen, the shape twisted grotesquely and I heard a slithering +as of one body over another. The next instant something cold and crawly +struck my upheld wrist, slid across it, and dropped with a fleshy thud +on the floor. Horror gripped me then. Horror supreme and terrible. I +could have shrieked had my voice not been shut in my breast. I trembled +from head to foot, and icy waves swept me all over. What was that? What +could it have been but——At that moment one of the most appalling and +nerve-racking sounds arose that ever turned a mortal's blood to water, +and his brave courage into craven cowardice. It was the hair-raising +warning of an angered rattlesnake! With a snarling cry of sheer terror I +sprang up in bed and fired at the window—three times before I could +control my forefinger, which was acting automatically. The act was +spontaneous. I did not shoot with the desire to hit anybody. None of the +bullets passed through the window, as I discovered the next morning. +Following the reports was the sound of some one running, accompanied by +a second whirring rattle. Could that thing see in the dark? Was it +preparing to leap upon me? When the rattling ceased this time I knew it +would spring. Dashing the cover from me I threw myself toward the foot +of the bed, a clammy perspiration bursting out upon me as I did so. I +reached the floor. As I stretched a shaking hand toward the spot where I +knew the table was, to my ears came the evil sound of the impact of the +reptile's body against the edge of the cot, and its subsequent fall to +the planks beneath. In the stark stillness followed the sibilant sliding +of fold over fold as the monster coiled afresh—whispers of a hideous +doom. My palsied fingers touched the table, and presently I was on top +of it, crouching among my books and manuscripts, feeling feebly for the +lamp and the matches. Before I could make a light it sprang again, again +failed to surmount the cot, and dropped back. Four matches broke in my +clumsy grip, but the fifth struck. I got the lamp alight before I +turned. The sight was awesome enough, but far better the visible menace +than the death-dealing thing which moved in darkness. It was coiled +there, just at the edge of my bed. Great, thick, fleshy, splotched folds +interwoven into a sinister spiral, from the center of which arose the +rattle-capped tail, now vibrating with the rapidity of an alarm bell. In +front was reared the repulsive head; flat, gem-eyed. When I looked upon +this world-old emblem of treachery and guile, my normal being became +reëstablished with a suddenness almost amounting to a wrench. Now that I +saw, and knew; now that my brain could comprehend the exact situation, +and handle it, I became a man once more. But I would offer no apology +for my conduct the few preceding minutes. If it appears contemptible, it +must remain so. But I was never nearer dead from plain, simple fright +than I was during that time.</p> + +<p>I grew calm almost at once. The snake was dazed by the light, and made +no third assault, though still retaining his fighting posture, and +sending out that indescribable alarm now and then. I had dropped my +revolver when I threw myself from the cot, and now saw the weapon lying +among the bedclothes near the foot. I was master of myself again. +Quietly stepping down, I secured the revolver, and ten seconds later it +was all over. Then I opened the door and flung the carcass outside, came +in and barricaded the entrance again. No longer did I hesitate about the +open window, but went and fastened it in the same manner I had the +other. My foot struck some object. It was a pasteboard shoe box of +extraordinary size. I picked it up and walked nearer the lamp. One end +was slit down at the corners so that when the top was lifted it would +fall, as on a hinge.</p> + +<p>I placed the box on the table, took a stiff drink of whisky, found my +pipe, and lit up. I needed bracing, for when I grasped the full +significance of this foul and devilish attack, a physical nausea came. +The liquor brought a reaction, and I sat down in my nightshirt, puffing +vigorously and regarding the big shoe box in a fascinated way. There +were rattlesnakes about—plenty of them. I had heard them and seen them +on my many journeys through the wilderness, but I had always given them +undisputed possession of the especial territory they happened to be +occupying when we met. Buck had caught one; a patriarch from his size. +The capture was not difficult. These reptiles' lidless eyes have a very +short range of vision. A careful man with a forked stick can scotch one +whenever he wishes. The transfer to a box was also simple. All of this +he had done, and had then come in the middle of the night with the fell +intent of dropping that thing on me, asleep. I don't think I have ever +heard or read of a project equally as dastardly and devoid of all +feeling. It was something the very devil would shudder to confess.</p> + +<p>The second attempt to remove me in an apparently natural manner came +Tuesday.</p> + +<p>Sunday and Monday I kept to the plateau. I did not believe the smith had +reached that point of desperation where he would shoot me down openly, +and it was out of the question for me to remain a prisoner in the Lodge. +I had no doubt that I was watched, although I neither saw nor heard +anything to confirm this suspicion.</p> + +<p>I measured the rattler before burying it, and found it five feet long +and four and a half inches thick at the largest part. It was of mammoth +proportions for the Kentucky knobs, where they seldom exceeded three +feet in length. I was glad when the noisome thing was out of sight.</p> + +<p>Tuesday morning the thought came to me that perhaps Buck had fallen in +the clutches of the law. I was aware of a sensation of relief at the +probability, and the fact that two days and nights had passed without +any untoward manifestation would appear to render the idea altogether +reasonable. Bart Crawley, furious and revengeful, had started hotfoot +for the county seat Saturday to issue a warrant. It was the duty of the +sheriff or a deputy to serve it at once, and take the offender into +custody. I resolved to go to Hebron and find out. I knew I was taking a +great risk, for the road was lonely and secluded, and there was the +thick forest to traverse before reaching Lizard Point. No man could wish +for better surroundings in which to commit a hidden crime. And, however +watchful I might be, I would stand no chance whatever with my life +should an effort be made against it. There was not a rod of ground along +the entire route where an ambush could not have been successfully laid. +The outlook was depressing, but I decided upon the venture anyway, for +could I know the smith was lodged in jail, a grievous burden would be +lifted from my mind.</p> + +<p>There were no precautions I could take before starting forth. I simply +bore my stout stick in my left hand, and kept my right in the side +pocket of my coat, clasping the handle of my revolver. That was all I +could do. A sense of foolhardiness enveloped me as I strode down from +the plateau along the tree-bordered, vine-grown way. Would a truly well +balanced person thus jeopardize his life? Most likely he would not. But +a certain recklessness of spirit had come upon me, begotten of the +Dryad's cruel absence, my long wait, and the abrupt aggressiveness of +Buck. When a man's temperament becomes surcharged with a sentiment of +this color, you may look for him to do things which had not even +bordered his existence in saner moods. As I proceeded without +molestation, a sort of dogged defiance gained ascendency and my head +went higher, while my face became set in a mask of determination.</p> + +<p>I saw no one. I heard nothing but the peaceful sounds of Nature and her +creatures. Surely Buck was in the toils, or he never would have let this +golden opportunity go by unemployed. When I came to the tree-bridge my +apprehensions had vanished; I did not dread the remainder of the +journey. I was conscious of a sharp shock of pain when I looked at the +still empty house where Celeste lived. Had I yielded to the importunity +of the eager voices which began to clamor in my soul at the sight, I +speedily would have become undone. I have not written of the terrific +fight I have had since my sane self conquered that night on the peak, +but the reason for this is that I do not want to appear absolutely silly +in the eyes of those who may read these words. But it took all that was +in me to hold to the hard path of sanity and common sense. My love for +her of the wheat-gold hair—</p> + +<p>Quickly I crossed the bridge and turned toward Hebron, setting my teeth +on my lower lip in firm resolve, and walking rapidly.</p> + +<p>When I came within view of the hamlet I halted and listened. No ringing +sound floated across to me from the shop; the forge was still. I went +on, more slowly. Everything seemed to support the theory that my enemy +had been arrested. The smithy was open, but empty; the fire was dead. I +pushed forward to the store. Mr. Todler (I had learned his name only the +Saturday before) was not sitting on the porch this morning, and for good +reason. The sun was blazing hot, and fell squarely upon the cracker box +where the storekeeper was wont to rest. It is true he might have removed +the box to the other side of the door, where the sun did not reach, but +this would have involved some effort. I went in. At first I thought the +place vacant, and stood listening to some green flies buzzing and +butting their foolish heads against the window panes—panes so dirty +that they looked like mica. Then I saw Mr. Todler. He was stretched upon +the dry goods counter in a space about seven feet clear, his head +resting upon a thick bolt of unbleached cotton, a newspaper over his +face. Back of him were other bolts of different kinds, piled one upon +another, and on top of the whole lay a tortoise-shell cat, slumbering +peacefully. Mr. Todler was slumbering, too, but not peacefully. The +store was taking care of itself.</p> + +<p>Assuming that this singular person went to sleep with the expectation of +being aroused should a customer perchance arrive, I removed the +newspaper, hoping thus to waken him. But the sweet bonds which held him +were not to be loosened so lightly. He snored on, and I found myself +regarding his grimy collar, his frayed, soiled, green-and-yellow +necktie—one of the ready-made kind, where you stick a band through a +hole and it catches on a pin. I grasped his shoulder and shook him, for +the information I sought was of the first importance. He uttered a sound +which was the mingling of a grunt and a groan, and began to bat his +heavy lids slowly.</p> + +<p>"Whut yo' want?" he muttered, thick-tongued because of sleep which still +pressed upon him.</p> + +<p>"Is Buck Steele in jail?" I asked, quickly, for I saw symptoms which +pointed toward another period of unconsciousness.</p> + +<p>"Buck?" he said, faintly, and in a way which led me to believe that he +had not comprehended my question. His eyes had shut again.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Buck!" I cried, shaking him a second time, and lifting my voice to +a hard key. "Bart Crawley went for a warrant Saturday. Has the sheriff +got him yet? Answer yes or no, and I won't bother you any more!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Todler neither rose nor stirred under my vehement words, but his +eyes came open listlessly, he blinked at me for a few seconds, and +replied:</p> + +<p>"He wa'nt tuk w'en I we'n to sleep. Whut's more, he ain't a-goin' to git +tuk—not Buck!"</p> + +<p>This lengthy speech must have been exhausting, for Mr. Todler sighed +wearily at its conclusion, turned his head with a grimace, and slowly +dragged the newspaper over his face again.</p> + +<p>I did not thank him. The news had been too hard to win, and was too +unsatisfactory.</p> + +<p>The man was right. I saw clearly on the instant that Buck would never +submit to incarceration. He had graver business on hand than simply +obeying the law's behest.</p> + +<p>I began the return tramp with my spirit cast down and troubled. If Jeff +Angel only would come, and bring the Dryad! I would not—I could not +leave before her home-coming. Though a bloodthirsty blacksmith lurked +behind every tree in the locality, yet would I stay. If the next few +days found her back, I might manage to elude Buck, and get us away +safely. <i>Us!</i> Yes, she should go with me. Although I had made no +declaration, some intuition told me that all would be well could I once +more stand in her presence. Enough had come to my knowledge to merit +this assurance.</p> + +<p>I turned from the highway and took the knob road going past Lizard +Point. About a half-mile from the pike, the dirt road ran under a cliff +for a number of rods; a sheer limestone precipice fifty or sixty feet +high. It was here, although introspectively engrossed almost to the +point of abstraction, that I suddenly knew a danger threatened me. I was +striding swiftly along, and when the thought came I stopped abruptly. +Two more steps would have stretched me dead. For instantly I heard a low +whistling sound which gathered volume, something whizzed downward before +my face, so close that I felt the air from its passage and jumped back. +A huge stone, large as a half-bushel, struck the soft earth almost at my +feet, rebounded, and rolled over into a patch of fennel ten feet +distant.</p> + +<p>I looked up, rage giving me a daring which mocked at risk. Where I stood +I made yet an excellent target, but I did not think of this then. A +harsh laugh drifted down; I saw the thick foliage on the lip of the +precipice become violently agitated, and I fancied I heard the cracking +of dry twigs, as under a heavy, careless step. I could not follow, +though in my heart that moment I had the fierce desire to slay. I had +never known this before. It was awful—but it was also sweet! I could +have killed that creeping coward above me and laughed in joy. Something +became unfettered within me which I never knew I possessed. Something +which for the moment I could not have restrained had the object of my +wrath stood before me. In that instant centuries were bridged, and my +forebears of the stone age had a fitting representative in my being. +This wave of primal, mindless passion which bade me destroy ruthlessly +did not subside at once, and it was only after I had pursued my way for +some time that I experienced the resurgent flow of my normal self.</p> + +<p>I did not anticipate a second attack before I reached home. Each of +these cowardly efforts had been planned in advance, and had either +succeeded no one could have pointed at Buck Steele as my slayer. I was +safe for another day, at least, so, gaining a temporary relief from this +fact, I trudged on moodily to the Lodge.</p> + +<p>Next day at noon, as I turned from the well with a bucket of water in my +hand, I saw a belted and booted figure coming toward me from the spot +where the road led up. The stranger had an athletic bearing, wore a +cheap straw hat much out of shape, and carried a rifle in the hollow of +his arm. I advanced to meet him, for I guessed his mission at once.</p> + +<p>"You're the sheriff of this county?" I asked pleasantly, setting my +bucket down, and shaking hands.</p> + +<p>The man took his hat off and drew his shirt sleeve across his streaming +face. The imprint of his hatband showed a red bar across his white +forehead.</p> + +<p>"Nope; deputy. Been huntin' a blacksmith fur the las' four days, 'n' +it's worse 'n huntin' four-leaf clover."</p> + +<p>He chuckled, as though the task was not as onerous as his words implied, +and hitched his trousers.</p> + +<p>"Plenty of room to hide out here," I agreed. "Come over to the house and +have a drink. You seem hot."</p> + +<p>"Well, I reck'n. Bad time o' year fur a manhunt."</p> + +<p>He walked beside me to a bench, and when he had greedily swallowed three +cups of water I asked him to sit down and rest a while. The invitation +pleased him, and presently we had launched into an animated +conversation. I soon learned that he had been in and about Hebron most +of his time; that he had not even caught a glimpse of his quarry, and +that someone in the hamlet had suggested that he come to see me. A +moment's reflection showed me that I could not make a confidant of the +officer, much as I wished to, for an explanation of Buck's animosity +would be in order. This I could not give without bringing in the name of +a third party, and exposing to a chance acquaintance the cherished +secret in my heart. No, Buck and I must settle this affair alone, and in +silence. So I told the deputy instead that I was present when the mule +was killed, and that it actually was accomplished with a single blow +from the fist. Whereupon, he declared that he was glad to have Bart +Crawley's statement verified, as most of the citizens of Cedarton had +taken it with a grain of salt, but personally he believed it true. Then +he became quite chatty, and proceeded to relate some of the exploits of +Buck's father, a giant who for girth and stature had surpassed his son. +I listened politely to the rambling narrative, taking much comfort in +the simple presence of my caller.</p> + +<p>"Th' ol' man finally went crazy," concluded the deputy; "yellin', +whoopin' crazy, 'n' jumped off a bluff in the river one winter night."</p> + +<p>"Went crazy?"</p> + +<p>My lips repeated the two words involuntarily, and I turned to the man as +though I had not heard aright. The statement formed a portent of dread +to my mind.</p> + +<p>"Yep; whoopin' crazy," confirmed the cheery voice. "He got crossed some +way with somebody 'n' worried hisself wild. Ol' people tell me it's a +fam'ly failin'—that mos' of 'em end that way.... This Buck, now, hidin' +out this-a-way. 'Tain't nat'r'l, is it?... I dunno."</p> + +<p>He shook his head and gazed out over the wide forest with drawn brows.</p> + +<p>I did not reply, but slowly reached for my pipe.</p> + +<p>"When a feller's in office 'n' 's give a war'int, he's got to serve it, +or go yeller. I didn't hanker fur this here 'p'intment, I'm free to say, +'n' if I'd a-knowed Buck's a-hidin' out, be durned if I b'lieve I'd 'a' +come! Some'n' 's eatin' on Buck 'sides killin' that mule—you can't tell +me!... Well, I mus' be scoutin' on." He got on his feet, drank another +cup of water, and stood for a moment gripping the muzzle of his rifle +with both hands, its stock grounded between his feet. "Don't s'pose +you've laid eyes on 'im'?" he added, in a softer, musing tone.</p> + +<p>"No; not since he walked out of the shop that day."</p> + +<p>Suddenly the deputy wheeled and faced me.</p> + +<p>"Pardner," he said, seriously enough considering the almost bantering +note he had formerly employed; "I b'lieve Buck's goin' the same way his +pappy did!"</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>I tried to hold my voice to a brave level, but the monosyllable rang +hollow.</p> + +<p>"The signs ain't right," came the instantaneous reply. "Buck'd never'd +'a' laid out that mule if he'd been hisseff, in the firs' place. He's +shoed young mules by the dozen. In the nex' place he'd 'a' settled with +Bart instead o' spittin' in 'is face 'n' damnin' ever'body 'n' the law, +too. I've got a notion to lose this pesky war'int 'n' go back to where +people live!"</p> + +<p>He moodily pressed his hand to a pocket in his shirt, and I caught the +rustle of paper. Then he laughed softly, said good-by rather abruptly, +and strode away.</p> + +<p>I shall not attempt to make a record of the thoughts which assailed me +after the deputy had gone.</p> + +<p>Yesterday came the third attempt on my life.</p> + +<p>Believing now that my rival's mind was affected, and that he had +received the fixed and determined idea of making away with me in some +manner which would appear wholly natural, I no longer remained within +the Lodge, or kept to the restricted limits of the plateau. I walked +abroad, always careful and watchful, it is true, and keeping my feet +from suspicious paths. My longing for the Dryad had become a sort of +mania, and each morning I arose with the fervent hope that that day +would bring her back home. How I looked for the ragged, uncouth shape of +Jeff Angel! But his grotesque figure remained absent, and I was left to +unfruitful contemplation, a prey to dread.</p> + +<p>Yesterday I chose a new route. Inaction was past endurance, and my daily +rambles were all that sustained me. It was midafternoon when I found +myself on the flank of a precipitous knob, several miles from home. I +had proceeded cautiously for quite a distance, as my aimless steps had +led me to what really was a perilous position. A massive ledge of stone +cropped out of the knob at the place where I traversed it, and below was +an unbroken fall of many feet, into a valley thickly grown with trees. I +stopped to enjoy the scene, for even in my present mental turmoil the +sight demanded recognition and appreciation. I leaned forward and out, +retaining my balance by a careful exercise of certain muscles. The +verdant glory of the all-embracing hills, the limitless sweep of the +tree-clad ranges and valleys, and the bosky tangle of the spot beneath +me, combined to work keenly upon my sensibilities. I loved Nature. I +worshiped in the vine-draped, bloom-lit courts of the untamed wild; in +the temple not made by hands whereof each towering tree was a column, +and each moss-hung bowlder an altar. It was here my soul exulted, where +the tinkle of a hidden rivulet made dulcet music, and the attar from +many a flower's chalice spread abroad its peerless incense—Nature's +undefiled offering to Nature's God. I was uplifted in that moment, as I +leaned forward and drank in the manifold delights displayed freely for +my hungry eyes.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this elation of spirit, a fiendish shout of triumph rang +in my ears, and I felt a heavy hand upon my back shoving me violently +forward—to destruction. Too late I realized my indiscretion. I had +allowed sentiment to usurp the place of judgment. While I was reveling +in the matchless scene Nature had prepared for my delectation, and had +offered without reserve, Buck had stolen cat-footed upon me. I wrenched +my body about in a furious effort to retain my foothold, but the next +moment I was falling through space. Like a stone I fell, down—down. I +crashed through the top of an oak, struck a limb, passed it in some way, +fell, struck another, slid along it, and brought up against the trunk +with a fearful jar.</p> + +<p>For a moment I did not attempt to move. Then slowly I got astride the +limb and made an investigation. But for a pain in my side, where the +contact with the first limb had bruised it, I had escaped as by a +miracle. Thinking that Buck might make a detour, and come to see if I +really had perished, I descended to the ground as quickly as possible, +and returned to the Lodge in a roundabout way.</p> + +<p>Most of to-day I have spent under roof, brooding over the somber problem +which hourly grows more threatening. Matters have about reached a +climax. I cannot veil the truth from myself. If the smith is insane +there is no telling what move he will make next. An unbalanced mind is +never steadfast, and any minute he may abandon the tactics thus far +employed, and adopt safer and surer means to compass my destruction.</p> + +<p>It is fearfully hot in here, because the room is shut tight. I would not +think once now of lying down to sleep with a window open. A few more +days will tell the story. I am unnaturally calm, I believe, considering +all that has occurred this week. I am not frightened, but I am anxious. +I don't want to mar these peaceful pages with the narration of a +tragedy. I don't want to confess to them how I slew a fellow creature. I +am a man of peace. But it comes to me to-night that forces beyond my +control are at work. That, unless Celeste comes soon, the concluding act +in the drama will be played. It may be that I shall not be alive to +chronicle its end. It may be that I shall go down to death with my +love-dream unfinished. But I do not believe this. If worse comes to +worse, I believe that I shall be the conqueror. I have no reason for +this, other than the supreme faith I have in my ability to cope with the +smith of Hebron.</p> + +<p>I pray it all may end speedily, for I have borne as much as mortal can.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-THREE" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-THREE"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH, THOUGH THE WORLD IS STILL A VOID, THERE IS THE SHINING OF A +GREAT LIGHT</h3> + + +<p>Two days have passed.</p> + +<p>Sunday was one long monotony, made up of vain watching and restless +contemplation. To-day something really stupendous happened. Something so +truly great and vital that, even though Celeste has not returned, and, +for aught I know, my death hides in the next minute, I am deliriously +happy. I'll tell the glorious news as quickly as I can.</p> + +<p>This morning, bright and early, a messenger arrived from Father John. He +bore no written communication, but stated in a nervous, jerky, +breathless way that his reverence desired my presence at the earliest +possible moment, on a matter of the gravest importance. These were not +his words, but this is the way his halting vernacular translated into +English. I questioned the shabby, awkward rustic. He knew nothing but +that I was wanted, and wanted quickly, and that he who sent this word +was "tarnation fidgety." Unable to form any sort of conjecture as to the +nature of this peculiarly urgent business, I departed at once in company +with the half grown youth, not sorry of his presence upon this occasion, +as I probably would have been upon any other.</p> + +<p>The old priest met me at the door, and I saw at once that he was +powerfully impressed, for some reason. His long-stemmed pipe was in his +hand, but unlighted. He decorously led me to the chair where I had sat +upon a former visit, and took a seat opposite. The library table was +between us, as before. I saw two letters upon the table in front of him, +side by side. One was almost square, pale blue, and a glance told me the +superscription was a woman's. The other was of the regular business +size, had a card in the corner which I could not make out, and the +address was typewritten. I waited in silence.</p> + +<p>"M'sieu—"</p> + +<p>He stopped, and I saw that his emotion was pressing hard upon him. His +sensitive lips quivered and twitched, and the muscles of his face were +agitated. A sympathetic pity took the place of wonder within me, and I +had the desire to do or say something which would help him. But there +was nothing I could do or say. I was completely in the dark, and could +only give him respectful, but silent attention.</p> + +<p>"M'sieu," he began again, after a brief interval during which I knew he +was struggling manfully with his feelings; "I have somezing to say—much +to say. Never was I so shock—so hurt, m'sieu. Never more s'prise'." His +voice grew to a surer tone now. "I have here two letter. Zis is from +Bereel." He put the tip of one yellow finger upon the pale blue +envelope. "In it she confess she tol' ze—ze—ze lie on you. She say now +it was ze joke, an' for me to correc'; zat she made ze love to you, an' +not you to her. O ze shame, m'sieu—ze shame!" He put one hand across +his eyes and shook his head sorrowfully. "I belief her w'en she tol' me +zat firs' tale, for she is my blood, an' I love her, an' I was anger wiz +you, m'sieu. If Bereel an' I have cause' you to suffer an' to loose ze +li'l wil' ma'm'selle—I shall never forgive us! Ah! m'sieu, I am 'shame' +to as for pardon—but she was my blood—my Bereel, an' I b'lief her."</p> + +<p>"Don't be too grieved, father," I broke in here. "I won't deny that much +harm has befallen because of this strange and unprovoked falsehood Miss +Drane saw fit to tell you. I was driven from the home at Lizard Point in +consequence of it, and soon thereafter Granny disappeared, taking +Gran'fer and Celeste with her. Of my own sufferings I will not speak. I +forgive Miss Drane, freely, now that she attempts to set matters right; +as for yourself, dear sir, there is nothing to forgive. You only acted +in good faith, and as you should have acted upon receipt of the +information which you did not once doubt was genuine."</p> + +<p>He hastily seized my hand in gratitude which was real as it was +affecting, and his bright eyes shone with feeling as he answered:</p> + +<p>"You are noble, m'sieu; mag—magnan'mous. I cannot sank you—I can only +say, God bless you!"</p> + +<p>He released my hand and dropped back in his chair, beginning to puff +absently at his cold pipe.</p> + +<p>Beryl Drane's belated confession, startling as it was in a way, and of a +nature to ordinarily work in a most gratifying manner upon my spirit, +did not long remain paramount in my thoughts. Father John seemed to have +lapsed into a sort of revery, and as the silence lengthened I found my +eyes going back again and again to the second envelope. What was in it? +Father John had included it almost in his first sentence. It could not +be from any of the vanished family, because of the typed address, and +yet it evidently contained something of interest to me. Directly I +purposely changed my position, and coughed slightly. The effort +succeeded. The priest started, lifted his head with a smile and an +indistinguishable murmur, and picked up the second envelope.</p> + +<p>"Zis, m'sieu," he said, in a voice tinged with awe, as he drew out the +enclosure, "is won'erful. It is ze han' of God shapin' human affairs."</p> + +<p>Slowly, with an expression almost beatific on his sweet old face, +suddenly glorified by some triumphant inner flame of supreme faith, he +put out his arm and placed the folded sheets in my hand.</p> + +<p>"Read it—all," he said, simply, then cast himself back in his chair, +closed his eyes, and intertwined his fingers under his chin.</p> + +<blockquote> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">Notre Dame, Indiana</span>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"August 1st, 19—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"<i>Rt. Rev. Jean Dupré</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"<i>Hebron, Ky</i>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Fr. Dupré</span>: I write you at the instance and request of one +Hannibal Ellsworth, with whose geological researches in the +shape of valuable contributions to periodical literature you +are doubtless familiar. At any rate you know, or did know the +man, for he died last night.</p> + +<p>"Late yesterday evening word came from a hospital that a +patient dangerously ill wanted to see a priest. I went. I soon +found that it was not for the purpose of spiritual confession +and preparation for death that I was wanted, for the man was +not only non-Catholic, but an unbeliever as well, but for a +confession of another sort. I shall put his story in my own +words, for I recall well everything he said, though I cannot +attempt to give it in his language.</p> + +<p>"He said his name was Hannibal Ellsworth—a name with which I +was quite familiar, though I had never seen the man +before—that he was fifty-five years old, and that twenty years +ago he was guilty of a deadly sin. In pursuit of his work, he +had gone into the knobs about Hebron, and finding the field so +rich, he erected a house, or cabin, about half way up the slope +of a certain high knob having a bald, conical peak. Here he +lived for more than a year. Here he won the love of a +neighborhood girl—her first name was Araminta—and in his mad +passion because of her physical beauty, he married her +secretly. When the first flush of possession had passed, he +realized what he had done. Then, a little while before the baby +came he left her, at night; stole away without a word to her, +and without leaving anything for the maintenance of his wife +and the child which was expected. Such depth of villainy is +almost incomprehensible. The man said she had parents living +near, who would care for her; that people out in those hills +needed only a little to eat and a little to wear. He told of +his heartless conduct in the most matter-of-fact way, as though +it was nothing extraordinary. He said he did not believe there +was a life beyond this, though the persistent Christian +propaganda had worried him, as it does all intelligent humans. +In case the church was right, and he should pass to judgment, +he wanted to make such reparation as he could to those he had +wronged. He gave me your name, and asked that I should +communicate with you, as you were acquainted with the parties +concerned—or at least knew his forsaken wife.</p> + +<p>"It seems he was a man of some means, and prior to my arrival +he had been in lengthy consultation with a lawyer here, who was +his friend. He has arranged to pass all of his money to his +wife, should she still live. If she is dead, it is to go to the +child—whether son or daughter he does not know. The attorney +who has his secular affairs in charge is Rehoboam Justin, at 21 +Eighth Street. You may address him there with the necessary +proofs concerning the validity of the wife's or child's claim. +I tried to interest Mr. Ellsworth in his soul's salvation, but +so firmly had the adversary become entrenched that nothing I +could say had the slightest effect. He thanked me for my +interest, though, courteously.</p> + +<p>"He said that his marriage was perfectly legal; that he took +the young woman by night to a town called Cedarton, near by, +and the ceremony was performed by a Protestant minister, before +witnesses. The license, together with the marriage certificate, +he says may be found in a small tin box under the stone at the +front right-hand corner of the hearth in the cabin, if it still +stands. Why he secreted these papers, instead of destroying +them, as one would naturally think from his infamous action, he +did not explain.</p> + +<p>"I trust that wife and child are both living, and that you will +speedily bear to them this tardy restitution. Truly, this world +is the abode of sin and sorrow.</p> + +<p>"Commending you to the care of God, and His holy Saints, +believe me,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Sincerely yours in Christ,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">Alphonsus Eremy</span>, C.S.C."<br /></span> +</div></div> +</blockquote> + +<p>Ten minutes after I had finished reading this letter—ten minutes during +which I sat silent with buzzing brain and elated soul, I raised my head +and looked at Father John. His eyes were open now, and he was regarding +me with an expression I could not translate. Gladness, humility, +compassion, sorrow and love were all blended in his lineaments. +Carefully, as though it were a fragile something easily broken, I laid +the letter back upon the table.</p> + +<p>"Keep it," said Father John in a low voice, making a slight upward +gesture. "In itself it is ze ev'dence, in case ze papers be not foun'."</p> + +<p>A swift alarm struck at my heart.</p> + +<p>"But—" I began.</p> + +<p>With his rare, sunshiny smile the priest interrupted.</p> + +<p>Then all at once a look of weary melancholy spread over his features, +and I knew he was thinking again of the perfidy of his beloved niece. +Every muscle in my body was pulling me toward the Lodge, and I now +arose.</p> + +<p>"I can't thank you as I would for sending for me and confiding in me as +you have," I said, my words shaky, because I had been strangely wrought +upon by all that had passed.</p> + +<p>He made a deprecatory, characteristic gesture with both hands.</p> + +<p>"Zey came zis mornin', m'sieu," he replied, sadly, glancing at the +table. "I sen' for you w'en I read zem."</p> + +<p>He sighed, shook his head, and reached for his tobacco jar.</p> + +<p>"I sink zey will be zere, but—sings hap'n, m'sieu, an' we can never +tell. It has been ze twenty year'."</p> + +<p>"But a tin box, father—that will hold them safely!" I exclaimed, and he +beamed tolerantly at my boyish eagerness.</p> + +<p>"Yes; zey should be zere."</p> + +<p>"You have not heard from Granny—and them?" I ventured, for the wish to +see Celeste had grown within the last quarter of an hour into an +irresistible force. I waited his reply with bated breath.</p> + +<p>"No," he answered, almost at once. "Zey lef' w'ile I was gone. I have +heard nuzzin'."</p> + +<p>Once again I tried to speak my gratitude, but the gentle old man stopped +me. This time he did not press me to stay, for he knew the magnet which +was drawing me back to the hut on Bald Knob.</p> + +<p>"I sink ze li'l wil' ma'm'selle will come soon," he said, as he held my +hand at parting; "zen we tell her, an' she be made vair happy."</p> + +<p>Forgotten was Buck and his fell purpose, forgotten was the lost Jeff +Angel as, passing through Hebron at a swift walk, I presently broke into +a run. Was this the same road, the same forest, the same sky, the same +earth? Beautiful as it always had been, it was transfigured now. My +Dryad! My lovely, innocent Dryad was free from the stigma which +hypercritical moralists would have thrust upon her! I was hastening +toward the proof with every breath I drew—toward the proof which had +lain within reach of my hand all these weeks! My heart exulted with each +onward spring, and I seemed light as air, so magically did my joy act +upon me. Swiftly I ran, but the way had never been so long. I reached +the Point. Scorning the bridge which heretofore had been a welcome aid +in crossing the creek, I dashed into the water at a place where I knew +it to be shallow, and a moment later was headed for the Dryad's Glade. +Very soon thereafter I was kneeling before the rude hearth in the Lodge, +gazing with flushed face and fascinated eyes at the front right-hand +corner stone.</p> + +<p>It differed in no way from all the others. A rough-surfaced, imperfect +square with an average width of ten or twelve inches, the irregular +interstices between it and its neighbors being filled with earth. It was +on a level with the others. There was nothing to indicate that it hid a +secret which meant so much. Now that I had come; now that any moment I +could prove the truth or falsity of Hannibal Ellsworth's statement, I +hesitated. Perhaps he had lied even at the last. A man capable of the +fiendish act he had committed would likewise be capable of this sardonic +jest. If this were true—if, when I lifted the stone, nothing was +revealed, what then? This torturing thought decided me. I leaped up, +took from the table the knife which Buck Steele had driven through my +journal, and with its point began to pick away the dirt between the +crevices. I worked feverishly, and presently, dropping the knife, I +gripped the stone and heaved. It moved. Again I strained backward, and +now the rock turned partly in its bed, where it had lain secure for a +score of years. Regardless of the jagged edges, I forced my fingers down +the rough sides through the loosened dirt, clawed and burrowed until I +had secured another and a stronger hold. Again I tugged, and up came my +burden bodily—up and out. I flung it rolling on the plank floor, and +trembling with anxiety gazed into the cavity it had left. I saw nothing. +Nothing but the brown earth sides and the brown earth bottom. I sank +backward with a groan. Ah! Hannibal Ellsworth! If you were alive, and +these hands were at your throat! You trickster even in death! You chosen +of Satan! You——A new thought came. Seizing the knife, I plunged it +desperately into the hole, just as I would have thrust it in the black +heart of Hannibal Ellsworth had he stood before me then. The point met +with partial resistance, then went on. I drew the knife out, and impaled +upon it was a small tin box—a tobacco box, nothing more. It had been +wrapped around and tied with a string of some kind, for the moldering +remnants still clung to it. It opened at the end. Now I was shaking with +the violence of one palsied, and presently the top fell down. I sat upon +the floor, drew the box from the knife point, and thrust in my finger +and thumb. Something was inside—something closely folded which so +filled the small space that I could not grasp it. I desisted long enough +to hold the opening to the light and peer within. I saw what appeared to +be many folds of yellowish-white paper, fitting snugly in the narrow +confines. A degree of calmness came now, and once more taking the knife, +I managed to extract the contents of the box. What the priest in Notre +Dame had written Father John was true. I held in my hand the attested +certificate of the marriage of Hannibal Ellsworth and Araminta +Kittredge, together with the license issued by the clerk of the county. +The papers were dry and crackled in my grasp; they were disfigured by +yellow splotches, and bore that peculiar odor which old parchments +always acquire.</p> + +<p>All afternoon I sat in the same spot, with those priceless documents +before me. I read each of them an hundred times, and examined every +letter of every written word. They were the passports of my wife to +enter into my world. Only when it grew too dark to see did I put them +back in the box, put the box in the hole, and replace the stone upon the +treasure. It would be safer right there until I could take it away.</p> + +<p>After supper I went out to one of the benches in front, and smoked. The +moon came up soon; a great, big, yellow moon, hoisting itself +majestically over the forest sea. It seemed as big as the end of a sugar +barrel, and the face of the lady etched upon it was a cameo of Celeste +Ellsworth. I wonder if any other man anywhere in the world has ever +dared to imagine this moon-lady bore a resemblance to someone in whom he +was interested? He was very silly and presumptuous if he did, for the +profile of this lunar enchantress reflects line for line that of my +Dryad!</p> + +<p>The soft, soundless, midsummer night wrought upon me in a wonderfully +peaceful way. Yet a positive, adamantine resolve grew within me ere I +came in. I shall wait one more day—one only. If Celeste does not return +to-morrow, then the day after I take up the search. There is nothing to +be gained by staying here longer, and all to lose, even life. When I +find her—when I find her—my God! At the very thought my love surges +through me so that my chest hurts and my eyelids are hot upon the balls. +I write no more to-night. I am lonely, and I am starving—for her! I +want to see her golden hair tremble in the breeze, hear her laugh, look +into the deeps of her eyes, hold her to me and tell her that I love +her—love her!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWENTY-FOUR" id="CHAPTER_TWENTY-FOUR"></a>CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR</h2> + +<h3>IN WHICH I VANQUISH A DEMONIAC, AND ENTER INTO GLORY</h3> + + +<p>This is written a month later.</p> + +<p>The next day passed eventless. I kept to the plateau, for now I had even +greater cause not to incur needless risks. After supper I sought my seat +of the night before, my mind made up. Again I saw the moon creep up the +sky, and it was full that night; its immense disk was a perfect circle. +I sat watching the grotesque, ever-changing shapes evolved from my pipe +smoke, silvery luminous in the moonshine, and wondering just how and +where I would begin my search in the morning. Then my unchecked thoughts +drifted to Celeste, and as the minutes glided by I felt the restraint +which I had placed upon myself slipping more and more. I made no effort +to stay my imaginings, or to turn their trend. The hour was made +delicious by this mental revel; by sublime visions of what the future +would be. Most rigidly had I held myself in check since that night on +the peak, when I woke to a sense of my condition, and whither it was +leading me. Now I would relax, and suffer my feelings to assume +predominance again, for I was weary of the constant battle to banish +this girl from my brain, and anyway, the game was about played. Unless +Buck came upon me that night, I would speedily be beyond his reach.</p> + +<p>As my unleashed emotions mastered me more and more, a keen restlessness +seized me, the natural result of unsatisfied longing. The bench where I +had passed contented hours the night before became at length unendurable +and I arose, my face set hungrily toward the whispering woods. Sweetly +it lured me with its breath of odorous greenness; strongly it drew me by +its very mystery of being, and I responded. I would go to the Dryad's +Glade.</p> + +<p>I was without coat or hat. My shirt was open at the throat and the +sleeves were rolled above my elbows, for the day had been one of the +hottest I had ever known, and in the early night the heat had not yet +been conquered by the dew and the shadows. How well and strong I was! I +tarried for a moment before the unlighted Lodge to enjoy a full +conception of my superb physical vigor. It is something to make a man +rejoice—this mere knowledge of brute power. I had it in perfection that +night, and flooding my maligned lungs with a deep-drawn breath of +Nature's exquisite attar, I moved away.</p> + +<p>I had always loved to roam by night; I had always loved to tread the +wild; I had always loved the face of old earth best when kissed by +moonlight. These three conditions became important accessories to my +mood that evening, a mood both tender and fierce. I reached the base of +my hill of refuge, mechanically turned toward the west, and with bowed +head and leisurely steps went forward where all was vast and dim and +holy, to receive the benediction of the trees. I scarcely noticed my +surroundings, although my perceptions received and appreciated the +enveloping silence, and the pearl-gray gloom. The subtle scents of moss, +and dew-soaked earth, and the indescribable tang from bark and leaf +refreshed my nostrils with their blended odors. I felt that I was in the +first sanctuary the world had ever known; a spot where Creator and +creation were all but one; a place undefiled by the feet of grasping, +sordid men. If a prayer were born in this temple it were born of the +spirit, and not of mumbling lips more used to the shaping of lies and +hypocrisies.</p> + +<p>A sound came to me, threading the silence like a note from a flute; +elfin, elusive, wild. For a moment I thought I was deceived. I stopped +and listened. Piercing the continuous sigh which is never absent from a +vast forest, even in times of greatest calm, the note came again, +followed by a series of quirks and trills. Eerie enough was the sound. +Was the jest which I had offered the Satyr, while under the influence of +liquor, coming true? Did the great god Pan yet live, in truth, and did +he make merry o' summer nights in sylvan court and viney bower? My spine +grew chilly at the thought, and for an instant I was tempted to believe. +Would I see him if I pressed forward cautiously, without noise? Would I +find him dancing a drunken reel to his own music? For the nonce I cast +logic and common sense aside, and determined to stalk this heathen +deity. Bending forward, I advanced with the utmost care, walking on the +balls of my feet. At intervals I heard the pagan fantasy—jumbled +measures of the most fascinating, tuneless music that was ever set +afloat. From familiar signs I knew I was approaching my objective point. +My eagerness became intense as the pipe-notes sounded louder and louder, +and then, suddenly, the scale fell a full octave, or more, and the +liquid tones which now sifted through the motionless air were laden with +a burden I knew. I stopped, grasped a tree, and threw my left hand to my +forehead. I was listening to Jeff Angel's magic reed! He was playing the +Song of the Brook, as he had played it for me that memorable night. Was +the last vestige of his mind gone? Had he succeeded? Why was he dallying +here when he must have known that my heart was aching and breaking for +the news which he would bring? These thoughts and a dozen more congested +my brain during the fleeting second I leaned against the tree. Then I +was erect and dashing forward. It was a sort of natural lane down which +I rushed, whose other end debouched into the Dryad's Glade. Fast and +heedless as I sped, I saw that which checked me ere I dashed into the +open; which drove me to one side, softly and breathlessly, where I could +see without chance of discovery.</p> + +<p>The Dryad had come home. I know that I can but poorly describe the scene +to-night, but had I possessed pen and paper at that moment my plight +would have been the same, or worse. About half of the little woodland +court was whitened by the radiance from above, and the other portion was +in alternate light and shadow. But even in this portion—which was next +to me—a moving form could be plainly seen. The wildest, most bizarre, +most graceful dance was in progress. Celeste was all in white; a loose, +flowing robe with wing-like sleeves which waved and fluttered from her +outstretched arms. Upon her head was a wreath of great, bell-shaped, +snowy flowers, and draped loosely about her waist was a garland +similarly wrought. They were the exquisite blooms of the jimson weed, +that humble plant which grows undisturbed in every country barn lot in +Kentucky. Back and forth and around she sped, in the intricate steps of +a dance which made me dizzy to behold. Once she passed near my +hiding-place—so near that I heard the quick intake of her breath and +caught the gleam of her teeth back of her parted lips. I saw the +expression on her face, too, as she whirled by, and it was one of purest +enjoyment. The Satyr was piping and dancing, too. Weird and fantastic he +was, with the tails of his long coat flapping behind, and the sugar-loaf +hat atop his head. Time and again he measured the diameter of the glade, +turning when he had crossed it to retrace his route. His movements were +very much like those of a cake walker on parade. His middle was thrust +out, his shoulders back, and his face was turned squarely to the sky. +The goat-tuft bobbed and shook with each prancing step, and ever came +that wonderful music, which he had taken from music's source.</p> + +<p>Charmed into passiveness for the time, I crouched and stared at this +strange sight. Then all at once the dancers abandoned the separate +figures they had been treading, joined hands, his left in her right, and +the Satyr, playing with one hand only, began a flute-like, dreamy +movement, to whose bewitching melody they started afresh, an entirely +different measure. This continued for a minute or more, not without a +degree of stateliness, then, abruptly as a lightning flash, the Satyr +sprang away from his partner with a burst of yelling laughter wholly +uncivilized, and furiously began the Song of the Storm Wind. I had heard +it before, but not as now. As if inspired to newer effort, each began to +run. It was half race, half dance now, for even in the seeming +carelessness of this rout I detected certain steps executed with regard +to time and rhythm. Never had I seen such an extraordinary performance! +The very contrast of the participants rendered it unique, but this +unconscious revival of rites which had passed away centuries ago lent a +deeper and more enigmatical significance to it all. There was nothing +unseemly in this revel, if I may call it such. It was simply an +expression of their love for the forest which had cradled and nurtured +them. In everything but this common affection they were far apart, but +in worshiping at Nature's shrine they were one. Each felt the call to +the still places, and if we, whom life has cruelly thrust among brick +walls and stone streets and steel towers pine for such things until our +very souls cry out, how much more should they slip out alone to take +their joy of them. That was all it amounted to, and even my jealous eye +could find naught at which to carp. Two children had come forth to +gambol, nothing more.</p> + +<p>The pace set by the Song of the Storm Wind was too furious to continue +long. Presently the climax was reached, and Jeff flung himself upon the +ground like a tired boy, his thin legs outstretched, his body inclined +backward and supported by his arms thrust out behind him. Celeste +stopped near me, almost in the center of the moonlighted space, and +throwing her arms high she bent her head sideways and gave a deep, happy +sigh. I knew it was happy, for her countenance was tenderly aglow. +Quickly I advanced and stood before her, both hands outheld.</p> + +<p>"Dryad! O little Dryad! I have missed you so!"</p> + +<p>A startled look came to her face, but it passed on the instant, and with +a low, inarticulate cry she took one step and put her palms on mine.</p> + +<p>Another instant both my arms were around her and I was pressing her +closer, closer, closer, calling her all the precious names which only +lovers know, kissing her face, her warm, sweet lips, her tumbled hair. +Her arms went about my neck, her soft young body sank trembling upon my +breast. She was mine! What we said the next fifteen minutes does not +need transcription. Her words formed the most divine speech which ever +fell from mortal lips, but there are fools abroad in the world who would +not understand, so I forbear. Then, her arm in mine, we walked toward +the Satyr, still in his unconventional attitude of rest. As we drew +nearer, I saw that his ugly face bore an expression which indicated that +he was scandalized beyond measure at the meeting he had witnessed. I was +preparing to hail him jocularly, for my heart beat high with happiness +which almost made me dizzy, when his features became convulsed in a look +of mortal terror, and I knew that he was gazing at something behind me. +I had heard no sound, but intuition now flashed me the needed warning. +With the arm linked in hers I flung Celeste forward and from me as far +as I could and wheeled at the same instant with the agility and ferocity +of a tiger. I knew what I would see, but I was totally unprepared for +the truly horrible spectacle which confronted me.</p> + +<p>The smith was almost upon us. Bareheaded he came, stark naked to the +waist. Barefooted, too, he was. His huge, hairy chest and arms, his +bearded face and neck, and the long, unkempt hair of his head, invested +him with a certain hideousness which might well have sent a tremor of +fear to the stoutest heart. He was gnashing his teeth like a wolf—I +could hear them click plainly—and muttering throaty, guttural sounds of +wrath. He checked his rush short when I turned and faced him, and stood +ten feet away, glaring insanely from me to Celeste, from Celeste to me. +His mind was gone; I knew it then. As I waited his attack, he gave vent +to a yell which was a fearful mingling of screech and laugh, stooped as +though about to charge me, then, with motions so swift I could not +comprehend his hellish purpose, he swung a short, thick club which he +held and cast it with all his might—at Celeste! It sang fiendishly by +my ear, I heard a scream, and there my Dryad was lying on the ground, a +crumpled bit of white in the shadow-flecked glade. For a moment the +night grew black. The darkness passed. I looked again. Jeff Angel was +bending over her. I could not go to her yet. Time to bury my dead when +her murderer—A new sound dispelled the numbing lethargy which this +devil's blow had thrown upon me. It was Buck laughing. He was bending +over, his hands on his knees, and his insane merriment was grating and +mechanical. I sprang for him then; silent, grim. He jumped aside with a +gibing croak, and, yielding to some reasonless vagary, whirled and ran. +I was after him ere he had measured his first leap, for now I was +harried by the hounds of Despair and Hate, and my life had been shorn of +all aim and purpose but one. That one I knew I would accomplish—knew I +must accomplish, or be a curse unto myself forever.</p> + +<p>Buck ran with the speed of a greyhound, leaping now and then into the +air like a demoniac, and striking out with his fists as he did so. He +was never silent. Now he was shrieking his blood-chilling laugh, now +shouting disjointed sentences in a voice which had ceased to be human, +now singing something which might have been a war-chant of the Huns for +all its consonantal slurring and meager scope. Neither did he ever look +behind. He had taken the natural lane down which I had come, and down +which he had doubtless followed me on unshod, noiseless feet. I put +forth my strongest efforts and tried to overtake him. Though I ran +steadily and with scientific care, and he expended strength and +sacrificed distance during his numerous upward bounds, I could not gain +an inch. I doubt if such a pursuit was ever undertaken before. A +half-naked, hairy, maniac-giant leading, and a sane man well-nigh as +big, whose holiest feelings had been outraged, following. On we swept +through the checkered spaces of the forest, our progress accompanied by +that rumbling chant suggestive of forgotten ages. I do not know how such +things are, but it may have been that the slumbering strain transmitted +through many generations from some ancient warrior ancestor who lived +and fought when the world was young, had been quickened in the primitive +brain when reason left it. He had ceased laughing and mouthing +indistinguishable words now, but with every breath there rolled out the +sonorous staves of this chant of a remote past.</p> + +<p>We reached the base of Bald Knob, and here, instead of holding to the +ravine which led around it, Buck swerved into the road leading up. He +was going to the Lodge. Well and good. I would as soon end it on the +plateau as elsewhere. Through the weeds and vines which choked the +ascent we crashed, and as I gained the level in front of the Lodge I saw +with joy that I had lessened the distance between us. Buck sped straight +toward the open door, and I flew to overtake him, for that which had to +be had best occur in the open. In vain. I could not catch this +Mercury-footed Vulcan. As I looked to see him disappear within the +house, he made a dextrous flank movement and circled it. Instantly I was +on his track again. Now he had set his face toward the belt of +evergreens which loomed blackly above us in the brilliant moonshine. A +dread seized me. Was it his sly intention to reach this shelter first, +and hide ere I could come up? I harbored this idea only a second. This +being did not fear me. That he had run when I sought to attack him was +due solely to some antic twist of his unaccountable mind. Any moment his +mood might change. The dense gloom swallowed him, but still, a guide +through the darkness, floated back the chant. How he could keep it up +under such fearful exertion I could not understand. He must have been +made of iron and steel. I pressed on. Bursting through the furthest edge +of the encircling band of trees, I saw him once more. He had quit +running, as this was practically impossible here, and was toiling up the +steep slope silently, for his song had at last ceased. I stood a moment, +legs apart, my chest heaving laboredly, for I felt the hard chase. Up +went the great figure, grisly in its seeming now—up toward the peak.</p> + +<p>A remembrance of that white, crumpled form lying in the glade assailed +me poignantly, and starting beneath it as under the touch of white-hot +iron, I shouted a frightful curse, and threw myself at the acclivity. I +must reach there when he did. I must top the crest at the same time, so +that he would have no chance to make a descent on the other side. For a +while I ran, though the task was Herculean, goaded as I was into +temporary madness by the stinging thought of my lost love. So it was I +came within my own length of the climbing demoniac, who never yet had +cast a glance behind him, and who even now, though he must have heard my +progress, went directly on, without a sign. It was gruesome. In the +midst of the inferno wherein my soul burned I recognized the uncanny +strangeness of the scene. Night. A wilderness. A towering gray-white +peak of earth, and on its slope two crawling specks, one bent on—God +knows what!—the other intent on revenge. The law of Moses reigned +supreme in my mind that night: forgotten was the law of Christ. +Forgotten, or ignored. I knew no law. I was reduced to that simple plane +where I was going to claim a life—a base and worthless life in exchange +for the pure and priceless one he had taken. The united logic of all the +united churches in Christendom or out could not have convinced me that I +was wrong.</p> + +<p>We reached the last ascent, almost perpendicular, and here I expected +the smith to hesitate, or halt. He did neither. He put himself at it +immediately, and I imitated him. His going here was swifter than mine. +It must have been because of his bare feet, which allowed him to grasp, +cling and thrust with his sinewy toes. As we slowly neared the top he +had drawn away from me for an appreciable distance. I increased my +efforts. If I lost him now I probably never would see him again. I saw +his huge arms, looking like moss-draped limbs, shoot up, and his fingers +grip the top of the peak. I shut my teeth and my eyes and put out all +there was in me. Now I was up, and yonder—yonder was Buck, crouched +just across from me at the further rim, preparing evidently to descend, +for one leg was over the rather abrupt edge. I could not reach him; he +would slip down and be gone before I could make the passage, brief +though it was. My hand rested upon a small stone. Impelled by impulse +more than by reason, I threw the stone at him. It struck him a smarting +blow on one arm, and he turned with a snarl, half squatting, half +sitting.</p> + +<p>"Murderer!" I gasped; "come back and fight!" I cannot say if he +understood. I doubt it, but my voice acted as a supplementary irritant +to the cast stone. I heard the infuriate grinding of his teeth as he +rose up, and came plunging toward me with the intention to hug. I had no +wish for these tactics, and dodged just enough to escape him. Thereat he +sent forth a roar, wheeled, and struck at me. The blow was not gauged at +all, and I had no trouble warding it. Then for a little while we stood +face to face, not over five feet between us, while our heavy +respirations were the only sounds. Closely as I watched him, his +subtlety exceeded my caution. He feigned to draw back, as if to circle, +and the next moment was speeding toward me through the air in a +prodigious leap. I might have avoided his onset; I do not know. But even +as I saw him in mid-air the desperate resolve was born within me to end +the score, and that quickly. So, instead of attempting any action which +would mean delay, I gathered my strength and leaped to meet him! We +crashed together both from earth, and locked with such holds as we could +find. We came to our knees from the terrific force of the impact, and +there for a while we stayed, chest to chest, and cheek to cheek. The +deep, strained breath of the smith hissed by my ear in heavy gusts, and +I was in no better strait, for my lungs seemed on fire and my +inhalations brought no respite from the torture. It could not have been +long that we remained thus, and while the lull lasted our embrace was so +intense that we were as one body. Buck made the first move, for I was +content to continue as we were for a time, and so recover in a measure +from the exhaustion caused by the run and the steep climb. All at once I +was aware that the steel-like bands which encircled me were pressing +deeper into my flesh, with a suddenness and a violence which was +terrifying. For a second I writhed, then the muscles of my back +responded, and I felt them ridging and swelling in resistance. Now my +body was wrapped and swathed in rigid folds of strength, and I strove to +force my adversary backward. My brain was veiled in a bloody mist, and +angry seas dashed and thundered in my ears, but I knew that he was +yielding! Teeth set, eyes bulging, I called again upon myself, but now +the shaggy head dropped forward, and the fiend bit me savagely between +shoulder and neck. The shock of the pain caused me to relax, and moved +by a common impulse we arose to our feet. Then I saw his face, and had I +not been well-nigh as crazy as he, the sight would have shaken every +nerve. His curled-back lips were wet and red with my blood, his face +expressed the insane rage which filled him, and his eyes—his eyes will +haunt me to my last day, for there was no meaning in them whatever! Just +two glassy, protruding orbs shining vacantly in the peaceful moonlight. +Then he laughed; hollow, hoarse and rattling, and caught up again that +devilish, rune-like battle-chant. It was only a momentary respite which +came after we were up. This time I took the initiative, and at once +closed with him silently. New strength had come to the smith, and during +the next minute I was off my feet more than once, dragged bodily from +the ground by his superb might. The spot where we fought was perhaps ten +yards across, was almost perfectly flat, and was covered with a sort of +granular deposit which prevented us from slipping. Over this narrow area +we tugged and strove, sometimes approaching dangerously near the edge, +but eventually working back to safer ground. If he had only ceased that +brain-racking, heathenish litany! But after a time it came in gasps, and +jerks, for despite his marvelous stamina, my enemy began at last to feel +the strain. How long we battled upon the peak I do not know, but there +came a time when I felt that I had been fighting Buck Steele since the +dawn of creation. I was sore from head to foot; dizzy, and growing weak, +but I was assured that his case was no better. So, locked like two stags +which war to the death, we staggered and sprawled hither and yonder. +Then our efforts became automatic, for each had reached the point where +he was incapable of intelligent action. Suddenly the moon fell from +heaven, straight down to the top of the forest. Then it rebounded back +into the sky, and began a series of most erratic movements. At this the +glimmer of sense which I yet retained made me grow afraid. I knew that +my limit had been reached. Then was projected upon that spark of +conscious mentality the picture of my stricken Dryad—and now I laughed! +Yea, laughed wildly and mirthlessly, as I slid one arm under the smith's +huge hams, and in a resistless access of frenzied power lifted his vast +bulk as I would have raised an infant. If he struggled I did not know +it, for in that supreme moment a Titan had come to earth. To the +flume-like chute I bore him and cast him down it—down to darkness and +to hell!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>How I got back to the Lodge I do not know. But as I tottered to the open +door, behold! there stood 'Crombie before the fireplace, the Satyr +crouched on a box, and sitting near the table was my Dryad!</p> + +<p>I fell forward at the sight, senseless.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>My wife sits near me reading in the first reader as I pen these final +lines of my journal. 'Crombie's presence at the Lodge is easily +explained. The time had come for his annual trip to the great north +woods, and he determined to run down and surprise me before he left, and +see how I was getting along. He drove out from Cedarton, and arrived +just as Jeff Angel was leading Celeste up to the Lodge. Buck's club had +not struck her. When she saw his intention she had fainted from fright. +'Crombie's coming was opportune, for he has told me I would have died +without his ready help. I was in a pretty bad way.</p> + +<p>I am happy to relate that I did not kill Buck Steele. Just how he +escaped destruction I cannot say, but the morning succeeding our awful +combat 'Crombie made a thorough search at the base of the peak, at my +suggestion, but found nothing. In some miraculous way the smith's life +was preserved, although this was contrary to my intent and purpose at +the time. But now, with my golden-haired Dryad here safe in my home, I +am glad. I had some trouble persuading Granny that this arrangement was +best, but Gran'fer stood by me valiantly and Father John also lent his +aid, so the matter was arranged peaceably. I asked the Satyr how he +managed to induce the runaways to come back, and the graceless rascal +informed me that he told them I had gone back home! A blessed lie, dear +Satyr!</p> + +<p>I also questioned 'Crombie about the life-plant, for I had never been +quite easy on the subject.</p> + +<p>"You found it and did not know it, my son," he said, his good, honest +face beaming. "Do you remember my description of it? Well, the vivid +green stem is the universal green of Nature's dress; the golden leaves +is the healing sunlight, and the flower—the cluster of clear little +globules, is the crystalline air and water of the untainted wild. I +deceived you in a way, my son, for it was all symbolical, but it was for +your good. Now I think I was hasty in my diagnosis, and that nothing was +wrong with you. Do you forgive me?"</p> + +<p>He smiled upon me almost in a pathetic way.</p> + +<p>"It was the best thing that could have happened to me!" I replied, +thinking that by it I had gained Celeste.</p> + +<p>Now it comes to me that I have told my story and have never told my +name. Which goes to show that a name amounts to very little. But there +may be some curious readers who would be glad to know it, and for such I +do not mind declaring it.</p> + +<p>It is Nicholas Jard.</p> + + +<h3>THE END</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Maid of the Kentucky Hills, by +Edwin Carlile Litsey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS *** + +***** This file should be named 35147-h.htm or 35147-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/1/4/35147/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Maid of the Kentucky Hills + +Author: Edwin Carlile Litsey + +Illustrator: John Cassel + +Release Date: February 2, 2011 [EBook #35147] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + + A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS + + BY EDWIN CARLILE LITSEY + + Author of "The Man from Jericho," etc. + + + _ILLUSTRATED BY + JOHN CASSEL_ + + CHICAGO + BROWNE & HOWELL COMPANY + 1913 + + COPYRIGHT, 1913 + BROWNE & HOWELL COMPANY + + _Copyright in England + All rights reserved_ + + PUBLISHED, NOVEMBER, 1913 + + THE PLIMPTON PRESS + NORWOOD, MASS, USA + + + + + TO + SARA + OF THE SUNNY HAIR + + + + +[Illustration: _I knelt on the tree, bent down, and took her upheld hand +in mine._] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER ONE IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE + +CHAPTER TWO IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE AGAIN + +CHAPTER THREE IN WHICH I FIND A LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS + +CHAPTER FOUR IN WHICH I MEET A DRYAD + +CHAPTER FIVE IN WHICH I SAY WHAT I PLEASE + +CHAPTER SIX IN WHICH I MEET A SATYR + +CHAPTER SEVEN IN WHICH THE SATYR AND I SIT CHEEK BY JOWL + +CHAPTER EIGHT IN WHICH I PITCH MY TENT TOWARD HEBRON FOR THE SPACE OF AN +AFTERNOON + +CHAPTER NINE IN WHICH I SIT UPON A HILLTOP AND REFLECT TO NO ADVANTAGE + +CHAPTER TEN IN WHICH I SPEND A PLEASANT HOUR AND HEAR SOME NEWS + +CHAPTER ELEVEN IN WHICH OTHER CHARACTERS COME INTO OUR STORY + +CHAPTER TWELVE IN WHICH I ATTEND AN ORATORIO + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN IN WHICH I SUFFER FOUR SHOCKS, THREE OF THE EARTH AND +ONE FROM THE SKY, AND FIND ANOTHER MAID A-FISHING + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN IN WHICH YET A FIFTH SHOCK ARRIVES, AND ROUNDS OUT THE +DAY + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN IN WHICH THE HISTORIAN UNBLUSHINGLY SHOWS HIMSELF TO BE +A HUMAN + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN IN WHICH MUCH ADDED LIGHT IS SHED UPON MISS BERYL DRANE, +BUT ONLY A GLIMMER UPON MY PROBLEM + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN IN WHICH I ENTERTAIN SERIOUSLY A CHIVALROUS NOTION TO +MY GREAT DETRIMENT + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN IN WHICH I DESCEND INTO HELL + +CHAPTER NINETEEN IN WHICH THE SATYR AND THE NARRATOR BECOME VERY DRUNK, +AND THE LATTER IS LIFTED TO EARTH AGAIN + +CHAPTER TWENTY IN WHICH I VIEW AN EMPTY WORLD, ACT A HYPOCRITE, AND HEAR +A CONFESSION OF LOVE + +CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE IN WHICH, STRANGE TO SAY, TIME PASSES. ALSO I RECEIVE +THREE WARNINGS, AND WITNESS AN UNPARALLELED EPISODE IN THE SMITHY OF +BUCK STEELE + +CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO IN WHICH I SPAR WITH DEATH + +CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE IN WHICH, THOUGH THE WORLD IS STILL A VOID, THERE +IS THE SHINING OF A GREAT LIGHT + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR IN WHICH I VANQUISH A DEMONIAC, AND ENTER INTO GLORY + + + + +A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE + + +When a man of thirty who has been sound and well since boyhood suddenly +realizes there is something radically wrong with him, it amounts almost +to a tragedy. + +It was mid-March when I became convinced that I was "wrong." Near the +close of winter I had developed a hacking cough with occasional chest +pains, but with masculine mulishness had refused to recognize any +untoward symptoms. I was not a sissy, to let a common cold frighten me +and send me trembling to the doctor. I began to lose flesh and grow +pale, whereas I had been of fine frame, and decidedly athletic. Then I +discovered a fleck of crimson on my handkerchief one day after a hard +coughing spell. I got up from my desk with unsteady knees and a chilly +feeling down my spine, and went to 'Crombie. He was generally known as +Abercrombie Dane, M. D., but we grew up hand in hand, as it were, and +so--I went to 'Crombie. He was a fine, big animal; head of a Hercules +and strength of a jack and sense like Solon. A rare man. + +I told him my tale shamefacedly, for I realized now I had acted a fool, +and that maybe my day of grace had passed. He knew I was scared, for he +was sensitive, in spite of his bulk and seeming brusqueness. There was +pity in his eyes before I finished, and I had to grapple with myself to +keep the moisture out of mine, his sympathy was so real. + +Then I silently gave him the handkerchief, with the telltale stain. + +He looked at it absently, and rubbed it gently with the tip of one big +finger. + +"My son," he said--it was an affectionate form of address which he +nearly always employed--"you are starting a colony." + +His deep voice was very steady. + +"A _what_?" I demanded. + +"Bugs," he replied, laconically, and looked me squarely in the eyes. + +"_Bugs!_" I cried, feeling the cold hand of Fear at my heart. + +He shut his lips tightly, and nodded three or four times. + +For a few moments I was literally and positively paralyzed. I felt as if +he had pronounced sentence of death. 'Crombie had dropped his eyes, and +his broad, strong face was serious. + +My nature is buoyant, and presently the reaction came. + +"Are they crawlin' yet, Doc?" I asked, a smile struggling to my lips. + +I cannot understand now why I asked that question. Perhaps it was a +foolish attempt at bravado in the presence of a serious fact just +discovered. + +He did not answer. He recognized the query as flippant, and his nature +was deep. He sat looking at the floor a long time, and I did not intrude +again upon his thoughts. But I imagined I felt a tickling beneath my +ribs, as of many tiny feet at work. _Bugs!_ Ugh! + +At last 'Crombie's shaggy head came up. + +"There's a chance--a good chance," he said, and I felt courage spreading +through me like wine, for 'Crombie never spoke hastily, nor at random. + +"Sea voyages and high altitudes wouldn't hurt," he resumed, "but you +haven't the money for them. Still you've got to hike from town, my son. +Change is all right, but pure air and coarse, good food is your cue. The +knob country is not far away. There you'll find all you'd find in New +Mexico or Colorado or Arizona, and be in praying distance of the +Almighty to boot. I know the spot for you, my son. It is a great knob +which stands in the midst of a vast range, and it is belted with pine +and cedar trees. Find or build you a shack on it half way up and stay +there for a year. That's your prescription, my son." + +"It's a devilish hard one to take!" I protested, in my ignorance. + +"Condemned men are not usually so particular as to their method of +escape," he admonished, with a half smile. + +Then he fell to thinking again, with his finger on his eyebrow. It was a +peculiar attitude, which I had never seen in anyone else. I sat still, +hoping he was evolving some pleasanter plan for my redemption. He was +trying to change me into a hillbilly, a savage! I looked at my white +hands and carefully kept nails, at my neat business suit and shining +shoes, and a slow rebellion awoke within me. I had about decided to +ignore 'Crombie and seek more comforting advice, when his rumbling voice +came again. + +"It's mighty good authority which says you can't kick against the +pricks. Don't try it, my son. Before we begin final arrangements I want +to ask you a question. Have you ever heard of the life-plant?" + +I gazed at him keenly, for the query did not savor of sanity. I knew +that his researches in botany almost equalled his skill in medicine, but +in some vague way I suspected a trick. His expression disarmed me. It +not only was genuine, but yearning. I have never seen the same look in a +man's eyes before or since. + +"No; I never heard of it," I replied. "What is it?" + +His answer was spoken slowly and meditatively. + +"From the same source we get our hint regarding the pricks, we read of a +tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Nature is the +mother of medicine. There is nothing in pharmaceutics that has not a +direct origin from vegetable, animal, or mineral life. It is my belief +that there is a remedy for every human ill if we could only lay our +hands on it. This brings us to your case, and the life-plant." + +"Are you giving me straight goods, 'Crombie'?" I demanded, my suspicions +rising again. + +"It is half legend, my son, I'll admit, but I have strong reasons for +believing it does exist. It's an Indian tale." + +"Probably bosh," I muttered, my common sense at bay. + +"I think not," he answered, calmly and soberly. + +"Have you ever seen it?" I challenged. + +"No, but that doesn't disprove it. Listen to me. The life-plant is the +most peculiar growth in nature, and cannot be confounded with anything +else. The principal accessories to its full development are pure air and +sunshine, hence it is found only in the still places of the woods and +valleys. It is exceedingly rare. You might spend a year searching for it +under the most favorable conditions, and find only one specimen. Again, +you might find none. So far as science has gone, it grows from neither +seed, bulb, nor root. It seems to germinate from certain elemental +conjunctions, attains maturity, flowers and dies. It may appear in the +cleft of a rock, on the side of a mountain range, or in the rich mold of +a valley. It claims no special season for its own, but may come in +December as well as in June. It springs from snow as frequently as from +summer grass. This is how it looks. It is about twelve inches high. Its +stem is a most vivid green; its leaves are triangular, of a bright +golden color, and the flower, which comes just at the top, is a +collection of clear little globules, like the berries of the mistletoe. +They are clearer and purer than the mistletoe berry, however. In fact, +they are all but transparent, and might readily be mistaken for a +cluster of dewdrops. Therein lies the efficacy of this strange plant. +Gather the bloom carefully, immerse it in a glass of water for twelve +hours, then drink the decoction entire. It will rout your embryo colony, +and make you sound and strong as I." + +He leaned back and slapped his chest with his open hand. + +"You're dopey, 'Crombie," I said, doubting, but longing to believe him. + +He wheeled around to his desk. + +"All right, my son. You came to me for advice, and got it. I consider +that I've done my duty by you." + +"Oh, come now!" I pleaded, ready to conciliate. "That's an awful +cock-and-bull story you've handed me, and you mustn't get huffy if it +doesn't go down without choking. I'll try to swallow it, 'Crombie. I do +appreciate your advice, and I'm going to try and take it;--but tell me +more about this infernal flower." + +"Not infernal," he corrected, mollified; "but supernal. I don't think +there's any more to tell. Your stunt is to search till you find it, then +follow directions." + +"You say it grows anywhere?" I continued, assuming interest. + +"Where there's pure air and sunshine," he repeated. + +"And grows out of _snow_, 'Crombie?" + +"As well as out of warm soil," he averred, doggedly. + +"It appears to me that you're looney, 'Crombie, but I hope you're not, +and I'll hunt for your bloomin' life-plant. But the question now is: who +is going with me into my hill of refuge?" + +"Who's going with you? Nobody! Who would go with you? People nowadays +have neither time nor inclination to burrow in the wilderness for a +twelve-month!" + +I groaned, for I knew that he was right. Martyrdom never has company. + +"There's no other way?" I pleaded. "Couldn't I have a native look for +this healing flower for me?" + +He shook his head. "It withers soon after it is plucked. You had better +carry a sealed jar of water with you on your tramps." + +Resignation came to me with that speech. My own folly had brought me +where I was, and my spirit suddenly rose up to meet the emergency. + +"I'll go, 'Crombie," I said. "Thank you for your prescription." + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +IN WHICH I GO TO 'CROMBIE AGAIN + + +'Crombie had said with chilling frankness that I hadn't the money for a +sea voyage, or for extended travel. The statement was distressingly +true. Just at the time he and I finished our college careers, my father +died. Contrary to general belief, and my own as well, he was almost a +bankrupt. It was the old story of the frenzy for gain, great risks, and +total loss. 'Crombie took up medicine, while I, lured by the promises of +a fickle Fate, embraced literature. 'Crombie was wise; I was foolish. +When people are sick they always want a doctor, but when they are idle +they do not always read. If there is one road to the poorhouse which is +freer from obstructions than all others, it is the road of the unknown +author. I had a natural bent toward letters, had been editor-in-chief of +the college magazine, and had sold two or three stories to middle-class +periodicals. So, with the roseate illusions of youth at their flood, I +pictured myself soon among the front rank of American writers, and +equipped myself for a speedy conquest. + +In six months I had sold a half dozen stories, for something approaching +one hundred dollars, and had received enough rejection slips to paper +one room. To this use I applied them, taking a doleful sort of pleasure +in reading the punctilious printed messages with their eternal refrain +of "We regret, etc." I wondered if the editors were as sorry as they +pretended to be. And I thought, too, of the enormousness of their +stationery bills. + +But I persevered. The ten years which followed my embarkation upon this +treacherous sea were not entirely barren of results. I managed to live +frugally, which was something, and established gratifying relations with +two or three magazines which bought my manuscripts with encouraging +regularity. At last I placed a book with a reputable publishing house. +The story fell flat from the press. The firm lost, and I did not receive +a penny. The experience was bitter. I had spent a solid year writing +that book, and I felt that if I could get a hearing my period of +probation would be over. I got the hearing, and I was still in +obscurity. That is the typical literary beginning, and he who finally +succeeds deserves all he gets, for he has a heart of oak. My inherent +optimism and stubborn will bore me safely through the mists and shallows +of defeat, and with the sunlight of hope once more flooding my soul, I +went on. Then 'Crombie handed me my commuted death sentence. + +It is wonderful how news of this sort gets abroad. But it spreads like +uncorked ether. I had proof of this two days later when my minister, an +aged and good man, called on a mission of condolence. + +"God did it, my boy," he said, as he left, "and you must bear it." + +I didn't believe him. I believed that the devil did it, and that God +would help me get rid of it. + +Since I had to go up into the wilderness, the sooner I went the sooner I +would return, and I found my anxiety to be off increasing day by day. +Spring was unusually early this year. March was a miracle month of plum +blooms, and swelling buds, and flower-sprinkled grass. Little spears of +bright green were beginning to show on the lilac bushes, and elusive +bird notes came fitfully from orchard and fence-row--blown bubbles of +sound bursting ere they were scarcely heard. + +When I began to make my preparations, I realized how helpless I was. +What should I take with me in the way of food, clothing, bedding, +utensils, medicine? I had never camped out a night in my life. 'Crombie +would have to tell me. He knew, for every year he hiked off to Canada +and the Adirondacks for thirty days, and lived like a caveman every hour +he was gone. I went to his office. He was engaged, with six people in +the waiting-room. I went out and got him on the telephone. He promised +to see me that night at nine in his apartments. It was then three +o'clock in the afternoon, so I took a walk. I could do nothing more +until I had talked to him. + +Lexington is really nothing more than a great big country town, but we +love it. I reached the suburbs in half an hour, then took the pike, and +walked briskly. The day had been like one huge bloom of some tropical +orchid. Contrasted with the biting winter only a few weeks back, it was +something to exult the heart and uplift the soul. Rain had fallen the +night before. Day came with a world-wide flare of yellow sunshine; her +dress a tempered breeze. By noon a coat was uncomfortable, and the air +was full of music; the droning, charming, ceaseless litany of the bees. +At three in the afternoon, when some strange freak drove me to the open +road, the miracle had not passed. Surely God's hands were spread over +the face of the earth, and His eyes looked down between. A few cumulus +clouds were piled in fantastic groups toward the west, as I stopped +about two miles out, and gazed slowly around me. Overhead was infinity, +and the presence of the Creator. Encompassing me were unnumbered acres +of that soil of which every child of the bluegrass is proud. On the +breast of the world the annual mystery was spread. Death had changed to +life. Where the snow's warm blanket had lately lain uprose millions and +millions of tiny spears; wheat which had been folded safely by nature's +cover against the blighting cold. Billowing fields of richest brown, +where the ploughshare had made ready a bed for the seed corn and the +hemp. Near me were two trees. Their roots were intertwined, for their +trunks were not over a foot apart, and their branches had overlapped and +interwoven. Almost as one growth they seemed. They were the dogwood and +the redbud, and each was in full bloom. At first the sight dazzled me. +The pure white flowers, yellow-hearted, gleaming against the mass of +crimson blooms which clung closely to twig and limb, produced a +remarkable effect. The hardier trees remained bleak, barren, apparently +lifeless. They required more embracing from the sun, more kissing from +the rain, more sighs of entreaty from the wind before the transmutation +of sap to leaf would be accomplished. + +It chanced that I had halted at a spot where no homestead was visible, +and I was absolutely alone. None passed, and no cattle or stock of any +kind stood in the adjoining fields. It was a faint foretaste of the +immediate future, and a peculiar peace came over me as I stood on the +hard, oiled road, and felt myself becoming at one with the universal +light and life of the earth and sky. My breast thrilled, and I drew in +my breath quickly. Was it a message? An assurance from the mother-heart +of Nature that she would care for me tenderly in exile? + +I turned and went slowly, thoughtfully, back to town, reaching it just +as the dusk began to be starred by the rayed arc lights. + +"'Crombie," I said, lighting one of his choicest cigars and sitting +facing him; "you've steered me into an awful mess." + +You know I could fuss at 'Crombie. He was too big to take offense. + +"How so, my son?" he replied, easily, his large face gently humorous. + +"Well, I started to pack for this--er--trip, or outing, and I had no +more idea how to go about it than a pig. What will I need, and what must +I take? You've got me into this, and you've got to see me through it." + +"The first thing you'll need will be a roof with good, stout, tight +walls under it. Remember, you're not going there to bask in sunshine +alone, but you're going to spend next winter there!" + +I looked at him, and I imagine my expression was something like that of +a dog when a youth badgers it, for 'Crombie laughed. + +"I don't want to make it worse than it is," he apologized; "neither do I +want you to be deceived in any way regarding conditions. But by the time +winter comes, take my word for it, you can sleep in a snow-drift without +hurt." + +I smoked in silence. The thought was not encouraging. + +"I believe you will find things pretty much to your hand there," he went +on, in a ruminative voice. "You remember I came from that part of the +country, and the locality is entirely familiar. I have been all over +Bald Knob a dozen times. Eight years ago a shack stood just where you +would want yours. I think a fellow who had a natural love for the woods +built it some eighteen or nineteen years ago, lived there a while, and +later moved to another State. It is made entirely of undressed logs, and +has one room and a kitchen. It ought to be in good condition yet, +because it is protected by the bulk of the knob. I should guess the room +to be about sixteen feet square, and the kitchen is a box, but big +enough. There is a spring near, considerably impregnated with sulphur. +This water can have nothing but a good effect. If the shack still +stands, you should consider yourself very lucky." + +As he drew this picture, I could not help but gaze at the sumptuous +furnishings of the room in which I sat. + +"How close is the nearest town?" I asked. + +"The nearest town is Cedarton, my old home, ten miles from Bald Knob, +but there is a hamlet within three miles. This consists of a few +cottages, a store, a blacksmith shop and a distillery. You will have +occasion to visit neither place often. If you should happen to run short +of provisions, go to the hamlet called Hebron." + +"Then seclusion is as necessary as pure air and plain food?" + +"It is to prevent you from forming the habit that I advise you not to +seek people. Man is naturally gregarious. If you began going to the +hamlet once a week you would soon be going every day, and you would +deteriorate into a cracker box philosopher or a nail keg politician, +spending your time in hump-shouldered inertia rather than in tramping +through the health-giving open in quest of the life-plant. You are going +forth with a purpose, my son; don't forget that." + +I threw my head back against the cushioned leather, and in doing so my +eyes lighted on a magnificent moose head over the mantel. + +"You killed that fellow?" I asked, swerving suddenly from the subject +without apology, as is permitted between old friends. + +"Yes; in northern Maine. I trailed him ten days, went hungry for two, +broke through some thin lake ice in zero weather, tramped five miles +with my wet clothes frozen on me before I could get to a fire, and slept +two nights under snow a foot deep. Then I killed him." + +I stared at him curiously. + +"I confess," I said, "that I have thought you were giving me a +prescription you knew nothing about. I beg your pardon for my unbelief." + +He smiled, and broke his cigar ash into the tray at his elbow. + +"I wouldn't miss my annual trip into Eden for a year's income," he said. +"It is during those thirty days I store up life and energy for the +remaining three hundred and thirty-five." + +Then we fell to discussing my departure, and there followed an hour's +talk on ways and means. By eleven o'clock I had a list of everything I +could possibly need which would contribute to my comfort or well being. +But there was one thing more; one supreme thing. All that evening I had +been trying to speak it, and couldn't. Now we were sitting side by side +at the table where we had made my list, and suddenly courage came. I +clasped the ham-like hand lying close to mine, and looking steadily and +beseechingly into my friend's eyes, said: + +"'Crombie, go with me! I don't mean go to stay. I'm not such a +miserable, snuffling coward as that. But companion me there--show me the +way--help me get established. Two days--not longer. That country is new +to me. Cedarton would take me for an escaped lunatic if I should apply +at a livery stable for a wagon to take me and my effects to a shack +which used to stand on the slope of Bald Knob. Don't you see? The people +know you, and a word from you would fix it all right. I'm your patient. +But more than that, 'Crombie, is having your good old self with me. Just +come to the shack with me, help me place my things, hearten me up by +your good man-talk, make me believe and _know_ that I am on the right +track. Just two days. Won't you do it, 'Crombie?" + +I knew that I was asking a great deal, probably more than I should. It +would seem that it was enough for one man to show another where bodily +salvation lay, without taking him by the hand and leading him to it. And +forty-eight hours from town now meant a monetary loss to the man beside +me. But God made men like Abercrombie Dane for other purposes than money +getting. + +Now he gave me the sweetest smile I have ever seen on any face except my +mother's, as he laid his other huge hand over mine. + +"Yes, I'll go with you, my son," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +IN WHICH I FIND A LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS + + +I am here. + +'Crombie came with me to Cedarton, engaged two light, serviceable wagons +to convey us and my effects, and then drove out here with me to help me +get settled. We reached Bald Knob just as the sun was setting yesterday +afternoon. The drive out from town was beautiful. Neither talked much on +the trip. I couldn't, and 'Crombie seemed to be thinking. The main +highway, which we traveled for a number of miles, was made of gravel, +brought from a considerable stream which, I learn, runs somewhere +nearabout. When we left the road, our way became quite rough. It was +merely a succession of knob paths, which had been broadened enough for +the passage of four-wheeled vehicles. As we went deeper and deeper into +the wood, the scenery became wilder and grander. We saw vast ravines, +where the earth shore straight down for many feet; tortuous channels +where the fierce rains had plowed a passage to lower ground; trees of +all description growing everywhere, while shrubs, creepers and vines +interlaced and fought silently for supremacy. Once we passed for nearly +half a mile along a broad, shallow stream with a slate bed, bordered on +one side by a gigantic, leaden, serrated slate cliff whereon some +patches of early moss gleamed greenly bright, fed by the moisture which +filtered through the overlapping strata. This cliff was somber; it was +almost like a shadow cast upon us. But when we had passed it the +sunshine came sweeping gloriously through a gap in the hills, and I felt +my spirit leap up gratefully to meet it. + +We could see Bald Knob for miles before we reached it, and as we drove +along, each smoking, neither talking, I found that my eyes wandered time +and again to the bare, conical cap toward which we were creeping. I was +wondering with all the soul of me if I could meet the test, now that it +stared me in the face. It was one thing to sit in 'Crombie's leather +chair and decide comfortably upon this course, and another thing to see +myself approaching a hut in the midst of a primeval forest--and to think +that I was going to live alone there for a twelve-month! I know my face +would not have made a good model for a picture of Hope, as the two +wagons drew up in the ravine which partially circled the enormous hill +whereon 'Crombie had said a shack had at one time stood. At length we +found a sort of road--it was more an opening through the dense +undergrowth than anything else--and by dint of much urging from the +drivers, and frequent rests, we came at last to a little plateau, +perhaps a quarter of an acre in extent, not quite half way up the knob. +On the farther side of the plateau was a small building, resting at the +base of a sheer wall of stone and earth. + +It was then 'Crombie shook off the quiet mood he had shared with me the +greater part of the journey, and became hilarious. He hallooed, laughed, +joked and capered about like a schoolboy on a frolic, and not to hurt +the dear fellow I pretended to fall in with his mood. I really felt as +if the world was rapidly drawing to an end. + +Last night we could do nothing but make ourselves comfortable as +possible, and go to bed early. To-day we have worked hard, and obtained +results. I couldn't have got settled without 'Crombie. He has tact, +ingenuity, invention, and did most of the hard work. He said it would be +better for me not to exert myself too much, which sounds silly, +considering that my bodily measurements would have almost equaled his +own. + +Now he and the drivers and the horses and the wagons are gone. A +half-hour ago I caught my last glimpse of him between a scrub oak and a +cedar. He was looking back, saw me, waved his arm prodigiously, sent up +a hearty hail, and disappeared. I stood for thirty minutes without +stirring from my tracks. Then from afar off, through the wonderfully +still twilight air, I heard a voice singing. The words were lost because +of the distance, but the tune was familiar. It was a rollicking, foolish +thing we had sung at college. 'Crombie was sending it to me as a last +message, to cheer me up. I inclined my ear desperately to the welcome +sound. I held my breath as it fell fainter and fainter, now broken, now +barely audible. At length, strain my ears as I would, it was lost. + +But another sound had taken its place. The sun was down, and now, at +twilight, the Harpist of the Wood awoke and touched his multitudinous +strings. He was in gentle mood to-day; a mood of dreams and revery. The +melody was barely audible; just a stirring, a breath. But it stole upon +my ears as something wonderful, and sweet, and holy. I had never heard +anything at all similar. I stood entranced, listening to the ghostly +gamut lightly plucked from the bare limbs and twigs of the hardy trees +which had not yet responded to the season's call; from the slender green +needles of the pine and the denser plumes which clothed the cedar, and +offered to me. As I hearkened to the elfin harmony I became conscious of +a certain peace. The boundless solitudes which stretched unbroken in +every direction did not seem forbidding and oppressive as I had sensed +them when traveling. A subtle kinship with the wind, and the trees, and +the earth awoke in my mind, and in some vague way which brought a thrill +with it I felt that I had come home. All these things which I had feared +grew quite close at this twilight hour, and I imagined they came with +pleading, welcoming hands, as to a long lost son or brother who was much +beloved. Then as I raised my head a cool, soft breeze smote my face and +rushed up my nostrils, and I smelt the elusive, invigorating tang of the +evergreens. I smiled, and drew repeated draughts of the pure essence +deep into my lungs, filling every cranny and corner again and again. +When I finally turned and went back to the shack, I felt as if I had +taken wine. + +I lit a lamp, made a fire in my kitchen stove, prepared a frugal meal +and ate it. Later I took a chair outside the door and sat for two hours, +thinking. One very important thought came to me during that time. My +book of fiction did not sell; perhaps a book of facts would. So I have +decided to write a history of my exile. To-night it promises to be very +prosy and uneventful. I cannot see how anything could possibly transpire +which would interest a reader. But the task will provide employment for +me, at least. So every night before I go to bed I shall make a record of +anything which happened that day. If nothing occurs, I shall wait for +the incident worth relating. To-night I shall tell of my new home, and +its surroundings. + +I have named my place the Wilderness Lodge, thinking how the ill-starred +Byron would have joyed in just such a spot. We found it much as 'Crombie +said it would be: a substantial, square room built of oak logs, with a +floor of undressed planks. It is covered with clapboards, and the roof +is rain-proof. The front door is heavy, and may be secured on the inside +with a large beam which drops into iron brackets. There is a second door +in the rear which leads into the kitchen, a room highly meriting the +proverbial expression--"Not big enough to whip a cat in." There are two +opposing windows, which are small. Each is provided with a shutter, +hinged at the top. They are propped up with sticks slant-wise to admit +light and air, and to keep rain out. A nice arrangement, I think. Facing +the front door is the fireplace; a huge, rough stone affair, large +enough to sleep in if one were so inclined. It has a broad stone hearth, +and is fitted with black, squat andirons. Already I am planning the joy +I shall derive from this fireplace when next winter comes. To-night I +have built a brisk fire for cheer, company, and precaution, for the +place has been uninhabited for years, and last night's warming did not +drive out all the damp. It is wonderful how satisfying the dancing +flames are; they seem to impart their glow and warmth to me. + +My furniture is very simple, but enough. I have a cot with plenty of +bedding; a table, several chairs, including a rocker; two trunks and +some grass rugs for the floor. Of course, there are hundreds of lesser +things which I could not get along without, but while they have their +places, they are not worth cataloguing. It is also needless to say that +one of the trunks is half full of books. Some of these have already +found their way to the table; Stevenson, Hearn, Rabelais, Villon, Borrow +and some others. + +When I come to tell of my demesne I don't know where to draw the line, +for there are no boundary marks, and I can easily fancy "I am monarch of +all I survey." I suppose I have a yard, for I shall think of the plateau +in that way. Whoever built the Lodge cleared the level place in front, +and around, of all trees and bushes. It is dry and barren now, and +covered with dead leaves, but soon there will be a prying and a pushing +of little green heads and I shall be kept busy if I don't want to be +overrun and driven out. Beginning a short distance back of the Lodge, +and continuing upward for perhaps a hundred feet, a thick band of pines +and cedars belt the hill with a zone of perpetual green. Beyond this the +vegetation dwindles, becomes scarcer, and finally ceases, leaving the +apex of the knob absolutely bare. Below my plateau, and around, +everywhere, as far as I can see, are trees, trees, trees. Trees of every +size and every kind indigenous to the climate. Evergreens predominate. +There are millions of them, but there are also wide expanses of oak, +ash, beech, sycamore, elm, walnut, dogwood. Most of these have as yet +not put forth the tiniest shoot. But here and there in the dun, brown +stretches a dogwood has joyously flung out a thousand gleaming stars +which shine, white and radiant, a pledge and a promise of the general +resurrection nearhand. + +A moment gone I laid down my pen and stepped outside. How vast! How +still! How illimitable! I had never felt my insignificance so keenly +before. I seemed a tiny atom of dust. But as I stood and heard again +those muffled chords from the mighty Harp, and saw the patient planets +overhead again on guard, I suddenly knew that I was truly part and +parcel of the Whole, and in my heart Hope gave birth to prayer. + +Now to bed, tired, but at peace, with both windows flung wide--it is +'Crombie's orders. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +IN WHICH I MEET A DRYAD + + +A week has passed. Until to-day I had begun to fear that my proposed +plan of making a book would come to naught. One would not care to read +of a daily life consisting of getting up, eating, smoking, reading, +strolling about and going to bed. That is all I have done until to-day, +when something happened. But before I come to this, I must tell of the +labor I undergo in procuring water. + +I have spoken elsewhere of a sulphur spring. It is located in another +ravine across the one lying at the foot of my knob. I have been drinking +the water dutifully, because 'Crombie told me to, although to my mind it +is vile stuff, and I can't see how anything with such a pronounced odor +can be beneficial. I don't suppose I know. But I must have cooking and +bath water as well, and this comes from the small stream which runs +through the center of the nearest ravine. The distance would not be so +great on a level, but to struggle up the steep slope with a bucket full +of water in each hand is no fun. I have had to make two trips every day, +much to my discomfort. This is a problem which I have to solve, or else +go unwashed. Then, too, when the summer comes the stream below will most +probably run dry, although 'Crombie assured me the sulphur water was +plentiful the year round. + +I have been getting located the last seven days; exploring my hill of +refuge, and making little excursions into the neighboring fastnesses. +Almost the last thing 'Crombie told me was to remember the life-plant, +and the sooner I began the search the better it would be for me. I'm not +altogether satisfied about this life-plant, although I know 'Crombie +wouldn't joke with me about so serious a matter. I have at length +decided to take his word implicitly, and begin a systematic hunt for +this most peculiar growth. I am feeling suspiciously well. My cough has +nearly gone, and it seems almost absurd that a strapping man of six foot +two should be out chasing a chimera of this sort. + +This morning I was up before the sun, an experience I have not known +since childhood. I breakfasted bountifully on ham, eggs, bread, and +coffee. Then, flushing foolishly, I filled a pint Mason jar with +water--sweet water--screwed the top down tightly, thrust the jar hastily +in my coat pocket, took my pipe and a stout staff I had cut several days +before, and started on my first tramp for this life-plant. + +I swung down the road--I will call it such--up which the wagons had +come, crossed to the spring and drank of the cold, bad smelling water, +and as I stood puffing my pipe I wondered which way I should go. It did +not matter in the least, but it was human to consider, and I considered. +Before me loomed the prodigious bulk of my home hill. Back of me rose +another, not quite so imposing, but exceedingly steep. To right and left +swept the ravine, silent, shadowy in the newborn morning. It was from +the right we had come. I turned to the left, and presently the thick +soles of my heavy walking shoes were crunching and clattering the loose +shale as I skirted the shallow stream bed. + +I went far that day, climbing ridge after ridge, traversing hollow after +hollow, always with my eyes open for my rare treasure. Again and again I +came upon farm land, small patches of tilled soil which the stubborn +strength of man had wrested from the wilderness to supply his needs. +These fields I went around. Once, from a high point, I saw a tiny +hamlet, caught the cackle of geese, and heard the low of kine. + +Noon came and went before I was aware. I had brought no lunch with me. +It was past midafternoon when I again drew near home. There was never +any danger of my getting lost. Far as I might walk in a single day, that +towering peak would yet be visible, rearing itself in silent grandeur to +guide me back. The thought was comforting. + +I approached in a different direction from any I had ever taken before, +coming almost from due west. I had swiftly descended a slight slope, +hunger giving me haste, and had burst into a glade at the edge of one of +the many creeks which threaded the country, when I stopped short. + +A girl was standing on the further side of the glade. She had not heard +me, for the leaf-sodden mold gave back no sound from my careless feet. +She stood under a dogwood tree, and it chanced, the moment I beheld her, +that the declining sun fell all about and over her. She had plucked a +number of sprays from the tree, and as I stood with bated breath she +began to weave the white and yellow blooms into her hair, which shone in +my eyes like a reflection from burnished copper. She sang as she weaved, +or rather crooned, for I caught no words. It was just an elfin little +tune, with quavering minors strung on a listless monotone. She was +garbed very, very simply; a one piece dress of faded blue, belted at the +waist. A poke bonnet of the same color lay upon the ground near her +feet. Her position in relation to mine was a semi-profile, so I could +make little of her face, but her form was slim and straight, and her +bowed arms displayed a natural grace as she thrust her fingers in and +out of her shining hair, working the star-like blossoms into place. + +As I stood wonder-struck, debating what to do, I saw a commotion in the +tree by which she stood, a scuttling form darted out on the branch +nearest the girl's head, then leaped to her shoulder, where it sat and +nibbled a nut, its tail a graceful gray plume. I think my mouth went +agape; if it didn't, it should have, for here was magic. + +The girl--or dryad, for I was beginning to doubt if she was real--paid +no immediate heed to the squirrel, but went on droning her song and +toiling patiently at the flowers. I stood and watched her, leaning on my +staff, my erstwhile hunger forgotten. Would she vanish into air, or +would she disappear in the cleft of an oak? I determined to see. + +In a few moments her crown was in place. She put her hands down, but +almost at once raised one of her arms, and gave a small, thin, +twittering call. She stood like a statue, apparently waiting, then +repeated the sound, varying it only by a quick rising inflection at the +end. Like an echo an answer filtered sweetly out from the forest to one +side, and I saw a streak of brown cleave the air of the glade, as a +small wood bird, of a species unknown to me, dipped to the outstretched +arm and perched upon the girl's wrist. There it sat, its pert little +tail at a sharp angle, and its head cocked to one side very knowingly. + +"Good Lord!" I burst forth, involuntarily, then bit my lip for a fool. + +The charm was rudely broken; I had spoiled the tableau. + +With a whisk of his tail the squirrel dropped to the girl's hip, jumped +to the ground, and headed toward the thicker growth with frightened +leaps. The bird vanished as the ball does from between the conjuror's +fingers--it just went, but I did not see it go--and the girl turned with +a quiet movement to see who the idiot was. + +"I--beg your pardon!" I said, advancing several steps and taking off my +cap. "That--er--I have never seen--you know--er--I'm really sorry I +scared them off!" + +She stood perfectly calm, her weight resting rather awkwardly upon one +foot, her hands loosely clasped in front of her, as I made my stammering +speech. I don't know why I should have been so confused, unless it was +from her rare composure. + +"They'll come back," she said, assuringly, and smiled. + +I drew closer. I could not believe the evidence of my eyes. When I saw +her joined hands I marveled; they were white, slender, smooth, entirely +unmarked by toil. Now her face. It was fresh, sweet--not beautiful--and +lighted by gray eyes, which brought a sensation to my spine. It was not +a face I would have expected to meet in the Kentucky knob country. True, +there was a superficial expression which reflected her environments, her +associates, but this appeared to me even in that moment as a veil to be +taken off, that the true nature might shine forth. Her voice was low, +rich, and held a strangely haunting note which made for unrest in the +heart of a man. She was totally wild; that I could not doubt. +Illiterate, crude, a child of the locality, but when I first looked in +her face, when I first heard her voice, I knew that I stood before one +whom Fate had cheated. That she was not abashed, not even startled by +the sudden appearance of a total stranger, I attributed rightly to her +mode of life, which was untrammeled by convention, thoroughly natural, +and free from the restraints artificiality begets. + +"You--live near?" I said, never once thinking of passing on now that my +apology was spoken. + +"Uh-huh; at Lizard P'int. 'Tain't fur--up th' holler a bit." + +The simple words struck me almost like a blow. The voice was sweet as a +flute in its lowest tones, the lips were red and curving, but the speech +was the uncouth vernacular of the hills. Fate had indeed cheated her. + +As I nervously drew out my pipe, thinking what I should say next, she +discovered a rent on her shoulder where the careless claws of the scared +squirrel had torn the fabric of her dress. She gave a little exclamation +of annoyance, thrust one finger in the torn place, pouted as a child +might for an instant, then laughed and tossed her garlanded head. + +"I don't keer! Granny'll fix it!" + +It was my cue. + +"Who is Granny?" + +"Granny?... Oh! _my_ granny. We live together." + +"On Lizard Point," I supplemented. "Doesn't anyone else live with you?" + +She nodded her head brightly. + +"Yes, Grandf'er does, but he don't count." + +Her ingenuousness was bewitching, and I essayed to prolong the +interview. + +"Aren't you afraid to wander around in the woods this way alone?" + +"Me!... _Skeerd?_" + +For a moment she looked at me with dropped chin and a tiny frown of +wonder, then a glad stream of laughter came pouring from her upheld +mouth, filling the forest with rippling, echoing cadences. I gazed on +the round, gleaming column of her young throat, milk-white and firm, and +a subtle, primal call stirred in my breast. When her boisterous +merriment had subsided, I could see her teeth, like young corn when the +husks are green, between the scarlet of her parted lips. + +I came closer yet. I was bewildered, puzzled, but strangely attracted. I +scarcely knew how to answer her. + +"You see," I tried to explain, "it--that is, where I came from young +women go nowhere without an escort, except in town." + +"Oh!" + +Her face was serious now, and she seemed trying to comprehend. + +"Whur'd you come frum?" she demanded, with disconcerting abruptness. + +"From Lexington." + +"Whut's that?" + +"A town--a little city." + +"I don't like city people!" + +The sentence sprang forth spontaneously, and she looked displeased. + +"Why?" + +I did not receive an answer. She was kicking a small bunch of moss with +the toe of her ugly, coarse shoe, which was rusty, and laced with a +string. But for all its shapelessness, the shoe was very small. + +"Why don't you like city people?" + +"'Cause Buck says they're mean an' stuck up!" + +She flashed the sentence at me with a rapid glance of defiance. + +"Who's Buck?" + +Now the girl's face took fire, and dire confusion gripped her. Hair and +skin became indistinguishable. But she flung her head up bravely, and +with burning eyes looked straight into mine. + +"Buck Steele. He's th' blacksmith over to Hebron, an' he's--my frien'." + +She had grit. I honored her for that speech. + +"You know I'm a stranger," I ran on, easily, making a pretense to fill +my pipe, and so help her over her embarrassment. "I came just about a +week ago. I'm in the house up on Bald Knob yonder. The city didn't agree +with me, and my doctor sent me out here to get well. I'm not mean and +stuck up, believe me. I've got the poorest sort of an opinion of myself, +although I've lived pretty clean. Now I want to be friends with you, and +all the folks about here. You'll help me, won't you?" + +Her self-possession had returned while I was talking. When I stopped, I +smiled, and looked at her as frankly and honestly as I could. + +"You don' 'pear puny!" was her startling rejoinder. + +I took another tack. + +"Pray tell me how it is the birds and the beasts obey you?" + +"I love 'em!" she answered, promptly, and with warmth. "I know 'em, an' +they know me." + +She turned without warning, and walking to the bank of the creek, which +at this point was raised several feet above the water, leaned over and +peered down into the pool below. Could Eve have been more artless? She +was looking at her reflection in the mirror of the stream! + +I picked up her bonnet by one of the strings, then went and stood beside +her. A compliment arose unbidden to my lips, but I stifled it. It would +not have been fair. + +"I mus' go," she said, straightening up, and twisting a hanging curl +near her forehead back beneath her hair. + +"Aren't you--" + +I started to ask if she wasn't afraid, and if I mightn't go with her, +but remembered in time. + +"--and your granny very lonely?" I finished, lamely, but she did not +appear to notice it. + +"La! No! Th' Tollerses 's jis' t'other side o' th' ridge, 'n' they've +got a pas'l o' kids. No time to git lonesome!" + +My spirit writhed. Such language as this--from her! + +She held out a hand for the bonnet. + +I brought it forward slowly, still holding it by the string. Her hand +rested against mine for an instant as she took it. At this juncture I +made a--to me--significant discovery. _Her nails were pared and clean!_ +It seemed paradoxical, but it was true. I did not attempt to account for +the phenomenon then, but I did later, with no results whatever. + +"Where is Lizard Point--exactly?" I asked, my voice more serious than it +had been during our talk. + +She pointed her finger down the creek, as it flowed gently murmuring to +the south. + +"Th' crick 'll lead yo'. Nigh onto half mile frum here." + +"I'm coming to see you and your granny some day soon. May I? You know +it's lonesome for me out here. I'm not used to it. May I come?" + +She gazed at me with steady gray eyes for a few moments. + +"Ye-e-es; I s'pose so," she answered, reluctantly; "if yo' git +lonesome.... Whut yo' keer'n' that jar fur?" + +Her glance had just espied it, and now it was my turn to blush. + +"I'll tell you--when I see you again," I compromised, laughing. + +She started off, but stopped and turned. + +"Live on Baldy, yo' say?" + +"Yes; in the old log house there." + +"I go thur sometimes. Maybe I'll come 'n' see you!" + +"All right. You'll be mighty welcome." + +"Good-by." + +"Good-by." + +She did not look back, and I stood with a distinct sensation enveloping +me until her copper-gold head, crowned with the star-like dogwood, had +passed from view. + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +IN WHICH I SAY WHAT I PLEASE + + +A prodigious miracle has happened. + +It is not yet mid-April, but the Spirit of Life has stirred in every +bole and bough; every twig and tendril. The awakening has been so +gradual, so stealthy, so silent, that not until this afternoon did I +notice that the far reaching brown world over which I daily looked, had +changed. + +I had been doing some rough carpentering--building a bench on either +side of my doorway outside, using a broad plank I had found in the +kitchen for the purpose. It is true I had chairs, and chairs are more +comfortable, but it has struck me that the Lodge would look better with +these benches in front; would have a more finished appearance. So I +knocked them up quickly. Now on the further rim of my plateau grows a +single pine; a tall, many-limbed, graceful tree. Somehow the thought was +born that a bench under this pine would not be placed amiss, so I walked +toward it to investigate the idea at close range. Its lowest branches +shot out more than two feet over my head, and as I passed under them I +obtained a fresh and unobstructed view of a tremendous reach of +landscape. Instantly my mind received the impression that something had +happened. The entire perspective was subtly transformed. + +Before me was nothing but trees--a vast valley full; slopes clothed with +them and peaks capped with them. And each tree was touched with mystery; +the familiar, never to be understood transmutation of sap to bud and +leaf. The effect from where I stood was not beautiful only; it awoke a +positive awe in my heart. The immense area comprehended by my gaze was +undergoing resurrection. Painless, soundless, without effort, the +ancient forest was coming back to life; to green, vigorous, waving and +dancing life. The process was as yet scarcely begun, but already it was +a veracious promise of perfect fulfillment. A tenuous, lacey veil of +pale, elusive green seemed stretched over all growth within the scope of +my vision. A misty, unreal something it appeared; a gossamer covering +which would vanish before the first breath of wind, or touch of sun. But +well I knew the truth! It was the sun, and the wind, and the rain which +had compassed the wonder. Beneath their united power the sluggish sap +had first stirred in the hidden roots, and when the insistent summons +became more and more powerful, had mysteriously arisen through +successive cells of fiber, up and up, into every branch, into every +limb, into the smallest and most insignificant twig, where Nature's +final marvelous alchemy was performed, and moisture turned to bud, and +bud turned to leaf. A leaf perfectly shaped and veined, each to its own +tree. + +Dusk came upon me as I gazed, enraptured. Softly the light stole away, +and the shadows came. Now the horizon range was a wall of gloom, and +then, like billows which made no sound, velvety waves of darkness +overflowed all before me, blotting it out. But I know that to-morrow the +lacey veil would have a deeper shade, and that soon, with millions upon +millions of leaves astir, the Harpist of the Wood, when he touched his +responsive strings, would draw yet a grander measure. + +No bench went under the pine tree that night, but the next day I builded +it well. It is a fine spot to sit and dream--a pastime I love. + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +IN WHICH I MEET A SATYR + + +Two weeks have passed since I talked with the dryad in the glade. + +I am getting along splendidly. That is, my appetite is good, I sleep the +night through, and my trouble remains at a standstill. I'm not expecting +this to leave me at once. I read some every night. The days I force +myself to spend outdoors. If I do not go on a tramp, I prowl around my +hill of refuge. Yesterday I found a creditable cave some score of rods +from the Lodge, in about the same latitude. There is an irregular, +outjutting ledge of rock here, and it was beneath a moss-splotched +bowlder I found a hole leading into the knob, its entrance large enough +for me to stand erect in. I am not averse to a mild adventure, so I +began a tentative exploration. I had proceeded but a few steps, however, +when I stopped. I heard something. I had my revolver with me--I make a +habit of taking it with me wherever I go--so I drew this and advanced a +little further. The sound was repeated, louder and more menacing. I +would have thought it the hiss of a serpent, but for its remarkable +volume. I looked, but could see nothing. The passage ended in darkness. +The floor was littered with small stones, and pebbles mixed with fine +sand. I picked up one of the stones and tossed it sharply into the +darkness ahead. The response was instantaneous. The hissing was renewed, +but now it was accompanied by a scuffling sound, and I became aware that +some formless thing was approaching me. I could see the bulk of it +making for me--but that was enough! I turned and ran, ignominiously, +forgetting my weapon in my fright. As I made my exit from the cave at +full speed I grasped a near-by sapling desperately, described an erratic +and ungraceful arc, thus saving myself from tumbling down the steep +declivity which faced me, and finally brought up some score of feet +away. I turned to see if I was pursued, but there was only an anxious +and solicitous mother buzzard in the cave-mouth, her ugly neck +outstretched toward me, and her broad wings bowed in anger. I laughed. +It was a little late for their nesting season, but this one doubtless +had a pair of miserable little yellow goslings back in that hole. + +I give this incident to show how quiet my life was up to this time, and +how such a trifling occurrence really caused me much excitement. + +I began my chronicle to-night by saying it had been two weeks since I +talked with the dryad in the glade. Why should I reckon time from that? +I wrote the sentence unconsciously. Now, when I come to think about it, +I realize that the dryad has been in my mind a very great deal during +the last fortnight. You must know there is to be no concealment in this +narrative. It is to be a record of absolute truth. Not only what I do, +but what I think and feel, shall be faithfully set down. She--I don't +even know her name! I can't see why I should have parted from her +without asking her name, since I shall in all likelihood see her many +times during the coming year. Perhaps it was her eyes which made me +forget such an important question. I have never seen eyes like +hers--never. They are the Irish gray. That's a different gray from all +others, as I suppose you know. Don't ask me how they are different, for +I don't propose to attempt an explanation. But they are, and especially +is this true in women's eyes. A woman with Irish gray eyes can be +dangerous if she wants to. In addition to their remarkable color, the +dryad's eyes have very white lids which droop the least bit, perpetually +shading the iris. She is something of a paradox. She has small feet, +smooth hands and carefully kept nails, but her language, while spoken in +a peculiarly pleasing voice, is so ungrammatical and colloquial that it +makes rigors creep over me. I told her that I was coming to see her and +her granny, but I haven't gone. Why haven't I? I told her I was coming +to see her because I got lonely. Have I been lonely? Yes; very. Three +days ago I bravely started for the glade where I had found her, +intending to follow the guiding creek on to Lizard Point. I turned off +before I reached the creek and went ten miles in another direction. Why +did I do that? I want to see the dryad again. She interests me; I feel +that we shall be good friends. She has a bright and ready mind, and is +absolutely natural. She says what she wants to, laughs when she wants +to, does what she wants to. I verily think she would be incapable of +deception or guile, but I may be wrong in this. I suspect I am. Such +things are not conditions resultant from culture and refinement; they +belong to the human organism, and so, by virtue of her being, the dryad +must possess them. + +To-morrow I am going to Lizard Point. + +This afternoon I came in before sunset from a very leisurely tramp of +about four hours. Whenever I stir abroad my pint Mason jar full of fresh +water goes with me, for I have banished all doubt, and believe +steadfastly in the life-plant. You may be sure I am always looking, +always watching. That is my sole object in life just now. I feel that I +will find the thing if it grows in this part of the world, for my search +is to be most thorough. Thus far I have discovered nothing whatever to +arouse hope or anticipation. + +I came home early to-day because I am to have a garden. I decided upon +this last night after I was abed. Just before I toppled over into sleep +I remembered that the ground to the left of the Lodge was loamy, with +few rocks, and not many stumps. So to-day I despatched an early supper, +took a rake and began to clear the ground. It was nice, easy work, and I +soon discovered that my garden would run sixty feet one way by +forty-five or fifty the other. There was a heavy layer of decaying +leaves to scrape away, a number of loose stones, and quantities of +sticks fallen or blown from trees. I stopped in about fifteen minutes to +refill my pipe, found that I had left my tobacco on one of the benches, +and went and helped myself. As I touched match to bowl I heard a high, +harsh voice singing in the most dolorous key imaginable the following +doggerel couplet: + + "Rabbit in th' log. + Ain't got no rabbit dog." + +I stopped drawing on the stem, and turned my head in the direction of +the sound. The burning splinter of pine nipped my fingers, and I dropped +it. The crazy tune came from down the road, which curved not a great +distance away. Again, louder, and in a more positive tone, some one +declared: + + "Rabbit in th' log, + Ain't got no rabbit dog. + Chick'n on my back, + Houn' on my track, + I'm a-makin' fur my shanty-- + God knows!" + +The last word was carried through fluctuations which would almost have +stood for a cadenza in a music score, and as it trailed off into silence +the singer appeared from around the bend. + +In the half light he presented a strange, almost a grotesque figure, as +he toiled up the road repeating over and over his peculiar lines. I +stood perfectly quiet, and watched his approach. There was a certain +limp to his gait, coupled with a decided unsteadiness, which made his +seeming yet more uncouth as he drew nearer and nearer through the +gloaming. His head was bent, and he was unaware of my presence until he +reached the plateau, and advanced some distance across it. Then he +looked up, saw me, and came to a standstill with a jerky motion. He was +perhaps twenty feet from me, as we stood and exchanged stares. + +An exceedingly tall, loose-jointed individual faced me. His clothing was +nondescript, mostly rags and tatters. His trousers, frayed at the ends, +came to an abrupt stop several inches above the tops of his run-down, +rusty shoes, and the spaces between showed a dust-begrimed skin. He wore +a coat of the Prince Albert pattern, much too small. Beneath this was +some sort of shirt which would not admit of description. His face was +gaunt and hairy. I will not say he wore a beard; the term would be +incorrect. The hair grew in patches; sickly, stringy strands, with an +extra tuft on the chin which curved sideways. I was forcibly reminded of +a goat when I saw this chin-tuft. He wore a colorless, conical felt hat, +broad-brimmed and bandless. The brim continued the slope of the crown in +an unbroken line, producing a startling effect. There came to my mind +the headgear of Hendrik Hudson's crew as depicted in the play of Rip Van +Winkle. This specter-like apparition might well have been a ghost, but +for the recent evidence of a strong pair of lungs. Beneath one arm, +hugged to his side, the figure carried a bundle covered with oilcloth. + +For the length of a half-dozen breaths we stood motionless and +speechless. Then the figure began to nod its head at me, slowly, +soberly, up and down, up and down, and with each movement the curved +chin-tuft would shake. This senseless action irritated me. I don't know +why, for it might just as well have caused amusement. But for some +reason I felt anger rising within me; not violent, but enough to barb my +tongue. + +"Who are you, and what do you want?" + +My words were sharp, but that they did not cut I knew from the sprightly +reply. + +"I'm a fiddler, 'n' I don't want nothin'!" + +Still the head bobbed, and the goat-tuft shook. + +"You're nothing of the sort," I retorted; "you're a satyr, and you want +a drink of whiskey!" + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +IN WHICH THE SATYR AND I SIT CHEEK BY JOWL + + +He looked the first, and from his antic disposition I was convinced he +was already more than half drunk. But I was entirely unprepared for the +result which my statement brought about. + +The angular figure became convulsed with immoderate laughter on the +instant. He shouted and screamed with mirth, bending forward, thrusting +backward, holding his ribs with one hand--the other was busy with the +oilcloth bundle, which he never forgot--turning that repellent chin to +the sky, and yelling his insane, cackling, demoniac merriment to the +first stars. I thought he would surely have some sort of fit before my +eyes, so overcome was he with glee. I stood erect and dignified, waiting +for his stormy risibles to allay. After a full two minutes of noisy +rapture, he calmed down somewhat, drew forth a bottle of remarkable size +and tilted it with the neck between his lips. Making a smacking sound of +satisfaction as he finished the draught, he half lurched, half walked +toward me, extending the bottle as he came. + +"Good fur rheumatiz," he said, stopping at arm's length, and +good-naturedly leering his invitation for me to partake. + +I shook my head. + +"No.... Thank you." + +There was an expression on his countenance which disarmed me of my +wrath. At close range I searched his features. They were irregular, +undecided. His nose was pug--another satyr touch--and his neck long, +thin and ridged. I could not see his eyes. But something about him came +out to me as an appeasing and soothing agent. Worse than useless for me +to speculate as to what it was. A nameless something, probably, which +acted upon my spirit, or nature, and charmed it in a way. I knew this +thing before me was a fragment, a waif, a bit of flotsam on Life's sea. +He could be nothing else. And yet--and yet, as he stood patiently with +that enormous bottle stuck under my nose, and the genial, whole-hearted +leer of invitation on his pagan face, I knew a sudden kinship; a quick, +sympathetic rush of feeling, and as I waved the bottle aside with my +left hand I thrust out my right and grasped his as it hung limply in +front of the bundle he still pressed to his side with his elbow. + +"I don't want your liquor, Satyr," I said; "but you may sit down and +talk to me if you want to." + +"Don't want good liquor?" he repeated, batting his lids, and lowering +the bottle as though puzzled beyond understanding. + +"Not now; not often. Sometimes I do. But what sort of stuff is that?" + +I had just noticed the contents of the bottle was clear. + +"White lightnin'," he replied, carefully stowing it away in a pocket I +could not see. + +I knew then. It was moonshine whiskey. + +Suddenly his cadaverousness struck me afresh. + +"Have you had supper--or dinner--or breakfast?" I demanded, with such +vim that he answered hurriedly: + +"Naw; neither; nothin'." + +The grammar was bad, but the meaning was good. + +"Then let's eat--you and I--and become acquainted." + +I did not tell him my supper was over, though this bit of tact was +doubtless unnecessary. Neither did I invite him indoors. While it is +true I had really warmed to his outcast condition, the sentiment did not +embrace the hospitality of my roof. I felt a desire to cultivate him, +but the acquaintance must grow in the open. + +He grinned appreciatively at my suggestion, and I saw him lick his lips +surreptitiously, after the manner of a starved animal which smells food. + +"Get busy about a fire, and I'll find the grub," I continued, not +waiting for the assent which I knew he would give. + +With that I went in the house, took from my larder some bacon, eggs, +bread and coffee, all of which, with a skillet, I carried out. Quickly +as I had moved, I found the Satyr's fire ablaze when I returned. This he +had made from dry leaves and sticks which I had already scraped into a +pile from off my garden plot. + +As host, I prepared the meal. While it was cooking, my strange guest sat +just across from me in a most uncouth attitude. His shoulders and a +portion of his back rested against a stump; the small of his back he sat +upon. His long, spider legs were flexed in such a manner that his sharp +knees shot up into the air above his head. He had placed his dust +colored hat upon the ground, and I could see pale, lifeless strands of +hair waving in the early night breeze on top of his partly bald head. +The oilcloth bundle lay across his stomach. Neither spoke during the few +minutes in which the eggs, meat and coffee were being prepared. One of +his claw-like hands lay upon the bundle. Once I saw his other hand stray +rather aimlessly under his coat, but it brought nothing out when +withdrawn. + +"Go to it!" I said, cheerily, when all was done, shoving the skillet +toward him, and rising to find a cup for his coffee. + +When I came back it was to see him with the skillet between his knees, +devouring its contents with the voracity of a starved wolf. He was using +a stick and his fingers to convey the hot food to his mouth, as I had +forgotten to provide either knife or spoon. I watched him in amazement, +for he bolted the bacon and eggs as a dog might. It was very plain he +was badly in need of nourishment. + +"Good, Satyr?" I asked, squatting down and pouring out a running-over +cupful of steaming coffee. + +He tried to reply, but the words were unintelligible because of the +fullness of his mouth. So I wisely made no further effort at +conversation until the skillet was clean--literally clean--for the +hungry man took chunks of bread and sopped and swabbed until the black +iron glowed spotless. Three cups of strong coffee he drank, three big +cups; then, because, I suppose, there was nothing left, he drew his +ragged sleeve across his mouth, sighed and voiced his thanks. + +"Hell 'n' blazes!" + +It meant more, from him, than the most polished bit of rhetoric from a +scholar. + +"Glad you liked it," I said. "Do you smoke?" + +For reply, he began to search his garments silently, and directly +produced a cob pipe, as remarkable in appearance as its owner. To begin +with, it was made from a mammoth corncob. I verily believe it was two +inches in diameter. Around its middle was a dark band, where the +nicotine had soaked through. The reed stem was so short that it brought +the pipe almost against the smoker's lips. He helped himself to the +twist of tobacco I offered him, dexterously flipped out a red coal from +the edge of the fire with a stick, then deliberately picked the live +coal up between finger and thumb and laid it on top of the pipe. I had +heard of this feat, but had never believed it true. + +Now my guest sat Turk fashion, contentedly puffing away, so I followed +his example on my side the fire, after tossing on a few more sticks to +keep the blaze going. The red embers would have sufficed for heat, the +night being warm, but I wanted to see more of this queer being. Above +all, I wanted to see his eyes. This I could not do, because the +firelight flickered, smoke arose from the burning sticks, and the man +had bushy brows. + +For several minutes there was no sound but the gentle crackling of +wood-fiber, or the occasional sizzling of a little jet of steam escaping +from its tiny prison. Then I heard a question which almost startled me. + +"Whut mought a satyr be, no-how?" + +I laughed low, and pressed the spewed-up ashes down into my pipe. + +"A satyr?" I repeated, thinking swiftly, for really I did not want to +cause affront. "Oh! A satyr is a fellow who runs loose in the woods. +That's you, isn't it?" + +He was looking in the fire, and presently he began to nod. + +"I reck'n it air; yes, I reck'n it air." + +"But you've another name," I went on; "what is that?" + +"Jeff Angel." + +"That doesn't suit," I made bold to answer. "Satyr is much nicer than +Angel. Where do you live, pray?" + +"Anywhur; nowhur. Jis' use 'roun' th' country, eat'n' 'n' sleep'n' fust +one place 'n' 'nother." + +Feeling cramped, I now reclined upon my elbow with my head away from the +fire. In this position my companion was invisible. + +"Why did you come here to-night?" I resumed, pulling leisurely on my +briar-root, and noting idly that the stars had become much thicker. + +"I's goin' to sleep in th' shack," was the prompt reply. "Lots 'n' lots +o' times I've slep' thur." + +"And now I've rooted you out. I'm sorry." + +"'Tain't wuth worryin' 'bout. I'll go on to th' P'int d'reckly." + +I twisted my head in his direction with a swift movement. + +"The Point?... Lizard Point?" + +"Lizard P'int." + +He evinced no surprise that I knew the name. + +"Who do you know there?" I demanded. + +"All on 'em. Granny, Granf'er, Lessie. They's my folks." + +So her name was Lessie. + +"Your folks! What do you mean?" + +"Granny's my aunt." + +That would make the Dryad and the Satyr cousins! Heavens! Could this be +true? I sank back on my elbow, and slowly dragged the pipe stem over my +lower lip into my mouth. Somehow I did not relish this news. + +"Then you are some sort of cousin to Lessie," I murmured, confusedly, +and I doubt if he heard. At least, he did not reply, and I lay and +looked at the sky and the somber bulk of the forest below, pondering +this strange news which I could not comprehend. Was it possible that +bright creature's blood could flow in the veins of this derelict? The +idea did not suit me, and yet I had no reason to doubt it. My interest +flagged; I no longer felt the inclination to question, and a long +silence fell. I could not order my guest away, especially after he had +broken my bread, but I would not be sorry when he went. The minutes +passed; the fire sank low. My pipe burned out: I could feel it cooling +under my hand. A drowsiness stole over me. I must have been on the +borderland of sleep when I became dreamily conscious of a strange, +pervading harmony. Ethereal echoes seemed to wake within my brain, and +the hushed night was suddenly tuned for a fairies' dance. + +In stupefied amazement I swung my head around, and my mouth fell ajar +and my brows knit when I saw from whence these heavenly strains +proceeded. Jeff Angel was back against the stump. His knees were +sticking up like the broken frame of a bicycle, and he had a violin +under his chin. The goat-tuft was spread thinly out over the tail of the +instrument. His peaked slouch hat was a dirt-colored cone on the ground +at his side, and by it lay a crumpled piece of oilcloth. His eyes were +closed, and there was an expression of deep peace upon his homely +countenance. His long, big-knuckled, claw-like fingers moved over the +strings with the apparent aimlessness of a daddy-long-legs in its +perambulations, and they thrilled to the caress of his frayed bow as the +lips of a chaste lover to the lips of his beloved. I did not speak, nor +move, for I was dumfounded, and the night had been transformed into an +elfin carnival of dulcet sounds. My imagination was aroused, and I could +almost see nymphs and naiads uprising from the dense growth all around, +crooning as they came of woodland delights, and chanting the stories the +low wind told them when the world was asleep. The quiet ravine was +peopled with a ghostly company which made sad, eerie, but entrancingly +sweet music, such as might have been heard in heaven when the morning +stars sang together. The notes were liquid, living, colorful. Sometimes +there were brief silences between them, which were filled with +palpitating echoes. Suddenly a trembling flood of impassioned sound +rushed forth on swallow wings into the star-filled night, and I sat up +with a gasp. + +"_Jeff Angel!_" + +A downward crash of the bow which set all the strings to jangling +horribly; then silence. + +The man was abashed, confused, for he hastily reached for the cloth bag +and thrust both violin and bow therein. He spoke as he fumbled nervously +at the drawstring. + +"I didn't know you'd keer!" he said, contritely. + +He had misinterpreted my exclamation. + +"Care? Care!" I burst forth, leaning forward with my palms on the +ground. "I never heard such music in all my life, and I have heard men +play who receive a thousand dollars a night! Where did you get it?... +How do you do it?" + +The satyr secured his worn coat across his chest with one button, then +bent toward me and replied earnestly. + +"I guess it's bornd with me. I've never ben no 'count frum a kid. Wuzn't +wuth shucks--never. Jis' wouldn't work--I couldn't. They's no work in +me. When they tried to make me I'd run off. I'd run fur off in th' woods +'n' lay 'roun' all day, a-lis'n'n'. I heerd thin's." He stretched out +one gaunt arm and waved it with an uncertain, twisty motion. "I heerd +thin's. More 'n' th' birds a-cheepin' 'n' a-twitt'r'n' 'n' th' squir'ls +a-barkin' 'n' a-yappin' 'n' th' bees a-junin' in th' flowers. They's +other thin's--lots o' thin's I heerd. Th' crick's got a song--it's +_sich_ a song--'bout th' purties' 't is' I reck'n, 'cus it's +changeabler. 'N' they ain't no en' to th' chune th' win' sings. +Sometimes it's lazy 'n' sleepy, 'n' yo' wan' to duck yo' head 'n' +snooze, 'n' ag'n it's pow'ful strong 'n' loud 'n' almos' skeers yo' with +its shoutin'. 'N' they's other thin's--thin's I can't tell yo' 'bout +'cus I don't know whut they air--but I hears 'em. I c'n jis' shet my +eyes any day out in th' deep woods whur they ain't nothin' but woods, +'n' fus' thin' I know I'm a-floatin' on a cloud with music ever-whurs. +When I's a kid I went hongry fur some 'n' to play on, so one day I foun' +me a big reed, 'n' I made me a w'is'le with holes in it. I jes' mus' +play." + +He rose to his feet, put his pipe away without knocking the ashes out, +and carefully tucked his oilcloth bundle under his arm. + +"Pow'ful good supper, 'n' I wuz hongry _right_! 'Blige' to yo', sho. +Good-by!" + +He swung around and started across the plateau. + +I leaped up quickly. + +"Come back again soon, Satyr!" I called. "A supper any time for ten +minutes fiddling!" + +He waved his hand, but made no reply. + +A few moments later, from down the road, growing fainter and fainter, I +again heard that fantastic rhyme: + + "Rabbit in th' log, + Ain't got no rabbit dog." + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +IN WHICH I PITCH MY TENT TOWARD HEBRON FOR THE SPACE OF AN AFTERNOON + + +I have been to Lizard Point. + +Before sunrise this morning I was up, and out. I sleep with both windows +open and the shutters up, so the first daybeams rouse me. Thereafter I +do not attempt to sleep, but rise at once. This is another of 'Crombie's +commands. He said the air was fresher and sweeter, and the distillations +from the earth and vegetation purer and more efficacious. He said all +this would do me good, and I am trying to follow out his wishes to the +letter, because life is sweet to me, and I want to get well. (I must say +that I never felt more vigorous than I do to-night.) It went hard with +me at first--this rising with the lark--for, in common with most bookish +folk, it had been my custom to sit up into the small hours, and sleep +late the next morning. Now I am growing used to it, and I love it. I +find that I feel better; stronger, more active and alert. There must be +some tonic properties in the early morning air to affect me in this way. + +The world is never so lovely as when she wakes from sleep. Not even when +her old tirewoman, the sun, flings her golden coverlet over her just +before nightfall, does she appear so bewitchingly beautiful. This +morning, for instance, when I stepped without my door, I felt as if I +had been transported by magic into some new and mystical land. Like a +maiden whose virginal slumbers have been filled with peaceful dreams of +her beloved, the earth was waking. Gently--so gently--she pushed the +fleecy fog-billows from her breast. Afar the folds of night seemed yet +to cling about her, as though loath to leave her form. Nearer, but way +up the valley, grayish, shifting mists writhed slowly, uncoiling +vaporous lengths before the ever increasing light. Nearhand, trees, +bushes and stones showed dew-sweet and clean. And when, at length, the +day had triumphed, and I beheld the rim of a gold ball topping the far +eastern range, my breast throbbed with a quick elation, and a song burst +from my lips. + +I spent the morning working on my garden. It is my peculiarity that when +I begin a thing I find no rest until it is finished. By ten o'clock I +had cleared the surface of all the available area, and felt much pleased +with my efforts. I had worked hard, for there were loose rocks to be got +rid of, some of them large and difficult to handle, in addition to the +leaves and sticks. But prospects seemed excellent for a fine crop. There +was no doubt that this was virgin soil, and as it lay in sun for several +hours each day, there was no valid reason why it should not produce +abundantly. I must now let it dry out for a few days, then spade it up +and plant my seed. Seed! Why, I hadn't so much as a pea or a bean on the +place, except in cans! I had several sacks of potatoes, but I wanted a +diversified garden. Almost immediately the solution came. I would go to +Hebron and buy all the seed I wanted. Comforted by this thought, I set +about an early dinner. I hummed contentedly as I bustled around in my +small kitchen. It was not until I sat down to eat that I realized the +song I had been persistently repeating was the absurd tune which had +heralded Jeff Angel's coming and farewelled his departure. + +Later, with the sun swinging exactly at meridian, I took my staff and +headed down the road, intending for the Dryad's Glade. Ever since my +brief talk with the girl there had been a slow, steady pulling within me +toward that creek which flowed south. It didn't worry me especially; in +fact, it didn't worry me at all--why should it? But it was there. When I +was employed I was not aware of it, but whenever my mind rested there +flowed into it, like the resurgence of a low, moon-touched wave, the +picture of one standing on the brook's bank, with copper-red curls +crowned with white stars. It was a pleasant picture, and I did not try +to banish it. + +Now, fairly started on my way, I wondered that I had not gone before. I +moved with restive eagerness, and presently reached the spot where I had +encountered the girl--Lessie. I did not like the name. It was empty, +vapid, meaningless, ugly; just a sound by which one was known. She could +not help it, of course. It might have been Mandy, or Seliny. Lessie did +not seem so terrible when I thought of others much worse, but it did not +fit her. + +I tarried for a moment under the dogwood tree. Its blossoms were fading +now. I saw the jagged ends of several low branches where she had broken +off her coronal. But there was no sign of squirrel or bird. Passing on, +I plunged into the undergrowth which lined the creek bank as far as I +could see, and made my way along. There was something of a valley here, +and it would have been easier going nearer the base of the knob several +rods away, but the stream's course was erratic, so I clung to the bank +and fought my way forward. It was a toilsome journey, and the half-mile +was beginning to seem interminable when all at once I burst, perspiring, +into an open, and found I had arrived. + +Just before me the creek split on a tongue or wedge of land, which came +sweeping gradually down from a vast spur in the background. Shaping +itself to a sharp point represented by an enormous, deeply imbedded +bowlder, the formation broadened backward rapidly and generously, widely +deflecting the halved stream. A quarter of a mile away I could see a +house--or cabin--surrounded by a dilapidated rail fence, with sundry +pens and outbuildings in miniature clustered in the rear. In the +foreground, to the left, was an acre or two of tilled soil. Paralleling +the left fork of the cloven creek, looping the point and fording the +right fork, was a mountain road. In front of me, spanning the left fork, +was the trunk of a huge beech tree, lopped of its branches, and that +this was a bridge which some far-gone storm had placed I knew at once, +for a crude ladder led up to its root-wadded butt. + +For several minutes I stood, panting from my exertions, and conscious of +a slight pain in my right side. This did not alarm me, for I was +convinced it was nothing but what old people call a "stitch," caused by +my recent strenuous walk. I had reached Lizard Point--a most +insignificant name for such an impressive portion of country. There was +but one dwelling visible; therefore there could be but one place for me +to seek for Lessie. I came to the ladder, and had placed my foot upon +the bottom-most cross-piece when I halted, and in secret manner, +although there was no need of secrecy, drew the jar from my pocket and +hid it under the tree's lowest roots. I had promised Lessie I would tell +her why I carried it with me the next time I saw her, and this I did not +want to do, for she would fail to understand, and I would only appear +ridiculous. Queer how a man shuns being made ridiculous, but after all +it is only natural, especially if one is inclined to sensitiveness. + +I mounted to the tree, and saw that the bark along its top surface had +been completely worn away. The tree had evidently been in use as a means +of passage for a long time. I walked across, sure-footed and steady, and +found a slight path winding up the easy ascent toward the house. This I +followed, keeping my eyes on the log dwelling ahead. As I drew nearer, I +made out a small porch, or stoop, and on this some one was sitting. +There was no other sign of life, if I expect a bony, yellow dog which +came slowly into sight from around the corner, and a string of white +ducks filing sedately down to the creek. I passed through a gap in the +crazy fence and traversed the yard. I now saw that it was an old woman +who sat on the porch. She was very fat, and she sat in a low +rocking-chair with her knees apart. A ball of yarn lay in her lap, and +she was knitting and rocking, knitting and rocking. Her great bulk +completely hid her support, but I knew it was a rocking-chair from her +motions. + +As I stopped at the edge of the stoop and respectfully took my cap off, +the dog gave a low growl, then lay down, keeping one topaz eye fastened +upon me suspiciously. The fat old lady paid no more attention to me than +if I had been a hen or a duck, but sent her needles flying the faster. I +regarded her in silent wonder for a moment. Her dress was a plain +one-piece garment of some dark, cheap stuff, utterly unrelieved from +somberness except for a row of shiny white horn buttons down the front. +Her feet were large and flat, and were encased in carpet slippers with a +gaudy pattern of alternate crimson and green. She wore iron rimmed +spectacles which rested so near the tip of her pudgy nose I wondered +they didn't fall off. Her gray hair was parted very precisely in the +middle and slicked back close to her head. Her mouth was thin and hard, +and her face acrid looking. + +"Uh-h-h--good morning," I said, hitching at my trousers; an +unconsciously nervous action. + +"_Marnin'!_" + +I jumped--really I did--for it was as though she had let a gun off in my +face. I had never heard such a voice. Vinegary? Well! + +I curled my fingers around my chin and looked at the dog. His fiery eye +had not wavered. Then I looked at the cat--for in that moment I was +firmly convinced this old beldam _was_ a cat. Her mouth had squared into +yet firmer lines, and her brow had grown portentous. Still her needles +fussed about the half-made sock in her yellowish hands, and her gaze was +down, as before. + +"Do the--" + +I started to ask if people by their name lived here, but when I came to +the name I could not supply it; I had never heard it. I stammered, +coughed, then knew that a pair of fierce little green eyes were flashing +at me. + +"Air yo' a plum' fule? Whur air yo' wits 'n' yo' tongue 'n' yo' commin +sinse? Can't yo' tell a body whut yo' want wi'out stam'rin' 'n' +stutt'rin' 'n' takin' all th' day? Folks as has got work to do ain't got +no time to waste on tramps 'n' sich! _Talk!_" + +Like a cyclone this tirade enveloped me, bursting upon my ears in a +high, rasping voice which dragged on my nerves after the manner of a +file. + +I became desperate. This old virago should not oust me. I thrust my body +forward, and, chin out, replied with some heat: + +"Is this where Granny, and Granf'er, and Lessie live? That's what I want +to know?" + +"Land sakes! Jony 'n' th' w'ale!... Air _you_ him?" + +Her hands dropped in her lap; she cocked her head and viewed me afresh. + +During the momentary silence which followed I heard shuffling footsteps +within, and an old man appeared in the open doorway in front of me. He +wore a shirt made of bed ticking; his trousers were not visible, because +of the coffee-sack which wrapped him from his waist to his shoes. He was +bald, his white beard was a fringe about his face, his upper lip shaven. +He was drying a white dinner plate of thick ironstone china with a +cloth. + +"S'firy!" he said, in a squeaky, timorous voice; "S'firy!" + +He got no further. + +Granny turned her head sideways, at right angle to the speaker, and +promptly exploded. + +"Jer'bome! Git right back to yo' work! Git! 'N' don't let me see nur +hear yo' till them dishes is washed 'n' put away!" + +Granf'er (it could be no one else) retreated obediently, without a word. +Granny's face swung around to me again. + +"If all men wuz as triflin' 'n' ornery as that air'n o' mine, Lord knows +whut th' worl' 'd come to. _E_-tern'l perdition, I reck'n! He jes' lays +'roun' 'n' chaws terbacker, pertendin' he carries a ketch in 'is back. +Plum' laziness, I tell yo'! But I don't 'low no vagrints 'roun' me. +Jer'bome's got to work 's long 's he b'longs to me.... Now! I said, air +you _him_?" + +"I'm the stranger who lives in the shack on Bald Knob." + +Granny resumed her knitting at this point. I noticed that her shining +needles seemed to be fighting each other as she continued: + +"Look whut I'm a-doin' fur 'im now! Slavin' to git somethin' to keep 'is +feet warm 'gin winter comes. He's not wuth it! Lak as not he'll crack +one o' them dishes 'fo' he gits 'em done. He's that keerless. Most +do-less man I _ever_ seen.... Yes, I've heerd 'bout yo'--twict." + +"I hope you received a pleasant report?" I ventured. + +"Jes' las' night he lef' th' dish tow'ls a-hangin' on th' lot fence 'n' +th' calf et 'em up. 'N' th' day befo' he fed a gang o' day old chick'ns +meal 'n' wadder 'n' they swelled up 'n' died. 'N' chick'ns wuth fifteen +cents a poun' at th' store!... Lessie come home a fo'tn't ago with a +tale o' meetin' some feller. I tol' 'er gels 'd better leave all tramps +be." + +"But I'm not a tramp!" I protested. "I'm usually considered a +gentleman." + +"That's whut Jeffy 'lowed. He's here last night--pore feller!--'n' tol' +us 'bout eat'n' a snack with you on Baldy--whut in th' name o' the sevin +plagues does a man in 'is right min' wan' to live thur fur?--tell me +that!" + +"I find it very pleasant--" + +Then the light went out, soft hands were pressing hard over my closed +lids, and a cool, ferny perfume drifted to my nostrils. I was conscious +of warm wrists alongside my head, and a stifled giggle just behind me. + +"Lessie!" I cried, remembering the childhood prank. + +The blinding hands were at once withdrawn, and as she leaped back new +vials of wrath were opened. + +"Of all outlandish doin's!" + +Granny had raised her head only at my exclamation, but she saw enough. + +"Whut on airth air gels comin' to this day 'n' time?--tell me that! +Never seen 'im but onct--mought be a redhanded 'sass'n--ur a +thief--ur--ur--ur _any_thin'! 'N' all my teach'n' all these years. W'en +I've _tol'_ yo' that all men were 'ceptious, 'n' _tol'_ yo' to b'lieve +nothin' they say, 'n' _tol'_ yo' to have no talk with 'em but 'Howdy' +'n' 'Good-by,' 'n' here yo' air a-huggin' a stranger--teetot'l +stranger--'fo' my eyes!" + +Granny's jelly-like body really trembled with rage, and I began to have +fears for the outcome of the incident. Of course, it amounted to nothing +at all so far as right or wrong was concerned. It was simply a natural +expression of the primeval simplicity which marked all the Dryad's +movements. She was a child, and she had played a child's trick. + +She now stood a few feet to one side, looking at me in unfeigned +amazement, apparently indifferent to the old woman's outburst. She was +dressed nicer than when I saw her before. Her garment was pale green, +with little wavy stripes of darker color. Her shoes, too, were a grade +better, but still clumsy, and she had a ribbon on her hair, which hung, +as before, down her shoulders. She seemed averse to wearing anything on +her head, for she held her bonnet--a poke bonnet, like the one I had +handed her in the glade--in her left hand. + +As she looked fully and squarely at me with her peculiar Irish gray +eyes, I felt the same sensation come as when I had first beheld her. It +was a feeling I cannot adequately describe, because no definite word I +can think of would do. If the word existed, and if I knew it, I would +set it down. I should be just as glad to know what that feeling meant as +you. Perhaps each of us shall find out later. + +She gazed at me and I gazed at her, and Granny gazed at us both. Our +eyes met for a full breath, and then somehow mine fell to her throat. +When a woman's throat is beautiful it is altogether as attractive as a +lovely face. The Dryad's throat was a poem. If John Keats could have +seen it, another golden ode would have come down along with the famous +seven. It was simply a perfect column of warm, white, vigorous young +life. Not too slender, and swelling on to the shoulders in the gentlest, +most marvelous contour. It was while I was engaged in fascinated +contemplation of her throat she spoke. + +"Land sakes!... How'd yo' know my name?" + +"The Sa--Jeff Angel told me." + +"Oh!" + +Her face underwent a rapid change, and the next moment she had leaped +lightly upon the porch, flung her arms around Granny's neck and snuggled +her head against the old woman's bosom. + +"Don't you bother 'bout me, Granny!" she said, in soothing tones, and +again that indefinable haunting cadence smote my ears and caused me to +stir uneasily as I stood watching the scene. What a creature of moods +this girl was! + +Now one hand patted Granny's fat cheek, and another smoothed the +lusterless gray hair. The expression which stole over the truculent face +made me think of the sunlight falling suddenly upon some forbidding +cliff, and that moment I knew how deep and wonderful must be the love +which beat in that old heart for Lessie. + +"La! Now, chil'," said Granny, "have yo' way if yo' mus', but be +keerful--always be keerful. 'Specially o' men folks, 'cus they's so full +o' Sat'n 'n' mischief." + +With that she sniffed resignedly, uplifted her brows, carefully freed +herself from the caressing arms and picked up the sock and the ball of +yarn, both of which had fallen to the floor under Lessie's onslaught. + +As the girl arose to her feet Granf'er appeared a second time. He had +not removed the badge of domestic toil which had enveloped his nether +half when I first saw him, and he was dragging a low, shuck-bottomed +chair behind him. It came down the step leading from the porch into the +house with a bump and a clatter, and Granny blazed out again. + +"Jer'_bome_. Look at yo'! Tryin' to break that cheer to splinters! Ain't +yo' got stren'th to carry ev'n a _cheer_? 'N' is thim dishes washed 'n' +put in th' pantry, whur they should orter be?" + +Granf'er dumbly lifted the chair, conveyed it stiffly to the furthest +front corner of the porch, and quietly placed it. Then he turned to me, +and with a show of dignity said, in his thin voice-- + +"Set down!" + +I at once stepped upon the porch, advanced and shook hands with the old +man, then took the proffered seat with a word of thanks. + +He turned and hurried indoors, returning immediately bearing two other +chairs identical with the first. One of these he handed the Dryad, just +across the porch entrance, and the other he brought around and gingerly +lowered to the floor about a foot from mine. When we were all seated +Granf'er stretched one leg out to its fullest length, in order to gain +freer access to his pocket, and after some tugging produced a half twist +of tobacco. This he silently extended to me with a comical facial +contortion which plainly meant that I should take all I wanted. I shook +my head, and smiled. + +"Light Burley!" he explained. "Skace 's hen's teeth. Don't yo' chaw?" + +"S'pec' ever' man yo' meet to _live_ on terbacker?" snapped Granny, +without looking up. + +"No," I replied; "I smoke." + +"Then smoke. Yo' come too later fur dinner, so now we'll hev to mix +terbacker instid." + +It dawned upon me that it was a sort of guest rite he was offering me, +so I crumbled some of the light yellow leaf into my pipe and fired it. +Then he gnawed off a satisfactory chew, and stowed the remainder away. + +He crossed his legs--by this time I had discovered that he wore boots +with his trousers legs stuck down in the tops--in that comfortable, +sagging way all old men have, and with one hand in his lap holding his +elbow, he plucked gently at the front of his fringe of whiskers while +his jaw worked erratically as he slowly adjusted the savory particles in +his mouth. + +No one spoke now for two or three minutes. It certainly was a new +experience for me. A swift glance showed me that the Dryad had weighed +the situation and was amused. Imps of fun danced in her eyes, and there +was a tightening about her mouth which told me that she was holding +herself in check with much effort. She was speechless from choice; the +other two from nature. + +Without warning Granf'er twisted his neck and ejected a curving stream +of amber. It came down with a splash on the back of a half-grown chicken +loitering near. There was a squawk of alarm, a flutter, a scurry from +danger. + +"That's right!" shrilled the bundle of fat. "Ef yo' can't kill 'em no +other way, drownd 'em with terbacker juice!" + +"Granf'er didn't see it!" championed Lessie. "It's under th' aidge o' +the po'ch, 'n' 'tain't hurt no-how." + +Once more I saw her teeth, like two rows of young corn when the husks +are green. + +Granf'er paid no more heed to his helpmeet's words than if it had been +the wind blowing down the chimney. Even his expression did not change. +Already a real pity was creeping into my heart for Granf'er. It took +neither seer nor mindreader to discern that he belonged to that most to +be pitied class of all who live and breathe--a man who has become simply +a woman's creature. A man who, for one or more of a hundred reasons, had +abdicated his kingship in the home, suffering a reversal of rule +contrary alike to all divine decrees and natural laws. Such a man +deserves what he gets, it is true, live he in a mansion or a hovel. Man +was created to rule, and woman knows it. It is by ruling only that he +retains her love. When his reign ceases, then not only does her love +cease, but her respect also. Look about you! + +Granf'er drew the palm of his hand across his lips, mechanically--and +with what seemed like a very natural motion--smoothed out some puckers +in his coffee sack apron, and spoke. He was looking out upon the quiet +majesty of the encircling hills, but I knew that he was addressing me. + +"Y' see, Jeffy's S'firy's nevvy. He come wrong, we-all 'pine. Leas'ways, +they's some'n' in 'is head that's somehow onbalanced 'im. No nat'r'l man +'d go tromp'n' thoo th' woods frum morn'n' till night 'ith nothin but a +fiddle fur comp'ny. S'firy's special'y sot ag'in a fiddle, holdin' 'ith +lots o' folks that th' dev'l's in it--" + +"I'd jes' love to smash it to smithereens over a stump!" interpolated +Granny. + +"--but ez fur me 'n' Lessie, we kind o' en_j'y_ Jeffy's scrapin' 'n' +sawin'. Lessie's re'ly plum' cracked 'bout it, 'n' 'd foller Jeffy over +th' hull durn county if we didn't p'suade 'er pow'ful." + +"Seems to me, Jer'bome, yo' c'n tell it 'ithout cussin'. Only las' +Sunday I had to speak to Father John 'bout yo' increasin' wickedness!" + +"The hull durn county!" repeated Granf'er, quietly and reflectively, his +gaze still fixed on the high hills. "They has big times--thim +two--though Jeffy's mos' unsartain in 'is visits. Sometimes it's a month +w'en we don't ketch sight o' 'im, 'n' ag'in he lingers with us a day or +so at a spell. We sets lots o' store by Jeffy, 'cus th' Lord in 'is +wisdom has saw fit to 'flict 'im. Th' wus' thin' 'bout 'im is th' +liquor--" + +"I'd hev _some_ pride, Jer'bome!" + +"--n' w'en he gits holt o' that he goes plum' lunatic crazy sometimes. +Y' see, it's th' shiners 's whur he gits th' mos.' Th' ryavines over yan +air full o' the'r still-houses, 'n' Jeffy fiddles fur 'em fur 'is bottle +full o' liquor. Puss'nly, I hol' that a little liquor is pow'ful +he'pful, but S'firy 'lows it's no good fur nothin' 'cep' to make +dev'lment 'twixt people--" + +"Ef I had my way not another drap'd go into a bottle!" + +"--'n' I 'gree they's some sinse in her argyment, though it's my b'lief +that a w'ite man 's got to drink some'n', 'n' 't' 's well be pyore +whiskey as anythin'." + +He stopped to relieve his overcrowded mouth, uncrossed his legs and +recrossed them the other way, "to keep 'em frum goin' to sleep," and +continued: + +"'Pears to me Lessie said yo' come frum Lets'nt'n--uh-huh--some little +ways off. 'S never thur. Walked over to Ced'rt'n onct, but home 'n' +Hebrin's good 'nough for weuns. We ain't th' wanderin' kin', yo' mought +say, but live peaceful 'n' work our--" + +"_Work!_" + +"--work our lan', whut little we've got that's fit'n'. You's good to our +Jeffy--to S'firy's Jeffy, that is, fur he ain't no kin to me (not that +I'd be 'shamed o' Jeffy, onderstan', on 'count o' his not bein' jes' +right in th' head)--so I says to yo' here 'n' now 'ith S'firy 'n' Lessie +to witness, as head o' this house I says yo're welcome here to-day 'n' +any day!" + +Then, quite unexpectedly, he clamped his hand across my leg above the +knee, and gave me a squeeze which hurt. + +I spent the remainder of the afternoon on that small front porch. +Granf'er entertained me in the manner I have outlined; a mixture of +opinion, native philosophy, and local news, with occasional caustic +interruptions from Granny's two-edged tongue. Lessie said very +little--what chance had she in the face of Granf'er's garrulity?--and +once she went in the house and stayed for half an hour. When she came +back she had on yet another dress, pure white this time. There were some +frills and tucks and a touch of imitation lace here and there. I'm sure +it must have been her Sunday frock. She was showing off her wardrobe, +after the manner of a tot of eight or ten. + +The sun had halted for a moment in its downward course on the crest of a +range as I arose to go. + +Granf'er was voluminous in his invitation to "Come ag'in 'n' set a +w'ile"; Granny tendered me a defiant nod in response to my polite +good-by, and lo! as I turned to bid Lessie farewell last, she had +already moved into the yard, and was waiting for me! Side by side we +started down the narrow, hard-beaten path. That is, she took the path +and I walked in the new grass which bordered it. + +"I'll go to th' crick with yo'," she said, demurely; then, with +characteristic irrelevance--"Ain't Granny tur'ble?" + +"Granny's jealous of you, and I suppose she has nagged at Granf'er so +long it has become a fixed habit. I'm really sorry for the old fellow, +Dryad." + +"Whut?" + +She turned a quizzical, puzzled face. + +I laughed, gently, and made known to her the meaning of the word. + +"There are lots of things I'm going to tell you when I get a chance," I +added. "Wouldn't you like to know about this big world, and about the +many kinds of people who live in it? About the great cities, and about +what people have done and are doing? Wouldn't you like to learn how the +trees grow, and what makes the wind, the lightning, and the thunder? +About all the birds and animals; streams, rocks and hills? Wouldn't you +like to learn all these things, and lots more?" + +Her eyes had widened as I talked, and now on her fresh, unlined face a +wonder and a hunger grew. It seemed as if her fallow mind was struggling +to emerge from some dark, concealing mist--to leap up and meet the +knowledge I had promised. A look almost of distress, born of futile +longing. We were moving very slowly. She spoke. + +"I've--sometimes--w'en by myse'f--mos' often in the deep woods--I've +felt some'n _crawlin'_ in here"--she put her hand to her head--"some'n' +that 'peared to be want'n' to say some'n'. 'N' I's diff'ernt then. I +didn't wan' to go home to Granny 'n' Granf'er. I wanted to go some'r's +else--way off, maybe, 'n' I'd be mis'ble 'cause I couldn't +tell--couldn't make out whut 'twuz, yo' know. 'N' after w'ile it'd go +'way 'n' leave me, 'n' I wouldn't git right fur a day or so. I ast +Father John 'bout it one day 'n' it looked lak it hurt 'im, 'n' he tol' +me not to have them spells if I c'd he'p it. Said they wuzn't good fur +me. 'N' jes' now, w'en yo' tol' me 'bout all them things you's goin' to +learn me--it come back--come back lak th' crick comes down w'en it rains +in th' hills--with a rush 'n' pour, 'n'--'n'--oh! I wan' to know!--I +_do_ wan' to know!" + +She clasped her hands with something like a tragic gesture, and stared +hard at the ground in front with forehead a-frown. + +I did not answer her at once. How could I? A new facet of her many-sided +nature had flashed upon me, and I was a little dazed. We reached the +tree-bridge before I attempted a reply. + +"I shall be here a year. Come to see me on Baldy. Or come to the place +where I first found you, and I will meet you there. I'm going to give +you the things for which you long. I can do it, but not with Granny or +Granf'er. They would object; they would not understand." + +She looked up at me--for I had climbed to the tree--dumbly, yearningly. + +"I'll come," she said. It was scarcely more than a half-whisper. + +I did not like to leave her in that mood. + +"All right, Dryad!" I returned, cheerily. "Now tell me where that road +goes." + +My aim was to bring her mind back to its accustomed channel for the +present. She brightened at my query. + +"T' 'Ebron," she said. + +"Oh! Yes! Some day soon I'm going there. I have a garden at home and I'm +going there to buy seed." + +She laughed at this, and I felt relieved. + +"Good-by, Dryad." + +I knelt on the tree, bent down and took her upheld hand in mine. It was +warm, soft, and, that moment, clinging. Forerunners of dusk had come, +and the gray pools of her clear eyes made me release her hand and get on +my feet. + +She moved away, and as I turned to set my face in the opposite +direction, something halted me in the very act. + +On the Hebron road, two hundred yards or more distant, I saw the figure +of a man. A young, tall, bareheaded, roughly clad man, standing very +straight and still. He saw me; he was looking at me. Of that I was sure. +His position was by a great stone, which cast him in deeper shadow. +There was something portentous in his attitude, natural though it was. I +stopped and returned his inspection of me, but he made no sign, no +gesture. He might have been a tree of the forest, for all of his +immobility. A feeling, not of fear, but of premonition, swept over me as +I went on across the tree. + +I knew it was Buck Steele, the smith of Hebron. + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +IN WHICH I SIT UPON A HILLTOP AND REFLECT TO NO ADVANTAGE + + +I did something to-day which I have had vaguely in mind ever since I +took up my abode in the wilderness. I climbed to the very top of my hill +of refuge. + +The principal reason why I have never attempted it before was that I +feared it would prove too much for me; would require too much exertion. +And 'Crombie, while advising and insisting upon continuous exercise, had +also warned me not to overdo it. + +This morning I felt mighty as Tubal Cain. My walks, my regular hours, my +wholesome diet, are having effect. I am beginning to brown. At seven +o'clock, when I shaved, the path of my razor showed a firm, tanned skin. +My eyes are clear, and I can feel life coming into me. Oh, what a +glorious thing it is! Just simple, primitive, animal life! I don't know +when I have coughed. I can inflate my lungs, and imagine the +consternation of that "colony" at the inrushing flood of this ozone +laden air. I am not deluding myself that I am sound. 'Crombie said it +would take time, and 'Crombie knows. But I am better. My recent walks +have not caused me to pant and blow. That is why, this morning, I felt +the assurance within me that I could surmount old Baldy's peak, and feel +no bad results. + +Rain fell last night. It began just as I went to bed, and I lay and +listened to it. There is something most fascinating about rain on the +roof after you have gone to bed. Last night it dropped gently, a steady +murmur. It came to my ears as a cradle song of Nature. I could hear it +outside the window near which I sleep. The patter, patter, and after a +while the gurgling of little streams over the clapboard eaves. I +remember of thinking what a good soaking my garden spot would get, and +of the consequent delay waiting for it to dry out before I could spade +it up, then I went to sleep. + +This morning I was awakened by the orchestra of the birds. I had heard +stray notes before about daybreak. Snatches of song, broken trills, +single cries, and challenging calls. But this morning it was different. +I don't know how to account for it. Whether the rain had something to do +with it; whether they met by accident or appointment. The solution of +that question is a minor thing, however. I received the full benefit of +the gathering. I have never heard an exhibition which equaled that +forest symphony. There must have been nearly a dozen varieties of birds. +And each little fellow was singing with all the heart of him. I tell you +they made music. Each had a different tune, and among humans this would +have represented bedlam. But among the feathered kind--take my word for +it if you have never heard it--the effect was wonderful. It was one +great alleluia chorus, and the air throbbed with the sweetest music I +ever heard. I recognized many of the vocalists by their songs. I knew +that about my plateau were gathered the cardinal, the thrush, the +oriole, the catbird, the jay and the mockingbird. And when I mention the +jay, let no one rise up and point the finger of scorn, exclaiming on +that blue-coated fellow's harsh and grating scream. Mr. Caviler, your +voice is harsh and grating too when you get very angry, isn't it? But +have you never heard the love-note of the jay? Have you never, in the +dappled shade, when their half-fledged nestlings are flapping and +hopping about and stretching cavernous yellow jaws for worms and +moths--have you never heard the parent birds, watchful in the overhead +branches, make love? There was never a sweeter, mellower, richer tone +drawn from flute or harp than the love-note of the jay. + +Many others were there that were strange to me, but the effect of the +whole was so sweet that I had to drag myself from bed, so charmed was I +by that chorus in the early dawn. + +The sky was clear when I came out; a deep, rich, fathomless blue. Night +had taken the rain-clouds with it when it left. A woodsy, wet, earthy +odor, than which there was no perfume rarer, delighted my nostrils. +Everything was washed clean. The leaves, the trunks of the trees, the +very stones. It was then, as I stood and felt the might of the +everlasting hills entering into me, that I decided on my task for the +day. As yet it was too early. The ground was soft. It would be wet and +slippery on the slope above, and perhaps muddy. I determined to wait an +hour or two, so went down to my favorite seat under the pine tree, +taking with me Spencer's "First Principles," which is a book calculated +to make one use his mind, at least. + +It was eleven o'clock before I looked at my watch--too late for mountain +climbing that morning. Upon reflection, I saw that this was just as +well. In fact, the afternoon would be a much better time to make the +ascent. The sun had been shining generously for several hours, drying +both the vegetation and the surface of the ground. So Mr. Spencer had +really done me a good turn in carrying me through the forenoon. I left +the book on the bench and went back to the Lodge, thinking to resume my +reading after I returned from the peak. I did not expect to be gone over +an hour and a half, allowing for plenty of time to rest. + +After a leisurely dinner, I took my alpenstock, and imagining myself at +the base of the Matterhorn to lend zest, bravely fronted the upward +climb. + +It was rather stiff work from the beginning. I flanked the Lodge for a +score of yards, and started up where the ascent was comparatively +gradual. This did not last long. Before I reached the encircling band of +evergreens I had to force my way through bushes which insisted on +rapping my nose, and vines which were equally determined to tie +themselves into knots over my toes, and trip me. At length I came to the +dark line of pines and cedars, where I stopped to investigate my +condition. My breath was coming pretty heavy, but I was not really +tired. So after a few moments' rest I went on. My going was tolerably +easy now while the trees lasted. Beneath their shade the earth was +barren. Some half dead moss and a plentiful sprinkling of pine cones was +all. As I walked over the latter they yielded softly to my feet, and +sent up a pungent odor. I heard no bird notes here, but once a +brown-winged shape flitted soundlessly by in front of me, low to the +ground. Everything was very still. There was no wind astir. The belt +proved to be a somber spot, and I was not sorry when I had passed it. +The dense shade had a depressing effect. + +Then I came to open ground; open and bare. Two hundred and fifty feet +above me rose old Baldy's head. For perhaps half the distance a scrub +growth strove for existence in the rocky soil; beyond that the surface +was absolutely denuded. The incline had grown much sharper, but the +earth was knotty and uneven, in many places indented with excoriations, +and I found I could go forward with much greater ease than I had +anticipated. A quarter of an hour later found me facing the last ascent, +which was all but perilous in its sheer rise. My staff was of no avail +here; hands and feet must win. So I laid my alpenstock down, drew a deep +breath and started up. Just how I got to the top I cannot say. But there +is a big element of tenacity in my nature, and I fought on with squared +jaws and set teeth, slipping, scrambling, sprawling, until I had won. I +crawled over the crest on my hands and knees, and for quite ten minutes +I lay prostrate, recovering my wind and my spent strength. Then I got +onto my feet and looked about me. + +It was a glorious prospect; even solemn and majestic. A prodigious sweep +of country was laid bare before me. I hesitate to say how many miles I +could see, for distance is most deceptive at great altitudes. But it was +the topography, more than the far reaching view, which impressed me. I +was standing in the midst of a world newly created, the only living +creature. Leagues upon leagues of virgin forest flowed back from my +point of vantage till the perspective ended in a misty blur. East and +west stretched the mighty ranges, with constantly diverging spurs, each +clothed with its own garment of green and glistening glory. Anon the +ancient hills valleyed into troughs whose length had no visible limit, +and it did not require the imagination of a poet to behold beneath me +the effect of an immense sea which had suddenly been frozen into +permanent form. How illimitable! How overpowering! Slowly I turned to +the different points of the compass. Far to the north a smudge of smoke +fouled the tender bosom of the sky, and I quickly looked another way. +Cedarton lay in that direction. + +For a half-hour I stood and gazed, and wondered, and thought. Here was +incentive for rumination, and when I at length withdrew my eyes from the +bewildering panorama I felt infinitesimally puny, and weak, and small. +What was I? A mote in a sunbeam; an atom of matter; no more. + +The point upon which I stood was an irregular circle, approximating +thirty feet in diameter. An imperfect stone formation marked its outer +boundaries; the effect of some Titanic convulsion in forgotten time. In +one place--toward the southwest--the rim of rock broke, and here the +earth had sloughed away before the ages-long war of the elements, the +result being a broad, flume-like chute leading downward. Instinctively I +drew back from this place, for it suggested unknown terrors. A sort of +sandy, granular deposit covered the top of the knob; the grinding caused +by years upon years of wind and rain. + +My inspection of the peak occupied scarcely a minute. Then I sat down in +its exact center, lit my briar-root, hugged my knees, and allowed myself +for the first time that day to think of yesterday's experience. You +could never guess my first thought. It was that material would quickly +accumulate now for my book. I sensed the approach of things--of many +things, and not all of them were pleasant. In fact, some wore grisly +aspects. I believe in premonitions. I don't know what they are, or what +causes them, or anything about them except they exist. But one came to +me as I sat on the tiptop of old Baldy this afternoon, smoking my pipe +and hugging my knees, and feeling very much like a bird in its eyrie. I +was troubled and elated in turn; a queer experience, but common to all. +There was no reason in the world why I should have been either depressed +or uplifted. But somehow the near future looked to me to be vibrant with +incidents waiting their chance to happen, and in some unformed way I +felt that, innocently enough, I had set in motion a train of events +which would quickly envelope me in their workings. I say it was a +premonition--a prescience--and I believe I am right. + +I can make nothing yet of Lessie or her household. Granf'er and Granny +have their prototypes among those who call themselves ultra refined. +Each is interesting to me, in his and her way. Granny has a suspicious +nature. I cannot think she is as down-right mean and crusty as she +pretends to be. Maybe Granf'er is trifling, and trying, and Granny might +have to lash him with her tongue to keep him in the traces. I am sure +the old lady's dislike for me is real, though why this should be I +cannot fathom just now. I have a strong suspicion that deep down in her +heart Granny has a feeling of worship for the Dryad, and in everything +which presents itself in masculine shape she sees a possible cause for +Lessie leaving her. That seems the most plausible reason for her +dislike. Lessie has plunged me into a quandary where I can see no light +at all. Her personality is the most complex I have ever encountered. She +is absolutely baffling. I can't understand the way she talked to me as +we came down the path from the house scarcely twenty-four hours ago. +What was it within her that suggested the things of which she spoke? If +she had delivered an oration in Latin I could not have been more +surprised. She--the product of many generations of hill dwellers, whose +intelligence always remained at a minimum, among whom the stirrings of +ambition were never felt and where knowledge had never gained the +slightest foothold--she to suffer the travail of a fettered mind +striving for light; of a shackled soul struggling for expression! What +could it mean? And to make the enshrouding darkness yet more dense, _she +was cousin to the Satyr_! The Satyr! That whimsical, hapless +ne'er-do-well who strolled the woods day after day, drinking white +whiskey, and bringing strains from his old fiddle which made one's flesh +creep with their weird sweetness. Is it a wonder I was puzzled? I +promised to help her, and I am going to do it. I know the task will be +pleasant. I will escape monotony, and she will be improved, and in this +way it will work good to both of us. I shall begin--but at this point in +my cogitations there floated suddenly across the field of memory that +tall, dark shadow standing on the Hebron road, still and stern. + +I took the pipe from my mouth and stood up. The sun had more than half +completed its journey from zenith to horizon. I made another detour, +looking for the best place to descend. I found it a short distance from +where I had come up; almost a path, surprisingly easy to traverse. I +carefully noted its location with reference to the points of the +compass, and went down with practically no labor. Already I knew I +should come back, for the spot held a strong attraction for me. Not +alone for the view, which in itself was sufficient compensation for the +climb, but there was also a sense of such complete aloneness--and I have +that peculiarity. At times I want to be where no one can see me, or talk +to me. I want to be utterly alone, without the possibility of +interruption. Such a place I knew I had found on the peak of Bald Knob. + +When I reached the evergreens I realized that it must be almost twilight +on the plateau. At least a cooling, grateful shade was there, and the +philosophy of Spencer. + +A few moments later I crashed through the bush in the rear of the Lodge, +came around and flung my cap boy-like on one of the benches alongside +the door, then hurried toward the lone pine. When I had taken a +half-dozen steps I looked up, and halted abruptly. + +Lessie was standing under the tree, holding "First Principles" open in +her hands. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +IN WHICH I SPEND A PLEASANT HOUR AND HEAR SOME NEWS + + +She saw me the same instant, and her eyes brightened with what seemed to +me pleasure, while slow waves of color came into her cheeks. She smiled, +and stood motionless, waiting for me to approach. + +I lost no time in bidding her welcome. When I took her hand in greeting +the contact was electrical--it may have been my imagination, I +grant--but I'm sure I felt as if a charge of some kind had been +projected into me. + +"Whut's this book?" she asked, closing the volume but still holding it +with a clinging touch. It was to me as if she wanted to make it a part +of her, her hands and fingers were so enveloping in their grasp. + +"That's heresy--rank heresy!" I laughed. "If Father John saw me reading +that he would tell you to run from me as fast as you could." + +She glanced up with a most attractive blending of alarm and amusement on +her face. + +"Then whut yo' read it fur?" she demanded. + +"It was written by one of the smartest men the world has ever known, and +I want to find out what he thinks. We don't have to believe all we read, +you know. We can read for various reasons." + +I saw she did not understand. + +"Sit down," I continued. "Here, the bench is big enough for two. I'm so +glad you have come to see me to-day. You almost missed me; I've been up +on Baldy." + +We sat side by side. There was barely room enough; as it was our hips +came in contact. Then I told her of my little trip toward the clouds. +I'm sure she was not at all interested. In fact, after the first +brightening of her face at the moment of my appearance, a sort of shadow +had come upon it, as though cast from a mind not at rest. I watched her +as I talked, and I know she was paying no heed to my recital. She toyed +with the book, pressing the pages together, bending them in her fingers, +and allowing them to slip under her thumb with a rustle. Now I saw her +hair at close range for the first time, and it was truly a crown of +glory. Solomon's wisdom was not at fault. A woman's hair holds some +mysterious power for a man fully as potent as any of her other charms. +There is sorcery in it--and sometimes love-dreams--and sometimes +oblivion--and sometimes madness! As I gazed at the Dryad's hair my voice +unconsciously dropped to a lifeless monotone. Quickly I noted a fact +which formed a fitting supplement to my former discoveries regarding the +care of her person. By all legitimate courses of reasoning her hair +should have been stringy, sleek, unkempt, and--dirty! But I beheld it +the reverse in every particular. No boudoir bred Miss of any city could +have produced better cared for tresses. Each silken strand lay separate +from its fellows. The whole mass was shining clean, and fresh, and +fluffy; the well-shaped ears were transparently spotless, and her neck, +where the yet finer hair grew upward and where tiny rings of cobwebby +gold fluttered, was immaculate. Fellowman, do you marvel that my tale of +climbing the peak came to an end almost in drivel? + +As I stopped, rather sheepishly, she lost her hold on the book, and it +slipped from her knees to the ground. Each bent to recover it. I was the +quicker, but in the forward and downward movement which she made the +Dryad's hair tumbled over her shoulders onto my neck, head and face, in +a subtly scented, smooth, tickly mesh. It lasted but a moment; I think +the shortest moment of my life. We came up laughing, both our faces red. +But as for that, one's face is always red when one bends to pick up +something. + +I opened the book at the front, found a big capital A, and pointing to +it, asked Lessie what it was. + +She shook her head. + +"I don' know." + +The pity of it! I could scarcely credit her reply. + +"Would you like to know? Would you like to know all the letters in this +book, big and little, so that you could read them at a glance?" I asked. + +Again that hungry, helpless look came to her. + +"Oh!... Yes!" + +The first word was spoken with a sharply indrawn breath of eagerness. +The last one fell softly a moment later. + +"You shall, Dryad. It's a shame you can't do it now. Is there no school +here--in the neighborhood--at Hebron? Why have you never been to +school?" + +"They wuz a school in Hebron. Granny wouldn't let me go." + +She was fingering a ruffle on her dress just above her knees in an +embarrassed way. + +"Wouldn't let you go!" I exclaimed, indignantly ... "Why?" + +"A man had it--a young man--'n' Granny hates men, 'specially young men." + +"Why does she hate young men?" + +"I don' know--you heard whut she said 'bout 'em. She's always preachin' +that to me." + +I thought my former reading of Granny's attitude correct now, but I did +not speak of this to Lessie. + +"Granny has done you a great injustice," I said, gravely; "however +honest her intentions. I'm going to see that you have a chance, Dryad. +But if I'm to help you, I must speak of things exactly as they are, and +there shall have to be many corrections. You won't mind this, will you? +I mean you will understand why it is done--that it is absolutely +necessary for you to get along. You won't take offense--won't get mad, +will you?" + +She turned her eyes full into mine, her mobile face for the moment +serious and calm. + +"I'll do _anythin'_ to learn--to know! Oh! I git so lonesome fur--fur +_knowin'_! I'm all shet up, 'n' they's things in my head 'n' in here +that's jes' bustin' to git out!" + +She placed her hand on her breast. Her brows had drawn together and I +knew each word was the exact truth. + +"All right; it's a bargain," I answered. "We'll begin this very minute. +Have you noticed that I talk differently from you, and Granf'er, and +Granny'?" + +Her mouth was set firmly as her chin moved up and down. I think she was +a little scared at the beginning of her lessons. + +"I talk correctly, and you talk incorrectly. That's hard to say, but we +can't build without solid truth for a foundation. You should learn to +speak correctly in a very short time, if you will be very careful, and +try. It will take longer to learn to read, and write, but even that will +not prove such a great task. Now, answer me--why did you come here +to-day?" + +"I come 'cause I wanted to!" + +Quick as a flash her reply was out, and I could see she was watching me +in a fascinated, apprehensive manner. I smiled to reassure her. + +"You should say--'I _came be-cause_ I wanted to.' Say it that way." + +"I--came--_be_-cause I wanted to!" + +There was something almost pitiful in her fearful earnestness. This was +the beginning of the opening of a sealed door before which she had stood +so long, with no one to break the fastenings for her. She had put one +hand against the dark trunk of the tree, and now her finger tips were +white around the nails from the pressure she had unconsciously brought +to bear, and she was trembling the least bit. Poor little Dryad in her +windowless house! It must have been an ordeal for her. + +How queerly that simple sentence broke upon my ears. It was the first +perfect one she had ever spoken, and she enunciated it with painful +precision, breathing each word forth in trepidation. + +"Good!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands, whereat her tenseness vanished, +and her bearing became like one who is somewhat confused, but happy. +"Don't forget that, now. Always say 'I came.' Many of your words are not +words at all, but fearful corruptions which long use and carelessness +have made worse. Then you drop your 'gs' outrageously, but that is a +fault you'll overcome by practice." + +Thus for an hour we sat on the narrow bench under the tall pine, while I +made her answer question after question in her own way, then had her say +them again the right way. Her aptness was amazing. Her mind seemed to +seize and absorb the elemental instruction I gave her as a parched plant +does moisture. She remained constantly intent, alert, ready; and when at +length the slowly deepening shadows warned me that she should be going, +and I told her the lesson for the day was over, I saw that she was +agitated, excited, and her eyes shone as if brightened by wine. + +"Oh, you're a capital pupil!" I complimented, warmly, as we arose and +stood for a moment side by side. "Now how would you answer me, Dryad?" + +She cast me a sidewise glance; partly mischievous, partly shy, partly +earnest. + +"I'm glad!" she said, quickly. + +I knew that she had evaded my trap cleverly, and I did not lay another +for her. + +"Now you must go." + +I spoke reluctantly, for the hour had been an unusually charming one for +me. I had always maintained that I had rather be a roadmender than a +school teacher, and generally speaking, I hold to the idea still. But I +can think of no more delightfully pleasant experience that has ever come +my way than when I gave Lessie her first instruction under the pine on +the edge of the plateau. + +At my words the shadow sprang to her face again, more noticeable than +before. It was almost a look of distress now. + +"What is it, Dryad?" I asked, suddenly; "what worries you?" + +She did not answer, but stood meditatively with the tips of her fingers +resting upon her lower lip, and her eyes intently focussed downward. + +"Come," I added; "I must get some water from the creek, and I'll go that +far with you--farther, if you will let me, because it will be late +before you get home." + +"Oh, no!" she burst out, with what looked like unnecessary vehemence. +Then her agile mind took a turn, and she added--"But why don't yo' git +yo' water out o' the well?" + +I forebore to correct her. The lesson was over, and I must not worry +her. + +"Well?" I repeated, open mouthed. "What well?" + +"The well over yonder--the well the man dug!" + +She pointed to a distant corner of the yard, overrun with a +heterogeneous mass of greenery. + +I almost gasped. A well had been here under my nose all these weeks, a +well of cool, good water, and I had been slaving rebelliously to supply +my needs from the creek below, which had lately become infested with +tadpoles! + +"Show it to me!" I cried. + +With a hearty "All right!" she started running, and I followed at a +smart walk. It was just like her to run. She was a creature of impulse. +I watched her skimming over the ground, lightly leaping little +obstacles, her wheat-gold hair all a-tremble. When I came up she had a +stick, and was diligently prodding about in the weeds, vines and +brambles. + +"It's here," she muttered, intent on her business. "I've saw it, 'n' +drunk out o' it. It's jes' as cold as the spring at home whur granny +keeps 'er milk 'n' butter. W'en I--" + +My eyes had been fastened on her face, and now she evidently remembered +and checked herself purposely, for I saw her teeth clamp her lip for an +instant. Then she went on, softer and more slowly, never looking up. + +"When--I--came--las'--time--it's--_here_!" + +With the last word she jabbed her stick down, and straightened up +triumphantly. + +I pressed forward to her side, and peered into the bush. The end of her +stick rested upon a piece of wood. With a word to Lessie to wait a +moment I hurried back to the lodge and procured a scythe from the store +of miscellaneous things which had accompanied me when I came out to make +friends with the wilderness. Directly I had uncovered the well's top, a +surface of oaken planks four feet square. In the center of this lay a +large, smooth stone, covering the hole which gave access to the water +below. + +"By Jove! Girl, how can I thank you?" I cried, elated at the discovery. +"I've been drinking sulphur water and bathing with tadpoles, never +dreaming this was here!" + +"It'll be a big savin'," she agreed. "Tot'n' water's pow'ful hard work." + +She turned to go. I dropped my scythe and said: + +"You must let me go part of the way. I know you're not afraid, but won't +you? I'd feel better." + +She clasped her hands, wrung them once, and took two or three forward +steps silently. Something was wrong with Lessie, but nothing like a true +solution entered my thick masculine head until she stopped, halfway +turned, and flung from tight lips-- + +"It's 'bout Buck!" + +Buck! The ominous figure I had seen watching me in the deep twilight the +day before. Buck! Of course, Buck! He had seen me part from Lessie; he +had come to her immediately afterward, and had doubtless told her some +things which were not good for her peace of mind. Is man really a +savage, at rock bottom? In the moment following Lessie's intense +announcement of the cause of her distress, what were my feelings? Simply +these. There came to my mind the realization that I, too, was a man of +physical might; that I, too, had immense muscles of thigh, and chest, +and arm; that the trouble which had sent me here was surely checked as I +felt my vigor growing day by day, and that if somebody wanted to fight I +would give him his fill, rather than be hectored into forsaking Lessie's +company--for I felt assured already that this was the burden of Buck +Steele's demands. + +Something of all this must have showed in my face as I stepped +deliberately to Lessie's side and took one of her hands, for I saw +traces of terror in the gray eyes. + +"Yo'--yo' mustn't git together!" she exclaimed, tempestuously, her +fingers closing around mine in a grip which caused me to wonder. "Oh! +Yo' mustn't!--Yo' mustn't! Yo' don't know Buck; he c'n ben' a +horse-shoe!" + +"Lessie," I said, returning her grasp and looking at her determinedly; +"I'm not afraid of any man that lives and moves. I don't believe in +violence, but there are times when it becomes necessary. And when the +necessity arises in my life, I'm going to face it. You have said that +you wanted me to help you, and if you still feel this way, nothing and +no one is going to prevent me from carrying out my part of the +agreement. I've a notion I know pretty much what took place last night, +but you must tell me now, as we walk along. We must talk it over--come." + +I kept her hand until I had faced her about and we had gone a short +distance. Then I let it go. + +"Yo' see," began Lessie, in a perplexed little voice, and without +waiting for further urging, "Buck's ben comin' to see me fur mos' a +year, off 'n' on. He's the only young feller Granny'll 'low on the +place. He's ben pow'ful good to me, 'n'--'n' well, he's ast me to marry +'im. But I don't love Buck. I can't he'p lak'n' 'im, 'cause he's so good +'n' kin' 'n' 'd do anythin' on earth I'd ask 'im to. He don't pester me +'bout comin', neither, 'n' w'en I don't feel lak seein' 'im he'll go on +'way, meek lak 'n' not complainin'. 'N' after w'ile here he'll be back +ag'in, tryin' to tell me thin's I don't wan' to lis'n' to. I jes' can't +hurt 'is feelin's. Somehow 'r 'nother he heerd that you'd come out here +'n' had seen me by the dogwood tree that day--I s'pec' Granny tol' 'im +'bout it, 'cause I didn't tell nobody but the home folks. 'N' so las' +night he come--he _came_ out home to 'quire 'bout it, 'n' he saw you +tell me good-by at the bridge. 'N' after you'd gone he came on--'n' I'd +never seen 'im look lak he looked then. His eyes wuz black 'n' had fire +in 'em 'n' his face wuz lak a piece o' gray rock 'n' his voice wuz +diff'unt 'n' ever' now 'n' then he shuk all over." + +Her words had gradually increased in velocity until, when she stopped, +she was speaking so rapidly I could hardly understand what she said. + +"Yes," I replied, but nothing more until we had come to the foot of the +knob. Here, as we turned westward toward the creek leading to Lizard +Point, I spoke again. + +"He talked to you, Dryad, of course. Now you must tell me everything, +and keep nothing back--nothing. Even though he said very ugly +things--things which may have frightened you, you must tell me them, +too." + +She stooped to pluck a cluster of little wild flowers growing on a +single stem, giving a low exclamation of pleasure as she did so. Then, +as she twined the flowers in her hair over the ear away from me, she +answered. + +"Yes, he talked to me. I tried to make 'im hush, but he wouldn't. 'Twuz +'bout you, mos'ly. He said he knew city fellers 'n' they's all wicked +'n' dang'rous, 'n' that you's jes' tryin' to run with me to pass the +time 'n' make a fool o' me--but I didn't b'lieve 'im!" + +With the last words she turned toward me a frank and honest countenance. + +"No, Dryad; you mustn't believe him when he talks that way. I'm sure +that Buck is a good man naturally, but he was excited when he told you +that. There are some bad men in the cities, and there are some bad men +in the country. There are more bad men in the city because there are +more people in the city. But he was wholly wrong when he spoke of my +motive in going with you--go on." + +"He said he wasn't goin' to have yo' comin' to see me, 'n' that I mus' +promise 'im not to see you agin. I tol' 'im I couldn't do that, 'cause +you's goin' to learn me. Then he went plum daffy crazy, 'n' cussed 'n' +damned, 'n' bruk a great thick stick he had in 'is han's--bruk it 'n' +kep' a-breakin' it till it wuz all in little pieces in 'is fis'--'n' +then he flung 'em all on the groun' 'n' stood lookin' at me lak he's +goin' to hit me, but he didn't. We's down at the en' o' the path nex' to +the road, fur we hadn't gone up to the house. I's skeered fur a w'ile, +he looked so big 'n' he's so mad. I didn't know a feller c'd git so +crazy 'bout--'bout a girl;--did you?" + +Her candor never ceased to amaze me. She seemed to be utterly unaware of +anything existing within herself which might lead a man up the dangerous +heights of Love, whither this brawny one had plainly gone. + +"Ye-e-s," I answered, slowly. "When a man loves a girl, Dryad, he will +do anything when the circumstance which calls for that thing exists." +Then, realizing that I was talking riddles to her, I added: "I mean, +that when a man's in love, especially if he be a strong man, he won't +allow any one or anything to come in the way, if he can help it. And +that's Buck's position, exactly. He thinks he can't live without you, +and he's a big, husky animal whose feelings largely control him. When +another man approaches you, he grows jealous, and jealousy is about the +hardest headed, most unreasonable, meanest passion the human family +has.... What else did Buck say?" + +It was too dark now for me to see her expression, but when she replied +her voice shook with apprehension, and that haunting note--like a rare +minor chord in music--which so moved me when we first met had crept +strangely into it, dominating the natural, lighter quality of her +speech. + +"Oh!" + +An exclamation formed of a trembling sigh was her first word, but she +went on almost at once. + +"He--he said _awful_ thin's! He said he couldn't _stan'_ to see me 'n' +you together no more, 'n' he said he's goin'--he's goin'--to _kill_ yo' +if--if--" + +Here Lessie broke down and began to weep in little, spasmodic snuffles, +as you have seen small children do. + +I took her hand again and tried to assuage her fears as we went on under +the big forest trees through the shadowy, dimly luminous atmosphere. I +told her that Buck had spoken in the heat of anger, and that he did not +really mean what he said, and that his passion had gotten away with his +discretion, and had made him act very foolishly. I ended by laughing at +the threats, and treating them in the nature of a joke, but my companion +would not have it so. + +"Yo' don't know 'im! Yo' don't know 'im!" she insisted, drawing the back +of her free hand across her eyes. "He _did_ mean it, 'n' he _will_ do +it--I know he will!" + +"Don't you think I can take care of myself?" I asked. + +"I don't know; maybe--but Buck's so strong!" + +"I'm strong, too, Dryad." + +She did not answer, and soon we came to the glade. Here Lessie stopped +and faced me. + +"Yo' _mustn't_ come no fu'ther," she said, so emphatically that I almost +blinked. "'N'--'n'--yo' mustn't come to the P'int no more 'n' I won't +come to Baldy no more 'n'--" + +"Why, Lessie!" + +I dropped her hand, and put all the reproach I could summons into the +words. + +"Yo' know--w'y--" + +"And give up all the things I am going to teach you just because--" + +It was too much. She turned with a hurt, despairing cry which somehow +cut me savagely, and ran swiftly from me across the open ground. I saw +the misty fluttering of garments in the gloom, caught the dull glow from +her flying hair, then knew that I was alone. + +I have just written to 'Crombie. I did not tell him of any of the people +I have met. I wrote a chatty letter describing my daily life, my +improved condition, and telling of my inability, so far, to locate the +life-plant. But on this point I had hopes. I'm sure he will scratch his +head when he reads my postscript, and wonder if I have developed brain +trouble. Here is my postscript: + +"Kindly forward me by mail to Hebron, at once, a primer and a copybook." + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +IN WHICH OTHER CHARACTERS COME INTO OUR STORY + + +I went to Hebron to-day to mail my letter, and to lay in a supply of +garden seed. + +It was still early morning when I reached Lizard Point, and came upon +the road leading to my destination. The sun had not yet topped the high +knob range; the air was cool, balmy, moist with dew, and clear. I stood +for a moment after I had crossed the bridge, and looked intently up to +where Lessie lived. Had I seen her I would have sent her a hail, and +told her where I was going. Light blue wood smoke was coming from the +kitchen chimney, and spiraling straight up to a great height before it +dissipated--a sure sign of fair weather, I have been informed. Soon I +descried Granf'er's stooped form plodding across the back yard. He still +wore his coffee-sack apron, and was carrying a dishpan of water. This he +emptied into a chicken trough, and trudged back to the house. But Lessie +did not appear, so I faced about and went on. + +The road paralleled this branch of the creek for nearly a mile, running +along the base of a steadily curving knob. It was not a bad road, +either, considering its location, and I found some pleasure in tramping +through the yellow dust between the ruts which the wheels of passing +vehicles had made. On the creek side was a rod-wide strip of verdure; +flowering weeds choked with long, tough grass, bushes of many kinds, and +an occasional tree. On the knob side the rise began at the very edge of +the highway. Here was moss, dead leaves, many varieties of creepers, +sumac, wild grapevine, and now and again eglantine, its flat, pink-white +blossoms brightening the heavy shade. It was on this side the road my +eyes dwelt oftener, for in my pocket was the jar of fresh water, and in +my heart the hope of ultimate reward. It is true I had found nothing +which resembled the life-plant in the least, and already I had traveled +far. But I was prepared for disappointment, and schooled for patience. +The prize was too valuable to be come at easily. I had already learned +that great truth--the things worth while are the things you give your +heart's blood in getting. Nothing you can grasp by merely stretching out +your hand is worth even that slight effort. It is a law of nature and a +law of life that hard work is the price of true success; that attainment +means sacrifice; that the natural inclinations and desires of the flesh +must be fettered and chained before we can reach any eminence +whatsoever, or achieve any noble task. That unalterable decree of life +applied to this case as well, and I bowed to it. I would wait and +search; I would go on until the last day of my twelve months' exile had +sped, believing that sooner or later my reward would come. + +Now my mountain road debouched upon a county highway, made of gravel, +well packed and smooth. For a moment I was surprised, wondering where +all this gravel came from. Then I remembered that a river ran near, and +the mystery was plain. + +The sun came out as I started on again, pouring its quickening light in +a wondrous cascade of shimmering beauty over the dark green sea of +foliage. The leaves rustled a welcome, and a breeze which was like a +sigh of gratitude from the Earth's big heart, arose. This greeting of +nature unto nature that still morning stirred me deeply in some way; I +could feel the answering thrill in my breast, and I stopped in my +tracks, took my cap from my head, and faced the great golden ball with +what I imagine was almost the ardor of a sun-worshiper. I was alone with +my ancient mother; the mother from whence I came and unto whom I would +return, and clearer than ever in my life before I felt the kinship of +the sturdy trees, and knew that the sap and fiber of every growing thing +about me was part and parcel of my being. Tiny waves of emotion began to +tingle along my nerves as I stood bareheaded, at one with the universe, +and then slowly the waves grew in magnitude until every vein and artery +was inundated with a mighty surge of joy. + +A puff of wind blew a spray of blackberry bush across my cheek, +scratching it with a thorn. I started and looked, to find that I had +unknowingly come to the edge of the road. + +At a turn a quarter of a mile further on I saw the hamlet. Five or six +houses, a railway station, the superstructure of an iron bridge, and to +one side a formidable building of brick, which I correctly surmised to +be the distillery. Between me and the hamlet lay a stretch of cleared +bottom land, fenced off into fields. I saw an expanse of wheat, green +and full eared; another of oats, not so tall, and having a peculiar +bluish shade. Other fields were simply bare, brown reaches of freshly +turned earth, prepared for corn or tobacco. + +Now to my ears came a sound which has been heard since the world was +young; the musical ring of iron against iron; the song of the forge. +Across the lowland it drifted to me, losing all harshness in its coming, +and falling in pleasing cadences upon the air. I knew it was no +uncertain hand which held the hammer, for the strokes were vigorous and +in time, interrupted now and again by the drum-like roll as the hammer +danced upon the anvil. I went forward leisurely, crossed a stream on a +suspension foot-bridge of native manufacture, then up a slight rise till +I stood in the broad doorway of the smithy. The worker, intent upon his +task, had neither seen nor heard my approach. I stood and looked at him +silently. + +He was a young man, near my own age. He was quite as tall as myself, and +maybe a trifle heavier. He wore a short brown beard. His flannel shirt +was open at the neck for two or three buttons, revealing his thick +throat and corded chest. His sleeves were rolled above his elbows, and +his fore-arms were knotted and ridged with muscles. His face was rather +heavy, and not intelligent. He was welding an iron tire, and I watched +his deft manipulations admiringly. Certainly he was no bungler. After a +while he thrust the cooling irons back into the fire, and as he grasped +the handle of his bellows with one grimy hand, I spoke. + +"Good morning, Buck Steele." + +He wheeled with the quick movement you have seen a cat display when +surprised, his brown eyes widening perceptibly. He knew me. I saw his +mouth set, and the outer corners of his eyes contract. In that first +long look which he gave me he did not say a word, neither did he move. I +could not help thinking what a splendid looking fellow he was, his +posture one of natural grace and dignity, at the same time feeling and +recognizing the antagonism which radiated from his entire person. I met +his gaze unflinchingly, and with a straightforward look. I could see his +eyes traveling from my head to my feet, and knew that he was taking +stock of me. Then his uncompromising stare settled on my face, and +instantly a bitterly hostile expression gathered on his own. For a few +moments we stood thus, then his big chest rose over a deep long breath, +his mouth went tighter still, his smutty fingers closed on the handle of +the bellows and began a downward pull, then he calmly turned his back +upon me and resumed his work. My greeting had remained unanswered. + +I turned away. I was sorry, but there was nothing I could do. To have +forced myself upon his notice would have resulted in violence, I was +sure, with probable disaster to myself. I went on past a house or two +until I reached the store, a low, narrow building beside a railroad +track. A man, bareheaded and in his shirt sleeves, sat on a cracker-box +on the small porch, his back against the wall, his hands folded +peacefully in his lap. + +"Got any garden seed?" I asked, stopping in front of him. + +He lazily raised his bleary, red-rimmed eyes, and regarded me stolidly. +Absolute vacancy sat upon his countenance. He batted his lids, and +stared at me, his lower lip slightly pendulous. His silence became so +protracted that I smiled, and repeated my query. A sort of grunt came +from him, presently followed by-- + +"Whut kind o' gyard'n seed?" + +I named the varieties I wanted. + +Again he grunted--a louder grunt than the first, because now he was +preparing to get up. This he presently accomplished, and went into the +store, sliding his feet along over the planks of the porch. In process +of time I got my seed. + +"What's up there?" I asked, as we came out together, pointing to a hill +across the railroad up which the pike wound sinuously. + +The storekeeper dropped upon the cracker-box and resumed the same +position he had when I accosted him, before replying. + +"Chu'ch 'n' pa's'nage; s'p'intend'nt's house. 'Stillery yonder; river +under th' bridge." + +Whereupon he immediately relapsed into his former inertia, and I +forebore further questions. + +I decided I would take a look at the river. Hebron lay beneath my gaze: +small, ill-kept houses; small yards with some dismal attempts at +floriculture; dirty children and work-worn women. These latter I +glimpsed as I walked on to the railroad, at windows and on porches, +staring apathetically at the stranger. I soon reached the bridge, which +I found spanned a river of considerable size. It had a gravel bed, and +its banks were heavily lined with trees. Its western sweep was +particularly attractive from where I stood, and I at once determined +upon a closer acquaintance, for the day was but begun, and there was no +need for me to hasten home. After a brief search I found a path which +conducted me to the side of the stream. The channel here was rather +narrow and the water seemed deep, its flow being gentle and placid. +Somewhat to my surprise, the path continued, running worm-like between +the thick growth of willow and sycamore. I went forward, with no purpose +whatsoever, merely yielding to an idling spirit, and the charm of an +unfamiliar track through the woods by a river. I may have gone half a +mile, never more than a dozen feet from the brink, when I espied a boat +snugly beached, and tied to a scrubby oak whose roots were partly +submerged. Why not take a ride? The thought was born instantaneously, +and quickly took the shape of resolve. Here was a delightful diversion +ready to my hand. I loved to pull an oar, and the gleaming, dark-green +surface before me seemed to invite. I placed my bundle of seed on the +ground, slipped off my coat and flung it across a limb, then laid hold +of the painter. It was not locked, as I half feared it would be. The +boat was a delicate, shapely affair, painted white, and I marveled that +such a dainty craft should be moored here in the wilds about Hebron. The +painter was loose, and one of my feet was in the boat as I prepared to +shove off, when-- + +"I beg your pardon," I heard; "but may I have my boat a little while?" + +I arose, holding the painter in my hand. + +A young woman faced me. Low and slight, dressed in tan from her jaunty +straw hat to her russet shoes; short walking skirt tailored to +perfection; a laced bodice very low in the neck; a tin fish bucket in +one hand. She had evidently taken me for one of the rustics in the +neighborhood, for I could see that she was as much surprised as I. A +glance sufficed to tell me her story. A jaded society woman, old and +_blase_ at twenty, having nothing but a sniff for the world and all +there was in it. She was pitifully young to wear those marks of +experience upon her face. Her features were inclined to be peaked; her +chin sharp, her blue eyes so weary, in spite of the momentary light +which flashed up in them now. There were faint lines about her unstable +mouth, and well defined crowsfeet at her eyes. She must have lived hard +and furiously from her early teens to have acquired that indescribable +expression which needs no interpreter. Whoever she was and whatever she +was--and I was convinced she could boast the blood of gentle folks--she +had seen some life in her score of years. + +"I guess if there is any pardon to ask,--I should ask it," I replied, +dragging my cap off as I spoke. "I didn't know it was yours. I'm a +stranger. I was out walking, and ran up on the boat, and couldn't see +any harm in using it for a half-hour. Shall--that is, may I assist you +to get afloat?" + +She had gotten rid of all tokens of surprise as I was speaking. Now, +with the ready action of a woman of the world, she came forward and held +out the bucket. + +"You may stow that away.... I'm going to visit my lines." + +"Lines?" I repeated, blankly. + +"Trot lines," she explained, adjusting a pin in her hat when I was +absolutely sure such a thing was unnecessary. "I set them yesterday +afternoon." + +"Oh! You're a fisherman!" I exclaimed. "Well, I hope you've had luck." + +She stepped into the boat before I could offer assistance, got down and +took the oars--then stopped. She appeared to be thinking. I stood ready +to shove off at her word. Suddenly she looked up with a half smile. + +"Would you like to go?" + +I was not surprised. Poor little world-worn creature. How many men had +she molded with that half smile! I answered without hesitation. + +"Certainly!" + +There could be no harm to either of us. It was unconventional, but +conventionality is a terrible bugbear. She was lonely, I knew, and the +echo from a civilized world which I would get in her company would be +most welcome to me. + +"Come on, then. Day before yesterday I caught a bass which almost wore +me out before I could get him aboard. You see you could be of help on an +occasion of that kind." + +I offered to take the oars, but she declined, and subsequently displayed +a degree of skill in rowing that surprised me. She took the middle of +the stream and went with the sluggish current. From my position in the +stern I faced her, and feeling that conversation was almost imperative, +I said: + +"Surely you don't live at Hebron?" + +She smiled--a bright, winsome smile which somehow awakened a deeper pity +in me. Her true nature seemed revealed in that expression. She was not +wicked; not inherently bad, but was weak-willed, easily swayed, +susceptible to association and environment. One who loved the smooth +road of pleasure more than the stony highway of rectitude; one who had +given gratis and unthinkingly the perfume of the fresh flower of her +girlhood. Kind of heart, warm of sympathy, impulsive of temperament, +irresponsible. + +"Yes," she said, with a cheery nod; "I live at Hebron." + +"But you don't _belong_ there?" I insisted. + +She laughed in a high, not unmusical key, and suddenly dipping her oars, +began to propel the boat swiftly through the water. Rowing shows a +graceful girl off to advantage, and my companion was richly endowed in +this particular. Her little russet shoes were firmly braced, the short +skirt revealing a few inches of tapering, tan-stockinged legs; her brown +hands gripped the oars firmly, and as she swayed forward and backward +with the rhythmic strokes I was conscious of a feeling of admiration for +her prowess. In a few moments we had rounded a bend, and here I saw a +line stretched across the river, with smaller lines depending from it +into the stream. The girl glanced back over her shoulder, dipped one oar +and adroitly piloted the boat toward a certain hook, before she spoke. + +"I belong up yonder--for the summer," she said. + +I followed her short gesture, and discovered upon a hill to my right +what I took to be a brick church, with a brick dwelling near it. + +As I turned to make reply I saw that something was happening. The girl +was doing her best to haul in one of the sunken lines, but the hidden +force beneath the surface was combatting her strength fiercely. Before I +could offer assistance she had loosed her hold, and instantly the line +shot out and tightened, swaying this way and that, cutting the water +silently. + +"I believe I have a whale!" she declared, in big-eyed seriousness, +shifting her position and kneeling before taking up her task afresh. +"No, don't help me yet"--as I made a forward movement--"it's lots more +fun to land one's own fish!" + +She bent again to the vibrating line, while I held the boat steady and +eagerly awaited developments. + +"I'm from Kansas City," she flung over her shoulder all at once, "and +I'm spending the summer with my uncle, the Rev. Jean Dupre--Father +John, the villagers call him. I am Beryl Drane." + +The catastrophe cannot be told in detail. It may have been partly my +fault, for my guard was lax at the moment. Before I realized what had +happened Miss Drane was gone and I was in the water clinging to the +upturned boat. A sucking, gurgling whirlpool was moving down the stream, +and the cable line had disappeared. For a moment a cold horror crept to +my vitals and chilled me so that I could not move. Then my duty swept +over me with a swift rush, and, letting go the boat, I dived +desperately. Madly I swept my arms to left, right, everywhere, grasping +blindly for the touch of flesh or clothing. Dimly I seemed to realize +that I was in a measure responsible for the accident, and that I must +find the lost girl. Back and forth I fought through the water savagely, +my lungs hurting, my head throbbing. I could not give up. I had to find +her. She was there, somewhere in that silent, treacherous element. Into +my chaotic mind leaped the thought that perhaps she had risen to the +surface. Instantly I ceased my efforts and rose. Dashing the streaming +drops from my eyes and mouth I gulped in a deep breath, and glared +around despairingly. Silence; solitude; a shining, disc-like spot where +the reflection of the sun lay, and a dozen feet off the glistening +bottom of the boat. That was all. A man's length to the south I saw some +bubbles rise and burst. There can be no bubbles without air. Maybe-- + +Resurgent hope filled my breast as I plunged downward again, striking +out with all my might. I grasped a sodden something. I opened my eyes. +The water was clear and the sunlight filtered dimly through it. A +confused shadowy shape confronted me. I could get no outlines. An +instant later I touched a hand, and knew it was Beryl Drane. A +conception of the truth came then. When the fish, or whatever it was, +had dragged her overboard, she had become entangled in the lines, and +the thing which had power to pull her from the boat likewise had power +to hold her below the surface while it struggled to escape. I clasped +her in my arms, gave a tug, and together we shot upward. I looked at her +as we reached light and air. She was limp, and to all appearance +perfectly lifeless. Her lips had a bluish tinge, and were parted the +least bit. Her eyes were half closed; she did not breathe. + +Filled with foreboding which trembled on the verge of certainty, I swam +for the shore. The distance was short, and presently I was struggling up +the slippery mud bank with the senseless form of the girl. My mind had +been busy while I was swimming. Should I stop on shore and attempt +resuscitation, or should I hurry on to the priest's house, just up the +hill? I decided on the latter course as the most expedient, as the delay +would be practically nothing, and proper restoratives could be had at +the house. There probably was a road. Straight up the wooded slope I +dashed. My exertions in the water had tired me, and now as I made my way +through the dense undergrowth up the steep hill I was conscious of +intense physical fatigue. But I pressed grimly on, with a dread in my +heart which far outweighed any physical weakness. + +At length I reached a rail fence. How I surmounted it with my burden, I +do not know. Beyond the fence was a pasture lot with only a gentle +incline, and across this I raced. Another fence, the back yard of the +parsonage, wherein squalling chickens fled precipitately as I tore by, +around the house to the front porch, where sat a little old man in a +swinging chair, clad in a priest's robe. I knew it was Father John. He +was quietly reading, and smoking a meerschaum pipe with a stem as long +as my arm, but the sound of my feet aroused him, and he raised his head. + +"_Mon Dieu!_" he exclaimed, jumping up, dropping his book, but holding +to his pipe, which he waved wildly. "In ze name of heaven, m'sieu! What +was it zat has happen?" + +The front door stood open, and I rushed into the house without replying. +A couch was in the hall, and on this I laid the form of the girl. Father +John, his wrinkled face stamped with terror and anguish, was beside me +in an instant. + +"Madonna! Jesu!" he wailed. "My blessed Bereel!" + +I began the treatment for the drowned, explaining hurriedly how the +accident had occurred. + +"Call your housekeeper!" I added. "Her clothes must be loosened. Quick! +If no doctor is near there is no use sending. I know what should be +done. Bring brandy, or whiskey--hurry!" + +Father John ran from the hall crying at every step: + +"Marie! Marie! Marie!" + +His tremulous voice receded in the rear. + +I unfastened the girl's belt, tore open her clothing at the waist, and +as I worked feverishly, was conscious of a gaunt, austere woman of +fifty-five or sixty suddenly falling on her knees at my side, and +unhooking the tight corset which my rude haste had exposed. Thereafter +we worked together, in silence, moving the arms up and down and striving +for artificial respiration. Father John hovered just out of reach, an +uncorked flask in one shaking hand; the long stemmed pipe, which he had +never abandoned, in the other. In the stark silence which accompanied +our efforts I could hear him whispering incoherent but fervent prayers +in his native tongue. + +Closely I watched the pallid face--the poor, peaked face which had +looked upon so much that a woman ought not to know exists--but no signal +flare came to the waxen cheeks. I took the flask and carefully poured +some brandy between the parted lips--poor lips, which I knew had taken +kisses not given by love. The fiery liquid trickled down her throat, but +there was no movement, no attempt to swallow. I gave more, for this was +the sovereign test for life. There came a rigor, so slight that I was +not altogether sure of it. More brandy. A shiver passed over the limp +form; a choking, gasping sound issued from her throat, followed by a +moan of pain. I stood erect, looking down at her intently. Almost +imperceptibly the faintest glow showed in the marble pallor of her skin. +She was reviving. The danger was past. The gaunt woman crouched at my +feet looked up at me mutely, interrogatively. + +"Continue to rub her hands and feet," I said. "Keep all her clothing +loose. Give her very small quantities of liquor from time to time. She +had better not see me immediately on awaking." + +Then I took the priest by the hand and silently led him out on the +porch. A wooden settee was placed against the railing at one end. I +conducted him here, and we sat down. My clothes were still wet, but I +gave this no thought. + +I proceeded first to assure Father John that his niece was practically +out of danger, then recounted everything in detail pertaining to the +accident in the river. He listened in eager silence, his expression +still one of amazement and distress. I looked at him as I talked. He was +a very small man. His skin was yellowish brown, like parchment. His +brows projected; his eyes were black and keen; his nose was straight and +thin, but quite large. His chin protruded into rather a sharp point, and +his mouth was the most sensitive I have ever seen on a man. His lips +were beautifully bowed, and had retained their color. They were never in +perfect repose, but were constantly beset by what I am tempted to +describe as "invisible" twitchings. As I spoke on, he gradually became +calmer, after a while relighting his pipe. This seemed to act magically +upon him, for soon after he began to smoke the wild expression vanished +from his face. + +"So you are ze stranger on ze Bal' Knob?" he queried, when I had +finished my recital. + +"Yes; I am out after health." + +"Health?" he repeated, sweeping his keen eyes over my stalwart form in +open astonishment. + +"I don't appear to be an invalid, I'll admit," I hastened to add. "But +something started up in here"--I touched my chest--"and the doctor sent +me to the woods." + +"Ah! Ze--ze--ze lungs.... You never struck me to have ze consumption. +You are ze stron' man." + +"It was just a beginning--a fear, rather than an actuality. I have been +there a month, and I am already much better." + +The housekeeper appeared in the doorway. + +"Miss Bereel ees awake, and has asked for you both," she said. + +When we again stood beside the couch, the girl made an effort to take my +hand, but was too weak. Seeing her purpose, I grasped hers instead. + +"Thank you," she said, in a thin, ghostly little voice. "It was not his +fault, uncle; he saved me. Come to see me sometime, and we'll go--rowing +again!" + +She tried to smile, but was too exhausted. + +"I shall certainly come to inquire about you," I replied, gently laying +her hand down. "I fear I was somewhat to blame, and I hope you will be +all right very soon." + +She looked at me with a wan light of gratitude in her eyes, and a few +moments later I was bidding Father John adieu on the porch step. + +"Come again, m'sieu," he said, squeezing my hand warmly. "You shall have +ze welcome!" + +I thanked him, again expressed my hope and belief that his niece would +be quite all right in a day or two, and struck out for Hebron. + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +IN WHICH I ATTEND AN ORATORIO + + +It is one o'clock in the morning--and I have been going to bed at nine! + +You will wonder what has happened to so outrageously disturb the +rigorous routine governing my night hours, and I shall tell you, for +that is the purpose of this chronicle. + +It is now three days since I went to Hebron. After leaving the priest's +house I came on down the hill, trudged back to the river to get my coat +and garden seed, then turned homeward. The sun was hot by this time, my +clothes quickly dried on me, and I have felt no bad effects since. +Another sign, it seems to me, of my increasing physical sturdiness. +These three days have passed without sight or sound of a soul. I have +pottered about my yard, mowing down the insistent heterogeneous growth +which daily now threatens to take me; clearing a broad space about my +precious well--whose water, by the way, is sparkling, clear and +cold--and this morning spading in my garden for two hours or more. + +I cannot explain that which follows, but a little before nine, as I was +preparing to light my bedtime pipe and sit down for a chuckle with that +old pagan monk, Rabelais, I felt the call to go up. As I said, I can +offer no explanation. But all of us have been subject, many times in our +lives, to sudden, inexplicable yearnings; silent longings as powerful +and real as though a voice had spoken them. There is no need to +specialize. You, if you have a spark of temperament, will understand, +because you will have experienced something of the sort. You have felt +that mysterious tugging toward a certain thing, when there was nothing +on earth to incite it. What was it? I felt it to-night as I held my pipe +in one hand and a lighted match in the other; felt it growing and +expanding until it became a fierce desire. I tossed my half-burned match +among the logs in the fireplace, put my filled pipe in my pocket, and +with something akin to awe sobering my face, drew my cap on my head and +walked softly outdoors. + +It was a perfect moonless May night. I had never seen the stars brighter +or nearer. I felt that by tiptoeing I might almost reach them. And their +number amazed me. The sky was looking down at me with a million eyes, +and each eye was a voice which said "Come up! Come up!" I went, not +stopping to question, analyze, or combat. Something irresistible urged +me to surmount the peak, and I bent to the climb. As I came out of the +Stygian gloom of the belt of evergreens I knew that some subtle change +had taken place. The atmosphere had a different feel; a different smell. +There was no wind, but when I swept my gaze around I saw many horizon +clouds; jagged, mountainous looking outlines, with floating fragments +everywhere. Some of the cloud fragments would touch and merge even as I +watched them. I did not know the significance, if there was any. I +turned to the slope again. Before the last steep stretch I halted the +second time. Far as I could see the perspective was bounded by a black, +towering wall, which seemed to grow taller every moment. This wall was +topped by fantastic turrets and towers which swayed, lengthened, +expanded, or disappeared at will. Still there was no wind, even at the +great height to which I had already come. The day had been suffering +hot, and the perspiration was streaming from me. I breathed softly, and +listened. No sound but the monotonous call of the night insects, except +from a point far below, like the muffled cry of a lost soul pleading for +grace, the ineffably sad tones of a whip-poor-will pulsed dimly through +the dark. I turned my face upward. The calm stars still called, and I +answered. + +Presently I could go no further. I stood on the apex of my high hill, a +jubilation of spirit making my breast to heave in deeper breaths than my +exertion had caused. Then, ere I knew what I was about I had flung my +arms out and up, toward the vast deeps from which had come the still +summons I had felt in the quiet peace of the Lodge. I felt unreal; I was +trembling. I knew not what impended, but the air was charged with an +electrical tenseness, and the pall of utter silence which hung over the +world was pregnant with import. My arms dropped, and a sweet calm stole +over me. Slowly I turned my gaze in every direction. That mammoth wall +of blackness encircled the earth in an unbroken line, and was now +quickly mounting to the zenith. How grand the sight! I bared my head +before the majesty of it. How like battlements and ramparts the grim +expanses appeared, crowned with their changing towers! And to make the +comparison still more true, I now saw the flash of cannon through the +jagged embrasures, and caught the distant thunder of their detonations. +Quickly the conflict grew. North, south, east and west, and all between, +the batteries of the sky unveiled. Not loud, as yet, but perpetual, and +furious in the very absence of thunderous sound. There were constant +growlings and incessant flashings, as back and forth over the aerial +battleground the challenges were sent and answered. Now, a girdle of +glory, the lightning zoned the middle sky, and ever upward, as though +propelled by forces set in the earth beneath, the walls arose, blotting +out stars by the thousands, and steadily converging toward a common +meeting point directly overhead. Then, for the first time, I knew that +the Harpist of the Wood had awakened. + +The unnatural stillness was disturbed by motion which became a breath of +music. I leaned forward involuntarily, my lips apart, my hands +out-thrust from me in the attitude one unconsciously assumes when +listening intently. From the thick darkness hundreds of feet below I +caught the first faint pianissimo notes from a million strings, all +attuned by the unerring touch of Nature. In gentle waftures of sound the +vast prelude arose, filling my soul with an eerie delight, and causing +me to draw a deep, shuddering breath. Then I crept to the rim of the +peak and sat down, both humbled and exalted. Faintly now I sensed the +reason of that imperious call to come up. Each succeeding measure struck +by the invisible Harpist became louder, sweeter, and more stupendous. It +seemed as if all creation was one mighty instrument, and a +myriad-fingered master was sweeping the throbbing strings. The clouds +were now a canopy without a rent. From a dozen points at once the +lightning flashed and staggered and reeled in dazzling splendor across +the sable field. There were no terrific thunder crashes. But, like the +pedal bass of a pipe organ, there was the ever present subdued +reverberation like far-off guns fired in unison. Then the strength and +skill of the Harpist increased simultaneously, and waves of barbaric +melody rushed upward. There was shriek and groan; there were living +voices awfully mingled in one wild chorus, and in brief lulls trembling +tones as sweet as a mother's good-night song to her babe. Flute-like and +full of delicate color a cadenza breathing of sylvan joys rippled forth, +and as its last bubbling notes yet fluttered like apple-blossoms of +sound against my ravished ears, they were drowned and whelmed by a +crashing diapason of majestic harmony which rushed on wide wings over +leagues and leagues of forest; a thundering gamut fearfully blended into +an oratorio inexpressibly sublime! Wild and shrill came a fife-like call +from the west, whistling out of the gloom in a quivering cadence of +victorious escape. Then it was blended with a multitudinous legion of +loosened chords, and dashed over me as a surging, resplendent sea of +mind-numbing melody. + +So the oratorio advanced, and I sat enthralled. + +The lightning increased. Not for the space of a single breath was +darkness absolute. In the vivid flashes I could see the bending +tree-tops far below, and the tossing, swaying, writhing branches. And +ever in my ears was the awful roll of that supernatural music; so full, +so deep, so filling all the universe with its changing rhythm! There was +something of the ocean's voice in it all, when the wind whips it to +fury. I sat dazed, imperfectly comprehending what was passing, but aware +all the time of a physical sensation of exquisite pleasure. Music had +always wrought upon me thus, but before the presence of this new and +strange manifestation my sensibilities were quickened twentyfold. I did +not know till later that I was on the peak three hours. I would have +said it was only a few minutes. + +When all was over, and the strings of the Harp were still again, or +vibrating only as an echo, I got on my feet, dizzy and weak. All was +dark. The lightning, too, had ceased. But as I turned my eyes upward, a +rent showed in the cloud canopy, and through this a blood-red meteor +fell burning toward the earth. So I knew that the Maestro was pleased +with the performance, and from the blooming fields above had cast down a +flower in token of His favor. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + +IN WHICH I SUFFER FOUR SHOCKS, THREE OF THE EARTH AND ONE FROM THE SKY, +AND FIND ANOTHER MAID A-FISHING + + +Now that has come to pass of which I had a premonition the first time I +sat on the top of old Baldy and hugged my knees. In consequence thereof +I write to-night with my left wrist rudely bandaged, from a hurt I took +this morning. The day has been full of adventure and surprise, and I +find it difficult to harness my leaping brain as I start about my record +of events. Truly I have encountered enough to set my mind buzzing, and +two long, full pipes since supper have failed to tranquilize and soothe. +But the happenings of the day must be transcribed before I go to bed. + +I went to the post-office soon after breakfast, to see if a reply had +come from 'Crombie. A package and a letter awaited me. The thought came +to me to run on up the hill and inquire about Beryl Drane, but I didn't. +I can't say why I didn't. But I merely asked the sloth-like storekeeper +about her instead, and learned from him that she was "putty peart," and +was up and about the house. When I passed the blacksmith shop I saw the +door was open, but there was no one within. I started to ask the +storekeeper where Buck was, but refrained on second thought, and betook +myself up the railroad instead, intending to reach home by a circuitous +route. By this time I was fairly familiar with the lay of the country, +and I had a natural longing for exploration anyway. Then, too, deep in +the bottom of my mind, I had laid a plan to come down the huge spur back +of Lessie's house, and surprise her with a short visit. + +I followed the railroad for perhaps a mile, made some calculations as to +distance and location, then descended into a heavily wooded ravine and +continued my way in a northeasterly course. I had never been in this +part of the knobs before, and I found the country more rugged, if +possible, than that to which I was accustomed. As I proceeded, I closely +scanned the ground before me and on either side as far as my eyes would +go. I had scant hope of finding the life-plant here, because one of its +requisites was sunshine, and the shade was so dense that I walked in a +sort of cool, green gloom, wonderfully attractive to the senses. Now and +again a sun-shaft would come trembling and swaying down, brightening the +brown forest floor with shining, shaking spots of pale yellow. But no +green stemmed plant with golden leaves rose up from the mold to confront +me. I have begun to think my quest is almost as elusive as that for the +Holy Grail, but, like Sir Launfal, I shall persevere. + +I became engrossed in the natural beauty of the hollow I was traversing, +and forgot my secret determination to go by Granny's house. After a time +the ravine opened and broadened into a little amphitheater, grass-set, +jungle-like in its wildness. But few tall trees were here. Dozens of +smaller ones grew on every side, and many of these were covered with the +odorous green mantle of the wild grapevine. The birds had likewise +sought out this spot, and the air was musical with chirp, and twitter, +and song. I stopped to regale myself with Nature's prodigal loveliness, +and as I drew a deep breath of satisfaction and appreciation I heard +something which had come to my ears once before. A long-drawn bird note, +shrill but sweet, and ending with a quick upward inflection. I started +guiltily, and knew that my whole body was a-tingle. Then I stared about, +trying to locate the sound. Again I heard it, and again I thrilled. +Straight ahead, beyond that bosky wall of herbage. Eagerly I started +forward, my pulse bounding. I reached the screening leaves and thrust +out one hand to make a way, but a vagrant gust of wind at that moment +formed a lane for my eyes, and the next instant I was staggering back, +choking, muttering crazily, my face afire, my chest tight as though +bound by constricting bands of steel. God above! Suppose I had crashed +through, as I would have done a second later! With gritted teeth and set +eyes I tiptoed away--away--anywhere, so that spot was left to Nature and +to her! + +She was there, bathing in a sheltered pool in the secluded heart of the +everlasting hills. My one swift glance had showed me the Dryad in her +haunts. The curling mass of her copper-gold hair she had piled +regardlessly on top of her small, shapely head; she was almost entirely +immersed; her back was toward me, and I saw only her head with its +bewildering crown, one ivory shoulder upthrust from the water, gleaming +like wet marble in the sunlight, and a naked, outheld arm whereon sat +the tiny bird she had summoned. Small cause for wonder that I reeled, +grew dizzy with the hard-pumped, hot blood which deluged my brain, and +crept like a thief from that hidden pool--crept crouching, with rigid +face and bated breath. Dear Christ! How thankful I was that the +protecting water had covered her! Had it been otherwise; had my +unwilling gaze dwelt upon her revealed beauty from head to foot, I think +I could have taken my own life from shame. Certain it is I never again +could have looked into those honest Irish gray eyes. It was what might +have been, rather than what was, which planted the volcano in my breast, +and sent me trembling and quaking through the bird-sung silence of that +secret, sacred glen. As I went, I heard a bubbling laugh, and the tinkle +of falling water drops. + +Now I was speedily destined to another shock, almost as great. How far I +had gone I cannot say, but all at once I knew that I was looking down +upon a plant about a foot in height, with green stem and yellow leaves. +I halted as though turned to stone, but I did not think. I couldn't +think. My mind refused its office, and in the face of what I took to be +a momentous discovery, stood still. Almost simultaneously with my +finding this significant growth the third shock came, as important in +its way as either of the other two, and far more ominous. + +"Whut 'n' hell yo' doin' prowlin' 'roun' here?" + +The voice was harsh and deep; indignation and rage ran through it. + +The savage tones brought me to myself; they acted on my senses as a +battery might on my flesh. I stood erect and threw my head up. The smith +was not a dozen steps away. Where he had come from, how he had got +there, and why he was there I could not guess. He was dressed as I had +seen him at the forge on the occasion of my first visit to Hebron; +plainly he had not come courting in that garb. One hand held a large +club, in a position almost of menace. I brought a serious, determined +expression to my face, and looked him squarely in the eyes. In that +moment as we stood in silence, a darkness spread over the glen, and a +cool breath as from a summer storm cloud blew upon us; I saw it lift and +drop the brown hair on the forehead of the man facing me. He had me at a +disadvantage. He had doubtless seen me coming from the direction of the +pool, and weaker circumstantial evidence than this has condemned many a +man. If he supposed for a moment that I had been spying upon the privacy +of the girl he loved--and that this idea was in full possession of his +mind I did not doubt--then mischief was brewing, and from his +standpoint, justly so. Had our positions been reversed, had I seen him +skulking away from that fringe of greenery, I doubt if I would have +given him the chance he offered me. All this raced swiftly through my +brain in that short period following his hard question, and though my +first feeling, a very human one, was of cold and haughty resentment, I +quelled this immediately as both dangerous and unjust, and decided to +speak him fairly and honestly. So I said: + +"I might ask the same of you, Buck Steele." + +I purposely pitched my voice low. Not that I feared she would hear it, +for I realized the pool must be out of earshot from where we stood, but +there is a certain low tone which permits of modulation and inflection +carrying greater convincing power than when spoken in a higher key. I +paused only long enough to take breath after my first sentence, then +resumed. + +"It's none of your business what I am doing here, but I am going to tell +you, because, in a way, you have a right to know." + +There flashed upon me the thought that I must play for time. If Lessie +had not left the pool she would leave soon, for a storm impended. In +what direction she would go to reach home I had no notion. She might +come straight down the glen where we were. In any event, if blows were +to be struck, and in my heart I believed they would come before we +parted, it would be better if the girl was not in the neighborhood. This +train of reasoning came and passed without interrupting my flow of +speech. + +"It's not my fault we're not friends. I came to these knobs a total +stranger, intending to treat everybody right. But when I spoke to you in +Hebron, you turned your back on me. Why did you do that? I know why, and +in a measure I forgive it. But it was not a manly thing to do. I'm going +to talk plainly to you, Buck. I'm glad of this chance to have it out +right here in the woods. But before we go any further tell me +this--what's that thing?" + +I pointed at the plant before me. + +My audacity stupefied him. He blinked at me with scowling forehead--at +me and at the plant--probably deeming me crazy. + +"I mean it," I insisted; "I'm not fooling with you. Tell me what that +thing is, if you know, and then I'll tell you what I'm doing out here in +the wilderness." + +"That's a May apple," he said, suddenly and reluctantly. + +"May apple!" I gasped, my high hopes shattered and gone. "I didn't know; +I'm obliged to you." + +Then I told him the object of my stay in the hills, not sparing words to +prolong my story, and ended by asking him if he had ever seen the +life-plant, ever heard of it, or ever heard of anybody that had heard of +it. He shook his head to each question, then said, emphatically: + +"They ain't no sich thing!" + +I knew that the Dryad was safe and away by this time, so now I came back +to the topic of the moment. Indeed, the smith had listened to my speech +with ever increasing restlessness. I think he suspected I was trying to +delay my explanation, but I doubt if he guessed the true reason for it. + +"You asked me at the beginning what I was doing here, and I'm going to +tell you, and tell you the _truth_; mind you that--the _truth_. I've +never told a lie since I was old enough to know how base a thing it +was." I took two steps toward him. "You suspect me, Buck Steele, of the +lowest, most contemptible, hell-born, dastardly trick one who calls +himself a man could commit. I'm not going to put it into words, because +it's too damnably vile!" + +The smith began to move forward as I spoke; short, hurried steps, like +one takes when about to spring. But whatever his impulse he checked +himself, and waited, his broad chest heaving in troubled breaths, his +face contorted, his eyes veined and bulging. I knew that I fronted a +deadly peril. I knew the man was surely insane that moment; that reason, +argument or logic could find no place in his perceptions. He had grasped +the idea that I had knowingly and willingly violated the sanctity of +this secret place, and nothing that I could say would sweep that +illusion from his disordered brain. He saw red. The blood-lust was on +him in all its primal force; in every lineament of his twisted +countenance was written the word--"kill." + +A strong gust of wind tore down the glen, shuddering among the murmuring +leaves, and with its coming the gloom deepened. The shape before me +assumed a more formidable aspect in the lessened light, but I felt no +fear. I thought of my revolver--and was ashamed. Still it might serve a +purpose. It might help bring this madman to his senses. I drew it +quickly from my pocket, and holding it out in the palm of my hand, said: + +"I could kill you, man; I could shoot you down, and no one would ever +guess I did it. You're bent on trouble; you're prepared not to believe +anything I say. But for this revolver I am unarmed. I am not going to +take an unfair advantage of you. See?" I broke the weapon, emptied its +chambers, then put the cartridges and revolver in separate pockets. + +The act had no apparent effect. It may be the look of ferocity deepened; +certainly there was no recognition of my attempt to place our relations +upon an equal basis. Now I knew that nothing short of physical violence +would bring about a reaction to sanity, and for an instant I hesitated. +The temptation to evade the whole truth assailed me wickedly. Something +within told me that I could not cope with this giant in a personal +encounter; that death or disablement awaited the revelation I was +contemplating. The something which gave this warning also suggested the +remedy--the lie whereby I might pass Buck Steele with a whole skin and +an outraged conscience. I believe I wavered. I believe that for the +shortest time I came near to yielding, then my manhood asserted itself +in a swift rush, before Buck's words stung my blood hot. + +"Go on, yo' damn sneak'n' fox!--Whur'd yo' ben w'en I seen +yo'?--Whur?--Whur?" + +I stripped off my coat as I answered, for I knew there was work ahead. +And Buck laughed as I cast the garment aside; a hoarse, growling laugh +in which dwelt no note of mirth. It was simply an indication that he was +pleased with the meaning of the act; that the pagan desire to give and +take blows which possessed him would be satisfied. + +"I'm going to tell you. I went to Hebron this morning, and started home +by the railroad. I don't know this country as well as you, and as I was +making my way back toward Lessie's house--for I wanted to have a word +with her--I stumbled into this place." + +A malevolent grin of disbelief greeted this speech. The fellow's +insolence nettled me, but I went on. + +"I heard a bird-call which I knew--which I had heard her give before. I +went to look for her. I came to the line of bushes which fringe the +pool; I was preparing to pass through them in my search for her, when +the wind blew the leaves aside and I saw----" + +With a roar like a wounded bull he was on me. He had been holding +himself back for this confession. Too late I realized that I had +blundered. I might have approached the denouement more circumspectly; I +might have prepared him for things as they actually had been, instead of +allowing him, by my extreme candor, to suppose that matters were worse +than they really were. He swung his club as he rushed, and it hissed +above me. I crouched and leaped aside, striking up blindly with all my +might. I had flung my left arm out to balance myself, and the descending +club caught my wrist a slanting blow. I am sure now it scarcely more +than touched it, but an arrow of acute pain shot through my entire arm. +The bludgeon hit the earth with a force which splintered it into a dozen +pieces, and Buck wheeled more than half around, for my fist had found +his ribs. Even as he turned with a harsh, bellowing, wordless oath, I +was at him. I thrust deliberately, coolly, but with all my concentrated +power, aiming over his shoulder at his neck. He saw the stroke coming, +but, in the attitude where my former blow had forced him he could parry +but ineffectually. His shoulder went up, off and over it my fist slid +and with all the weight of my body behind it caught him on the ear. Then +back he staggered, his windmill arms waving hugely, aimlessly, his knees +wobbling, his feet slithering uncertainly over the short grass. Back and +back he went, seeming to try to stop, but couldn't, till fifteen paces +must have separated us. I did not follow him, though I suppose I should +have done so. I think I was a trifle dazed at my success, and the +spectacle of the great body of the smith moving crazily backward with +wide arms threshing the air over his head, must have unconsciously +served as a check for any further assault. + +When nearly a score of yards lay between us Buck came to himself. His +arms dropped, he shook his shoulders, felt his damaged ear, now covered +with blood,--and saw me. Instantly he made ready to rush me. He +possessed to the full that instinct held by all fighting animals which +does not allow them to give up. As long as he could stand on his feet he +would do battle. I squared myself and awaited his onslaught. My +temporary advantage had not deceived me. I knew too well that chance had +a hand in the operations just concluded, and that if I ultimately +succeeded in whipping Buck Steele it would be a miraculous happening. I +saw him bend his body to advance, then earth and sky and air became +blended in one burning, blinding, deafening, fiery chaos. My eardrums +vibrated under a volume of sound such as I would not have deemed +possible; a white sword of dazzling brightness was laid across my eyes, +searing the balls and scattering a myriad colored sparks dancing and +ricocheting through my brain. Vaguely I seemed to see an oak tree back +of Buck slough its bark as a snake does its skin--shake it out and away +from its white trunk; saw it rip off its own limbs and cast them down; +saw it take its leaves by vast bunches, strip them from their hold, and +scatter them abroad like feathers. Accompanying this phenomenon I saw my +enemy sink down in his tracks. It all happened within the fractional +part of a second, for on the heels of the crash and the awful light, a +great blackness and silence settled over me. + +I awoke with a quivering, indrawn breath, and knew that the little fists +of a heavy rain were pounding me in the face. Slowly my mind grasped the +situation. Struggling to my hands and knees, my arms trembling under my +weight, I looked at Buck. He lay perfectly still. He had been much +nearer the tree which had received the bolt than I, and the fear that he +was dead took hold of me. Painfully I dragged myself toward him over the +wet grass, my head buzzing and swimming, and throbbing with queer, +unnatural pains. I reached his side and grasped his wrist, sliding the +tips of my fingers back of the small bone where the pulse manifests +itself. I held my breath in fear, at once conscious of no perceptible +movement. A few moments longer I waited, but the signal of life failed +to come. Then I firmly seized the shirt where it opened at the neck, and +ripped off the remaining buttons with a quick jerk. A big, deep chest, +covered with black hair, was revealed. I know a moan came from me as I +drew my body over his, and fell across him with my ear pressed to his +heart. As I lay the pounding rain revived me more and more, the +thrumming in my head ceased, and then, muffled, weak, but real, I heard +the feeble beating of the engine of life. There was nothing I could do +for him, but I sat there and waited his return to consciousness, knowing +that it would be wrong to leave him absolutely helpless. My strength +came back momentarily, and when Buck began to stir I was capable of +standing erect. So presently I went away, realizing that his iron +constitution would quickly right him. + +I did not have the heart to get dinner, but ate what cold stuff I could +find, then went to the seat under the tall pine, and thought. I was not +scared. Fright did not enter into my feelings in the smallest way, +although, when I reviewed the incident, I was confident Buck would have +worsted me had it not been for the unexpected and startling +intervention. He was unquestionably the stronger man, and had I defeated +him, it would have been due to my skill in fisticuffs. I was not a +stranger to the science of the ring, while abhorring prize-fighting. I +believe it every man's duty to himself and those he loves to equip +himself physically for life's battles. So I had trained, and kept myself +in training. But the smith had been transformed into a raging demon of a +man; his great natural power had been doubled, quadrupled, and had his +clutching hands once found me I would have fared as Carver Doone fared +at the hands of John Ridd. + +I was sick at heart because of what these things which had just +transpired foretold. Would Buck voice his hellish belief in my +poltroonery to Lessie? A shiver shook me at the thought; it seemed as if +a thousand-legged worm with feet of ice was laid along my spine. Then my +neck and face burned, and my throat grew tight, so that my breath came +hard. What ailed me? Never before had such a sensation possessed me. Why +did it matter so very greatly what Buck told? I knew that I was entirely +innocent of any wrong--what else mattered? I know the good opinion of +our fellow creatures is worth striving for and maintaining, but why +should I be so concerned as to what these hill people thought of me? A +few months more and I would be gone, would never see them again in all +my life. Why--then suddenly, in the midst of my reflections the Dryad's +face swam before my mind, and I saw it as it would look when Buck, +crudely but earnestly, told her what he believed to be true. I saw the +expression on her face when she heard the hateful words; the swift, +responsive blood bathing her cheeks into red peonies--the terror and +shame in her eyes--the anguish of betrayed faith--and in that moment I +knew that I cared more for what Buck should say to Lessie than for +anything else in all the world. I got up, breathing fast, and looked out +over the great valley of billowing trees. In former days this sight had +a magical effect; it brought a sweet calm and content. This afternoon I +did not feel the response to which I was accustomed. Instead, I knew +that war was in my breast, and that every passing moment loosened a +lurking devil with a shape of fear. Peace cannot come from without when +there is strife within. Had Buck already told her? I found myself +wondering. Had he gone direct to her after he recovered, and poured out +the poisoned tale? He would do it, I felt assured. His passion had +reached a stage which not only suggested, but declared this course, and +he, rough, untrained, with no restraining leash of civilization and +refinement to hold him back, would make instant capital of his supposed +discovery to further his wooing. If I could see her first-- + +Down my hill of refuge I tore, bareheaded, coatless. Along the familiar +route I ran, to Dyrad's Glade, to the creek which flowed south, to the +tree spanning the creek. Midway across the tree sat the object of my +quest, fishing. A pool of some depth spread out beneath her, and here +her hook was cast. Her rod was a slender hickory pole, while a rusty tin +can at her side held her bait--the fishing-worms of our boyhood. As I +appeared she drew up and at once became engaged in impaling a fat bait +on the hook. With the greatest nonchalance she drew the wriggling thing +over the barb, and sighted me just as the operation was concluded. She +smiled, and the relief wave which swept over me threatened to inundate +me root and branch. By this I knew I had reached her first. Then, as I +climbed eagerly up, she deliberately pursed her lips and spat on that +worm! + +"Hello!" she said, and cast her line. + +I did not say hello, nor anything else for a time--for an appreciable +time. I felt foolish; light-headed, light-footed, light all over. +Something inside my breast seemed spreading and spreading, and I wanted +to sing--to shout insanely. This most candid confession will probably +arouse grave suspicions in the mind of the reader, but that is so much +in favor of a narrative which always sticks closely to the truth. Had I +intended to practice any deception, just here is where I would have +begun, for I realize, after writing the above, that I am laying myself +liable to almost any charge one would care to bring along the line of +general idiocy. Just why the ordinary sight of a girl on a log +fishing--a back country girl at that--should make a man of the world who +has long since left the adolescent stage behind feel like singing and +dancing and yelling, is beyond my ability to explain. Let him who reads +draw his own conclusions. + +"You did that for luck, didn't you?" I asked, when I was seated tailor +fashion beside her. It had been a boyhood belief of mine; I had simply +outgrown it. She was still primitive. + +She nodded, and put a finger on her lips, turning to me wide eyes of +warning. She evidently harbored the other belief that fish won't bite if +you talk. I turned to her cork--an old bottle stopper--and saw that it +was bobbing; short little ducks sideways which suggested a minnow to me. +But the Dryad was all engrossed with the prospects, and watched the +stopper's movements intently. Presently it went under in a slanting +sweep, and the pole came up promptly and vigorously. A sun perch the +size of a small leaf glinted and leaped at the end of the line. +Dexterously the girl swung her prize within reach, skilfully removed the +hook from its hold in a gill, and dropped her catch in a tin milk bucket +at her other side. + +"I tol' you!" she said, triumphantly, referring to her treatment of the +worm before committing it to the stream. + +At once her tapering fingers began burrowing in the dirt which half +filled the can, in search of more bait. + +"Hold on, Dryad!" I whispered. "Let up on fishing a few minutes, unless +you'll allow me to talk, too. I've something to tell you. Don't you know +it seems an age since I saw you last?" + +"I tol' you not to come no more," she said, eyeing me closely to see the +effect of her words. + +"But you didn't believe I would stay away!" I retorted, and her face +instantly lighted with laughter. "You rogue!" I went on; "I have stayed +longer than I should as it is." + +One of the quick transitions which marked her now took place, and in a +twinkling she was serious, and her eyes grew darker, as still water +changes when a cloud hides the sun. + +"If Buck sees you here there'll be trouble; you'd better 'a' kep' to +Baldy." + +"Buck saw me to-day, and there was trouble," I answered. "Now let me +tell you all about it." + +How frightened she was, although I endeavored to speak in a +matter-of-fact way. She regarded me as though she found it difficult to +believe that I really existed after "trouble" with Buck, and her face +turned white, leaving her freckles oddly prominent. Her pole dipped, +too, so that its further end went under the water. So she sat, her hands +in her lap, her feet with the ugly, shapeless little shoes swinging, and +listened to my story. I told it with absolute truthfulness, but very +carefully, even condoning Buck's jealous frenzy. She remained very still +while I was talking, but when I came to the place where I had +inadvertently glimpsed her in the pool she dropped her head with a +short, shuddering gasp, and grew crimson. I, too, looked away then, and +tried to tell her how sorry I was of the incident, at the same time +endeavoring to make it plain that I was the victim of an accident. I did +not dwell upon the situation, but soon hurried on to my encounter with +the smith. + +"I wanted you to hear just how it was," I ended; "because Buck will tell +you another story. You believe me, don't you, Dryad; and we are good +friends still, aren't we?" + +I did not get an immediate reply. Her head remained sunk, and I could +not see much of her face. The portion which I saw was still flushed, but +not violently. I waited, knowing that I had stated my case as well as I +could, and believing that further argument would be dangerous. The spot +where we sat was the natural abode of silence. Now I could hear only the +gentle breath of the low wind rustling the leaves, the musical gurgle of +water, and the sweet song of a thrush hidden in the foliage to my left. +I grew restless as the silence continued: apprehensions arose, and the +sinister form of fear cast its shadow over my heart. Was she offended +past forgiveness? Had Fate prepared this trap for me to rob me of--what +was I thinking? What was this girl to me that I should wait her next +words with set teeth and softly drawn breath? That I should now behold +the wonder of her hair and the marvel of her face with inward quaking, +fearing that they might depart from me forever? That the echo of her +voice became a mocking, maddening refrain to my consciousness, and the +sorcery of her simple presence made my brain swim? This waif of the +woods; this fragment from one of the lower stratas of civilization; this +half wild, ignorant, nameless, plebeian creature--what was she to chill +my blood with the dread thought that from this meeting we went as +strangers? I cannot answer. Leave the solution to biologist or +sociologist. I only know the fact as it existed. I had rather have seen +those gray eyes flashed upon me in perfect trust that moment than to +have seen the sun rise the next morning! + +What was she thinking? No movement, no sound, no sign. Like an image +fashioned of flame and snow and draped with a moss-green garment, there +she sat by my side, so close--so close. Then I knew something of what +Tantalus felt when the cool water arose just beneath his cracked and +burning lips, and receded as he bent to drink. So close I could have +drawn her to me with a sweep of my arm, but mute and changeless as +though made of stone. + +Presently I could stand it no longer. I placed my palms upon the tree on +either side of me, and leaned forward. + +"Dyrad--Lessie--little girl! For God's sake--speak!" + +Then came the miracle. + +Again she started, as from a revery rudely interrupted. Her head was +lifted quickly, gladly, and her big moist eyes gazed into mine glowing +with tender faith. I know the dawn of an eternal Day will never thrill +me as did this. I drew my face closer to hers. + +"Then you--do forgive? Why were you silent so long, Dryad?" + +"I's thinkin' 'bout--if Buck--ur th' light'n'--had killed you!" + +"_Who-a-a-a--Lessie! Who-a-a-a--Lessie! Whur air yo'?_" + +We jumped, and a revulsion of feeling which came near to suffocating me +swelled in my throat. Granf'er was coming down the winding path from the +house. He had a brown jug in one hand. He had halted to give his hail, +and an instant later Lessie was on her feet, waving her sunbonnet and +sending back a lusty yell. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN + +IN WHICH YET A FIFTH SHOCK ARRIVES, AND ROUNDS OUT THE DAY + + +This certainly has been a big day, the first one which has required two +chapters of my story. I could have put it all in one, it is true, but I +believe there exists a general preference for frequent "stopping +places," and I shall defer to this opinion, partly, perhaps, because I +heartily endorse it myself. Granf'er sighted Lessie at once, brought his +jug up and down twice at arm's length by way of recognition, and resumed +his way with the shuffling, elbow-lifting gait which usually attaches to +men advanced in years when in a hurry. + +How straight the girl's young body was! Uncorseted though I knew she +must be, the lines of her figure conformed to the demands of physical +beauty. From her naturally slender waist, belted only with the band made +in her one piece frock, her back tapered up to shoulders which were +shapely even under the poorly fitting dress. Her head, held more than +ordinarily high now, as she watched Granf'er, was nobly poised on a +firm, round neck, which I am most happy to record was not at all +swan-like. I should like to add, in passing, that I have never seen a +girl with a swan-like neck. If such exist, their natural place is in a +dime museum, or a zoo. Such a monstrosity would, from the nature of her +affliction, look like either a snake or a goose, neither of which have +come down in humanity's annals as types of beauty. I must say it to the +credit of most moderns, however, that the swan-necked lady is seldom +paraded for us to admire. There were no crooks or loops in the Dryad's +neck. Like a section of column it was; smooth, perfect, swelling to +breast and shoulder. + +I clambered to my feet behind her, cursing mentally the harmless, +hospitable, doddering old fellow approaching, and singing a paean of +rejoicing in my soul at the same time. Such things can be. The breeze +freshened, and began sporting with the dazzling, home-made coiffure on +the Dryad's head. She had not loosened it since she came from her bath, +and that is why I saw so plainly the classic outlines of her head and +throat. The madcap wind caught her dress, too, as she stood exposed to +its sweep down the ravine, and cunningly smoothed it over her hip and +thigh; tightly, snugly smoothed it, then took the fullness remaining and +flapped and shook it out like a flag. So I knew, again through no fault +of mine, that this girl who had never even heard of a modiste--of her +skill to make limb or bust to order--had grown up with a form which +Aphrodite might have owned. She did not know the breeze had played a +trick upon her; or knowing, thought nothing of it. The seeds of our +grosser nature sprout more readily in the hotbed of a drawing-room of +"cultured" society, than in the windsweet, sun-disinfected acres of the +out-of-doors. + +She spoke. + +"Granny's picklin' to-day. She's run out o' vinegar 'n' has sent +Granf'er to fin' me to go to town 'n' git some more." + +"Let me go with you!" I urged. + +"No," she answered, promptly; "'t wouldn't do. Don't you see?" + +"I see what's in your mind," I replied, knowing that she was thinking I +would likely meet the smith again; "but I should be glad to go anyway." + +"No; you mus' stay here." + +Firmly she said it, and my saner judgment told me she was right. It +would have been a fool's errand for me to undertake. + +"I know it is best," I assented reluctantly, "but _why_ did Granny have +to run out of vinegar this afternoon?" + +Lessie threw me an amused glance over her shoulder, burst into a peal of +laughter, and began waving her pole over her head in wide circles, +taking this method to wind her line. When this was in place, she grasped +the hook between finger and thumb, and imbedded it in the stopper. + +"You bring th' fish 'n' th' bait," she said, and ran along the tree, +sure-footed and nimble as a squirrel. + +I picked up the can and bucket and followed. I looked at her catch as I +went, and saw that it represented some half-dozen minnows only. Granf'er +was waiting for us in the road. He had already transferred the jug to +Lessie and given her instructions when I came up and cordially shook +hands. + +"How are you getting along?" was my greeting, as I wisely smothered the +impatience I felt. + +"Oh! fust rate;--'cep'n' th' ketch." + +He put his left hand to his side and drew a wheezy breath. + +Lessie gave her fishing-pole into Granf'er's care, smiled a farewell and +started toward Hebron. It wrenched me for her to begin that lovely walk +alone. She was twenty steps away when the old man suddenly turned. + +"Don't go trapes'n' in th' woods fur flow'rs 'n' sich! Granny's wait'n' +fur that air vinegyar!" + +She waved her hand as a sign that she heard, but made no reply. + +"A quare gal!" mused Granf'er, beginning to delve in his trousers pocket +for his twist. "Fust 'n' las', they ain't no onderstand'n' 'er. She +washes in th' woods lak a wil' Injun 'n' plays 'ith th' birds 'n' th' +beastes. Oncommin quare, by gosh!" + +He opened his mouth and allowed to roll therefrom his chewed-out quid, +ran his crooked and cracked forefinger around his gums to dislodge any +particle of the leaf which might still remain in hiding, and took +another chew. + +"But she is a most attractive young lady, nevertheless," I ventured, +tentatively, putting one hand in my pocket for my pipe and holding the +other out in dumb request. I remembered the guest-rite of my first +visit, and shrewdly suspected this move of mine would please the old +man. It did. + +"Lak it, don't ye?" he grinned, his wrinkled face lighting with pleasure +as he eagerly thrust the tobacco into my palm. "Light Burley 't is, 'n' +skace 's' hen's teeth. Mos' craps plum' failed las' year, but I growed a +plenty fur you 'n' me--yes, fur you 'n' me!" + +The expression tickled him into a creaky, croaky sort of laugh. + +"It's good stuff, Granf'er," I agreed, compromising with my conscience +by supposing that it was good to chew, although to smoke, it bit my +tongue abominably and had a green flavor. "I've been intending to come +back to see you and Granny and Lessie ever since I was here last, but +one thing and another has prevented. I hope you are all well?" + +I turned toward the path and moved forward a few steps, as though +assuming we would now go on up to the house. But Gran'fer's thoughts did +not run with mine. + +"Well? Yes; that is to say, tol'ble." His manner was somewhat excited. +"Granny, y' know, 's pickl'n' to-day, 'n' w'en she's pickl'n' she's +turble busy, 'n' turble--turble techous.... Fine terbacker, ain't it?" +as he saw the pale blue smoke beginning to come from my lips. "Yes, +we're putty well, but Granny's ben kind o' contrairy these fo' days +pas', 'n' bein' she's pickl'n' I 'low you 'n' me 'd jes' as well set +down right here 'n' hev our chat." + +He tried to speak in an ordinary way, but simulation did not abide in +his honest, open soul, and I knew he felt he was breaking hospitality's +rules in suggesting that we remain away from the house. The thought +worried him, and he could not hide it. + +"All right!" I answered, heartily, donning the hypocrite's cloak with +perfect ease. (This is one of the advantages of our ultra civilized +state.) "Women are different from men, anyhow, and take notions and +ideas which we have to humor. And some people are so constituted by +nature that they must be let alone when they are busy." + +"Yes! Yes! That's it! Notions 'n' idees!" Gran'fer eagerly approved. "I +don't see how yo' kin know so much 'bout wimmin if yo' 've never ben +married.... Notions 'n' idees!" He chuckled with a dry sort of rattling +sound, rubbed his leg, and thumped the ground with the butt of the +Dryad's fishing-pole. "By gosh! Notions 'n' idees!" he repeated, for the +third time, his eyes narrowed and his face broadened in a fixed +expression of unalloyed pleasure. + +"Suppose we sit on the big rock here?" I said, with a gesture toward the +immense stone which formed the tip of the Point. + +I walked out upon it as I spoke, and the old fellow dragged after, +doubtless still caressing in his mind that chance phrase which had +caught his fancy. The stone was a dozen yards across, and its creek side +arose perpendicularly from the water, its top being five feet or more +from the stream's surface. Here we sat, hanging our legs over as boys +would. I smoked, and Gran'fer chewed. He really didn't chew much, +because I am sure he was inherently opposed to the slightest exertion +which was unnecessary, but now and then he would defile the limpid +purity below, a fact which convinced me he was enjoying his marvelous +tobacco far more than I was. + +"Wimmin _is_ curi's," began Gran'fer, when we had arranged ourselves +comfortably. He twirled his stubby, funny looking thumbs contentedly and +leisurely. The end of each was overhung with a remarkable length of +nail, black and thick. "I s'pose they's nec'sary ur th' Lord wouldn't +'a' put 'em here, but it's a plum' fac' they's no read'n' 'em, 'n' no +tell'n' whut they gunta do. S'firy 'n' me, come November twinty-fust, +nex', hev ben married forty-two year. Right there in Hebrin wuz we +married, forty-two year ago come November twinty-fust, nex'. At th' +Cath'lic chu'ch on th' hill, th' same whut's now Father John's. He +wuzn't here them days. 'Nother pries' married us. S'firy's a Cath'lic +'n' I wus n't nothin', but I wuz bornd o' Prot'st'nt parints. 'N' I made +th' fust mistake right there. Onless two people hev th' same b'lief, +they oughtn't to jine in wedlock, 'cus trouble's comin' shore 's sin." + +He took off his worn, soiled, and shapeless straw hat to scratch his +head. + +"I suspect you are entirely right about that. I know of a number of +unhappy marriages for that reason." + +Gran'fer grunted, twice. + +"S'firy's a buxom gal, ez th' sayin' goes," he continued, reminiscently. +"Purties' gal hereabout she wuz, ef I do say it, but they's allus fire +on her tongue. Jes' lak a patch o' powder her min' wuz, 'n' th' leas' +thin' 'd set it off. 'Tain't in th' natur o' young people to look ahead, +ur I never 'd 'a' tried life with S'firy. A young feller in love is th' +out 'n' out damndes' fool on airth. I'se sich.... I couldn't stan' ag'in +'er." + +He shook his head slowly, and fell to combing his straggling fringe of +whiskers with his bent fingers. + +I did not reply. I was not much interested in the old man's recital. I +had guessed already practically all that he was telling me. My mind was +full of other things; my thoughts were back on the Hebron road, +following the footsteps of the girl with the jug. + +"I fit, though; I fit to be boss o' my own house,"--the querulous, +cracked voice broke in upon my reflections. "See here?" He drew his palm +down over his long, shaven upper lip, and looked at me craftily with his +little blue eyes. "I knowed a man onct, in them days, whut wore his +beard jes' that way, 'n' he's the w'eelhoss o' the fam'ly. Th' wimmin +wuz skeered uv 'im es a chick'n is uv a hawk. Whut he said they _done_, +'n' done 'ithout argyment. 'N' I took th' notion that if I shaved my +lip, too, 'n' looked kind o' fierce 'n' hard lak, that I c'd manage +S'firy. So one mornin' I gits my razor 'n' fixes that lip, 'n' w'en I +saw myseff I felt I c'd boss anybody, I looked that mean. So in I comes +to S'firy, 'n' tol' 'er, kind o' brash, that I wanted sich 'n' sich a +thin' done, 'n' kind o' squared myseff 'n' put my han's on my hip +j'ints, same 's I saw that other feller do, y' know.... Chris' Jesus!... +Whut happ'n'd? 'S ben a long time ago 'n' I can't ricollec' all th' +doin's. But she called me a babboon fust, 'n' then she lit into me.... +Well, I kep' on shavin' my lip, 'cus I 'proved o' th' style, but I +didn't order S'firy no more, bein' 's I'm nat'rly a man o' peace." + +"How many children did you have, Gran'fer?" I asked, presently. + +"Jes' two. Th' fust 'n' wuz a boy whut died o' fits w'en he 's two weeks +ol'. Th' nex' 'n' wuz Ar'minty, Lessie's mammy. She died w'en Lessie 's +skacely more 'n a baby." + +"What was the matter with her?" I asked. + +Quick as a flash Gran'fer turned on me, an expression of alarm and anger +mingled showing on his face. What had I done? Surely my question was +simple and natural enough. He saw my surprise and astonishment, and his +feelings softened instantly. + +"She jes' pined 'way lak," he replied, dropping his eyes and smoothing +the back of one hand with the palm of the other. "Didn't hev no fevers, +nur nothin'. Jes' drooped, lak a tomater plant does w'en it's fust sot +out 'n' don't git no rain. Got weaker 'n' weaker. Wouldn't eat nothin'. +Didn't try to live. Couldn't do nothin' with 'er. So she jes' wilted up +'n' died, lak a tomater plant in th' sun.... Ar'minty." + +The plain, brief recital stirred me, and awoke within me a wondering +interest. Gran'fer's head was low now, so low that the hair on his chin +spread out fanlike over his faded, checked shirt. His hand had ceased +its caressing movement, and lay above the other. I could see that each +had a slight palsied motion. The little bent figure at my side struck me +as infinitely pathetic just then. Dull indeed must I have been not to +have sensed the shadow of some dire tragedy occurring in the years he +had mentioned. For a number of days past vague imaginings and sundry +conjectures had come to vex my mind with their unsatisfying presence. I +had known for some time that Lessie was not all she seemed, and now, +this moment, I stood on the borderland of enlightenment. Unfamiliar +thrills shot through me, flame tipped and eager. My heart pounded oddly, +and my eyelids were hot against the balls. Instantly a thought had +sprung full-born into existence, and it was the acceptance of this +thought which sent that tingling, vibrating current shooting throughout +my entire being. Where did Lessie get her refined features? Where the +instinct to care scrupulously for her person? Where that mute, painful +longing for something she could not name? From generation after +generation of ox-minded hill folk? Impossible! From them came her +wonderful simplicity, her extreme naturalness, her kinship with the wild +places and the things which dwelt there. But--I felt now as if a force +pump was connected with my chest, and that any moment it might burst +asunder. Dare I ask Gran'fer? Dare I, almost a total stranger, intrude +here, and seek to pry behind the veil these old people had drawn between +their grandchild and the world? I resolved to make the effort, but with +great caution, feeling my way with carefully chosen words. I did not +want to offend, but the desire to know the truth about the Dryad was all +but overpowering. It was not vulgar, idle curiosity. For I knew the +deeps were stirred; that underlying all else was the strange, full +throbbing of a new force. + +So I put a hand on the old man's sagging shoulder in friendly way, and +said, speaking softly-- + +"And is Lessie's father--" + +I got no further. + +It was as though I had put him in contact with a live wire. His drooping +body straightened, his boot heels clicked against the face of the stone, +and his stiffened arms shot over his head. + +"Damn 'im! _Damn 'im! Damn 'im!_" he exclaimed shrilly, each expletive +more forceful than the one which went before. He tossed his clenched +fists skyward, and followed such a lurid stream of malediction, in +consideration of some lily-minded reader, I will not set it down. I was +almost alarmed at the storm my luckless speech had loosened; it seemed +for a short time as if Gran'fer would really go into a spasm. His lip +curled back brute-like till his teeth showed, while his face was +grooved, seamed and twisted uglily. The evil memories which gripped him +tore him roughly for several moments, and then his passion was spent, +leaving him with eyes red and blazing, chest heaving and arms trembling. +I learned nothing from his volcanic, torrential downpour of curses which +in any way lightened the mystery I was burning to solve. It was merely a +meaningless jumble of heated invective, delivered with deadly +earnestness and the most emphatic inflections. + +At first I was dumb. His violence came on him so suddenly and quickly. +From the little I had seen of him I had set him down as a rather meek +character, what manhood he may formerly have had henpecked out of him; +an entity, forsooth, but nothing more. When the shock had passed I did +not essay to soothe him. My judgment told me this would not have been +wise. There are some people, especially rural ones and others of no +education, who will not take soothing. In fact, it acts as oil, rather +than water, to flames. I believed Gran'fer to be of this sort, and while +I had no doubt his rage was both righteous and genuine, I let it wear +out before I spoke again. + +"I beg your pardon, sir; but I did not know." + +He swallowed twice; I could see his hairy Adam's apple rise and fall. + +"We don't--talk 'bout him. 'N'--yo' mustn't ast!" + +The tones were trembling and weak now, but there was dignity in them. A +feeling of true respect came to me for Gran'fer. There was something +sterling in him. A man may crawl on his belly before a sharp-tongued +shrew, and yet hold that within him which will arise at the command of +necessity; stunned and brow-beaten worth quickened by chance, +opportunity, or need. + +Now there surged within me another wish--a wild desire to know one other +thing. It would harm no one to tell me, and to me it meant much. + +"Gran'fer," I said; "I'm your friend--your true friend. Perhaps I should +put it that I am Lessie's friend. I apologize for what I said; I didn't +intend any harm. I promise not to mention the subject again to you. But +I pray that you will tell me this--does Lessie know--know about her +father--who he was--and all?" + +I waited for his answer, trembling inwardly. He seemed to be thinking. +The cloud had come again to his face, and he began cracking his +knuckles, a succession of vicious little snaps. Then one word burst from +him, hard as a pellet of lead. + +"No!" + +"Thank you," I said. + +Then there fell a silence between us. Gran'fer's mind was back in the +past, and I was groping blindly in the mists of wonder and supposition. +There was a reason, then, for the complex, warring nature of the Dryad. +How I longed to know the whole truth! But I could go no further here. It +was a painful subject, a guarded secret to the old man sitting humped +over by my side, and for the time I must hold my curiosity in check. The +revelation would come. I was determined to learn the story, one way or +another, though from what source I could not remotely guess. + +Gran'fer's customary garrulity had deserted him; he even forgot to spit +in the water. When my pipe burned out I did not refill. I know both of +us were oppressed, were quieted by the thought of this great wrong which +had been inflicted nearly a score of years ago. So the creeping shadows +came upon us, and beyond the high western spur the sky glowed salmon, +and gold, and mauve. I heard a screech-owl's sudden chatter, and a crazy +bat wheeled in a wide curve just in front of us. The surface of the +creek grew leaden hued, and the mighty Harp of the Ancient Wood thrilled +gently in response to the low twilight breeze. Gran'fer stirred, and got +stiffly to his feet. I did the same. Somehow I felt awed. Out here +creation seemed so immense, so _recent_, that it was hard to believe the +trail of the serpent had passed over this spot, too. We turned in +silence and went back to the road. + +From down Hebron way came the sound of singing. Not blatantly loud and +shrill, but very mellow and rich-toned. It was a woman's voice. A change +had come over me, and I did not want to meet her again just then. She +would have marked the difference. I turned and held out my hand. +Gran'fer took it and gave it a mighty squeeze. His eyes were wet, and +his face looked pained. As I came down the ladder at the other end of +the bridge I glanced across at him. He was standing where I left him, +gazing down the road up which the girl was coming, with that song of +light-hearted, carefree youth upon her lips. + +I moved away, quickly. + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN + +IN WHICH THE HISTORIAN UNBLUSHINGLY SHOWS HIMSELF TO BE A HUMAN + + +I have spent all of this day on the bench under the lone pine. + +Last night when I came away from Lizard Point without waiting for +Lessie, I knew that I loved her. That was why I did not stay. I have +sensed the coming of this affection for some time, and I have not set it +down before because I wanted to be sure. To-night I am sure. Last night +I was sure, but I wanted a little time in which to analyze this feeling, +and be positive of it. My sleep was peculiarly sweet and peaceful after +the day of trial. I do not know that I dreamed, but soothing waves of +rest permeated me entirely, and a number of times I was conscious just +enough to know that this unusual sensation possessed me. To-day I have +not touched a book--the first day in years! Think of it. Was not that +alone a portent? I got breakfast mechanically. The kitchen utensils +looked almost strange, and I would pick up a dish and turn it over, and +view it as though I had never seen such a thing befor. Queer, wasn't it? +I wonder if any other man in his senses has acted this way. If he has, I +venture to declare he wouldn't set it down for the world to read. But +why not? We are all children, playing our little games, which are the +same world-old games in different hands. And so, when I stopped and +stared at my skillet this morning as I was washing it--stared till it +turned to a beautiful, laughing, freckled face framed in gold, it was +nothing to shame me. I recall the fact now with the full assurance that +the big majority of my fellow men will not ascribe the action to lunacy. + +When I stood in the front door the yard looked the same, but different, +too. The area which I had cleared for the garden was dry, and invited my +spade. Not now, Mr. Earth! You shall have another day's rest before I +drive the steel tines again into you! I walked about, this way and that; +thinking, not thinking. Sometimes I hummed; sometimes I smiled; +sometimes I stood still with open eyes which did not see. All the time I +was aware of some lack, but it was nine o'clock before I realized that I +had not tasted a whiff of smoke. The thought did not make me blush, nor +abash me. I went quietly in and found my pipe on the shelf where I kept +it. It did not stay alight more than two minutes. I was standing at the +place where the road went down when I realized that I was drawing the +atmosphere alone through the stem between my teeth. Then I walked down +to the bench under the pine, thrust my hands in my trousers pockets, sat +down and crossed my legs. + +I have been a sane man all my life, except the day when I embraced the +business of literature for a living. I am not nervous; sudden events do +not startle me. I have taken life honestly and bravely, and I believe I +have faced all the conditions which mere living brings, with courage. +But to-night I have to relate that I sat on that hard bench without +changing my position until two in the afternoon, when I just happened to +drag my watch out. The mere position of the hands brought about a mental +reaction, or I should say served as a powerful mental stimulant, for up +to that hour I am not conscious of a single coherent thought. I had been +sitting all that time in mindless apathy. Then I began to think. My +first gleam of intelligence informed me that my watch must be wrong. +Then I gained sense enough to look at the sun, to find that it had +passed the meridian considerably. Followed at once a keen introspective +query, to which no answer was forthcoming. Then I am sure I breathed +gently, "You damn fool!" and became a man again. + +I did not eat any dinner--punishing the body for a fault of the +mind--but smoked instead. My pipe did not go out a second time. Hour +after hour the black briar bowl stayed burning hot, and hour after hour +I drove my mind, now thoroughly aroused and under control, along the +various byways of thought, action and incident which had a common +meeting point at the feet of the Dryad. It required an effort for me to +do this--a great effort. Had I followed my inclination I would simply +have brought her before my eyes in retrospection, and gazed upon the +picture throughout the day. But she had ceased to be an incident. She +was a reality--an abiding reality--a concrete fact impinging sharply +upon the horizon of my life. I was not alarmed to know that I loved her, +and I wondered at this. Perhaps there really was no occasion for alarm, +but there were plenty of disturbing elements attending such a state of +feeling; a number of persons and things to be weighed and considered, to +be classified and given their relative places. + +When all was summed up I was confronted with the result: Did I love her +well enough to marry her? I was of good family and had the highest +social standing. She was almost nameless. And here a sinister, +insinuating thought came stealing along a lower corridor in my brain; a +creeping, skulking, devilish thought which I caught and choked as I +would have a mad dog on my threshold. When I had killed the noxious +thing I knew that I did love her well enough to marry her. + +What were her feelings toward me? She liked me, but I could not bring to +mind a single word or expression which would lead me to infer her heart +was touched, unless it was the incident on the log bridge, when she had +remained silent for such a long time, and her words when she finally +spoke. Surely her interest was more than casual to dictate a speech like +that. If Gran'fer had not come I think now I would have told her then, +for the simple sentence had set light to a powder train in my breast. + +I believe in caste. I am something of a democrat, and much of a +socialist. While the dream of universal brotherhood in its broadest +meaning is Utopian from its very nature, yet all humankind has a claim +upon us, for the body of Socrates and the body of Lazarus were wrought +from the same material. Yet caste, if correctly applied, instead of +offensively and arrogantly, as it more often is, is almost indispensable +to society. You would not have your daughter marry a drayman, nor your +son marry a waiting-maid. That is what I mean when I say I believe in +caste. But while we draw and maintain the line of distinction, we can +still display a proper and becoming degree of courtesy. + +I have said that I love Lessie well enough to marry her, but I have not +said that I love her well enough to marry her as she is. I know that +would be a mistake which I would regret were she to remain as she is. +But she does not belong in her present environment. I am as sure of that +as I am that I live. Fate has cheated her, has imposed upon her, has +grossly taken advantage of her helplessness. At the foundation of her +being are lying inert, but real, many wonderful and beautiful and +mysterious attributes and traits which go to make up the perfect, +polished character of refinement. This also I know, because I have +witnessed her pitiful strugglings against the degrading bonds of +ignorance which Life has tightened about her. She feels this better +part, which is unquestionably her true self, but she does not know what +it is; to her it is simply a hidden, powerful, inner force which +torments her with intangible, wordless protest and rebellion. She tries +to obey--she has told me so--but she does not know what to do, or say. +Poor little Dryad! How should she? + +When I wrote to 'Crombie for the primer and the copybook I was moved +only by a sincere interest in a pretty ignoramus, seeing at the same +time an opportunity to relieve the tedium of long hours alone here. Now +that they have come, I know that I shall begin at once to loosen the +prisoned thoughts and emotions in my pupil for a different purpose. Will +she learn quickly? No fear of that. I think I shall write for the first +three readers when I have done my journal to-night. A long, loyal, +heart-felt letter came along with the books. I shall not transcribe it, +for it would fill up my pages without furthering my story, and this is +the reverse of craftsmanship, I am told. But I must say that 'Crombie +conceived the idea that I was going to open a school of two or three +pupils--a natural idea, by the way--and earnestly advised me not to, as +it would mean a degree of confinement which would work against me. He +also gave various instructions and suggestions, and insisted in +underscored lines that I pursue diligently my quest of the life-plant. + +Who was Lessie's father? I do not doubt that this is the key to the +whole mystery of her paradoxical personality. He was not a dweller in +the wilderness of Hebron. He was a man of mental power; a man from the +higher world of action, advancement and achievement. Assuredly, he was +likewise a conscienceless knave. He had betrayed Araminta--Gran'fer's +Ar'minty; Lessie's mother. A man who would do that is the best qualified +candidate for hell imaginable. I am no hypocritical moralist, awaiting +my own opportunity to despoil. Very frequently it is one of this breed +of skunks who cries out the loudest against things of this sort. But I +trust I do recognize humanity's rights. + +Does Lessie's unknown parentage present a barrier to the progress of my +love? No. That does not worry nor concern me in the least. It is true +she is--she must be, the fruit of a brief union unblessed by preacher or +priest. That does not make her the less charming, the less human, the +less lovable. She is as blameless, as natural, as inevitable, as any +other pure and stainless growth arising from baser elements. The fact +that Lessie would be unable to produce the marriage certificate of her +parents proved not the slightest obstacle to the current of my +affections. Indeed, when I dwelt upon this, I became aware of an added +tenderness; a desire to spread over her sunny head the shielding +strength of my arms. The world is so ready to mock at infirmities and to +reproach frailties. But I must discover her father's name, and what +became of him. I cannot present this subject to the two old people with +whom she lives. + +Perhaps Father John would know. How long has he held this parish, I +wonder? Most likely for many years. In remote country places priests, +especially old ones, do not often change their field of labor. To-morrow +I shall go to the priest's house again, and ask him. I do not know that +he will tell me, but he holds the secret. If it came to him under seal +of the confessional, of course he will not reveal it. But I've a notion +it was countryside gossip at the time it occurred, and I will not be +asking Father John to betray any confidence when I seek him for this +information. Then, too, I have waited longer than I should to go and +inquire about Beryl Drane, the girl with a face of twenty and the +experience of a lifetime. Perhaps it would be better to see her first, +before accosting her uncle on the subject. I am not sure that I can do +this without arousing suspicion, for I am convinced Beryl Drane has a +mind capable of keen and clear deductions, and I have no desire that my +love for Lessie should become generally known yet. But I will try. + +My love for Lessie! I look at that sentence written down on this white +paper with my own hand, and something goes radiating through every +cranny of me. I am in love--in love with an untamed Dryad of the oak +glade, the deep, clear pool, the sun-dappled spaces of the whispering +wood. Why do I love her? I ask myself. Why fares the bee to the flower, +the bird to his nest, the squirrel to his tree? I love her; let that +suffice. Alone here in my lodge on the lap of Old Baldy, beside my +table, I write these words in a mood which never before possessed me. I +am recklessly happy. I have--shall I write it--I have stayed my pen just +now long enough to sit dreamy eyed for a quarter of an hour; to imagine +that warm young body tight in my arms; those Irish gray eyes looking +long and deep into mine; those, red, red lips against my own, and the +blinding shimmer of her hair around and about my face and neck. God! My +pulses leap and thrum in my temples at the thought, and my throat feels +full and thick. My brother, have you never felt this way? Then you are +missing a large portion of your human heritage. + +When shall I tell her? Not at once, I think. It will be better to school +her some first. And--Buck! By some strange chance I have not reckoned +with Buck to-day. Buck must be reckoned with. He will not efface +himself, and I respect him the more that he will not. Diplomacy and +arbitration and plain reason are all out of the question with Buck. When +I come to reckon with him it will be by the might of my good right arm. +It is the old, old method of medieval times of settling a difficulty +where the favor of a lady is involved, but it is an honorable one, if +conducted fairly, and I suspect as good as any. I must begin a system of +physical training, so that I may be fit for the final bout. That will be +some fight, my masters! + +Eight weeks ago I dreaded the weary monotony which awaited me in this +forsaken spot! + +Well, events yet unborn are on the knees of the gods. I intend to go as +straight to my destination as my judgment and will can carry me. I have +but written that I shall not tell the Dryad of my love yet. Now I should +like to modify that statement and say that I shall not tell her if I can +help it. For a sudden sense that my passion is broadening and +intensifying has come to me, and I shall make no promises--no, not one. +Now, this moment, I quiver at the recollection of her cadenced laugh; I +tremble as I see again the eyes which might craze a man of wood. Ah! +Dryad, if you were here to-night--if you were here--if you were here-- + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN + +IN WHICH MUCH ADDED LIGHT IS SHED UPON MISS BERYL DRANE, BUT ONLY A +GLIMMER UPON MY PROBLEM + + +"This is a beautiful day." + +Such was my exceedingly original and extremely interesting greeting to +Beryl Drane this morning. I arrived at the house at eight o'clock, +found, as I thought, no one astir, and was preparing to knock when I +discovered the young lady diligently clipping roses from a hedge near +the back. It is not often that I descend to sheer banality, but I can +offer no excuse for my opening remark as I came up over the grass behind +her. She was a little startled. She turned quickly with a short "Oh!" +and looked at me curiously. Somehow I did not like the look. It was +possessive, in a way; intimate, as though we shared a secret, or +something like that. She was dressed in a polka dot brown gingham, and +had on an old bonnet whose projecting hood softened those lines which +seemed to shriek of the things which made them. A low collar encircled +her firm neck snugly. She wore leather half mitts, had a pair of shears +in one hand, and from the elbow of her other arm hung a wicker basket +over half filled with voluptuously red, dew-bright roses. She regarded +me with that subtly smiling, upward glance which coquettes have, and in +that morning air, with the flowers, under the shielding bonnet, she was +pretty. She was too adroit to overdo the pose. It lasted scarcely two +ticks from a grandfather's clock, then she smiled frankly, deftly looped +the shears on a finger of her left hand, and held out her arm. + +"I'm _so_ glad to see you!" she said, winningly, and for the soul of me +I could not help but feel my heart grow warmer in response to her tone. +Ah, little sibyl! You have conjured more than one man's mind into deadly +rashness, but you have paid, little moth with the soot-spotted wings! + +"Are you?" I replied, surprisedly, as I grasped her grippy, slender hand +and uncovered. + +"Sure!... Don't you suppose Hebron is a trifle monotonous to me after +the fleshpots of Egypt?" + +"I had thought you would be--not angry, but displeased and disgusted +with me that I had not come sooner." + +"Oh! I have learned to make allowances for men!" she retorted, airily, +with a toss of her head and a half pout; "and I'd have no respect for a +man who'd have to be kicked away from a woman's feet. I've seen that +kind. I supposed you would come when it suited your inclination." + +She deliberately turned to the hedge again and tiptoed to grasp a +heavy-headed bloom which seemed to have dropped asleep, drugged by its +own perfume. She could not reach it. + +"Let me," I said, and stepping forward, caught the thorn-set spray and +pulled it toward her. The action made a little shower of water drops to +patter on her upturned face, and a single rich-hued petal became +displaced, drifted gently down, and actually lodged in the crevice of +her slightly parted lips. Both laughed at the incident, for it was +unusual. + +"You shall have this one," she said, when she had clipped it, "from me." + +I felt foolish, in a way, as she came close to me, fumbling here and +there about her waist and the bosom of her dress. + +"Have you a pin?" she queried, archly, and before I could answer her +swift white fingers were searching the lapels of my coat. "Here's one," +she added, on the instant, and tugged it out. + +Then she secured that rose to my coat, standing so close to me that the +bottom of her spreading skirt brushed my legs. + +"You are very forgiving and very kind," I assured her, "and I thank you +for the favor. I'm sure I do not deserve it." + +"Do men ever deserve what they receive from women?" was her startling +reply, and she did not look me in the eyes then, but instead fingered +the jumble of Jaqueminots in the basket with head averted. Surely this +niece of the Rev. Jean Dupre's who had journeyed to Hebron to rest was +not conventional. Equally true it was that she possessed an unusual +degree of intelligence, and was accustomed to speaking her mind. + +I hesitated briefly. Not that I was in doubt what to say, but among us +men of the South that old chivalry toward women which is always stubborn +and often reasonless, still struggles mightily. And it is a goodly +thing, forsooth, this same chivalry; but truth is better. + +"I think so," was my steady answer, and I held my eyes ready to meet +hers, but she did not move her head. Only the white fingertips with +their whiter nails yet burrowed among the fragrant mass of green and +red. + +"You do?... How can you say that? Uncle says it, too--but he's a +priest." + +"I say it because I think it true. I'm sure you would not have me tell a +lie merely to please you. Your viewpoint must be restricted, +circumscribed, for I know you are in earnest. The question is really too +comprehensive to actually admit of a specific answer. Many women give +all and get nothing; many men give all and get nothing. Many give and +receive on an equable basis, and they are the ones who are happy. It +depends simply upon one's experience or observation how he answers your +question. My life leads me to believe in all sincerity men will do their +part fuller and far more justly than a woman will. Perhaps yours has +convinced you that just the reverse is true.... But for mercy's sake, +let's not drift into a sociological argument this morning." + +"By no means. I just wanted to know what you thought.... Now I must +apologize for keeping you. You have come to see uncle?" + +She started toward the house as though to call him, but I caught her arm +and she halted. + +"I came to see you, primarily. First, to assure myself that you had +really quite recovered from drowning--I have asked of you down at the +store--and second, to discuss a mighty secret with you." + +"You have really--asked about me?" she returned with lifted eyebrows. +"You knew when you left that day I would recover, thanks to your skill. +Was not that enough?" + +I felt annoyed. It appeared as if she was trying to make me confess a +deeper interest than I truly owned. + +"A common sense of decency would have impelled me to assure myself you +were suffering no bad after effects," I replied. + +"Oh, that was it?" she responded, I thought a bit coolly. Then--"You +mentioned a secret. How on earth could a secret exist in this +lonesome-ridden place? But of course I'm all curiosity now to hear it. +Let's go to the summerhouse. Uncle rises late, and is now in the midst +of his breakfast." + +She moved toward a conical shaped piece of greenery, and I put myself at +her side. It proved to be some trellis work built in the form of a +square, with a peaked top, the whole completely covered by some +luxuriant vine. Even the doorway was so thickly hung that we had to draw +the festoons aside to enter. Within the light was tempered to a +gray-green tone. A hammock was swung across the center of the place, and +on all sides except the entrance one were placed benches. Miss Drane set +her basket down and promptly dropped into the hammock, where she twisted +about into a comfortable attitude. She apparently took no notice of the +fact that her dress had become drawn up six or eight inches above her +shapely ankles, but quietly loosened the strings under her chin and cast +the bonnet on the floor, then threw her arms above her head, laced her +fingers, and turned to me with a smile which was half humorous and half +pathetic. + +"Now I'm fixed. Settle yourself the best you can, and let's hear the +mystery." + +"May I smoke?" I asked, dodging under one of the ropes, and coming +around so that I might sit facing her. + +"Certainly." + +"A pipe?" + +"Oh, yes! I'm thoroughly smoke-cured." + +I dropped upon a bench and drew forth my materials, while she lay and +eyed me with her inscrutable stare. + +"You're a funny man!" she declared, presently, her flexible lips +twisting into an odd smile. + +I chuckled, and jammed the tobacco in the bowl. + +"How do you get that?" I ventured. + +"Why didn't you ask to share the hammock with me?" + +Now though I knew something of woman's ways and woman's wiles, I felt a +blush rising, and to hide it I dropped the match I held and bent over to +pick it up. Clearly his reverence's niece was bent on a flirtation +wherewith to while away the days of her exile. It is needless to say +that in my present state of mind I had no heart for dalliance of this +sort, but I realized that I must not offend her, so I struck the match +on the sole of my shoe and slowly lighted my pipe, thinking hard all the +time of what I should say. + +"You looked so very comfortable," I replied jocularly, between puffs, +"that I could not bring myself to make the request. And--you lay down, +you know, as though you wanted it all to yourself." + +With a quick, lithe movement she turned on her side, rested her cheek on +her hand, and retorted: + +"Was that idea really in your mind before I spoke? The truth, mind you!" + +I was thoroughly uncomfortable. Just what Beryl Drane was driving at I +could not guess, but I knew the simple talk which I had come to have +with her had suddenly assumed the proportions of a task. It would be +silly and egotistic to think this little body was in love with me, and +yet as she lay curled kitten-like within arm's length there was a +seriousness in her face and manner which troubled me far more than what +my answer to her last question would be. + +"No, it was not," I replied, meeting her eyes steadily. + +"All men don't tell the truth," was her unexpected rejoinder; "but you +do.... Don't you think I am worth sitting by?" + +Heavens! Why did she persevere in this strain? Why? God pity her, I +knew. I knew her birthright of womanliness and unsullied purity had been +bartered long ago for the pottage of faithlessness and sham pleasures, +and that now the exceeding bitter cry rang in her soul day in and day +out. She had made sacrifice of the substantial, the real, the true, and +the good, on the shadowy altar of indulgence. She had flung aside the +fruit to devour the husk, and the penalty was an insatiable gnawing of +the evil teeth which she had first guided with her own hand to her +being's core. I shivered inwardly as these thoughts darted +lightning-like through my mind, and my face shaped itself into lines of +gravity. + +"Little girl," I said, gently; "I should be glad to sit by you, but +what's the use in this instance? We are as two birds passing in mid-air. +Soon you will go; soon I will go. Let's be good, honest friends while we +stay." + +I leaned toward her and spoke earnestly, trying to keep any note of +rebuke from my tones. She did not reply, but colored slightly, turned +her head partly away, and lowered her lashes. I smoked in silence for a +few moments to give her a chance to speak, but she remained silent, and +directly I said, throwing my voice into a cheerier key: + +"If you're to help me with my secret we must hurry. Our few minutes on +the river did not last long enough for us to get very well acquainted, +but probably Father John has told you that I am roughing it for a few +months on a certain big knob back in the woods. I've met a few people, +and--" + +Poor, hopelessly stupid mind of man! In my agitation caused by the +attitude Beryl Drane had seen fit to adopt toward me, I had forgotten +that the confidence I had purposed bestowing involved another girl--a +beautiful girl! Now it was too late to hold back. Two slits of eyes were +viewing me cynically, and a low laugh bubbled up from her throat. + +"Who is she?" mocked Beryl Drane, who lived in the world. + +"I don't know!" I answered, boldly. "That's what I want you to help me +find out." + +"What's her name?" + +How cold the words were; like little sharp icicles. Ah! Womankind! +Velvet soft, iron hard; dove merciful, tiger cruel; heaven breasted, +hell armed; honey lipped, gall tongued! + +"They call her Lessie." + +Her sweetly bowed mouth had turned to a straight line of scarlet as she +shook her head. + +"I don't mix with the rabble here." + +She spoke to cut, and she succeeded. The insolent words bit sharply, and +a flame-like resentment set a hot reply on my tongue, but I withheld it. +I waited a while, that my speech might not betray my agitation. + +"She lives with her granny and gran'fer on Lizard Point. Surely you have +seen her at church? Granny is very conscientious, I'm sure, in the +performance of her church du----" + +"I never go to church!" interrupted Father John's niece. "But I think I +know the people to whom you refer," she added, at once. "I cannot recall +the name of the family, however.... You must be extraordinarily stupid +not to have learned her surname, being in love with her." + +Evidently Miss Drane was ignorant of the circumstances surrounding the +Dryad's birth, and a great wave of relief rolled up in my breast when I +was assured of this. + +"A man doesn't love a girl's name," I thought. Then I said: + +"It would seem so, indeed." + +I can't imagine what there was in that innocent sentence to cause +affront, but instantly the girl in the hammock swung her feet to the +ground, arose, and picked up her bonnet and basket. + +"I don't think you are at all nice!" she said. "Go on and love your +little cabin minx if you want to! She'll be sadly wiser when your love +is over and you have gone back where you came from. I know you men--all +alike!... If you want to see uncle you'll find him in the library at +this hour." + +Then out she switched with never so much as a "Good-day," leaving me +staring amazedly at the clustering viney mass which swayed behind her +vanished form. I had known many kinds of women: petulant, spoiled, mean; +gracious, charming, good. I knew the majority of them were not amenable +to logic, and would sometimes take offense at a smile or a wrong +inflection. But when Beryl Drane flung this low insinuation in my face, +I was nettled. It was utterly without foundation or reason. It bore out +strikingly the opinion I had previously formed of her, and as I sat and +turned the matter over in my mind, I knew presently that I was pitying +her. For there is no sadder sight on the world's broad breast than a +woman with a spotted soul. This poor child's perceptions were all awry, +her affections wrenched and twisted, and in that moment I almost cursed +the fate which would permit such a sacrilege. My resentment was gone, or +was directed against the nonunderstandable forces, powers--call them +what you will--which so often, in their workings, flung the spotless +lily under the filthy snout of a hog, and dashed the white soul of a +girl into a pit of smut and slime! Give me the reasons, ye gray-bearded +savants! You are children fumbling in the dark. You do not know. + +I got up and passed without the leafy curtain. Miss Drane had +disappeared. I walked to the porch, found the front door open, and +entered the hall without knocking. I judged the library to be on the +right, and at that door I tapped. The old priest's voice bade me "Come!" +I went in, and when he saw me cross the threshold, Father John leaped up +with a nervous agility which was incongruous when associated with his +many years, and hastened forward. + +"Ah-h-h! Ze pleasure! W'ere have you bene, m'sieu?" + +He smiled cordially, and led me to an easy chair by the table, holding +my hand until I was fairly seated. + +"Roaming the woods, principally," I replied, easily, noting the +extremely comfortable furnishings of the apartment. "I have been here a +half-hour, I should say. I found Miss Drane cutting roses, and stopped +for a chat with her. She seems perfectly well?" + +Father John made a grimace, and spread his hands. + +"Zat chil'! I love 'er m'sieu, but she try me. She plague me wiz 'er +pranks, zen she come wiz 'er arms aroun' my neck--so--an' fix eversing." + +He obligingly essayed to hug himself by way of illustration, and I +nodded my comprehension. + +"You will doubtless miss her when she leaves you?" + +He twisted his features as from a sudden pain. + +"I can't sink of zat, m'sieu. She have bene wiz me t'ree--four--five +weeks; she is one--headstron' chil', but she make me vair happy--_oui_." + +He sank a little deeper in his soft chair, and pulled contentedly at his +long-stemmed pipe. + +It was hard for me to broach the subject uppermost in my mind. Twice my +lips parted to open the discussion, but each time the sentence which +followed related to an entirely different matter. So for quite a while +we talked of the weather, the crops, the parish, and it was while we +were discussing the neighborhood that I knew my opportunity had arrived. + +"I have become very much interested in the family at Lizard Point. You +know them well?" + +"Vair well. Madame is vair releegious; a good woman. M'sieu +is--is--indeef'rent; ma'm'selle--ah, ze young ma'm'selle!" + +Again his spread hands went out expressively, and he shook his head with +wrinkled forehead. + +Inwardly I smiled, but outwardly my face was set to decorous lines. + +"Does not the granddaughter belong to your fold?" I asked. + +"Ah! m'sieu; we try. We try all her life lon' to make her ze Christian. +But she wil'--she wil' as ze bird in ze wood. She an' ze half crazy +Jeff--ze fiddle player--zey heazen, m'sieu. Zey never dark ze door of ze +church. Zey run in ze fores', fiddlin' an' dancin', an' ze devil he +laugh an' skip by zey side!" + +He put his hands between his knees, palm to palm, and rocked to and fro +in genuine distress. I could think of no suitable reply on the moment, +so remained silent. + +"I have ze pity for ze chil', poor sing!" he resumed, presently. "Ze +chance she has not had, like ozzer ones. Meybe ze curse of ze broke' law +follow her; I don' know--I don' know!" + +He sighed, and let his narrow shoulders droop forward in an attitude +both sad and pensive. + +"Tell me about that if you can, Father John," I said, placing my elbows +on the table's edge and leaning toward him. "I will say to you in +strictest confidence that I am deeply interested in Lessie; it is not +idle curiosity which prompts me to ask this. I know her father betrayed +and deserted her mother; Gran'fer has practically admitted this to me, +but he will go no further. You must know the man's name--what was it?" + +Father John lifted his head and looked at me. + +"Zat, m'sieu, I cannot tell you." + +"Why?" + +I kept my eyes fastened on his persistently, but respectfully. + +"Because m'sieu has not ze right to as'." + +I felt rebuked. Knowing as little of me and of my feelings for the Dryad +as he did, he was right. Should I tell him more? My words would be safe +with this gentle old man. + +"Suppose I love the girl, Father John? Would I not then have the right +to know everything about her parentage?" + +A pale smile passed over his thin lips. + +"M'sieu--jokes wiz me. You, ze gen'leman, ze areest'crat--to love ze +little wil' ma'm'selle? _Je crois que non!_" + +"It may seem incredible to you, but I do love her. I feel I can trust +you with the secret, for even she does not know it yet. Believe me, I +beg you. I am very much in earnest." + +The doubting look faded from the priest's face, to be succeeded by one +of amazement. + +"Probably you do not understand this," I hastened to add; "and I should +not blame you. But you, in holy orders from young manhood, with your +mind and time engrossed in spiritual things, have no intimate knowledge +of the powerful call of man to woman, and woman to man. It has come to +me unexpectedly, swiftly, surely; here in the wilderness. In the city it +passed me by. But I truly love the little wild ma'm'selle. Listen to my +plan. I intend to take her far along the road to education and +refinement; I intend to develop the great good which lurks smothered in +her mind and soul; then, if she will, I shall marry her. That is my +reason for asking you to tell me of that man." + +Father John was convinced that I spoke the truth. I could see it before +he replied. + +"Ze--ze _aieul_, ze _aieule_; has m'sieu tol' zem?" + +I stared at him bewilderedly. + +"Ze madame an' ze m'sieu she live wiz!" he burst out, desperately. "How +call you zem?" + +"Granny and Gran'fer--her grandparents!" I exclaimed. + +"_Bien!..._ Well zen?" + +"I have not told them. I have not told Lessie. I did not know it myself +until last night." + +"_Soit._ But ze secret, m'sieu, is zeirs." + +"Is not the girl concerned, my good sir?" I demanded. + +"Celeste?" + +"Celeste!" + +"Ze wil' ma'm'selle you call Lessie. I chris'en 'er myself, m'sieu; her +name Celeste." + +"And these boors have corrupted it to Lessie!" I almost shouted. + +"Zey couldn't 'member Celeste," smiled Father John. + +For a time I was silent, gazing at that vision in my mind which bore the +sweet name of Celeste instead of the meaningless one of Lessie. + +"Has she, then, no rights in the matter?" I persisted, and at the words +I knew my voice had changed. Father John's candid and matter-of-fact +revelation had filled me all up, somehow. I am aware there was no good +reason why this should be, but people deeply in love have a constant +abhorrence of anything and everything remotely bordering on reason. + +"Should she, m'sieu, seek ze inf'mation, I sink I should tell 'er." + +Sweetly grave and courteous were the words, and even in my impatience I +recognized their justness. + +"Very well, father. But I must ask you another question which I trust +you can answer without offense to your conscience. Was Lessie's--was +Celeste's father a man of learning; a man who moved along the higher +walks of life, or was he simply a countryman?" + +Only for a moment he hesitated. + +"He was ze gran' gen'leman in manner--ze scholar--ze sinker. His heart +was black!" + +"It must have been," I breathed, as I rose. + +My host again followed me to the low stone step at the porch entrance, +protesting against my departure and begging me to stay for dinner, which +came at noon. I told him I would come again, and I meant it. + +"You have been very kind," I said, in farewell, "and I want to thank you +for the things you told me. In time Celeste will come with her demands, +trust me for that." + +"Vair well, m'sieu!" he cried, twisting his face into a maze of +goodhumored wrinkles. + +At the gate I turned and waved to him again, sweeping the premises with +my eyes as I did so for a sign of Beryl Drane. + +That most peculiar young woman was nowhere visible. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN + +IN WHICH I ENTERTAIN SERIOUSLY A CHIVALROUS NOTION TO MY GREAT DETRIMENT + + +"A, B, C, D, E, F,--H?" + +We sat side by side on the edge of the porch, with our feet on the low +stone step. For fifteen minutes I had been drilling Celeste in the +alphabet. + +But little explanation is necessary to make clear my position in the +hostile camp. To-day is Sunday. When I first arose I began planning a +way to reach Celeste--Lessie no longer for me!--without any unpleasant +attending circumstances. I had recently been assured by the parish +priest that Granny was "a vair releegious woman," and it was upon this +fact that I presently laid my schemes. It was probable that Granny +attended mass twice on Sunday; beyond doubt she went once. Early mass +was over by the time my idea began to crystalize, but the chances were +that Granny would go to the later services, because there was a deal of +housework to be done at the beginning of each day. Then Granny's large +body moved slowly, and the road to Hebron was long. I was vastly +comforted when I reached this conclusion, and about ten o'clock I armed +myself with primer and copybook and hit the trail for heaven. + +I wish the reader--gentle or otherwise--could have taken that trip with +me, and felt as I did. I wish everybody in the world could feel, all the +time, as I did on that leisurely walk to Lizard Point. There would be no +more sin or sorrow, my brothers! It was my first pilgrimage to the +shrine of my recognized affection, and my feet trod not upon the good +earth, but upon separate little pillows of compressed air. The day left +nothing for the most critical to wish for. It was a great, perfumed +bloom of light and color, glowing like a jewel in the Master's hand. And +in the midst of all this perfection I was the one man seeking the one +woman. + +Reaching the bridge, I skulked about in the woods like a wild Indian, +viewing the house with gradually increasing impatience. But I was +rewarded in what my watch declared to be a very few minutes. Granny's +ample shape bustled out upon the porch, and she came waddling down the +path like an over-fattened goose. She had on her Sunday fixin's; a shiny +bombazine black dress and a tiny black bonnet which looked small indeed +atop her big head. A palm leaf fan in one hand, a rosary and a +handkerchief in the other; thus did S'firy sally forth that morning, +while I stood hidden in the shade and grinned, tickled as any schoolboy +would be who sees a guard desert a watermelon patch. I could hear her +puffing as she reached the road and took up her march south--poor old +woman! A long, hot time lay before her, going and coming, and I was +convinced she deserved the blessing she hoped to receive. + +So that is the way I crept into the hostile lines this morning and began +teaching the little wild ma'm'selle. + +She was surprised but glad when she saw me. You may be sure I searched +her face anxiously, and her welcoming smile and warm, strong handclasp +set my heart a-throbbing. I told her at once what I had come for, and +asked how long Granny would be away. Three hours, at least, I learned. +She was ready and eager to begin her lessons. I inquired about Gran'fer, +too, as we sat down together on the porch's edge, and heard that the +dinner had been left in his charge, and he was consequently on duty in +the kitchen, whence he would scarcely dare emerge until relief came. The +fire was to be kept up, and certain vessels holding cooking vegetables +were to be kept full of water. Gran'fer would hardly dare run the risk +of permitting the beans or potatoes to scorch, and the chance for a +happy three hours looked good indeed. + +Celeste wore a white shirt waist, brown skirt, leather belt--and +_slippers_! I could barely credit the last fact when my eyes noted it. +Where on earth did she get slippers which buttoned across the instep +with a strap? She had on black stockings (and right here I want to say, +parenthetically, that I think black hose the most becoming color a woman +can wear) and altogether presented a far more civilized appearance than +she had ever done before. I placed the primer upon her knees, and while +she held it open I began teaching her the letters, using my forefinger +as an index. Her sunny head bent eagerly to the task, and looking at her +face I saw each freckle had become a tiny island in a sea of crimson. +She was blushing hotly, probably from the simple fact that she had at +last started upon that unknown road which would lead her up and out of +the gloomy valley of ignorance where she had always dwelt. I know an +answering color came to my cheeks, for they began to burn. Had I been +sure Gran'fer would remain faithful to his vegetables I would have told +her that moment, for never had mortal woman seemed so lovely and +alluring, and never had my heart hammered and pounded so loudly on the +stubborn door of my will. I realized that my resolve to hold my tongue +until she had become tutored in some degree was an idiotic +determination, and that I would prove it so the first time I could catch +Celeste where we would be safe from interruption. + +Through the twenty-six capitals we went again and again. Then I took the +book and asked her to say the alphabet. She fell down on G, but if every +failure was accompanied by the doubting, anxious, piteous, altogether +captivating expression which distinguished this one, no culprit would +ever hear a word of censure. + +I hope I am not tiresome. Truth is not always interesting, and you must +not question my veracity. To-night I will not avow that my hitherto well +balanced mind is perfectly plumb. Since I confessed to my journal I +found I have shot into the rapids, and this girl with hair like a +potpourri of sunbeams and Irish gray eyes which starts some trembly +mechanism to going inside me, is going to be the biggest and most +important thing in my life. + +Of course I laughed when she said H instead of G, but it was not a laugh +that hurt. It was the one which soothes and condones. She laughed, too, +and again I saw an upper row of teeth--white as young corn, and as even. +In half an hour she had turned the trick, and in addition could name any +letter which I might choose on sight. Yes, I was proud of her then, +and--yes, I told her so; wouldn't you? We then went through the small +letters once or twice, but I did not ask her to learn any of them this +morning. Celeste couldn't understand why the big letters and the little +letters were not alike, and I couldn't either, so no explanation was +forthcoming. Presently the primer was laid aside, and I produced the +copybook. The Dryad's interest was just as intense when this branch of +her education was brought to her notice. + +"Is this writin'?" she queried, suspiciously, indicating the line in +script at the top of the page. + +"Yes, that's writ-_ing_," I said, but my eyes were kind. + +"--_ing_, then!" she retorted, with some force, but I knew she was +aggravated with herself, and not with me. Then she sat up very straight, +and defiantly checked off each word of her next sentence on her palm, +using an absurd fist as a checker. + +"It--don't--look--like--Gran'fer's--writ-_ing_!" + +I roared mightily at this, for her belligerency was irresistible. + +At first she was amazed at my outburst, for her earnestness had +prevented her from seeing how truly attractive her little speech had +been. But as I kept on laughing she presently joined me, and together we +raised such a disturbance that Gran'fer hurried out to investigate. I +jumped up and took his hand, and managed to control myself enough to +tell him the cause. + +"B' gosh! 'S a good thing S'firy's not here!" he exclaimed, leering from +one to the other with his good-natured eyes twinkling. "She'd 'low you +'s bust'n' th' Sabbath, 'n' like 's not 'd 'vite _you_ back to Baldy!" + +He poked a crooked finger in my ribs, thrust his middle out and his +shoulders back and gave a series of piercing screeches which I judged +was his way of expressing superlative mirth. + +I put my arm around his shoulder chum-fashion, and drew him aside. + +"I hid and watched her leave," I whispered. + +Again he screeched. + +"You're a durned wise 'n'!" he said, presently. "S'firy's sot ag'in yo' +somehow, but I's jok'n' w'en I said I'd 'low she'd 'vite yo' back to +Baldy. She wouldn't do sich a vi'lent thin' as that, see'n' as how she's +got no airthly complaint ag'in yo', 'cep'n' you're a young man 'n' +good-look'n', 'n'"--lowering his voice and nodding toward the Dryad, who +sat apparently absorbed in her copybook--"she don't 'low to ever let no +man make love to that gal, 'n' she's skeerd o' yo' on that 'count--see?" + +"Gran'fer, I smell some'n' burnin'!" called Celeste. + +The old man turned with a trembling, low-voiced "Good God!" and bolted +into the house, and instantly I heard a tin cover clatter on the kitchen +floor. + +"Whut'd you tell Gran'fer w'en you took 'im over there?" asked Eve, when +I was again beside her. + +"The truth," I replied, not altogether relishing a like confession to +her. + +"Tell me, too!" she demanded, at once. + +"Suppose I won't?" I parried, grasping the opportunity offered to weigh +her character in different scales. + +She thought a moment, with a queer little squinting of the eyes. + +"Well, if you won't--I don't keer!" + +It was not pique, but perfect candor. + +"I told him that I waited down yonder in the woods until Granny went to +church," I said. + +She smiled, and spread the copybook out afresh. + +"You needn't 'a' done that. I've had a talk with Granny, 'n' she's goin' +to let you come, same as she does Buck ... I p'suaded 'er." + +"Bless your heart, Dryad! How did you manage it?" + +"Granny'll do mos' anything for me," she answered, simply. "I tol' 'er +that you jes' wanted to learn me, 'n' that I wanted to learn--so bad; +'n' that it wouldn't cost nothin'. So she ast Father John, 'n' he said +it'd be all right. He said he knowed you." + +"Yes, I've met Father John--and his niece." + +"I don't like her," said Celeste, turning the leaves idly. + +"Why don't you like her, Dryad?" + +"'Cause--'cause--oh, jes' 'cause!" + +She pouted her lips slightly, and shook her head. + +So she, too, had that unanswerable reason which all women can claim. + +"I feel sorry for her, because I don't think she has been happy. She has +lived in cities all her life, and the cities have taken something from +her they can never give back." + +"Whut?" + +"All things which you, living here in the hills, possess, and which are +a woman's most precious gifts; purity, innocence, womanhood." + +"I don't know 'zackly whut you mean." + +"I shan't try to put it into simpler words just now, Dryad. But in the +eyes of all true people you are worth more than a thousand Beryl +Dranes." + +She pursed her lips and gave a whistle of astonishment. + +"Has Buck been here lately?" I asked. + +"Not since I seen--I saw you on the log bridge." + +Then for a time we remained silent. The day was intensely hot. The +encroaching sun burned the yellow dog which had been lying in the yard, +and he arose reluctantly and slouched over into the deeper shade by the +foundation of the house--into a dusty hole which no doubt he had +previously dug in a search for coolness. There, after gnawing his ribs, +his black nose wrinkling oddly as he did so, he dropped his chin upon +the ground and slowly closed his eyes. A rigor passed over the side +where the uncaptured flea still lingered, then, with a sigh, the dog +slept. A brown hen, wings outheld from her body and bill agape, strolled +dazedly through the shimmering air, singing that dolorous, unmusical, +droning song begotten by the temperature. I have never heard that song +from a hen's throat with the thermometer under ninety. It must have been +an effect of the heat. Beyond, the green vastitudes stretched +endlessly--away to where the big wicked world throbbed and seethed and +strove. All these externals passed before my vision in a twinkling, and +then my gaze was back on the girl sitting quietly by me, looking with +eyes which sent no message to her brain upon the curving lines which +meant knowledge. Her hair was up again to-day--for bodily comfort, I +judge--and damp, curled strands clung flat to her milk-white neck. Below +these, tiny drops of moisture stood, like baby pearls upon porcelain. I +could not grow accustomed to the dazzling effect produced by her +piled-up tresses. I could see neither comb, barette, nor pins, but no +doubt a number of the "invisible" variety of the last were tucked away +somewhere in the intricacies of that matchless coronet. + +I asked if there were pen and ink on the place. She thought there was, +and directly returned with both. Then the need arose for something +suitable to hold the copybook while she traced her first letters. I knew +there must be a table in the dining room, but I much preferred to remain +where we were. + +How I ever thought of such a thing I cannot guess, but I suggested the +ironing board, and in another minute it was across each of our knees, +and I was twisting the pen-staff about in Celeste's warm fingers to the +proper angle. Her forefinger persisted in bending in at the first joint, +and I as diligently straightened the contrary digit, not minding the +task at all, for some occult reason. Naturally a huge blot was the first +result, and the Dryad was for licking it off, as she had seen Gran'fer +do once upon a time. I told her that wasn't nice, and laid the ink in +the sun to dry, no blotting paper being available. When she finally got +a start the girl did remarkably well. It was quite plain she had talent +in this direction. I permitted her to rewrite the model line half way +down the page, then told her lessons were over for the day. Nor did I +neglect to bestow some well deserved compliments upon her aptness. + +Granny may have been gone three hours, but I was nevertheless amazed +when I saw her toiling up the winding path a short time later. Surely I +had not been there over thirty minutes, all told! Far off as she was +when I first sighted her, there seemed to be something menacing in the +very way she got over the ground. As she drew quickly nearer, I observed +that her round, red face was set in lines of furious anger, and she +opened and closed her mouth in gasps, as a fish does on land. In spite +of the assurance the Dryad had given me, a subtle sense told me that I +was the object of her rage. I turned to Celeste, to find wonder and +astonishment depicted on her countenance. + +"Whut on earth ails Granny?" she whispered. + +"God knows!--and we will too, now"; for the old lady had halted a man's +length away, a truly formidable spectacle. + +Her emotion for the moment was actually so intense that she could not +speak. Her throat rolled red and fat over the collar of her dress, and +she was shaking visibly. I knew the storm would break presently, though +I was totally in the dark as to what I had done to arouse such a +tempest, so I gently lifted the ironing board from our laps, propped it +carefully against a post, and got up, that I might take the blast +standing. I gave no greeting, nor made any attempt at pacification. But +the breath almost left my body when the first vial was uncorked. + +"_You_ sneak'n' fur'ner! Mak'n' love to Father John's niece, then try'n' +to fool 'n' ruin my Lessie!" + +I fell back a step and threw up my hand, a deadly, numbing horror +spreading through me. Before I could recover enough for speech Granny's +needle-sharp tongue was going again. + +"I know yo'! I've knowed yo' all 'long, but that daffy Jer-bome 'n' that +pore fool gal 'lowed I's wrong 'n' too hard on yo', I tol' 'em way back +yan whut yo' 's hang'n' 'bout fur--yo' _scamp_! W'en a w'ite-faced, +slick-tongued city feller comes spark'n' a gal whut lives whur this 'n' +does, yo' c'n put it down he 's a-doin' th' dev'l's work. I knowed it, I +tell yo', 'n' yo' didn't pull no wool over _my_ eyes! I've had +'sper'ence 'ith sich, 'n' onct in a lifetime 's 'nough, heav'n knows! +Now take yo' seff off, yo' hyp--hyp--yo' 'ceiv'n', 'ceptious vilyun, 'n' +never so much as lay eyes on my gal--my precious lam'--ag'in, ur I'll +_scratch_ 'em out o' yo' head!" + +I paid little heed to this lurid denunciation. After the astounding +revelation of her first speech, I strove to get my mind in working +order, for it had suffered temporary paralysis. Before the voluble, +bitter flow of words had ceased, I knew what had happened, and my face +crimsoned with shame and anger. I dared not look at the girl at my feet +yet, to see how this harsh accusation had affected her. Granny saw the +red in my cheeks, and blazed out afresh. + +"Yo' mought well blush, yo' blaggard; a-comin' 'ith yo' hellish notions +to do hurt 'n' harm to this motherless chil'! Yo'--" + +"Hush!" I cried, drawing nearer the angered old woman in my deep +earnestness. "Don't say those things again in the presence of--her! They +are lies! Everything you have said is a black, cowardly lie!" + +"Do yo' _dare_ to tell me that his rev'rence, that holy pries', lied to +me? Yo'--yo'--" + +She thrust her hands toward my throat with her fingers working +convulsively. + +I controlled myself, grasped her wrists and brought her arms down, then +looked hard into her eyes as I answered: + +"No, Father John did not lie, but Beryl Drane did. I have never spoken a +word of love to her. I have seen her only twice. Once when I got her out +of the river when her boat upset, and a second time when I went to see +Father John. I believe I offended her, unintentionally, at that time, +but I have never made love to her for the best of reasons--I have no +feeling for her but that of pity. She told a dangerous, dastardly +falsehood when she declared to her uncle that I had spoken of love to +her. All of this I swear to be the truth; on the cross, on the Bible, on +my mother's sacred honor! And I respect and honor Lessie as I would my +own sister!" + +Truth alone is a powerful weapon, and I could see that Granny was +impressed, though not convinced. She still viewed me in truculence and +disgust, but there was a subtle change in her demeanor. I could feel it +more than I could see it. I waited, knowing that I must not be too eager +in my disclaimers. Granny stood, plainly taken aback, and when she spoke +her voice had sunk to its natural compass. + +"I dunno. It don't 'pear right to me.... Whut cause has a gal to make up +sich a yarn as this?--tell me that!" + +She flung the question at me with a triumphant flare. + +I hesitated. Should I tell the true reason? Should I tell how this girl +had tried to flirt with me, and then, when I had refused, had concocted +this devilish scheme which only a bad woman could have thought of? I +owed her nothing, not even consideration now, and she had made a bold +stroke to blacken me irretrievably in the eyes of Celeste. But something +held my tongue. I could not betray her baseness except as a last resort. +I stood with eyes down, thinking. The old beldam facing me deemed it was +from shame, and my inability to answer her question. I remained silent. + +"Yo' 've lied to me!" came her voice, shrill again, and carrying a +victorious note. "Whut cause has she, I say? Yo' dunno. Cause 'nough, I +'low! 'N' yo' can't answer, git yo' gone frum these premises, 'n' never +sot yo' foot on 'em ag'in!" + +I lifted my head at this, and replied in low, even words. + +"I know, but I cannot tell you. But believe me, I am innocent of this +charge." + +Mingled with Granny's vindictive scream of derision was a heart-broken +moan from the door-step. I turned quickly, to see my Celeste, hands over +her eyes, run weeping in the house. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN + +IN WHICH I DESCEND INTO HELL + + +I have descended into hell. + +I had no idea of the intensity of my own nature until the deeps were +stirred. Few of us ever come to a full realization of what we are, or +may become. I have always thought with some degree of pride that my +acquaintance with myself was perfect. More than that, I was positive +that my ego was entirely subservient to my will. So it always has been +until now. But the reason for this is that I have lived upon the crust +of life, have walked calmly and confidently upon the tops of things. It +is indeed a poor sort of fool who does not know himself in his relations +to the superficialities of his daily existence. How satisfied I was! How +willing to meet emergencies and demands, in the full faith that I could +cope with all such. I do not think I am an exception to my fellow +creatures in this. All men whose natures are well rounded and adjusted +have this same idea. It is essential to their progress. We must perforce +believe in our own abilities before we can perform any achievements. So +I am not ashamed to write these words. I have never been conceited, nor +puffed up. I have had no cause to be, but I don't believe I would have +been had I reasons--or what silly people give as reasons, for really +there is never any justification for such a mental attitude. + +Neither am I ashamed to say that I have descended into hell. At first +sight it may seem weakness, but upon investigation it will be found the +reverse is true. I did not take the plunge voluntarily, although my +perhaps foolish adherence to a Quixotic theory undoubtedly had a deal to +do with precipitating me downward. From the fact that my feet have +strayed along the gloomy, thorn-set paths of hell for the past week, I +have awakened to a newer and truer knowledge of myself. Had my feelings +been on the surface only, the past seven days would have found me +philosophically plodding through the forest recesses in search of my +mystical life-plant, or busily engaged in my garden, or curled up in an +easy chair reading one of my favorites. Not one of these natural things +have I done, for the simple reason that I have been a dweller in hell +instead, and in this grim demesne there is neither life-plant, garden +nor books. But there is torture, in exquisite variety. The world-worn +and cynical may sniff and declare that a man beyond thirty should have +passed this sentimental, simpering age. I don't know how that may be. I +cannot answer. I can only set down that which befell me, and I choose to +regard as strength, rather than weakness, that quality which has enabled +me to suffer like unto a damned soul. Surely if any doubt ever flickered +on the horizon of my conscience, that doubt has been swept away and +annihilated utterly. I am possessed by a legion of devils which escort +me hourly on my way; grinning, fiendish, sleepless devils which leap +about my feet with gibe and curse, and dance upon my pillow in a fiery +saraband when I fain would forget in sleep. Sleep! When did I sleep? +Sunday night? No, God's mercy! Sunday night I wandered bareheaded, +coatless, for miles and miles, hour after hour. I did not choose my way. +I did not even take the road leading down from the plateau. I think I +must have eaten something mechanically, then came out of the Lodge whose +walls were shutting off my breath, and made straight for the closest +point of descent. It was near the lone pine, between cedar bushes which +ruthlessly scratched my unheeding face. Here the declivity was steep and +rough. Had I been moving in the world I never would have taken it, but +in hell one cannot choose his path. I went down. I fell. I collided +roughly with the trunks of trees. I tripped, I stumbled, I cursed, and +went on. I came to a cliff. It sank sheer, and below was darkness. I lay +down, rolled my body over, hung by my hands, and dropped. I knew not, +neither cared, where I might alight. I splashed into a shallow pool not +over six feet beneath. Then came leagues after leagues of tireless +walking. I noted neither distance nor time. At last I burst out upon a +huge, flat rock, overhanging a valley of majestic length and breadth. A +gibbous moon brightened the sky and silvered the slopes about me. Then +for a few moments I was on earth again, brought back by the magical +beauty of the scene. But my respite was indeed brief. The black gulf of +perdition closed over me again as the merciless hand of Fate twisted +anew the iron in my soul, and I turned away from that glimpse of the +earth with my teeth chattering. How far had I strayed? Heaven knows. But +it was past midday when I again sighted that sentinel-like peak beneath +which I shelter. + +The next night I sat face to face with the devil through the long, +lonely, hideous hours. Ah! but he is a specious rogue! There never was a +tongue on earth like unto his. But I met his arguments with a sort of +bulldog, mean combativeness. So we talked back and forth, out there, in +front of the Lodge. I occupied one bench, he the other, and our meeting +was gruesome. How full he was of guile, sleek insinuation, plausible +persuasion. At first his method was violent--but I shall tell first of +how the encounter happened. + +After a pretense at supper I clutched my cold pipe for company and crept +out to the seat. I did not light up. Burning tobacco makes for solace at +most times, but I knew my erstwhile cherished weed would be an affront +to my taste and a stench in my nostrils that night. And as I sat, humped +over and almost a-shiver because of the powerful emotions which had been +racking me for forty-eight hours, and more, thinking of all I had lost, +the Prince of Demons leaped full armed upon me, all unexpectedly, and +his assault was fierce. At first I crouched under it sinisterly, as a +man will when an evil takes him unawares. But another moment my heart +and mind and soul had arisen simultaneously to my rescue, and together +we fought a good fight. I doubt me if many unwritten battles were harder +contested. Thus, beneath the stubborn resistance of my staunch and +faithful allies, the Enemy's violence abated. But presently I knew that +he had changed his tactics only, and had not withdrawn. For there he +crouched on the bench just across from me, apparently unhurt, while I +realized with much sadness and shame that each of my champions bore +marks of the conflict. I remained silent, hoping my unwelcome visitor +would depart, but instead he began now to leer and smirk at me +ingratiatingly. + +"What do you want?" I asked, surlily enough, for my spirit was sore +within me, and this presence was most distasteful. + +Said the Devil: "What do _you_ want?" + +Thereat he grinned ghastily, and wagged his head, while I felt my heart +turn sick, and my bowels tremble. But I answered: + +"I want that which is as far removed from you and your accursed power as +God and his angels--a real woman's love!" + +Now he laughed in raucous glee. + +"And that's what you have lost--by playing the fool! Is it not so?" + +"That's what I have lost--perhaps by playing the fool," I replied. + +Said the Devil to me: + +"And that very day you went back about sunset, driven by the barbs of +your passion, to tell the old woman the truth. You could not gain +admittance to the house. You saw no one. You have been back twice. You +have laid in wait. But you have failed to get speech with any in the +house. Is it not so?" + +I nodded assent. + +"Then what?" continued the Devil. + +"Hell--and you!" I retorted, in desperation. + +Then the Devil edged closer to me along the plank; he seemed to writhe +across it like something with a hurt back. It made my flesh creep to see +him. He leaned toward me through the intervening space, and stretching +out his ugly, snake-like neck, hissed: + +"Honor and virtue are lies! Pleasure is truth. Take her--" + +Up I sprang, fist at shoulder, and lunged at that fiendish visage with +all the power of my body. I hit nothing, the impetus of the stroke +wheeled me entirely around, and there stood mine Enemy, hands on hips, +shaking with silent laughter. + +I stood and glared at him in angry helplessness. + +"Easy--easy!" he chuckled. "You are not the first to shrink at giving up +a cherished chimera. You see I am much older than you, and know all of +humanity's foibles and make-believes. I am your friend. In your mind you +have created an angel out of a piece of ignoble clay. Listen, while I +prove to you that I am your friend, and show you a way to success." + +Thereupon his vileness became so bold and horrible that I will not soil +this white paper with a transscript of it, and I sank upon a bench, +elbows on knees and face in hands, listening to the damnable rigmarole +because I could not help it. My visitor was beyond personal +violence--witness my recent fruitless attempt to strike him--or time and +again I would have closed with him and slain him, or been slain. +Shudders of shame and rage swept me from head to foot, and my cheeks +grew so hot they burned my palms. Hours passed. At times the Devil +relaxed, and a sort of armistice prevailed, then he would renew his +merciless planning for my destruction, and how smooth and easy the road +appeared under the magic of his voice! Throughout the entire night I +remained humped over, shaking at intervals as some especially diabolical +sentence fell upon my unwilling but helpless ears; holding my tongue, +because I knew that no words of mine would avail to move the monster at +my elbow. + +Hast ever sat up o' night with the Devil, my brothers? It comes to me +that every one who lives, or has lived must have had this experience. +'Tis a blood chilling one, forsooth; at least when resistance is +offered. Only when daylight stole ghost-wise through the still aisles of +the immemorial wood did mine Enemy depart, and I got to my feet, +trembling as one risen from a bed of grievous sickness, groped my way +within, and fell with a groan across my cot. + +Throughout that day I slept, and arose in the late afternoon feeling +refreshed. My trouble was mental, and this long rest for my brain was +most beneficial. I put as firm a check upon my thoughts as I could bring +to bear, and methodically set about preparing my supper. Looking back as +I write to-night, I know that my movements were erratic and strained. I +built my fire in the kitchen stove calmly, but soon thereafter memory +made a breach in the flimsy wall of reserve which I had upreared, and +havoc began afresh. I burned my food. I broke two dishes. I blistered my +fingers on the hot oven. Then I ate voraciously, almost viciously, and +leaving the things unwashed, tore out to the companionship of my vast +host of faithful trees. Read? I could no more have held my eyes to +printed lines that night than I could measure the sun's diameter. The +Book says there is a time for everything. This week has been my time to +visit the nether world, while yet alive; to become almost insane, while +retaining a degree of sense. It may be I shall omit this chapter entire +when the end of my story is reached. I am writing it to-night, because +in doing so I open a safety valve. I have been fearfully surcharged with +the intensest sort of feelings, and I find that it gives me some relief +to pour them out upon the pages of my journal. When I grow again to be +the reasoning man I was last Sunday--if I ever do--I shall read these +lines again. If they seem perfervid, unnatural, overdrawn, I shall wipe +them out, in deference to the gentle critic who never saw a red-haired +Dryad, and consequently cannot have the least understanding of what I +have been driving at in this night's record. I know I have already +penned thoughts and emotions which will cause the phlegmatic cynic to +damn my story as unreal and banal. In like manner I know there are +others--scarcely will they be found in the critic class, I fear--whose +hearts will warm to me in kindest sympathy. These, mayhap, will be those +of like excessive temperaments, who have looked on Beauty to their cost. +Yea, like Priam, and Menelaus, and that old war-dog, Ulysses himself, +and the hosts of others whose eyes beheld the ruinous loveliness of +Argive Helen. On her pylon tower she sang, and men died, demented and +hopeless, struggling for a single smile! Why were all famous beauties in +history and mythology red-haired? Who can answer? From echoless time it +seems to have stood as a type of perfection. I know what it has meant to +me--dear Christ!--since that spring day when I saw it intertwined with +dogwood blossoms. To-night--I am writing in desperation, that I may +perchance get some sleep when I have worn myself out at the table by +which I sit--I say to-night that I would rather live here on Baldy's lap +forever with Celeste for my wife; here, in the Lodge, alone with her, +than to be the consort of the mightiest queen of earth! + +I rushed out to the sheltering arms of my faithful trees, and stood +among them. I had nothing on my head. The moon was larger, and in its +light I seemed in some enchanted place. Then the craze to move--to walk, +drove me down to the ravine. Unthinkingly I turned toward the Dryad's +Glade. After a while I halted, overcome all at once by the supernatural +radiance which permeated every cranny of that spreading wilderness. Just +where I stood the trees were not so dense. Twenty and thirty feet apart +some of them grew, and though many lateral branches thrust far out to +intermingle, the myriad moon rays found numerous paths and peepholes to +the earth below. It also chanced that I had stopped in a spot where the +spiring trunks rose naked of boughs to a considerable height. This +peculiarity was a great aid to the diffusion of the blue-white, misty +atmosphere which was all about me. I seemed to stand in a ghost land; +everything was shadowy; even the rough boles appeared tenuous, ready to +dissolve and disappear at a breath of wind. But there was no wind. I +stared all about me, marveling at this common mystery of moonshine which +was yet so unfathomable; feeling it sink into my soul in peace giving +waves, comforting my tired breast. So I folded my arms and leaned +against a near-by oak, determining to stay just there. It was the first +moment of waking calm I had known since--How blissful it was! How +peaceful! How past all poor words of mine to describe! Picture primeval +creation. No hewn-down trees, no unsightly stumps, no chips from the +relentless ax. Merely a mighty forest which had been such always. +Solitude, silence. An all-enveloping, blue-white night, and one lone man +striving for ease of mind and soul in the midst of these eternal +realities. How good it was to feel my tight breast loosen; to feel that +awful clamp dropping away from my temples, where it had been pressing +and fretting me almost to madness. I breathed deep of that clear, sweet +air; huge, delightful respirations which made me feel light-headed. And +even as a smile of appreciation crept to my lips, and my eyes half +closed under the weird spell of the place, I knew that I was not alone. +Down a winding vista, far off, something was moving. The distance was +too great and the light too poor for me to tell what it was. A gray +shape was disturbing the nebulous perspective; a shape which at moments +almost assumed proportions, to become at once as something almost of the +imagination. I did not change my attitude, for as yet only a mild +curiosity was present. It might be anything from a stray cow to a +moonshiner on his way to work. Be it what it might, I hoped it would not +disturb me, but wend its way. It was coming toward me; I could not doubt +it directly. It would pass me at a right angle, perhaps thirty feet off. +I did not care to be seen if it was human; I was in no mood to sacrifice +a portion of this wonder-night to rustic inanities. I slipped quietly +around into the shadow of my oak. There came a sound, like a silvery +laugh wedded to a harsh cackle, and this was followed by the swift +patter of running feet, tapping in a muffled tread the moss- and +leaf-strewn ground. I thrust out my head to see what these strange +sounds meant. God above! The Dryad and the Satyr, hand in hand, dashed +by my hiding-place like a hurricane. She was next to me. What she wore I +cannot say. It was something all white, girded at the waist with a vine, +for I saw leaves and tendrils hanging from it. She had shaken her hair +down. The Satyr was without his hat, and his ragged coat streamed out as +he tore along. I glimpsed his face, and it reflected honest merriment +only. Just opposite me they laughed again, without apparent reason, as +children do in a frolic, and how incongruous it sounded; Celeste's +musical bell tones, and Jeff Angel's cracked and jarring voice. So, hand +in hand, in perfect understanding and good-fellowship, these two +Children of Nature romped through the moonlit lanes of their beloved +woods, happy in their very wildness and unrestraint. + +Before I could recover from my profound astonishment they had +disappeared down a misty aisle hung with trembling, diaphanous, luminous +shadows; had merged with the pearl-gray gloom of the middle distance, +and a wild, eerie strain of something which might well have been +borrowed from a barbaric chant drifted back to my stunned sensibilities. +I caught the notes only, but they drove through to my brain like +fire-barbed arrows, and stung it into action. She had passed almost +within reach of my arm! She! The one because of whom this awful abyss +had opened up for me. She had passed, and I had stood like a dolt and +let her go! "Lessie! Lessie!" I sprang forward, goaded by love and +despair, and ran after them with all the swiftness I could command. +"Dryad! Dryad!" I called, at the top of my voice, but no answer came. I +stopped, and with hand against a tree held my breath to listen. Not a +sound but my own blood hammering in my ears. Then as a full realization +came to me of the opportunity which had been offered, and which I had +stupidly missed, a feeling of mad recklessness seized me, and I bounded +forward again, blindly, knowing only that somewhere ahead of me was +Celeste. Once I saw something white, and rushed toward it with outheld +arms and a strangled cry of gladness. It was a portion of a projecting +earth-bank, covered with a growth bearing tiny white blossoms. The moon +struck it full, and had worked the cruel deception. I fell upon the pure +little flowers and tore them savagely; flung them down and ground my +feet upon them, then took up my search once more. Rage filled my breast. +Rage at myself, at Fate, at Granny, at Beryl Drane, and this animal +emotion must have blinded my eyes, for in my headlong, methodless +pursuit I at length ran full force into a huge beech, and dropped +senseless at its feet. + +I don't think it could have been long before I roused, for there was no +lessening of the brilliant light, such as happens when the moon +declines. It was well for me that I was unconscious but a short time, I +suspect, for as my eyes came open I at once became aware of another pair +above me. A pair which seemed made of sulphur, marked with alternate red +and green rings, glowing wickedly. Then I made out the contour of a dim +body perhaps three feet in length stretched upon a low limb just over +me. It was a gigantic wild-cat, and he was stalking me. I doubt not he +would have dropped within another five minutes, for even as I watched, +his back began to arch and the claws of his hind feet to rustle along +the bark. With that suggestive motion his head also drooped below the +limb, and it came to me he was gauging the distance for his spring. I +was no hunter, but 'Crombie was, and from him I had learned that +wild-cats will not attack a man unless driven by hunger, or brought to +bay in a corner. So I sat up incontinently; threw out my arms and +shouted. With the agility of his tribe he turned promptly, and another +second was scuttling up the tree. + +I found I had a painful welt across the top of my forehead, but no other +injury was apparent. My heart turned sick as recollection came back on +swallow wings. There was nothing left but to go home. I had myself to +thank for my predicament. But where was home? Whither my flight had led +me I possessed no idea. I had tried to follow the elusive wake of two +night-roamers, and they had proven will-o'-the-wisps. Why had not the +Dryad stopped at my call? I wondered, as I moved doggedly away from the +spot. Surely she had heard. Surely she knew who it was, for no one else +called her by that name. Could it be that Granny had perverted her mind? +Or was it that she did not care? That I was only an incident, and had +been cast from her life as quickly and suddenly as I had entered it? I +would not believe this; I could not believe it. The blow which I had so +recently sustained wrought a radical change in my mental condition, and +while my breast still burned with implacable resentment toward the +nameless something which had caused me to miss catching Celeste, I found +that my thoughts were freer, and comparatively lucid. I could not +believe that she had thrust me below her life's horizon, and gone +singing through the woods as though nothing had happened. The idea was +monstrous, appalling, revolting. It was wholly unacceptable. That my two +visits to her home bore no fruit I laid at Granny's door. The old beldam +had managed it in some way. Had kept the girl hidden, and had prevented +anyone within the house from answering my summons. Why had the Dryad +burst out weeping and run indoors when Granny thought she had convicted +me of duplicity, and ordered me from the place? Ah! my soul! there was +comfort in that! Celeste did not cry from fright; she was used to +Granny's tantrums. She cried because for the moment she saw things in +the same light and from the same angle as that old termagant--may her +bones lie unburied! She did care for me--she _did_ care for me--she DID +care for me, and I knew it. I could not solve her frolicking in the +forest with her half crazy cousin. I could not unriddle her laughing and +singing. Such things do not go with a heavy heart in the world I know, +but it may be she sought relief in following her beloved habit of +running, untamed and free, wherever her hoyden steps led her. I will see +her yet, and I will find out. I will make her see the truth, and outwit +that old she-devil who has cast me into torment with her meddling. + +Moonset found me laboring up the road to the Lodge. I had stumbled upon +my hill. Sleep came at once, and how doubly sweet was that deep, +soundless, shoreless sea when I slipped out upon it in my Barque o' +Dreams! + +Next day was Wednesday. All the bulldog in my nature unleashed--and a +major part of my nature is represented by the hybrid breed of bulldog +and mule--I went to Lizard Point, with the determination to have speech +with some one before I came away. I was no schoolboy, or callow youth, +to be trifled with in this manner. I had certain rights as a gentleman, +and these rights I intended to demand. But alas for human hopes--and +determinations! I could not demand aught of an empty porch, or a closed +and locked door, or blind-drawn, nailed down windows. I suppose they +were nailed down, for my peculiar nature caused me to try and raise two +of them, when repeated calls and much banging on the door did not bring +any results. The sashes did not even tremble under my hands. I saw a +broken rail lying near one corner of the house. I looked at it, and at +the blank window. That would get me in, or get somebody out. Either +would serve. I was so wrought up that I actually started toward that +piece of wood before I realized what I intended doing. It would be +house-breaking; malicious destruction of property--both of which were +jail offenses. I must forego the execution of this project, much as it +appealed to me at the moment. Nothing would suit Granny better. She +would have the law on me in a trice, and be rid of me for good and all. + +I went home. + +It is not my purpose to recount in detail my wanderings the remainder of +this week. Some of it would prove a repetition, and other of it +uninteresting. If my sojourn in the Inferno was not as gruesome as the +hero's of Ithaca, nor filled with majestic horrors like the immortal +Dante's, yet it was undeniably true. One night I climbed the peak thrice +between nightfall and daydawn. The last ascent found me so exhausted +that I lay prone upon the table-like top, and watched the miraculous +mystery of morning. It was the first time I had ever seen it from a +great height, and the impression cannot be put into words. I am tempted +to try--oh! the untold glory of the magical metamorphosis!--but no, I +will withstand the inclination. The result would be akin to that a +three-year-old child would obtain if given the necessary pigments and +told to paint a sunset. There are times when even fools will not rush +in; this is one of them. + +Sunday night again as I pen these words. Seven days! Seven aeons! My +watch tells me it is twelve o'clock. As I pause for a moment a sound +floats through my open window. It is not any night bird's trilling, for +I know my singers of the dark, every one. Now it comes plainer. A sort +of whistle, I should say, though it is a kind I have not heard for a +long time. Its impression is fuzzy, as though done carelessly. I have +heard boys whistle so, between their teeth. What is happening without my +door, I wonder? No one bent on mischief, for such do not advertise their +approach. The whistling has stopped. I declare I hear feet, and they +draw nearer. I am not one bit alarmed. I think I prove this by +continuing my task as the unknown footsteps steadily come closer. They +stop. I look up. Arms crossed on my window-sill, head bobbing in +greeting and goat tuft wagging, stands the Satyr. Before I can speak he +loosens this tipsy stave: + + "Say, Mr. Rabbit, you're look'n' mighty slim!" + "Yes, by gosh! ben a-spit'n' up phlim!" + + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN + +IN WHICH THE SATYR AND THE NARRATOR BECOME VERY DRUNK AND THE LATTER IS +LIFTED TO EARTH AGAIN + + +"Come in here, Jeff Angel!" I cried, joy at sight of him mounting, and +brightening my face with a smile of welcome. I dropped my pen and +beckoned eagerly. + +His grin broadened as he accepted my invitation forthwith, through the +window. I meant that he should enter by the door, naturally, but instead +he gave a leap, and came squirming and wriggling in like a great +caterpillar. I was up and had him by the hand as soon as his feet +touched the floor. + +"Where's Lessie? How is she? How does she feel toward me? Why didn't you +stop when I called you the other night? Talk, man! Hurry!" + +The Satyr's grin seemed fixed. + +"Whur 'n hell yo' ben?" he drawled, disengaging my clasp and sliding +around the table to a seat on a box. + +I rattled my chair on the floor impatiently and begged him to take that, +but he demurred. + +"Ain't used to 'em," he explained. Then, once more, in genuine and open +curiosity--"Whur 'n hell yo' ben?" + +"You've said it--in hell!" I answered, savagely, slipping my papers to +one side and sitting upon the table's edge. "And Granny, your blessed +aunt, is the one who shoved me in--good and deep!" + +"Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!" roared Jeff Angel, with an intonation +indescribably ludicrous had I been in the humor to enjoy it. His head +went back and his curving whisker shook at me like a bent forefinger. + +"Damn it, man!" I gritted, worn irascible by that week's awful +experiences; "don't laugh and joke the night away! Tell me about +Lessie--then we'll make merry till morning if you wish!" + + "We'll drink, till we sink, in th' middle o' th' road, + But we won't go home till mawn--'n'!" + +Thus caroled this irrepressible Antic, and drew from some recess in his +rags the bottle which I had seen before. + +I glared at him helplessly. Perhaps he was a trifle drunker than he was +that other time, when I gave him his supper. There he sat swaying his +head from side to side, peering mischievously at me with his watery blue +eyes, irresponsible as an infant. Then I recognized the futility of +anger, or importunity. This queer being would speak when he got ready, +and not before. I made a great effort, and threw off the impetuousness +which desired to know everything at once. I would humor this half +civilized, half crazy person. + +"Let us drink, then!" I agreed, bending forward with outstretched arm. +"I need a bracer, anyway." + +At this the Satyr sat up with distended lids and mouth ajar, holding +himself to a rigid perpendicular by planting his hands on either side of +him and putting his weight upon them. + +"Shore 'nough?" he burst out. + +"Shore 'nough!" I answered, with a positive nod. "Give me some of your +white lightning; I've grown used to fire." + +He picked up the bottle haltingly, as though constrained to unbelief in +spite of my words and my waiting hand, and placing his thumb over the +cob stopper, began to shake the contents furiously. + +"What's that for?" I asked. + +"Shakin' th' fusic off!" he enlightened me, and it was a moment or two +before I figured out what he meant. Fusil oil in whisky rises; Jeff's +vigorous action was to diffuse it. His corruption of the word told me +that he was totally ignorant of what he really was doing. + +He drew the stopper with his teeth, and handed me the bottle. I think I +have said elsewhere in this narrative that drinking whisky is not one of +my weaknesses. That is to say, it is not a habit. I can scarcely +conceive of a man living thirty years in Kentucky without drinking a +little whisky. I knew the stuff I held was vile, but I put it to my lips +for two reasons. I was dead tired, and I wanted to set this contrary +creature's tongue to going on topics which would interest me. I took a +big mouthful, swallowed, and thought my time had come. Hot? My throat +closed up, tight, and for a time I could not breathe. My mouth burned as +though it had been cauterized. I slid from the table, choked, coughing, +my eyes running water. Back to the kitchen I tore for a draught from the +bucket on the shelf--for something that would unstop my windpipe. +Pelting my ears as I ran were the high-pitched, cackling notes of the +Satyr, volley after volley, as he hugged his knees and rocked and weaved +in unrestrained delight. + +"Whut's the matter?" he queried, in mock surprise, as I reappeared with +my handkerchief busy about my eyes and mouth. + +"No more o' that junk, Jeffy!" I replied, thrusting my hand into the +medicine chest on the wall and producing a quart of ten-year-old rye +whisky. "If I make merry with you I'll choose my beverage." + +"That's spring wadder!" he returned, contemptuously. "We feed that to +babies out here." + +"Spring water it may be, but it's stout enough for your uncle." + +I drew the cork as I spoke, placed my private brand upon the table, +found my pipe and sat down facing my strange guest. + +He proceeded to shame me by indulging in a very liberal potation, +smacking his lips with greatest zest at its conclusion, and winking +across at me in a manner intended to indicate his superiority. + +"Where's your fiddle?" I asked; not that I cared especially, but it was +incumbent upon me to be agreeable. + +The Satyr jerked a grimy thumb toward the window which had just admitted +him. + +"Out thur on th' binch. 'S wropped up 'n' th' jew won't hurt it." + +In the short silence which followed, we got our pipes to going. + +"Was that you whistling a while ago?" I continued, after waiting vainly +for my visitor to say something voluntarily. + +"That's me a-play'n'." + +"Playing?" + +"Yes, play'n' a reed. Fus' thing ever I got music out o'." + +Again his hand was hidden in his tatters for a moment, and came out with +what appeared to be a long, slender stick. This he placed to his mouth +after the manner of a clarinet player, and blew a pure, flute-like note. +Then I saw the instrument was hollow, with little round holes along its +length. + +"Pipes o' Pan, by Jove!" I breathed. "Make me some music, Satyr." + +Already I was aware of the effect of that mouthful of white lightning. A +slow but sure elation was beginning to buoy me up unnaturally, and I +felt the ebullience of spirit such as follows the knowledge of some +great joy. + +"Pipe for me, you heathen minstrel!" I added, smiling at him with +narrowed eyes. "Draw from that piece of wood the things the birds, and +the trees, and the brooks, and the flowers have told you. Trill me a +moonlight roundelay, such as inspires the feet of fairies; make me see +the wood violets nodding in the warm dusk, and let me hear the drone of +bees in the tiger-lily's cup. Sound for me the dream-song of the runlet, +as it whispers and babbles over its pebbly bed and between its +moss-draped banks in the silver starlight. Bring me the low love-message +of the dove when the breeze is but a sigh, and the witch-light from a +sun just sunk fills all the forest with a chastened radiance, and makes +it one vast sanctuary upheld by a million pillars. It is there your +patron lives--the great god Pan! Tell me not you've never heard him by +the river bank o' quiet days, when the squirrels sleep, and the +chipmunks drowse, and the birds forget their tunes. Belike you've never +seen him, for to mortals he remains ever invisible; but you, O Satyr, +are most surely a cousin, if not nearer kin, and it may be you and he +have danced many a bacchanalian revel together. Dost know him--the great +god Pan? Goat-legged, horn-headed, pleasure-loving, with his pipes to +while the time?" + +I did not stop to consider that this outburst was jargon pure and simple +to the ears which received it. My mind had suddenly become gorged with +poetic thoughts, and I poured them out upon the helpless head of Jeff +Angel. + +"Fur Gawd's sake!--air yo' plum' gone?" he exclaimed, in unfeigned +alarm, casting a rapid glance around as though meditating flight. + +"That's what your juice did for me," I explained, laughing to reassure +him of my sanity. "One more swallow, then we'll have a tune!" + +We pledged each other from our respective bottles, and the Satyr played. + +Again I find myself hampered, for I cannot translate that performance +through the medium of words. It was the most astounding exhibition I +have ever listened to. His work on the violin had been entirely beyond +the range of my comprehension, but then the dormant possibilities were +in the violin. What was there in this slender reed? Unguessed miracles +of sound! I sat and stared at the grotesque form on the box, wondering +at first if I really was so intoxicated that my imagination was acting +the ally for this vagabond artist. No, the ability of this uncouth +musician was real, and my appreciation was only heightened by the subtle +power of the draught of mountain dew. As I sat and puffed in lazy +contentment, many a woodland pageant passed before my eyes. I saw all +the things for which I had asked, and more. Beneath his hands the dumb +reed became a sentient power; became a living, speaking force. Nature's +infinite secrets dropped from it in purest pearls of sound. I heard the +twitter of birds; the love-call, the anger-cry, the alarm-shriek, the +mother-croon. I heard the wailing sweep of the wind when the storm +gathers and hurls its invisible battalions upon the countless army of +trees. I heard the wordless lisp of the matin zephyr when a new, fresh +breath moves across the world at dawn. I heard the vesper sigh like a +prayer from tired lips. I heard the whistle of the dove's wing in its +startled flight, and the quail's liquid call. I heard the holy hymn of +midnight when the moon hangs big and yellow, and the numberless strings +of the Ancient Harp vibrate softly to her summons. I heard the sweet +purling of running water, and the barely audible echo of an insect's +hum. + +I had no word of praise or compliment when Jeff took the pipe from his +lips and carelessly laid it aside. What I had just given ear to was +beyond platitude or fervent adjective; beyond comment. Silence was the +only true meed which might be accorded it, and this I gave. + +Jeff sighed, twisted his shoulders as though to rid himself of a cramp, +ran his tongue over his lips, and picked up his bottle. + +"Wuz that whut yo' wanted w'en yo' 's talk'n' out o' yo' head?" he +ventured, with a coy, sideways movement of his chin. + +I nodded. Here was a combination worthy of profound study. Totally +unlearned, depraved but not debased, with a soul so full of music that +even his besotted state had no power against it. I failed to understand. + +For an hour thereafter I strove with all the skill at my command, used +every artifice, to draw the Satyr out, and make him tell what he knew. +In vain. He saw through each device; he avoided each veiled trap. He +drank often, and good-naturedly insisted that I should imbibe every time +he did. There was no help for it, but presently I was taking no more +than a thimbleful at a time, for I realized that my condition was +becoming most uncertain. Jeff seemed proof against the stuff, for he +poured it down recklessly, without any noticeable effect. But when he +arose to his feet after a while to feel in his trousers pocket for a +match, I saw results. He giggled, swayed, and quite suddenly sat down +again. I hospitably got up to supply his needs from a box on the mantel, +when to my dismay and great surprise I discovered that the room was +beginning to turn around and the furniture to do a silent jig. I drew my +face down sternly to rebuke myself for this hallucination, and started +determinedly toward the mantel. Where was the mantel? As I sat it was to +my left. When I stood it was in front. Now it was to my _back_! I +whirled angrily, and bumped into Jeff Angel, who had risen to renew the +investigation of his trousers--I mean pants. Jeff didn't wear trousers; +he wore pants--and that's too dignified a name for them. We bumped, +instinctively grappled, and naturally came to the floor. Jeff fell on +top; I felt that abominable chin-tuft tickling my neck. I pushed him +off, and in a few moments we had gained what I shall term an oblique +perpendicular. That is, both his feet and mine were on the floor, but +his were some distance away from mine, and we were mutually supported by +our intertwined arms. He regarded me with a watery leer, and one eyebrow +tilted, while I endeavored to look very dignified; with what success I +of course cannot say. + +"Y's damn good feller!" averred my cup companion, blinking laboredly. + +I managed to move my feet forward a little, and to straighten my leaning +body correspondingly. Then I bethought me that I was host, and my guest +wanted a match. I looked for the mantel; it was not in sight. I turned +gravely to my _vis-a-vis_. + +"Whersh man'l?" I asked, when a weakening of my waist muscles caused me +to bend forward and then back in a most awkward manner. + +Instead of replying to my question, the Satyr, with eyes glassily set on +vacancy, began some more of his infernal doggerel. + + "Possum live in a holler tree, + Raccoon any ol' place; + Rabbit takes a drink o' booze + 'N' spits in a bulldog's face!" + +This classic quatrain was delivered after repeated efforts, and I bowed +my approval as the silly sing-song came to an end. + +Just how it was managed I cannot say to-night, as I sit with aching head +and write the story of my shame, but in some way we found our original +seats. + +"Hongry, ain't yo'?" asked Jeff, with what I thought a sardonic look. + +"No 'm not 'ung'y." + +"Yes yo' air--hongry fur news! Huh? He! He! He!" + +I swallowed, and fixed on him a stony stare. He was going to relent. + +"I's hongry onct--belly hongry--'n' yo' give me good grub. Now yo're +hongry--heart hongry--'n' I'm a-goin' to fill yo' plum' up!" + +I essayed to cross my knees to assure myself that I was actually all +right, but something went wrong with my lifted leg. It fell short, slid +down my other shin, and lodged on the instep in a most unique twist. I +let it remain. Bemused as I was almost to the point of helplessness, I +yet knew that the Satyr had far greater control of his faculties than +myself, despite the enormous quantity of poison he had consumed. I could +listen acutely, however, if my speech was difficult. + +"Go on," I encouraged, doing the two monosyllables without a hitch. + +"Th' gal lied to th' pries' 'n' th' pries' tol' Granny, didn't he?" + +This abrupt and startling declaration almost dazed me. + +"Howje know?" + +"I's to th' P'int t'other day; jes' drapped 'roun' 'n' heerd d'rec'ly +thur'd ben a tur'ble stew. Granny tol' me 'bout it, 'n' how she'd druv +yo' off on 'count o' whut th' pries's niece tol' 'im. She lied, though, +sho!" + +"Howje know?" + +"Granny 'lowed yo' said so, but I knowed it w'en it hap'n'd, 'cus I'm +al'ays perk'n' 'roun' in onexpected places. I wander consid'ble." + +"Whurruz zhe?" + +"That vine-house ain't fur frum th' hedge, 'n' I jes' hap'n'd to be +layin' 'long t'other side 'n' heerd all yo' said. So I ups 'n' 'lows to +Granny 'n' Lessie that you tol' th' truth 'n' th' gal lied, 'cus I heerd +ever'thin'." + +"Whusshe do?" + +"She sot thur lak a mud woman, a-wink'n' 'n' a-swaller'n', her mouth +hung open lak a dead fish's--" + +"Whus _she_ do?--Lesshe?" + +"She hugged Granny, 'n' she hugged Gran'fer, 'n' she hugged me, 'n' ez +she's hugg'n' me she tol' me we'd go runnin' that night, jes' on 'count +o' th' good news I'd brung." + +"I shaw you." + +"Huh?" + +"I shaw you--called--wouldn't stop. Why didn't yo' stop?" + +"Never heerd yo'; we's runnin'." + +The Satyr's recital was not given with the lucidity of my transcription. +It was halting, stammering, uncertain in places, but it imparted a +glorious truth which rolled a stone from my breast. Even in the depths +of my state of inebriety I was uplifted. I saw the light of day once +more, who had been following paths of gloom and horror. I remember that +I arose with the intention of grasping his hand to thank him, then a +veil dropped before my eyes and my mind went blank. + +I awoke this morning with my head splitting and every joint stiff. I had +spent the remaining hours of night upon the floor. My first thought was +of my visitor. I sat up and looked around, but he was gone. All of this +day I have been trying to get myself together. I was never drunk +before--beastly drunk. I never shall be again. It is not the physical +discomfort which causes me to make this declaration. That is bad enough, +but I am no cringing coward, and am ready to pay the penalty for any +conscious misdemeanor. It is the shame of it which makes me say it. + +When a man sets out to tell the whole truth about himself he has a task +before him. Willingly would I have omitted this scandalous episode; not +willingly, but gladly. I feel humiliated; I feel unworthy of that great +joy which surely will be mine as soon as I can see my Dryad. True, it +was for her I did it. I had to humor that antic creature to worm his +secret from him. My soul is at peace to-night despite the misery of my +mistreated body. Now I must go to bed, and I believe I can sleep. +To-morrow--to-morrow--oh, my brothers! did you ever go to bed in the +firm belief that to-morrow heaven's gate would open for you? + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY + +IN WHICH I VIEW AN EMPTY WORLD, ACT A HYPOCRITE, AND HEAR A CONFESSION +OF LOVE + + +I sometimes wonder why it is that troubles pile up. Why they are not +scattered along through our lives, instead of being accumulated, and +then dumped upon our heads all at once. It doesn't seem like a fair game +to me. It seems as if something was taking advantage of our +helplessness. You see a fellow can rally under one or two back licks of +Fate, if they are not too hard, and if there's any sort of fighting +stuff in him. But when they come often, and come big and strong, his +knees get wobbly and his spirit sickens. Is he to blame? + +I find myself in some such strait to-night, for the open door of heaven +which I went to sleep thinking about is not open, at all. It might be--I +believe it would be if I could see Celeste, but she is gone. I marvel at +the steady hand with which I trace these words. It is not because I do +not feel. There are invisible fingers at my throat, and a spiked hand +about my heart. Each spasmodic throb seems to thrust the cardiac walls +against nettles. If my journal had not progressed so far I think I would +end it right here. It appears as if this is to be the logical end +anyway. Perhaps when I rise from my work to-night I shall gather up the +written sheets and toss them, so much scrap paper, into the black jaws +of the old fireplace. I don't know. I have come to look forward to my +night's writing. It is not a diary, you see. It is--well, it must be a +story, in a way, but how could we call such simple and homely things as +I have jotted down a story? I'm sure it is not like the other story I +wrote; the book which was published, and which no one would read. I made +that up out of the whole cloth. I wonder if people knew--and I wonder if +they will believe my word that this is the truth. But if I stop writing +to-night I won't have a story. Things have gone on and on, and here I am +mortally in love with Celeste Somebody, and elsewhere are the others I +have met who have touched my life in various ways. All in suspense, as +it were, awaiting developments. I can't end my journal to-night. That +is, I can't end it and expect any sane people to put it between book +covers. Wouldn't it be an innovation! The thought amuses me in the midst +of my heartsickness. But Celeste is gone, and with her gone there is +nothing more to say. I could offer little else than Mark Twain's +memorable diary on shipboard: "Got up, washed, and went to bed." She +must come back, that is all. I don't know where she is, nor how long she +will be away. These things I will find out. Here I have wandered on much +like a maundering old man, without first setting down the adventure of +the day, and then commenting, if so inclined. I beg pardon. To-night I +really am not fit, and should not attempt to write. But I have begun; +inaction would be galling, so I will continue. + +Was I astir early this morning? The first gray arrow, barbed with silver +and feathered with gloom, had not found my small window ere I was up +with a snatch of song welling from my throat, and hurrying for the big +washtub back of the kitchen which does the duty of a bathtub in +civilization. I had never been so completely happy since I was a boy on +my grandad's farm. I even wanted to whistle while I was shaving, I was +so full of song and laughter. Cooking breakfast was a jolly lark; eating +it a delicious pastime. Then I was gone like a deer breaking cover, the +door to the Lodge open to its fullest extent. She knew the truth, and I +might even meet her coming to me. + +As I ran easily through the forest on the now familiar way, I noticed +that my exuberant spirits began to decline. A foreboding of some +disaster crept stealthily and steadily upon me, until I actually had a +chilly sensation down my spine, and a woeful sinking in my breast. This +phenomenon, in common with many others attendant upon our daily life, +cannot be explained. I really suffered until I came in sight of the roof +which sheltered my beloved; then, as I mounted to the tree-bridge with +feet suddenly grown leaden, a numb calm gripped me. I stood and leaned +against the section of the root-wadded disk which projected above the +butt of the oak, little spiders of feeling scurrying out all over my +chest from a center above my heart. No signs of morning activity greeted +my despairing gaze. The house was silent and lifeless as the trunk +beneath my feet. No blue wood smoke curled up from the kitchen chimney. +Not even the dog was visible. Only from the comb of the chicken house a +lonesome guinea fowl squawked harshly. I dragged myself forward. When I +reached the house I went in a mechanical way to each door and window in +turn. They were fastened, but I discovered the dining room window was +without a shade or curtain, and to a pane of glass here I pressed my +face, shielding my eyes from the light with my hands. Slowly the +interior took shape. A table covered with oilcloth; a few low-backed, +shuck-bottomed chairs; a smaller table against the wall holding what +appeared to be a jar of honey; a safe with tin paneled doors stuck full +of holes in some kind of design; a fly-brush in the corner made of +newspaper slit into strips and fastened to the end of a piece of bamboo +fishing-pole. A bare floor, well scrubbed. I saw no one; I heard +nothing, though I listened for several minutes with parted lips. They +were gone. Everybody was gone. Where? Maybe just to spend the day with a +neighbor. I knew this was a rural custom. Hope flared up with a quick +rush to welcome this idea. Where were those neighbors? Ah, yes! The +Tollers! Celeste had told me of them the first time I had talked with +her. She had said they lived over the hill. So over the hill I fared in +a bee-line, ignoring the road below which in all probability would +conduct me to my destination. It was a hard climb, for the spur rose up +rugged and forbidding, but I was growing inured to such things and +scarcely noticed the exertion. When I reached the valley upon the other +side I came upon the road. Following this for a short distance I +discovered a log cabin, set dangerously near the bank of a creek. To one +side a huge black kettle was a-boil over a faggot fire, and by it stood +a woman stirring with a long stick the clothes she was getting ready for +the wash. Children were everywhere, like squirrels in a hickory tree in +nutting time. There must have been fourteen, and the oldest was far from +grown. At sight of me one gave a shrill little yelp, then there began a +mighty scuttling for hiding places. The majority made for the door of +the cabin, several found refuge behind convenient trees, while one of +the boys shinned up an ash as though in mortal fright. Two or three more +dropped over the shelving bank of the stream, and holding to the sod +with tenacious, grimy paws, thrust their heads up and watched me with +brilliant, dancing eyes. The smallest sought the protection of their +mother's bedraggled skirts, which they pulled over their faces, thus +stifling in a measure the piercing wails which had marked their progress +to her side. The woman turned impatiently at the hubbub, brushed the +smoke from her eyes, and peered at me with puckered face. + +I came boldly toward her. Already I knew she whom I sought was not here, +but I had to make my errand known. + +"I'm looking for--a person," I began, conscious that I was stating my +mission very lamely. + +A look of mingled craft and truculence spread over the seamed, sallow +face of the woman. What a pitiful appearance she made! I was assured she +was not over thirty, but she seemed nearer fifty. Hipless, +flat-breasted, stringy-necked; her hands and wrists red and rough. Her +scanty hair was pale straw in color, showed dirt, and was slicked back +and screwed into a knot about the size of a walnut on the crown of her +head. Her dress was--simply a protection against nakedness. + +"I 'low yo' 'd better git!" presently exclaimed this mother of many, +with painful directness. + +"Yes," I assented; "I'll git in a minute. Have you seen Lessie this +morning? It is she I want!" + +"Oh!" + +The washed-out blue, almost vacant eyes popped open wider in instant +relief. Then I knew. Her man was a 'shiner, and she, seeing at a glance +that I was not of the vicinity, had visions of revenue officers and +penitentiaries when I vaguely declared I was looking for a person. + +"Air you him?" she resumed, squinting one eye and giving a little jerk +of her head. + +From which I judged that my fame had gone abroad throughout all the +region round about, and that her ambiguous query related to the unhappy +dweller on old Baldy's lap. + +"I'm him," I acquiesced, a dull misery making me careless of speech. +"Have you seen Lessie this morning?" I repeated, listlessly. + +The woman drew a deep breath of visible comfort. + +"Naw. She 's gone a-visit'n'. Th' hull kit 'n' bil'n' uv 'em tuk train +this morn'n' at peep o' day. I's over to Granny's yistiddy to borry a +chunk o' soap. She 's tur'ble worrit, 'n' tol' me she 's go'n' 'way fur +a spell." + +"Where have they gone?" + +"Snack Holler." + +"Where 's that?" + +"Lard knows! T' other en' o' th' worl', some'r's, lak 's not. Granny's +got folks thur." + +She turned to the kettle again and began to stir the clothes. + +"You say they left on the train from Hebron?" + +"I never said Hebrin, but that's whur they tuk train.... I wouldn't git +on one o' th' murder'n' thin's fur a sheer in th' railroad," she +confided, almost instantly. + +"Then they must be going on a long trip?" + +"To Snack Holler, I tol' yo'. Granny's got folks thur." + +"You don't know whether or not Snack Hollow is in Kentucky?" + +A doggedness born of desperation was goading me to find out all I could +about the destination of the fugitives, for I had no doubt this was a +move on Granny's part to elude me utterly and permanently. + +"'Pears to me yo' 've axed questions 'nough fur a plum' stranger, 'n' +I'm too busy to be pestered no mo'. 'T ain't none o' my business whur +Snack Holler's at, 'n' thin's whut ain't none o' my business I let +'lone. That's a mort'l good thin' to 'member, stranger--don't bother +'bout other people's business!" + +The unkempt brood among whom my approach had wrought such consternation +was beginning to make itself manifest again. Those who had fled +creekward now squatted on the verge of the bank; those who had rushed +indoors had inched out and lined up by the cabin wall; those who had +hastened to place the thickness of a tree between themselves and the +deadly danger which emanated from my simple presence now stalked boldly +in the open, while the infants had forsaken the folds of their mother's +dress and, on hands and knees, were diligently pursuing the erratic +journey of a spotted toad, punching him in the rear with their fingers +when he fain would rest. The tree climber was still wary; I could see +his slim brown legs and knotty knees dangling below a limb where he sat +astride. + +I had a prescience that this hill woman knew more than she had told me, +but how was I to get it from her after that last speech? It was safe to +assume the Tollers were good friends to Granny, and confidences were +just as essential to these people as to those more civilized. I +determined to employ strategy. Would it hurt my conscience? Bah! For +Celeste I would lie, or steal, or kill! + +"Mrs. Toller," I began, as though I had at that moment made a discovery. +"I declare you have a fine, handsome lot of children. All of them +yours?" + +I turned smiling from one group to the other. When my eyes came back to +the woman I saw with joy that her features had relaxed, and something +resembling a grin played about her bloodless lips. She quit work, and +beamed upon her frowzy, tatterdemalion progeny, proud as if each had +been a world conqueror instead of a dirt-enameled midgit of ignorance. +Ah! the simplicity and the beauty of motherhood! + +"Ever' chick 'n' chil' 's mine 'n' th' ol' man's." How her voice had +changed; a silver thread had crept into it where before iron had rung. +"Fo'teen uv 'em, sir, 'n' we've marrit fifteen year come th' fust o' +Jinnywary!" + +"Fine, healthy lot!" + +I rubbed my chin and took a fresh view of the spindle-shanked, +pinched-cheeked, tallow-faced little creatures, salving my conscience as +best as I could by bringing to mind that faulty old saw that the end +justifies the means. But I knew I was lying, and I wasn't used to it. +True this lie would do good. It would give happiness unalloyed to Mrs. +Toller, and I felt that I had put in a wedge with which I might prize +out the information I coveted. + +Mrs. Toller relinquished her grasp on the stick, turned her back on the +clothes, and folded her arms contentedly. + +"They _air_ a likely look'n' set o' young-uns, since yo' 're kind 'nough +to say so. Co'se it ain't fur me to brag, seein' 's I'm they mammy"--she +could hardly speak that sentence because of the pride which tightened +her throat--"but they ain't none here-'bout, not ev'n over to Hebrin +way, whut's nice 'n' man'erly 'n' _ree_-specb'l, sho!" + +The peregrinations of the persecuted toad, after describing an irregular +semi-circle, had now led him near the spot where I stood. After the +patient reptile toiled the three infants; two of the same size and +apparently the same age, and one who had but recently reached the +crawling period. This one, by the way, was perpetually in the rear of +the procession, its single garment hampering its knee action and making +any sort of speed out of the question. The frog had become tired of his +enforced journey, and was getting harder to move after each diminishing +leap. Now it sat with palpitating sides, stubbornly refusing another +jump, while the finger of the lead tormentor prodded with dull +persistence at its posterior. + +Up to this time Mrs. Toller had paid no heed to the unique pastime of +her three youngest, such pursuits possibly having lost interest from +their commonness. Now, however, she bent suddenly forward, exclaiming +shrilly: + +"You Stephen Alec! Don't tech that varmint ag'in! Yo' wan' to hev warts +all over yo'?" + +Stephen Alec promptly drew back and thrust the hand which stood in +jeopardy behind him. He turned a loose-lipped visage to his angry +parent, then began a series of extraordinarily piercing yells. + +Behold my chance! I stepped forward and gathered Stephen Alec up in my +arms and sat him upon my shoulder. Then I tossed him gently. Next I was +sitting on the ground with my watch out against his ear. The yells +ceased, and presently brothers and sisters were crowding around me. I +told them a story--one of the old, old favorites which our grandmothers +used to quiet their children with, and before it was done a little girl +had slid up so close to me over the bare ground that, still talking, I +put out my arm and curled it around her and pulled her up onto my knee. +At that another came voluntarily and crouched against my leg. Presently +the whole ragged, unwashed crew were squeezing about me as close as they +could get, and I was digging in the unused recesses of my mind for the +most correct version of Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs. Poor Mrs. +Toller! Happy Mrs. Toller! She fluttered from the black kettle to my +group, back and forth, listening in silence, like one of the children, +then hastening back to the clothes. I must have acted entertainer for a +full hour, although I found it interesting, and did not tire. When I +signified my intention of going I encountered a vociferous denial, and +perforce must relate a number of the tales a second time. But at length +I was on my feet, and with urchins clinging to every available hold +about me, advanced to bid Mrs. Toller good-by. + +"I'm awfully glad to have seen you and all these bright little people!" +(I should have been ashamed; I know it.) "I must be getting on now." + +Mrs. Toller was actually embarrassed. + +"I mought 'a' spoke a bit mo' ceev'ly to yo' ef I'd 'a' knowed yo' 's +sich a nice man. A pus'n can't be too partic'ler, yo' know, 'specially +w'en th' man's 'way mos' o' th' time. Since th' chil'n' hev took to yo' +so I don't mind sayin' that Granny 'lowed to me she's tak'n' Lessie 'way +from th' neighborhood 'count uv a man, but she nev'r named 'im 'cus +people don't tell names 'n' tales too, ez a gin'r'l thin'." + +"Much obliged to you, indeed. Glad to have seen you. Good-day." + +"Good marn'n'. Come back ag'in ef yo' git lonesome." + +A half-hour later I was sitting in the porch entrance of the deserted +house at Lizard Point. Right there we had sat such a short time before, +and she had learned her A B C's. Down that winding path we had strolled +the first time I came to call, and she had struggled so to tell me of +the darkened house in which she dwelt. And I was going to help her. +Already I had helped her, and now--I ground my teeth in sudden rage and +leaped up. Where was Jeff Angel? Gone with them? Where was anybody who +could point me a way out? Father John! He might know something of this +remote spot with the classic name where Granny "had folks." I wanted to +see Beryl Drane, anyway. I had not gone to her before because I knew +well no good would come of it. To-day I wanted to stand before her face +in the presence of her uncle, and ask her why she had told that vicious +lie which had wrought such evil. I wanted to confront her with her +baseness, and demand an explanation of her wanton wickedness. The sense +of chivalry which was born in my blood and which had caused me to +shield her once at the sacrifice of myself, was gone. It was consumed +in the hot furnace of my wrath and indignation. I wanted +Celeste--Celeste--Celeste! I would move heaven and earth to get her, for +the wonder and mystery of her rare beauty and the hypnotic effect of her +sweet personality had combined fearfully to work havoc within me. The +elemental peace which brooded like a living presence over the earth this +sunny, summer morning became to me a disturbing, harrowing force by very +contrast with the awful tumult which boiled within my breast. I was +lonely--lonely and desperate. I had borne all I could. That terrible +week wherein I never saw the sun, nor heard a bird voice, nor felt the +soothing benediction of a breeze, had well-nigh worn me out, bodily and +spiritually. This crowning calamity I would not accept meekly. I would +fight it; I would disclaim its existence. It was unjust, unfair, +treacherous and cowardly. I had been honest from the beginning, and when +a man plays the game of life fairly and squarely, not even Providence, +or whatever Great Power there be, has the right to take advantage of +him, and seek to overwhelm him. I would dare everything--heaven and +hell, if need be--for the sake of this golden haired Dryad with the lips +of flame. She had been removed by force. Even a lover's mind is acute +when the object of his adoration is concerned, and I knew--I knew that +Celeste loved me! What else mattered? This compulsory separation? A +great surge of triumph heaved up within me, and the light of victory +came to my eyes. What poor, ignorant puppets these were, who had tried +to rob me of my rare jewel? The beacon of her bright coronal would guide +me to the furthest corner of the earth, and if need had been I would +have followed across sea and plain and mountain and desert; followed +with a fire-wrapped heart of deathless devotion, even as Three of old +followed a certain Star. + +Filled with mingled emotions, all primal, all superlative, so that my +head seemed encircled with a close fitting metal band, I took up my +march to Hebron along the dusty road. My mood was reckless. I wanted to +see that little she-cat whose low vindictiveness was at the bottom of my +present luckless plight. I would neither spare nor choose my words. +There was no gallantry lurking in my soul now to temper the accusations +born of an outraged and agonized spirit. I felt sorry for the little +priest, for he loved her well. But innocent suffer with and for the +guilty daily. It is part of that plan we are told to accept blindly, and +when we question it, however meekly and with the true and earnest desire +for light, we are haled forth with a rope around our necks as heretics +and atheists. Father John would have to witness the destruction of an +idol, for I was merciless, and knew the power was within me to beat down +any brazen denial this creature might utter. A mighty strange thing is +love, my masters! + +Across the home-made bridge I tramped, striding heavily. A figure stood +in the door of the smithy, leather-aproned, tall and strong. I strode up +the slope with bent head, and reached a point opposite him before I +looked at Buck. Arms akimbo, sturdy legs apart, a grin on his face which +broke into a low, deep chuckle as he caught my eye. I almost stopped, +while my fists knotted with the instinct of a savage. But I went on, +that rumbling, mocking laugh echoing in my ears. He knew she was gone. +Perhaps he had something to do with her leaving. That insulting, +gloating chuckle could easily give rise to a suspicion of the sort, or +it may have been he was in equally bad case, and had simply adopted that +method of tormenting me. + +I gained the priest's house with a feeling such as I imagine a tiger +possesses when it gathers itself together to spring upon its prey. It +was entirely alien to my nature, but it had been born of circumstance, +not of my will, and I made no effort to remove or curb it. The front +door was closed, probably against the heat. I pounded upon a panel with +my fist, ignoring the gentler and more refined summons it is customary +to give with the knuckles. As I stood waiting, restlessly turning from +side to side, I observed that the shades to the two windows visible were +drawn to within a foot of their respective sills. At this discovery a +wild and reasonless alarm seized me. I renewed my hammering on the door, +and even seized the knob, shaking it vigorously. A key grated and the +door was opened, revealing the gaunt face and bony form of Marie, the +housekeeper. Wonder and a sort of terror shone in her bright black eyes. + +"Father John!... Miss Drane!" I exclaimed roughly, brushing past her +into the hall. "Where are they? In the library? I must see them both at +once--together!" + +I stopped and glared at the woman with a menacing forehead. + +"His rev'rence an' Mees Bereel ees not here!" she said, simply and +calmly. + +"Not here! _Not here!..._ Where are they?" + +"Gone. Mees Bereel goes home yest'day. His rev'rence go to Lou-ees-ville +wiz her, an' have not return'; _oui_." + +I made no reply, but left the house and mechanically turned back toward +the little hamlet. Gone! Was that the monotonous and deadly refrain to +which the world had been set running? All gone. Everybody gone. Wherever +I turned--gone. With sagging shoulders I plodded on, trying to think of +something else. Where was Snack Hollow? Where was Snack Hollow? Where +was Snack Hollow? This sentence raced through my brain with the +regularity of a pendulum's swing. Why, the station agent would know! I +had reached the foot of the steep hill, where the track ran, when this +illuminating idea was conceived. To my right was the small depot, +fronted by a platform of a height to unload freight upon from a car +door. Looking up suddenly under the force of my discovery, I saw Jeff +Angel seated upon this platform, his thin legs hanging from it, an +oilcloth-covered bundle at his side. He was leisurely eating cheese and +crackers from a yellow paper sack. What a glad sight he was to me in the +midst of an empty world! + +"O you blessed old Satyr!" I yelled, and ran toward him forthwith. + +"Whut's th' furse 'bout?" he asked, quietly, trying to smile a welcome, +but only succeeding in showing some imperfect teeth caked with cheese +and dough. + +"Why, damn your dirty, good old hide, I'm glad to see you!" I continued, +jumping to a seat at his left and squeezing his disengaged hand. "I'm +about two-thirds crazy, you know, and I need somebody to hold me when +the other third slips over. Think you can?" + +I nudged his skinny ribs jocularly. My mental condition truly was not up +to standard that moment. + +"Huh!" grunted Jeff, casting me a quick, amused glance. + +"Why didn't you wait and have breakfast?" I asked, drawing a breath +which flooded the deepest cell in my lungs. + +I tell you it was good to sit by the side of that ragged piece of +flotsam. I felt hope coming back, for I knew he was my friend. + +"Woke up--thirsty 's 'ell. Your'n gone; mine gone. Had to hev some +liquor, so I lit out, easy, so 's not to wake you up. Had some muster, +didn't we?--Huh?" + +I nodded. I didn't care to review that night's doings. + +"See here, Satyr," I said, abruptly; "where's Lessie?" + +"She's 'ith Granny 'n' Gran'fer, I reck'n," he replied, with a +naturalness which for a moment caused me to wonder if he knew of their +departure. "Leas'ways, they lef' together," he added, after a brief +interval. + +"Where have they gone?--what did they go for?--when are they coming +back?" + +My companion tossed the last bit of cheese, rind and all, into his +mouth; inverted the sack and allowed all the crumbs to go the same way; +blew the sack up and burst it on his knee, and began to feel for his +pipe before he replied. + +"I don' know whur they gone. They went to git Lessie 'way frum you. They +'s com'n' back putty durn soon." + +"I know where they've gone! It's to Snack Hollow!" + +"Who tol' yo'?" + +The look he bent upon me was a mixture of pity and contempt. + +"Mrs. Toller. I've just come from there. She was uncivil at first, but I +made up with the children, then she said Granny had told her she was +going to Snack Hollow, where she had some folks. Where is this place, +Satyr? I'm going, too, next train." + +"No ust, pardner." + +He scratched the dirty stub of a match on a plank, and lit up. + +"Granny--'n' Gran'fer--'n' Lessie--ain't a-nigh Snack Holler!" + +The fateful sentence came out in jerks, between puffs. I thought he was +trying to scare me. + +"You can't fool me, Jeff," I retorted, but my voice lacked assurance. +"How far is this Snack Hollow, and how soon can I get there?" + +With the greatest air of insouciance the vagabond fiddler chanted, in +the same sing-song with which I had grown familiar: + + "Raccoon got a ring-a-roun' tail, + Possum tail am bar'; + Rabbit got no tail at all, + Jes' a little bunch o' ha'r!" + +It was plainly immaterial to Jeff whether I believed him or not. Equally +plain it was that he knew what he was talking about. + +"I believe you, Satyr. But who told you?" + +He was instantly placated. + +"Nobody to' me noth'n', but I ain't no plum' ejit." + +"But Mrs. Toller--" + +"Look-y-here, pardner!" Jeff squirmed around and thrust his goat-tuft +forward. "Granny tuk Lessie 'way frum these here parts on 'count o' you. +She 'peared to b'lieve whut I tol' 'er 'bout th' gel lyin' on yo', but +they ain't no manner o' 'pen'ence to be put in Granny's notions. She's +made up o' contrair'ness, anyhow. She jes' got to mull'n' 'n' +a-brood'n', 'n' whut 'ith her trouble 'ith Ar'minty 'n' all she jes' +'lowed it's well 's not to light out fur a spell. 'N' hev yo' got little +'nough sinse to 'low fur a minute she 'd tell that long-tongued Ab'gail +Toller whur she's a-goin'? Yes, she tol' Ab'gail Toller she's a-goin' to +Snack Holler--'n' fur why? 'Cus she knowed yo'd come a-nosin' 'roun' +axin' questions, 'n' th' fust place you'd go 'd be right thur." + +I felt the water closing over me afresh at these words of doom. + +"But don't you know?" I urged, desperately. "Didn't you ask Granny?" + +"Yes, I axed 'er, 'n' she 'lowed it's none o' my 'fair." + +"But you said they would be back soon. How do you know?" + +A sly grin crept to his thinly bearded lips. + +"Look-y-here, pardner. Me 'n' you's frien's. I've et yo' grub 'n' drunk +yo' liquor 'n' slep' on yo' floor. I know yo 're lovin' Lessie 'n' +lovin' her hones'. I 'm a-gunta bring 'er back to yo'. I said I didn't +know whur they went, 'n' I don't, but I've got my s'picions. It mought +be a week, 'n' it mought be a mont', 'n' it mought be longer. But I 'm +a-gunta do it. Never yo' min' jes' how I'll manage. Th' day I fin' 'em +that day they start home, 'n' I don't 'low they 's so tur'ble fur, +neither." + +I felt my throat choke up at this totally unexpected act of generous +devotion. I know my eyes grew moist, and it was several moments before I +could say anything. + +"Satyr, I--I--you don't know how much I appreciate this. I don't deserve +it. But--can't I go with you on the search?" + +Jeff Angel laughed his mirthless, jackass laugh before answering. + +"Lord, no! This here pleasure trip 's all fur me. You jes' hang 'roun' +'n' wait fur nooze!" + +"You'll need money--how much?" + +My hand started toward an inner pocket, but instantly Jeff's long, wiry +fingers had gripped it, and dragged it down. + +"Naw yo' don't, pardner!" + +There was a peculiar earnestness to his voice and an exalted look in his +bleary eyes as, holding my hand hard down on the platform, he resumed: + +"I wen' to hear Father John preach onct--jes' out o' cur'os'ty. He tol' +a tale 'bout a Feller whut some heath'ns nailed on a cross, 'n' that +Feller c'd a-he'p' Hisself if He'd a-wanted to, but He let 'em kill 'im +so 's a pas'l o' other fellows c'd live. Father John said 't wuz fur you +'n' me, too, 'n' ever'body, but I 'low he kin' o' got that part o' the +story crooked, 'cus that ain't natch'l. Anyhow, he 'lowed that whut that +Feller done saved th' worl', 'n' He done it 'ithout money 'n' 'ithout +price. That's whut stuck in my craw. Jes' think uv it! 'Ithout money 'n' +'ithout price! I ain't no sort o' eddicated, but it 'pears to me that +w'en a feller c'n do some'n' fur another feller 'ithout no sort o' +pay--some'n' that's shore 'nough, yo' know--that it'd make 'im holler'n' +'n' shout'n' happy fur quite a spell. That's whut I mean, pardner; 'n' +that's whut I 'low to do fur you--fur, b' gosh! I love yo'!" + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE + +IN WHICH, STRANGE TO SAY, TIME PASSES. ALSO I RECEIVE THREE WARNINGS, +AND WITNESS AN UNPARALLELED EPISODE IN THE SMITHY + + +Four weeks have passed since Jeff Angel departed on his quest. Until +to-night I have not had the heart to face my journal. But to-day a +premonition came to me that my period of waiting was drawing to a close, +and pinning my faith to this invisible, silent herald which has spoken +to me before with prophetic voice, I take up my pen again. + +Jeff's loyal, true declaration almost stunned me. It was entirely +unexpected. I could not conceive of such self-sacrificing nobility in +him. I had given him no serious thought, accepting him for what he +appeared to be on the surface; a harmless, almost half-witted wanderer +in the wilderness about Hebron, cursed with an inordinate love for +strong drink, and blessed with the pure soul of music. And here, when my +case seemed all but hopeless, he had gladly and willingly volunteered +for a task which could be no light one. + +I pressed him to take some money--even a little; enough to insure him +against hunger, but he refused. He said he never had any trouble getting +food, and he was going to tramp. He needed nothing. He was going to +start at once--that afternoon. I made him come to the Lodge with me for +dinner, wished him quick success, and bade him God-speed with a strong +handclasp. He strode away chanting one of his absurd couplets. + +With his going a great sense of loneliness descended upon me. I felt the +cold hand of despair feeling at my throat. With an effort of will I +flung the deadening weight from me, and began to pace my plateau +vigorously, my hands behind me, my head bent in thought. I must not +prove a weakling or a craven now. Celeste would return. Jeff would find +her--or if he did not, I would. The world was not big enough to hide her +from me. A kind of mad joy flared out in my breast at the thought, and I +smiled fiercely. Jeff had said positively that they would start home the +day he found them. How did he know this? I had urged him to tell me, but +he had only laughed, and repeated his statement. I could not clear this +point, but I would not let it depress me. I was convinced the Satyr was +genuine, and that he knew what he was talking about. + +His time of absence was indefinite. That was the hardest of all to bear. +Had there been a fixed day in the future toward which I could walk with +the assurance that on that day I should greet my beloved again, I could +have gone laughing through the hours. But the uncertain waiting--the +rising of sun after sun and the falling of night after night, and the +still, empty minutes which must be lived! I strove to comfort myself in +those first few hours after my self-appointed messenger had left. He +knew these knobs intimately. He had been born in them, he had roamed +them all his life, he knew every nook and hiding place in them for +miles. He had also expressed his belief that the fugitives had not gone +far. Perhaps a few days would bring about our reunion; surely it would +not be longer than a week, or a fortnight at the farthest. There was +solace in this thought. And as I hugged this phantom belief to me my +furious pace slackened, and I continued my walking at a soberer gait, +still too perturbed to sit down and think quietly. + +How my heart ached for my vanished Dryad that afternoon! Let another +opportunity come! Nay, let her but come, and I would make the +opportunity. I had dallied. I had not listened to the promptings of my +heart early enough, and now a jealous old woman who did not understand +had snatched her from me. Then came the distracting thought that perhaps +Jeff would fail! Perhaps Granny's plan was deeper than it seemed, and it +might be that she had hurried away to some far and obscure part of the +Commonwealth, or even to another State. The fact that they were poor +presented no foil to this theory. People like her and Gran'fer were not +as poor as they seemed. They never spent except for the absolute +necessities, and during their long life together they had doubtless +saved and pinched until a goodly hoard was stored away in some nook or +hole. I believe I knew Granny's mind. It could never entertain but one +idea at a time, and it was an utter impossibility for her to view both +sides of a question. I pitied her even in my vexation. She had had ample +cause for the course she had adopted, and I was being made to suffer for +the sin of a cultured renegade from the higher world. Granny had decided +that all relations of whatsoever nature must cease between her +granddaughter and myself. She mistrusted me, in spite of the evidences +she had had of my sincerity and honesty. Since I would not go away, then +she would take Celeste away. To carry out her idea, I am sure she would +have sacrificed the savings of years. This was the thought which burned +hotly in my breast now. Then to my mind came the vision of Jeff Angel, +coming dejectedly up the road to my plateau, with the news that the lost +ones could not be found. Oh, it is a terrible thing, my brothers! To be +suddenly and swiftly swept into the maelstrom of a mighty love, and then +to be confronted by the possible loss of the girl who aroused this +feeling. + +That night I climbed the peak; climbed it by the soft light of the stars +alone, for the moon was young, and I saw it only after I had reached the +top--a crescent thread of silver cradled on the tops of the trees on the +furthest western range. Up there, between creation and infinity, as it +were, I applied all the philosophy I could bring to bear upon my case. I +got results, too, thank goodness! Had I not been able to persuade my +mind into a certain channel of common sense, I can't say what would have +become of me, for I was idiotically in love. Howbeit, I levied on the +very bases of my reason for strength and guidance, and deep down where +the fundamentals of character perpetually abide, I found that which +saved me. + +It was thus my sane self argued with my insane self: + +_Insane Self_: If Celeste is not restored to me within a short time, I +shall go wild. + +_Sane Self_: What's the good of going wild? Then you will be in no +condition to greet her when she does come, and may lose her forever. + +_Insane Self_: I cannot rest, or sleep, until I see her again. + +_Sane Self_: A suicidal attitude. Be sensible instead. Take the best +care of yourself, and so be fit in every way to welcome her back. + +_Insane Self_: But, I must see her; I _must_ see her soon! + +_Sane Self_: Perhaps. Be calm. Nothing is to be gained by rashness. You +will only succeed in wearing yourself out. + +_Insane Self_: I am on this peak to-night because of a racked mind. I +may climb it again before morning. + +_Sane Self_: What of Buck Steele? + +_Insane Self_: Ah! + +_Sane Self_: What of Buck Steele? His love is just as great as +yours--perhaps greater, for he has not the restraining leash of a +cultivated mind. He is your rival. Is he sapping his strength by doing +without food, straying through the forest, and climbing mountains? No; +he is making those iron muscles harder every day at his forge, and when +the time comes when you and he face each other--as come it inevitably +must--he will twist you in two like a winter-rotted weed! He is +sensible; you are a fool! + +My insane self made no reply to this last speech, because it no longer +existed. I was effectually sobered. What Buck's laugh that morning may +have meant did not really matter. All day he had been on the outskirts +of my mind, but I had been too busy with other subjects to admit him for +intimate inspection and consideration. Now my sane self proceeded to +shove him forward relentlessly, and I accepted his presence as something +quite necessary, but undesired. Whether or not he sensed the approaching +encounter as plainly as I, of course I could not say. But I knew that a +bulldog resolve had lodged in his mind to have Celeste for his wife, and +it took no seer to declare that he would use every weapon in his reach +to prevent me from taking her. He had only one weapon--his superb +physical strength--and I knew he would arrange or provoke a meeting, if +none arose naturally. What would become of me then? Instinctively I +flexed my right arm and grasped the bulging biceps. Like rock. Not as +large as the smith's, I was sure, but might dwelt there. I felt my other +arm, my legs, and thumped my chest with my fist. Yes; I, too, was some +man. I was hard as nails all over, but I was fearfully tired. All I +needed was rest; good, sound, eight hours a day sleep, and presently I +would be fit. I must adopt a rigid system of living, and hold to it +faithfully until these parlous times were over. + +For perhaps two hours then my mind worked along rational lines, and when +I left my perch to carefully descend the perilous declivity, I realized +with intense satisfaction that I had myself admirably well in hand. + +The door to the Lodge stood open. I remembered distinctly drawing it to +after me when I came out, although I never locked it. The night was +calm. It could not have been blown wide by the wind. Not alarmed, but +vaguely uneasy, I entered and walked to the table. I knew a box of +matches was here, and I thrust out my hand. It encountered something +upright in the darkness; something which did not belong there, for the +object yielded to the force of my touch, to fly back in place when I +removed my hand. Nervously I fumbled about until I grasped the matches. +Swiftly I struck one, and in the light of its tiny flare I saw what the +foreign thing was. But I lighted my lamp very calmly, in spite of the +disturbing nature of my discovery. Then I thrust my hands in my pockets +and stood staring at the long hunting knife which had been driven +through the orderly pile of manuscript composing my journal, deep into +the oak top of the table. There it was, horn-handled, hafted, with a +murderous blade six inches long. + +I could not doubt its meaning, were I so inclined, any more than I could +doubt the big brown hand which had planted that steel blade so deeply +and firmly in the wood. It was a warning; a warning such as was given in +the middle ages, but the man who had delivered it belonged by right just +there. He dwelt in the same mental and moral atmosphere as did his +forebears hundreds of years ago. And his declaration of war was +assuredly convincing. Nothing could be more real, more significant, more +productive of contemplation, than that bit of imbedded steel, shining +threateningly in the lamplight. I gathered one comforting fact from this +sinister messenger. All was not well between Buck and Celeste. He, too, +was in the dark as to her whereabouts, and he, too, failed to nurse in +his heart any reassuring message given before she went away. Plainly +this man had reached a stage in his infatuation where he would employ +any means to rid himself of me. Doubtless he had come to square accounts +that night. He had found me out, had very likely waited, and when I had +not come his wild hate and mad rage had found expression in the savage +act whose result now confronted me. I remained for a long time looking +at that knife, and my thoughts were many. Grave, too, they grew to be, +as I traced the near future to a climax as fixed as Fate. There were two +ways, as there always are, but no third consistent with honor. I must +give up the Dryad, or I must kill or be killed. Neither alternative bore +rosy tints. The thought of taking a human life filled me with a +rebellious horror, but the thought of resigning Celeste--my +golden-haired, gray-eyed Dryad--to the uncouth caresses of the smith of +Hebron charged my inmost soul with a white-hot denial. I would not do +it. I could not do it. The decision had passed from my control. I would +wait for her; I would yearn for her sweet presence with all the power of +my spirit, and I would fight for her unto the death! Strange that not +once did the thought come that I might be vanquished. + +I put out my finger and rocked the weapon to and fro. It had been +planted well. Then I grasped the handle and strove to draw it out. What +a hold it had! In the end I had to get on the table with my knees and +take both hands to force the blade loose. A silly and jealous anger now +seized me at the power here shown. I took some unused paper, and made a +bundle as near the size of my manuscript as I could, and placed it on +the table. Then I set my teeth, gripped the knife, and lifting my arm +drove downward furiously. The stroke fully equaled Buck Steele's, as a +quick investigation showed, and brought a warm glow of animal +satisfaction. + +For the first time since I began life at the Lodge, before I went to bed +I dropped the heavy bar of wood into the brackets on either side the +door, thus making it absolutely secure. The windows remained open, as +usual, but I placed my revolver under my pillow. + +The next ten days would have been idyllic had I been entirely at peace. +As it was, I managed to absorb a great deal from them which strengthened +and comforted. Each was a miraculous procession of perfect hours. I had +laid down some simple rules of conduct which I followed strictly. I +arose early, bathed, breakfasted, took a course in calisthenics which +brought muscles into action mere tramping would not reach except +faintly, and did some garden work. The rush of recent events had +interfered with my horticultural notions lamentably, and now it was too +late for anything except corn and beans. I rested an hour after dinner, +and then walked until dusk. The quest of the life-plant had long ago +become mechanical, and I never stirred abroad without the consciousness +that I might find it this time. But I had come to believe of late that I +had no need for it now. Perhaps 'Crombie had diagnosed my case +wrong--had taken too much for granted, and had banished a man with an +ulcerated throat, or a bleeding gum. For the first time I remembered my +throat _was_ sore at that interview! Could it be possible? I had never +felt better than at present, when the longest walks and the hardest +pulls over the steep knobsides were play. I was abed every night by nine +o'clock. + +My poise was speedily regained under this regimen. Vigor seemed to flow +into me, and I must confess to a certain pride in my superb physical +condition. + +Then one pearl-gray morning which promised a flawless day, I flung open +the door to find a piece of paper fluttering in my face. Right on a +level with my eyes it hung and writhed in the twilight breeze, as if it +was a live thing suffering from the bright new horse-shoe nail which +impaled it. With finger and thumb I disengaged the soiled, flimsy sheet. +It was a torn portion of wrapping paper, and bore a brief message; a +formless scrawl traced with a blunt lead pencil. + + "THES HERE HOLERS AINT HELTHY + FOR SITY FELLRS PLANE TALK + IS BES UNDERSTUD" + +It was Buck's second warning for me to leave. Could he have known my +mental condition when I read the ignorant, threatening lines, I believe +even he would have hesitated before attempting any radical move to be +rid of me. I was not alarmed; I was not even annoyed. I am sure my heart +action was not accelerated at all. It may be surmised that I did not +comprehend the full significance of the words. But I did. They meant, +differently presented: "If you don't get away from here I'm going to +kill you." I knew what he meant to say, and I knew what he meant to do. +It must have been the consciousness of my bodily power which prevented +even the slightest tremor as I labored through the misspelled, scarcely +intelligible missive. I looked at it almost disinterestedly a moment +after I had mastered it, then crumpled it into a wad and tossed it +aside. At various times during the day I thought of it, but only as +one's mind naturally reverts to an incident. I did not suppose the smith +would ambush me. Apart from assassination, the belief was strong within +me that I could hold my own, and more, with him. + +The third Saturday after the disappearance of the family at Lizard +Point, I went to Hebron in the afternoon. A sense of supreme loneliness +assailed me that day, and I realized more than I had ever done that +mankind is by nature gregarious. In common with other animals, he must +have the fellowship of his kind. That Saturday morning the billowing +ranges seemed types of eternal loneliness, and the old walks which +heretofore had charmed were alive with the echo of dead voices. I +suddenly became aware that I wanted to see somebody, to hear a human +voice, however rough and untaught. I wanted to look into somebody's +eyes, to talk to somebody, to sit down by somebody, cross my legs and +smoke. The longing grew, until, at noon, I knew that I must see some of +my fellow creatures. Should I go to the priest? He was kind, cultured, +hospitable. No; I didn't want kindness and culture. I just wanted to rub +shoulders with mere _humans_. Besides, I would have been more or less +constrained with Father John. It was not in the nature of a mere man to +forget that Beryl Drane was at the bottom of all this miserable +condition of things, and had I gone to chat with his reverence, I should +have had to listen to fulsome praises of that--person, and should also +have been expected to add my little word of appreciation and compliment, +since I had had the rare pleasure of a brief acquaintance with the +paragon. + +I went to Hebron, with a fine large twist of tobacco in my pocket, and +an aching desire just to be with people. + +It was Hebron's busy day--or busy half-day, of all the week. Not until I +hove in sight of the little settlement and saw a row of horses hitched +to the pole near the store, and at least eight or ten persons in plain +view, did I realize the truth. In nearly all rural communities, all farm +work is knocked off at noon Saturday. Then dissipation follows in going +to the store. There is nothing else to do, unless one sneaks off to the +barn and goes to sleep on the hay, or slips down to the river and goes +seining. But seining was unlawful, and this was the wrong time of year, +anyway. It was early in the afternoon--not past two o'clock--and only +the advance guard had arrived. But the sight made me glad. I wanted to +mix, move and talk with the yeomanry that day. So I sauntered up the +road toward the store, paying no heed to the open-doored smithy as I +strolled by. Buck was one who could not let up this day, for more than +one horse's hoof had grown sore going barefoot a portion of that week, +waiting for this afternoon. Though I did not turn my head, I knew there +were a number of horses standing under the shed in front of the shop. I +had barely passed it when I heard a harsh, prolonged-- + +"_Who-oa!_ Durn ye! Can't ye stan' still a _minute_?" + +This was accompanied by the sound of scuffling within. I turned to see a +couple of urchins make their escape through the broad doorway, and I +could discern fright on their faces as their bare feet patted the hot +yellow dust of the road. They were headed toward the creek over which +hung the home-made bridge, and they did not stop nor lessen their speed +until they splashed into the shallow water. It was not sham terror, +either, for now they stood holding each other by the arms, and gazing +back at the shop. + +I wheeled in my tracks, and walked under the shed. + +I did not enter the smithy because there was no need. It was light as +day in there, and I would have been in the way then. I saw three people +and a mule, evidently young, and evidently fractious. It was a fine +yearling; fat, sleek, shapely. Buck Steele, with a small, elongated iron +shoe in his left hand, stood in a semi-profile position, facing the man +who had brought the animal in. A negro boy lolled by the forge, his hand +on the handle of the bellows. + +"Whut's th' matter 'ith th' fool critter?" Buck was saying, as I halted +under the shed. He had not seen my approach. + +"Fus' time, yo' know," returned the man, in a wheedling kind of voice, +thrusting his thumb under his bedticking suspender, and chasing it over +his shoulder with that member. "Yo' 'll hev to be kind o' durn keerful, +Buck"--he shifted his hold from the rope of the halter to the halter +itself--"'cus he didn't miss yo' an inch las' time." + +The mule was scared. It trembled at every move Buck made, and its eyes +were distended and rolling. + +"Nothin' 's ever passed out o' this here shop bar'-footed that a man +wants shoes on!" maintained the smith. "If yo' want this animile shod, +I'll shoe 'im!" + +"I shore want 'im shod!" + +The speaker took a fresh grasp on the halter, and his hairy visage +became contorted in an expression impossible to translate, as Buck +stepped forward and put his hand on the smooth withers of the young +mule. It shrank down under his touch, and blew short, gusty breaths. +Buck waited, patiently, until the animal became quiet, then, gently +patting the reddish-brown skin, he gradually moved his hand along its +side until he reached its flank. There he stooped, with low, soothing +words, and a great admiration for his courage found birth within me as I +saw him bend beside that sinewy thigh corded and bunched with muscles. +Gently his big brown fingers slid down the slender hock, then like the +rebound of a crossbow the satiny limb shot out in a paroxysm of untamed +fear. It was a lightning stroke, delivered so swiftly my eyes could not +follow it. Buck saw it start, infinitesimal as the time must have been +from its inception to its execution--perhaps he felt the steel thews +hardening under his hand--for he leaped backward simultaneously. This +action saved his life. As it was, the edge of the small hoof slashed his +forehead like a razor, leaving a crimson, dripping gap. It went just +below the surface, and did not even stun the smith. He staggered, it is +true, but from his own recoil, and was erect an instant later. Then I +witnessed a sight I shall never forget though I round out a century. + +The sting of the hurt and the treachery of the brute took all of Buck's +sense and judgment for the time. He was as much animal as the +four-legged one in front of him that moment. His bearded face became +convulsed horribly, his eyes shot fire, and with that red gash in his +forehead from which tiny streams trickled unheeded, he advanced one +step, drew back his arm, and struck that mule a blow which stretched it +dead before our eyes! + +I write the culmination of this incident with reluctance. Not from its +brutal and somewhat harrowing complexion, but from the fear that many +will be tempted to smile tolerantly, and in the kindness of their hearts +forgive this one most palpable fiction in a book of fact. But it is +true, nevertheless, and I venture to declare it will be a tale in the +knob country long after later and lesser things have been forgotten. + +As the mule fell the negro boy screeched and climbed out the nearest +window. A minute later the shop was full of an excited, noisy, inquiring +crowd. Some one led Buck to the tub of water in which he cooled hot +iron, and bathed his wound, never worrying as to whether this especial +water would be entirely sanitary. The carcass quickly became the center +of a circle of amazed countrymen, and I, the only silent one present, +leaned against the jamb of the door and slowly filled my pipe. The +demonstration which I had just witnessed was not particularly +comforting. + +A youth of about nineteen stood near the mule's head. He was barefooted, +and the sum total of his apparel consisted of two garments; a shirt with +only one button, which was at the throat, and a pair of pants (not +trousers) which came to an abrupt conclusion several inches above his +big ankle bones. He wore no hat of any description. Had he possessed one +when the alarm was given, it had disappeared in the hurried rush which +followed. This youth was powerfully impressed. + +"Daid!... Plum' daid!" I heard him exclaim, in an awed undertone, +withdrawing for a moment the fixed gaze with which he had regarded the +mule ever since he came, to give a sweeping glance of incredulity +around. + +"Daid ez a nit he is, fur sho!" agreed another, a merry-faced fellow +with a rotund paunch, over which the band to his pants refused to meet. +"A hunnerd 'n' fifty dollars' wuth o' live meat turned to cyarn in a +secint.... Who's gunta pay fur it? Whut 's th' law, 'Squar?" + +He looked at a big, full-whiskered man with his back to me. + +The 'Squire cleared his throat and felt for his tobacco. + +The mule's owner thrust forward in the interim, and brought up just in +front of the magistrate. + +"Yes, I wan' to know th' damn law on th' subjic', too!" he bellowed, +making no apparent effort to curb his feelings. "Wuth a hunnerd 'n' +sev'nty-five--wuth two hunnerd wuz that mule! Six foot 'n' 'n inch--thar +he is! Measure 'im if yo' don't b'lieve me! Th' bes' yearlin' in my +barn--mealy-nosed, to boot! So much good cash to be drug out to th' +buzzards--_damn_!" + +He spat on the ground and twisted his booted heel in rage. + +"This is a onusual case--I mought say a on-pre-ce-dinted case," drawled +the 'Squire, in a conciliatory voice. "We'll settle it right here 'n' +now, a'cordin' to th' test'munny 'n' my readin' o' th' law, ever'body +bein' 'gree'ble. Yo' c'n take it to th' cote, sholy, but th' lawyers 'll +eat yo' up. Bes' settle am-am-am'c'ble, right here 'n' now." + +At this juncture Buck's tall form arose from beside the tub, where he +had been sitting on a nail keg while a motherly Hebron matron had put +balsam to the hurt, and bound it with a white cloth. He came slowly +forward, his leathern apron still about him, and pushed his way through +the ring. + +"Whut yo' mouth'n' 'bout, Bart Crawley?" he demanded. The fire in his +eyes had died to a smoldering gleam, but his mood was ugly. + +The man addressed looked at him, then immediately shuffled back a +little. + +"That's th' bes' hoss mule in these parts--" + +"Yo' mean he _wuz_ th' bes' hoss mule!" interrupted Buck, in a spirit of +reckless deviltry. + +Crawley flushed, paled, clenched his fists and glared hate at the +speaker. + +"Here now, men," spoke up the 'Squire, laying a knotty hand upon the +shoulder of the owner. "Leas' said's soones' mended. They's no manner o' +ust carry'n' hard feelin's any fu'ther.... Buck, shet up!... Bart, keep +_yo'_ trap shet till I git th' straight o' this. Whur's th' witnesses'? +Who saw th' killin' o' this here mule?" + +His head went up, and his eyes roved over the packed interior of the +shop. + +Just then I wished myself away. Could I have foreseen the public inquiry +now afoot, I certainly would have put myself beyond reach, for Buck was +to blame in this affair, and my testimony would necessarily show it. +Naturally I did not want to arouse any ill-feeling I could avoid. +Perhaps even now I might slip away unobserved. But the thought was +doomed even as it flashed into my mind. Bart Crawley promptly made +answer. + +"Me 'n' th' nigger 'n' Buck--'n' him!" pointing triumphantly at me. + +Instantly every eye was turned upon me. I looked straight at Buck, +calmly and steadily. His return stare was ominous, and during the brief +time we held each other's eyes, I believed I read in his the message +that he had waited as long as he was going to--or could. + +The voice of the 'Squire, speaking in slurring accents, broke upon the +silence which had fallen. He plainly was making an effort to uphold the +dignity of his high office, from the painstaking way in which he +delivered himself. + +"Bart, ez owner o' th' defunc' animile, I 'low yo've got fus' say. Tell +jes' how, 'n' w'y, this here yearlin' hoss mule wuz struck'n down daid +by Buck Steele." + +Mr. Crawley, holding that the relation of any incident would be +imperfect shorn of the minutest circumstance preceding, as well as +accompanying it, began thus: + +"Well, 'Squar, this mawn'n' at feed'n' time, 'long 'bout sunup, I +s'pose, ur it mought 'a' ben a bit before, I tol' my boy Tommy--my +secint boy, th' one 'ith th' harelip, yo' know 'im--that I 'tended to +hev shoes--" + +"They 's no ust o' tellin' whut yo' et fur breakfus', Bart," broke in +the magistrate, with unconscious irony. "Begin at th' time w'en yo' +entered into this here shop with yo' mule." + +"Well," resumed Mr. Crawley, "I rid up to th' do' 'n' slid off o' my +mule, 'n' said, 'Mawn'n', Buck, how's yo' corp'ros'ty?' kind o' churf'l +lak, 'cus yo' know I don't hate nobody. Buck 's foolin' 'ith a wag'n +tar, 'n' 'peared kind o' grumpy as if he had n't slep' good ur else +some'n' he et had n't sot well with 'im. He grunted, sort o', by way o' +answer, 'n' I led my hoss mule in 'n' tol' 'im whut I wanted. They's a +couple o' Hir'm Toddler's kids in here then, scratch'n' 'roun' in th' +hoof-shav'n's hunt'n' hoss-shoe nails, lak young-uns 'll do. Well, Buck +didn't 'pear overanxious 'bout th' job, so to sweet'n his sperit a +little I tol' 'im a joke 'bout--" + +"I objec' to th' joke, Bart," interrupted the 'Squire again, in a very +judicial manner, clearing his throat as he had heard the judge do in +Cedarton. + +"All right, 'Squar, we'll pass th' joke but it's a durn good 'n'. Well, +then I tol' Buck that th' mule wuz green 'n' had never saw inside a +blacksmith's shop befo', 'n' Buck 'lowed kind o' vicious lak: 'Damn th' +mule, he'd shoe 'im green ur broke!' My joke didn't 'pear to sof'n 'im +one bit, but it's wuth lis'n'n' to, 'Squar. We've tol' it in our section +off 'n' on fur a matter o' two year, I reck'n, 'n' ever' time it's good, +sho! Well, Buck stayed grumpy 'n' got th' shoes, 'n' spite o' whut I +tol' 'im he marched right up to that animile's hind parts 'n' rech down +'n' grabbed a hock same 'twuz a ol' plow-hoss. Then th' critter let +drive, b'gosh! 'n' it come blame near bein' th' end o' Buck, I'm here to +tell yo'! Right then Hir'm's kids skedaddled same as if a skunk 'd let +loose 'n' d'rec'ly _he_ come sa'nter'n' 'long 'n' leaned ag'in th' +door." The speaker's toil-twisted forefinger again pointed straight at +me. "Then I tol' Buck to be keerful, 'cus I saw he's in a' ugly way, 'n' +I tried to w'eedle 'im, kin' o' lak yo' would a spoilt kid. 'N' he did +go after that hin' foot some keerfuller th' nex' time, but fus' thin' +yo' know that hin' leg riz same as a snare-saplin' 'n' th' aidge o' that +hoof plowed a furrer plum' 'crost Buck's head. My guts went all trimbly +w'en I seen it, 'n' my knees got weak. 'Fo' God I thought he's killed! +But no, sir! Up he riz frum whur he'd jumped back 'n' scrooched down, +'n' he paid no more min' to th' blood in 'is eyes than if it'd 'a' ben +sweat. He retch back 'is fis', gen'lemen, same 't wuz a sledge-hammer, +'n' he slewed that mule! Same as Sam's'n killed th' 'Malekites in Holy +Scriptur 'ith th' jaw-bone uv a jinny! Down he fell, quiv'r'n' 'n' daid! +Didn't even bresh 'is tail onct, nur snort, nur bat a' eye! That +yearlin' hoss mule whut I say is wuth two hunnerd 'n' fifty dollars uv +any man's money, black ur w'ite. 'N' now he's buzzard-food, not wuth +haul'n' out o' this here shop. Gen'lemen, I want jestice!" + +Mr. Crawley had managed to work himself up into rather a fine frenzy as +he talked, and he gave a dramatic and telling illustration of how the +mule met his end. When he concluded with a sweeping gesture entirely +devoid of meaning, a quick survey of his audience showed me plainly that +public sentiment was on his side. A few moments of absolute silence +prevailed, broken at length by the rustling of the 'Squire's horny hand +as he shoved it into his pants pocket for another chew. The occasion was +one which required plenty of tobacco. He gnawed off a generous portion +of the plug after much head-twisting, but as he prepared to resume the +investigation something happened. + +The smith had remained quiet and silent during Bart's elaborate recital, +but his somber eyes had never left the other man's face. With the +impassioned, if crude, harangue with which Bart concluded his testimony, +I noted portents of a storm. The dominant elements in Buck's nature were +purely barbarian. He had suffered much of late, and self-control was +something which he did not know, even remotely. Later he probably would +be ashamed of the blow he had dealt the harmless thing at his feet which +had been obeying its instinct in offering resistence to something which +it feared. But that moment such reason as Buck habitually possessed was +submerged in a black wave of hate. I saw it coming, from my position by +the door. I saw flashes beneath the down-drawn lids, restrained heaving +of the big, hairy chest, hands which were fists and hands alternately, +and on the heavy features an expression nothing short of devilish. He +waited a while after Bart finished--waited until the 'Squire had +succeeded with his chew, then he took two swift steps and faced the mule +owner. + +"Yo' damn dog!" he hissed. "I c'd th'ow yo' thoo that winder! I c'd +wring yo' naik lak a chick'n! I c'd lay yo' 'crost that anv'l 'n' break +yo' back lak a splinter o' pine, 'n' yo' know it! But yo're not wuth it! +Damn yo' 'n' yo' mule! Damn th' 'Squar! All o' yo'--to hell with yo'!" + +Accurately, deliberately, he spat a mouthful of ambier on Bart Crawley's +nose, then turned and left the shop, people falling back in fright +before him. + + * * * * * + +Two hours later I turned my face toward Bald Knob. The investigation was +never finished, partly because it was unanimously conceded Buck was in +the wrong from the manner in which he had behaved, and partly because +Bart struck out at once for Cedarton to prefer charges against the smith +and swear out a warrant for his arrest. The unexpected and startling +denouement wrought consternation in the shop, and the opinion was given +freely that Buck must be "off." Certain it is he left Hebron at once, +going up the railroad, and no one followed him. The crowd instantly +gathered around me with many honest, well-intentioned questions, and I +told them frankly that as far as I knew Bart had told the truth. Many +and divers were the comments anent Buck's queer actions, but a simmering +down resulted in the generally accepted opinion that he surely was +"off." I thought this, too, in a measure, although I did not speak it, +for I knew things which the people of Hebron did not. + +But I tarried among them for the space of two hours, listening to their +uncouth colloquialisms and provincial sayings; and when, finally, a game +of horse-shoes started in the middle of the road just in front of the +store, and a self-appointed committee of two began to ascend the hill to +acquaint Father John with the only real event of the year, I started +home. + +I was not at ease. One of the reasons I had lingered was in the hope +that Buck would return. But he didn't. The man was desperate. I could +doubt it no longer. He was half crazy. Ordinarily he would have +compromised with Bart. He was now simply an unchained devil, loose and +bent on mischief. + +My feelings were not soothed when I reached the Lodge. Pinned to the +door with the same nail which had held the message was a sheet of my +writing paper, and on it was a large, rude cross, traced with a finger +which had been dipped in blood. + +It was the third and last warning. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO + +IN WHICH I SPAR WITH DEATH + + +The past week, culminating on the night in I which I sit and write with +barred door and shuttered windows, has been a hard and dangerous one for +me. Three times have I escaped death so narrowly it would seem +Providence had a hand in the game. On no occasion was the would-be +assassin visible, but I knew well chance had not aimed these well +directed blows at my life. I can't understand Buck's tactics. They are +hidden, merciless, savage in their deadly intention. I had not thought +he would stoop to this. I had eliminated this contingency when +considering my plan of action. It was incredible, but no doubt lingers +in my heart to-night. Buck Steele is trying to murder me secretly, and +in such a way that it would seem the result of an accident. His plots +suggest the cunning of an unsettled mind, but, while it certainly is +strained under the force of his mad passion, I do not believe Buck's +brain is unbalanced. He wants me out of the way, but at the same time he +wants to avoid any odium, and be free to live his life here at Hebron. +He knows that if he kills me openly it will mean, at the least, exile. I +have thought long and often over the problem, and I am sure I have come +upon the right solution. That he does not compel a meeting which could +result in a fair fight, from which no especial blame would revert to him +should he prove the victor, is simply because he is afraid to undergo +the risk--to accept the possibility of being killed instead of killing. +I do not mean by this that he is a coward, but his desire for Celeste +has so wrought upon him that he is casting aside all chances for defeat, +though his sense of honor and fair play, if he had any, goes with them. +He has become a scheming machine, and a most formidable one, I must +confess. Now I will make a brief record of what has taken place the last +seven days. + +Saturday night, at bedtime, I debated the question of closing the Lodge, +following the discovery of the final, crimson warning. I hesitated to +confess to myself that I had begun to feel fear, but something had waked +within me that whispered I must be careful from that hour. I don't think +I would have known this feeling had my enemy been open and fair in his +movements. But it is human nature to dread the invisible terror which +lurks in the dark, and I knew that I was doing the sensible thing when I +barred my door and dropped the shutter of the window next my cot. I made +this shutter secure by a long hook which fitted into a large staple. +Before I blew out the lamp, I looked at the other window for a long +time. At last I decided that Buck could not squeeze his bulk through the +opening, and went to bed. + +I fell asleep quickly, although my mind was not at ease. This mental +condition must have led to my waking about midnight, which was an +unprecedented thing. I lay and listened. I heard something, and it was +not the wind; for, though a breeze was soughing in the pines without, +the sound of footsteps was distinctly audible. They paused at the door, +passed on to the closed window, paused again, then went around to the +open window. Quietly I slid my hand under my pillow and drew out my +revolver. Luckily, I lay facing the small opening. Otherwise I would +have feared to turn, on account of the noise the act would have +involved. The square aperture was barely discernible, and I judged from +this the night was cloudy. Fixing my gaze on the window with the utmost +intensity, I raised my weapon and waited, determining at the same time +not to fire until I saw that my life was in danger. A formless shape +blotted the square of less dense gloom, and for a time there was +silence. I think the prowler was trying to locate me, and I breathed +softly, making no sound. The wait was interminable to me, though in +reality I suppose it was not over a minute. Then the shape at the window +swayed from side to side, noiselessly, sank down, to reappear at once. I +heard a rustling, a muffled tattoo like a dry bean pod makes in an +autumn gust, and while my mind was yet filled with wonder as to what was +going to happen, the shape twisted grotesquely and I heard a slithering +as of one body over another. The next instant something cold and crawly +struck my upheld wrist, slid across it, and dropped with a fleshy thud +on the floor. Horror gripped me then. Horror supreme and terrible. I +could have shrieked had my voice not been shut in my breast. I trembled +from head to foot, and icy waves swept me all over. What was that? What +could it have been but----At that moment one of the most appalling and +nerve-racking sounds arose that ever turned a mortal's blood to water, +and his brave courage into craven cowardice. It was the hair-raising +warning of an angered rattlesnake! With a snarling cry of sheer terror I +sprang up in bed and fired at the window--three times before I could +control my forefinger, which was acting automatically. The act was +spontaneous. I did not shoot with the desire to hit anybody. None of the +bullets passed through the window, as I discovered the next morning. +Following the reports was the sound of some one running, accompanied by +a second whirring rattle. Could that thing see in the dark? Was it +preparing to leap upon me? When the rattling ceased this time I knew it +would spring. Dashing the cover from me I threw myself toward the foot +of the bed, a clammy perspiration bursting out upon me as I did so. I +reached the floor. As I stretched a shaking hand toward the spot where I +knew the table was, to my ears came the evil sound of the impact of the +reptile's body against the edge of the cot, and its subsequent fall to +the planks beneath. In the stark stillness followed the sibilant sliding +of fold over fold as the monster coiled afresh--whispers of a hideous +doom. My palsied fingers touched the table, and presently I was on top +of it, crouching among my books and manuscripts, feeling feebly for the +lamp and the matches. Before I could make a light it sprang again, again +failed to surmount the cot, and dropped back. Four matches broke in my +clumsy grip, but the fifth struck. I got the lamp alight before I +turned. The sight was awesome enough, but far better the visible menace +than the death-dealing thing which moved in darkness. It was coiled +there, just at the edge of my bed. Great, thick, fleshy, splotched folds +interwoven into a sinister spiral, from the center of which arose the +rattle-capped tail, now vibrating with the rapidity of an alarm bell. In +front was reared the repulsive head; flat, gem-eyed. When I looked upon +this world-old emblem of treachery and guile, my normal being became +reestablished with a suddenness almost amounting to a wrench. Now that I +saw, and knew; now that my brain could comprehend the exact situation, +and handle it, I became a man once more. But I would offer no apology +for my conduct the few preceding minutes. If it appears contemptible, it +must remain so. But I was never nearer dead from plain, simple fright +than I was during that time. + +I grew calm almost at once. The snake was dazed by the light, and made +no third assault, though still retaining his fighting posture, and +sending out that indescribable alarm now and then. I had dropped my +revolver when I threw myself from the cot, and now saw the weapon lying +among the bedclothes near the foot. I was master of myself again. +Quietly stepping down, I secured the revolver, and ten seconds later it +was all over. Then I opened the door and flung the carcass outside, came +in and barricaded the entrance again. No longer did I hesitate about the +open window, but went and fastened it in the same manner I had the +other. My foot struck some object. It was a pasteboard shoe box of +extraordinary size. I picked it up and walked nearer the lamp. One end +was slit down at the corners so that when the top was lifted it would +fall, as on a hinge. + +I placed the box on the table, took a stiff drink of whisky, found my +pipe, and lit up. I needed bracing, for when I grasped the full +significance of this foul and devilish attack, a physical nausea came. +The liquor brought a reaction, and I sat down in my nightshirt, puffing +vigorously and regarding the big shoe box in a fascinated way. There +were rattlesnakes about--plenty of them. I had heard them and seen them +on my many journeys through the wilderness, but I had always given them +undisputed possession of the especial territory they happened to be +occupying when we met. Buck had caught one; a patriarch from his size. +The capture was not difficult. These reptiles' lidless eyes have a very +short range of vision. A careful man with a forked stick can scotch one +whenever he wishes. The transfer to a box was also simple. All of this +he had done, and had then come in the middle of the night with the fell +intent of dropping that thing on me, asleep. I don't think I have ever +heard or read of a project equally as dastardly and devoid of all +feeling. It was something the very devil would shudder to confess. + +The second attempt to remove me in an apparently natural manner came +Tuesday. + +Sunday and Monday I kept to the plateau. I did not believe the smith had +reached that point of desperation where he would shoot me down openly, +and it was out of the question for me to remain a prisoner in the Lodge. +I had no doubt that I was watched, although I neither saw nor heard +anything to confirm this suspicion. + +I measured the rattler before burying it, and found it five feet long +and four and a half inches thick at the largest part. It was of mammoth +proportions for the Kentucky knobs, where they seldom exceeded three +feet in length. I was glad when the noisome thing was out of sight. + +Tuesday morning the thought came to me that perhaps Buck had fallen in +the clutches of the law. I was aware of a sensation of relief at the +probability, and the fact that two days and nights had passed without +any untoward manifestation would appear to render the idea altogether +reasonable. Bart Crawley, furious and revengeful, had started hotfoot +for the county seat Saturday to issue a warrant. It was the duty of the +sheriff or a deputy to serve it at once, and take the offender into +custody. I resolved to go to Hebron and find out. I knew I was taking a +great risk, for the road was lonely and secluded, and there was the +thick forest to traverse before reaching Lizard Point. No man could wish +for better surroundings in which to commit a hidden crime. And, however +watchful I might be, I would stand no chance whatever with my life +should an effort be made against it. There was not a rod of ground along +the entire route where an ambush could not have been successfully laid. +The outlook was depressing, but I decided upon the venture anyway, for +could I know the smith was lodged in jail, a grievous burden would be +lifted from my mind. + +There were no precautions I could take before starting forth. I simply +bore my stout stick in my left hand, and kept my right in the side +pocket of my coat, clasping the handle of my revolver. That was all I +could do. A sense of foolhardiness enveloped me as I strode down from +the plateau along the tree-bordered, vine-grown way. Would a truly well +balanced person thus jeopardize his life? Most likely he would not. But +a certain recklessness of spirit had come upon me, begotten of the +Dryad's cruel absence, my long wait, and the abrupt aggressiveness of +Buck. When a man's temperament becomes surcharged with a sentiment of +this color, you may look for him to do things which had not even +bordered his existence in saner moods. As I proceeded without +molestation, a sort of dogged defiance gained ascendency and my head +went higher, while my face became set in a mask of determination. + +I saw no one. I heard nothing but the peaceful sounds of Nature and her +creatures. Surely Buck was in the toils, or he never would have let this +golden opportunity go by unemployed. When I came to the tree-bridge my +apprehensions had vanished; I did not dread the remainder of the +journey. I was conscious of a sharp shock of pain when I looked at the +still empty house where Celeste lived. Had I yielded to the importunity +of the eager voices which began to clamor in my soul at the sight, I +speedily would have become undone. I have not written of the terrific +fight I have had since my sane self conquered that night on the peak, +but the reason for this is that I do not want to appear absolutely silly +in the eyes of those who may read these words. But it took all that was +in me to hold to the hard path of sanity and common sense. My love for +her of the wheat-gold hair-- + +Quickly I crossed the bridge and turned toward Hebron, setting my teeth +on my lower lip in firm resolve, and walking rapidly. + +When I came within view of the hamlet I halted and listened. No ringing +sound floated across to me from the shop; the forge was still. I went +on, more slowly. Everything seemed to support the theory that my enemy +had been arrested. The smithy was open, but empty; the fire was dead. I +pushed forward to the store. Mr. Todler (I had learned his name only the +Saturday before) was not sitting on the porch this morning, and for good +reason. The sun was blazing hot, and fell squarely upon the cracker box +where the storekeeper was wont to rest. It is true he might have removed +the box to the other side of the door, where the sun did not reach, but +this would have involved some effort. I went in. At first I thought the +place vacant, and stood listening to some green flies buzzing and +butting their foolish heads against the window panes--panes so dirty +that they looked like mica. Then I saw Mr. Todler. He was stretched upon +the dry goods counter in a space about seven feet clear, his head +resting upon a thick bolt of unbleached cotton, a newspaper over his +face. Back of him were other bolts of different kinds, piled one upon +another, and on top of the whole lay a tortoise-shell cat, slumbering +peacefully. Mr. Todler was slumbering, too, but not peacefully. The +store was taking care of itself. + +Assuming that this singular person went to sleep with the expectation of +being aroused should a customer perchance arrive, I removed the +newspaper, hoping thus to waken him. But the sweet bonds which held him +were not to be loosened so lightly. He snored on, and I found myself +regarding his grimy collar, his frayed, soiled, green-and-yellow +necktie--one of the ready-made kind, where you stick a band through a +hole and it catches on a pin. I grasped his shoulder and shook him, for +the information I sought was of the first importance. He uttered a sound +which was the mingling of a grunt and a groan, and began to bat his +heavy lids slowly. + +"Whut yo' want?" he muttered, thick-tongued because of sleep which still +pressed upon him. + +"Is Buck Steele in jail?" I asked, quickly, for I saw symptoms which +pointed toward another period of unconsciousness. + +"Buck?" he said, faintly, and in a way which led me to believe that he +had not comprehended my question. His eyes had shut again. + +"Yes, Buck!" I cried, shaking him a second time, and lifting my voice to +a hard key. "Bart Crawley went for a warrant Saturday. Has the sheriff +got him yet? Answer yes or no, and I won't bother you any more!" + +Mr. Todler neither rose nor stirred under my vehement words, but his +eyes came open listlessly, he blinked at me for a few seconds, and +replied: + +"He wa'nt tuk w'en I we'n to sleep. Whut's more, he ain't a-goin' to git +tuk--not Buck!" + +This lengthy speech must have been exhausting, for Mr. Todler sighed +wearily at its conclusion, turned his head with a grimace, and slowly +dragged the newspaper over his face again. + +I did not thank him. The news had been too hard to win, and was too +unsatisfactory. + +The man was right. I saw clearly on the instant that Buck would never +submit to incarceration. He had graver business on hand than simply +obeying the law's behest. + +I began the return tramp with my spirit cast down and troubled. If Jeff +Angel only would come, and bring the Dryad! I would not--I could not +leave before her home-coming. Though a bloodthirsty blacksmith lurked +behind every tree in the locality, yet would I stay. If the next few +days found her back, I might manage to elude Buck, and get us away +safely. _Us!_ Yes, she should go with me. Although I had made no +declaration, some intuition told me that all would be well could I once +more stand in her presence. Enough had come to my knowledge to merit +this assurance. + +I turned from the highway and took the knob road going past Lizard +Point. About a half-mile from the pike, the dirt road ran under a cliff +for a number of rods; a sheer limestone precipice fifty or sixty feet +high. It was here, although introspectively engrossed almost to the +point of abstraction, that I suddenly knew a danger threatened me. I was +striding swiftly along, and when the thought came I stopped abruptly. +Two more steps would have stretched me dead. For instantly I heard a low +whistling sound which gathered volume, something whizzed downward before +my face, so close that I felt the air from its passage and jumped back. +A huge stone, large as a half-bushel, struck the soft earth almost at my +feet, rebounded, and rolled over into a patch of fennel ten feet +distant. + +I looked up, rage giving me a daring which mocked at risk. Where I stood +I made yet an excellent target, but I did not think of this then. A +harsh laugh drifted down; I saw the thick foliage on the lip of the +precipice become violently agitated, and I fancied I heard the cracking +of dry twigs, as under a heavy, careless step. I could not follow, +though in my heart that moment I had the fierce desire to slay. I had +never known this before. It was awful--but it was also sweet! I could +have killed that creeping coward above me and laughed in joy. Something +became unfettered within me which I never knew I possessed. Something +which for the moment I could not have restrained had the object of my +wrath stood before me. In that instant centuries were bridged, and my +forebears of the stone age had a fitting representative in my being. +This wave of primal, mindless passion which bade me destroy ruthlessly +did not subside at once, and it was only after I had pursued my way for +some time that I experienced the resurgent flow of my normal self. + +I did not anticipate a second attack before I reached home. Each of +these cowardly efforts had been planned in advance, and had either +succeeded no one could have pointed at Buck Steele as my slayer. I was +safe for another day, at least, so, gaining a temporary relief from this +fact, I trudged on moodily to the Lodge. + +Next day at noon, as I turned from the well with a bucket of water in my +hand, I saw a belted and booted figure coming toward me from the spot +where the road led up. The stranger had an athletic bearing, wore a +cheap straw hat much out of shape, and carried a rifle in the hollow of +his arm. I advanced to meet him, for I guessed his mission at once. + +"You're the sheriff of this county?" I asked pleasantly, setting my +bucket down, and shaking hands. + +The man took his hat off and drew his shirt sleeve across his streaming +face. The imprint of his hatband showed a red bar across his white +forehead. + +"Nope; deputy. Been huntin' a blacksmith fur the las' four days, 'n' +it's worse 'n huntin' four-leaf clover." + +He chuckled, as though the task was not as onerous as his words implied, +and hitched his trousers. + +"Plenty of room to hide out here," I agreed. "Come over to the house and +have a drink. You seem hot." + +"Well, I reck'n. Bad time o' year fur a manhunt." + +He walked beside me to a bench, and when he had greedily swallowed three +cups of water I asked him to sit down and rest a while. The invitation +pleased him, and presently we had launched into an animated +conversation. I soon learned that he had been in and about Hebron most +of his time; that he had not even caught a glimpse of his quarry, and +that someone in the hamlet had suggested that he come to see me. A +moment's reflection showed me that I could not make a confidant of the +officer, much as I wished to, for an explanation of Buck's animosity +would be in order. This I could not give without bringing in the name of +a third party, and exposing to a chance acquaintance the cherished +secret in my heart. No, Buck and I must settle this affair alone, and in +silence. So I told the deputy instead that I was present when the mule +was killed, and that it actually was accomplished with a single blow +from the fist. Whereupon, he declared that he was glad to have Bart +Crawley's statement verified, as most of the citizens of Cedarton had +taken it with a grain of salt, but personally he believed it true. Then +he became quite chatty, and proceeded to relate some of the exploits of +Buck's father, a giant who for girth and stature had surpassed his son. +I listened politely to the rambling narrative, taking much comfort in +the simple presence of my caller. + +"Th' ol' man finally went crazy," concluded the deputy; "yellin', +whoopin' crazy, 'n' jumped off a bluff in the river one winter night." + +"Went crazy?" + +My lips repeated the two words involuntarily, and I turned to the man as +though I had not heard aright. The statement formed a portent of dread +to my mind. + +"Yep; whoopin' crazy," confirmed the cheery voice. "He got crossed some +way with somebody 'n' worried hisself wild. Ol' people tell me it's a +fam'ly failin'--that mos' of 'em end that way.... This Buck, now, hidin' +out this-a-way. 'Tain't nat'r'l, is it?... I dunno." + +He shook his head and gazed out over the wide forest with drawn brows. + +I did not reply, but slowly reached for my pipe. + +"When a feller's in office 'n' 's give a war'int, he's got to serve it, +or go yeller. I didn't hanker fur this here 'p'intment, I'm free to say, +'n' if I'd a-knowed Buck's a-hidin' out, be durned if I b'lieve I'd 'a' +come! Some'n' 's eatin' on Buck 'sides killin' that mule--you can't tell +me!... Well, I mus' be scoutin' on." He got on his feet, drank another +cup of water, and stood for a moment gripping the muzzle of his rifle +with both hands, its stock grounded between his feet. "Don't s'pose +you've laid eyes on 'im'?" he added, in a softer, musing tone. + +"No; not since he walked out of the shop that day." + +Suddenly the deputy wheeled and faced me. + +"Pardner," he said, seriously enough considering the almost bantering +note he had formerly employed; "I b'lieve Buck's goin' the same way his +pappy did!" + +"Why?" + +I tried to hold my voice to a brave level, but the monosyllable rang +hollow. + +"The signs ain't right," came the instantaneous reply. "Buck'd never'd +'a' laid out that mule if he'd been hisseff, in the firs' place. He's +shoed young mules by the dozen. In the nex' place he'd 'a' settled with +Bart instead o' spittin' in 'is face 'n' damnin' ever'body 'n' the law, +too. I've got a notion to lose this pesky war'int 'n' go back to where +people live!" + +He moodily pressed his hand to a pocket in his shirt, and I caught the +rustle of paper. Then he laughed softly, said good-by rather abruptly, +and strode away. + +I shall not attempt to make a record of the thoughts which assailed me +after the deputy had gone. + +Yesterday came the third attempt on my life. + +Believing now that my rival's mind was affected, and that he had +received the fixed and determined idea of making away with me in some +manner which would appear wholly natural, I no longer remained within +the Lodge, or kept to the restricted limits of the plateau. I walked +abroad, always careful and watchful, it is true, and keeping my feet +from suspicious paths. My longing for the Dryad had become a sort of +mania, and each morning I arose with the fervent hope that that day +would bring her back home. How I looked for the ragged, uncouth shape of +Jeff Angel! But his grotesque figure remained absent, and I was left to +unfruitful contemplation, a prey to dread. + +Yesterday I chose a new route. Inaction was past endurance, and my daily +rambles were all that sustained me. It was midafternoon when I found +myself on the flank of a precipitous knob, several miles from home. I +had proceeded cautiously for quite a distance, as my aimless steps had +led me to what really was a perilous position. A massive ledge of stone +cropped out of the knob at the place where I traversed it, and below was +an unbroken fall of many feet, into a valley thickly grown with trees. I +stopped to enjoy the scene, for even in my present mental turmoil the +sight demanded recognition and appreciation. I leaned forward and out, +retaining my balance by a careful exercise of certain muscles. The +verdant glory of the all-embracing hills, the limitless sweep of the +tree-clad ranges and valleys, and the bosky tangle of the spot beneath +me, combined to work keenly upon my sensibilities. I loved Nature. I +worshiped in the vine-draped, bloom-lit courts of the untamed wild; in +the temple not made by hands whereof each towering tree was a column, +and each moss-hung bowlder an altar. It was here my soul exulted, where +the tinkle of a hidden rivulet made dulcet music, and the attar from +many a flower's chalice spread abroad its peerless incense--Nature's +undefiled offering to Nature's God. I was uplifted in that moment, as I +leaned forward and drank in the manifold delights displayed freely for +my hungry eyes. + +In the midst of this elation of spirit, a fiendish shout of triumph rang +in my ears, and I felt a heavy hand upon my back shoving me violently +forward--to destruction. Too late I realized my indiscretion. I had +allowed sentiment to usurp the place of judgment. While I was reveling +in the matchless scene Nature had prepared for my delectation, and had +offered without reserve, Buck had stolen cat-footed upon me. I wrenched +my body about in a furious effort to retain my foothold, but the next +moment I was falling through space. Like a stone I fell, down--down. I +crashed through the top of an oak, struck a limb, passed it in some way, +fell, struck another, slid along it, and brought up against the trunk +with a fearful jar. + +For a moment I did not attempt to move. Then slowly I got astride the +limb and made an investigation. But for a pain in my side, where the +contact with the first limb had bruised it, I had escaped as by a +miracle. Thinking that Buck might make a detour, and come to see if I +really had perished, I descended to the ground as quickly as possible, +and returned to the Lodge in a roundabout way. + +Most of to-day I have spent under roof, brooding over the somber problem +which hourly grows more threatening. Matters have about reached a +climax. I cannot veil the truth from myself. If the smith is insane +there is no telling what move he will make next. An unbalanced mind is +never steadfast, and any minute he may abandon the tactics thus far +employed, and adopt safer and surer means to compass my destruction. + +It is fearfully hot in here, because the room is shut tight. I would not +think once now of lying down to sleep with a window open. A few more +days will tell the story. I am unnaturally calm, I believe, considering +all that has occurred this week. I am not frightened, but I am anxious. +I don't want to mar these peaceful pages with the narration of a +tragedy. I don't want to confess to them how I slew a fellow creature. I +am a man of peace. But it comes to me to-night that forces beyond my +control are at work. That, unless Celeste comes soon, the concluding act +in the drama will be played. It may be that I shall not be alive to +chronicle its end. It may be that I shall go down to death with my +love-dream unfinished. But I do not believe this. If worse comes to +worse, I believe that I shall be the conqueror. I have no reason for +this, other than the supreme faith I have in my ability to cope with the +smith of Hebron. + +I pray it all may end speedily, for I have borne as much as mortal can. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE + +IN WHICH, THOUGH THE WORLD IS STILL A VOID, THERE IS THE SHINING OF A +GREAT LIGHT + + +Two days have passed. + +Sunday was one long monotony, made up of vain watching and restless +contemplation. To-day something really stupendous happened. Something so +truly great and vital that, even though Celeste has not returned, and, +for aught I know, my death hides in the next minute, I am deliriously +happy. I'll tell the glorious news as quickly as I can. + +This morning, bright and early, a messenger arrived from Father John. He +bore no written communication, but stated in a nervous, jerky, +breathless way that his reverence desired my presence at the earliest +possible moment, on a matter of the gravest importance. These were not +his words, but this is the way his halting vernacular translated into +English. I questioned the shabby, awkward rustic. He knew nothing but +that I was wanted, and wanted quickly, and that he who sent this word +was "tarnation fidgety." Unable to form any sort of conjecture as to the +nature of this peculiarly urgent business, I departed at once in company +with the half grown youth, not sorry of his presence upon this occasion, +as I probably would have been upon any other. + +The old priest met me at the door, and I saw at once that he was +powerfully impressed, for some reason. His long-stemmed pipe was in his +hand, but unlighted. He decorously led me to the chair where I had sat +upon a former visit, and took a seat opposite. The library table was +between us, as before. I saw two letters upon the table in front of him, +side by side. One was almost square, pale blue, and a glance told me the +superscription was a woman's. The other was of the regular business +size, had a card in the corner which I could not make out, and the +address was typewritten. I waited in silence. + +"M'sieu--" + +He stopped, and I saw that his emotion was pressing hard upon him. His +sensitive lips quivered and twitched, and the muscles of his face were +agitated. A sympathetic pity took the place of wonder within me, and I +had the desire to do or say something which would help him. But there +was nothing I could do or say. I was completely in the dark, and could +only give him respectful, but silent attention. + +"M'sieu," he began again, after a brief interval during which I knew he +was struggling manfully with his feelings; "I have somezing to say--much +to say. Never was I so shock--so hurt, m'sieu. Never more s'prise'." His +voice grew to a surer tone now. "I have here two letter. Zis is from +Bereel." He put the tip of one yellow finger upon the pale blue +envelope. "In it she confess she tol' ze--ze--ze lie on you. She say now +it was ze joke, an' for me to correc'; zat she made ze love to you, an' +not you to her. O ze shame, m'sieu--ze shame!" He put one hand across +his eyes and shook his head sorrowfully. "I belief her w'en she tol' me +zat firs' tale, for she is my blood, an' I love her, an' I was anger wiz +you, m'sieu. If Bereel an' I have cause' you to suffer an' to loose ze +li'l wil' ma'm'selle--I shall never forgive us! Ah! m'sieu, I am 'shame' +to as for pardon--but she was my blood--my Bereel, an' I b'lief her." + +"Don't be too grieved, father," I broke in here. "I won't deny that much +harm has befallen because of this strange and unprovoked falsehood Miss +Drane saw fit to tell you. I was driven from the home at Lizard Point in +consequence of it, and soon thereafter Granny disappeared, taking +Gran'fer and Celeste with her. Of my own sufferings I will not speak. I +forgive Miss Drane, freely, now that she attempts to set matters right; +as for yourself, dear sir, there is nothing to forgive. You only acted +in good faith, and as you should have acted upon receipt of the +information which you did not once doubt was genuine." + +He hastily seized my hand in gratitude which was real as it was +affecting, and his bright eyes shone with feeling as he answered: + +"You are noble, m'sieu; mag--magnan'mous. I cannot sank you--I can only +say, God bless you!" + +He released my hand and dropped back in his chair, beginning to puff +absently at his cold pipe. + +Beryl Drane's belated confession, startling as it was in a way, and of a +nature to ordinarily work in a most gratifying manner upon my spirit, +did not long remain paramount in my thoughts. Father John seemed to have +lapsed into a sort of revery, and as the silence lengthened I found my +eyes going back again and again to the second envelope. What was in it? +Father John had included it almost in his first sentence. It could not +be from any of the vanished family, because of the typed address, and +yet it evidently contained something of interest to me. Directly I +purposely changed my position, and coughed slightly. The effort +succeeded. The priest started, lifted his head with a smile and an +indistinguishable murmur, and picked up the second envelope. + +"Zis, m'sieu," he said, in a voice tinged with awe, as he drew out the +enclosure, "is won'erful. It is ze han' of God shapin' human affairs." + +Slowly, with an expression almost beatific on his sweet old face, +suddenly glorified by some triumphant inner flame of supreme faith, he +put out his arm and placed the folded sheets in my hand. + +"Read it--all," he said, simply, then cast himself back in his chair, +closed his eyes, and intertwined his fingers under his chin. + + "NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, + "August 1st, 19-- + + "_Rt. Rev. Jean Dupre_, + "_Hebron, Ky_. + + "DEAR FR. DUPRE: I write you at the instance and request of one + Hannibal Ellsworth, with whose geological researches in the + shape of valuable contributions to periodical literature you + are doubtless familiar. At any rate you know, or did know the + man, for he died last night. + + "Late yesterday evening word came from a hospital that a + patient dangerously ill wanted to see a priest. I went. I soon + found that it was not for the purpose of spiritual confession + and preparation for death that I was wanted, for the man was + not only non-Catholic, but an unbeliever as well, but for a + confession of another sort. I shall put his story in my own + words, for I recall well everything he said, though I cannot + attempt to give it in his language. + + "He said his name was Hannibal Ellsworth--a name with which I + was quite familiar, though I had never seen the man + before--that he was fifty-five years old, and that twenty years + ago he was guilty of a deadly sin. In pursuit of his work, he + had gone into the knobs about Hebron, and finding the field so + rich, he erected a house, or cabin, about half way up the slope + of a certain high knob having a bald, conical peak. Here he + lived for more than a year. Here he won the love of a + neighborhood girl--her first name was Araminta--and in his mad + passion because of her physical beauty, he married her + secretly. When the first flush of possession had passed, he + realized what he had done. Then, a little while before the baby + came he left her, at night; stole away without a word to her, + and without leaving anything for the maintenance of his wife + and the child which was expected. Such depth of villainy is + almost incomprehensible. The man said she had parents living + near, who would care for her; that people out in those hills + needed only a little to eat and a little to wear. He told of + his heartless conduct in the most matter-of-fact way, as though + it was nothing extraordinary. He said he did not believe there + was a life beyond this, though the persistent Christian + propaganda had worried him, as it does all intelligent humans. + In case the church was right, and he should pass to judgment, + he wanted to make such reparation as he could to those he had + wronged. He gave me your name, and asked that I should + communicate with you, as you were acquainted with the parties + concerned--or at least knew his forsaken wife. + + "It seems he was a man of some means, and prior to my arrival + he had been in lengthy consultation with a lawyer here, who was + his friend. He has arranged to pass all of his money to his + wife, should she still live. If she is dead, it is to go to the + child--whether son or daughter he does not know. The attorney + who has his secular affairs in charge is Rehoboam Justin, at 21 + Eighth Street. You may address him there with the necessary + proofs concerning the validity of the wife's or child's claim. + I tried to interest Mr. Ellsworth in his soul's salvation, but + so firmly had the adversary become entrenched that nothing I + could say had the slightest effect. He thanked me for my + interest, though, courteously. + + "He said that his marriage was perfectly legal; that he took + the young woman by night to a town called Cedarton, near by, + and the ceremony was performed by a Protestant minister, before + witnesses. The license, together with the marriage certificate, + he says may be found in a small tin box under the stone at the + front right-hand corner of the hearth in the cabin, if it still + stands. Why he secreted these papers, instead of destroying + them, as one would naturally think from his infamous action, he + did not explain. + + "I trust that wife and child are both living, and that you will + speedily bear to them this tardy restitution. Truly, this world + is the abode of sin and sorrow. + + "Commending you to the care of God, and His holy Saints, + believe me, + + "Sincerely yours in Christ, + + "ALPHONSUS EREMY, C.S.C." + +Ten minutes after I had finished reading this letter--ten minutes during +which I sat silent with buzzing brain and elated soul, I raised my head +and looked at Father John. His eyes were open now, and he was regarding +me with an expression I could not translate. Gladness, humility, +compassion, sorrow and love were all blended in his lineaments. +Carefully, as though it were a fragile something easily broken, I laid +the letter back upon the table. + +"Keep it," said Father John in a low voice, making a slight upward +gesture. "In itself it is ze ev'dence, in case ze papers be not foun'." + +A swift alarm struck at my heart. + +"But--" I began. + +With his rare, sunshiny smile the priest interrupted. + +Then all at once a look of weary melancholy spread over his features, +and I knew he was thinking again of the perfidy of his beloved niece. +Every muscle in my body was pulling me toward the Lodge, and I now +arose. + +"I can't thank you as I would for sending for me and confiding in me as +you have," I said, my words shaky, because I had been strangely wrought +upon by all that had passed. + +He made a deprecatory, characteristic gesture with both hands. + +"Zey came zis mornin', m'sieu," he replied, sadly, glancing at the +table. "I sen' for you w'en I read zem." + +He sighed, shook his head, and reached for his tobacco jar. + +"I sink zey will be zere, but--sings hap'n, m'sieu, an' we can never +tell. It has been ze twenty year'." + +"But a tin box, father--that will hold them safely!" I exclaimed, and he +beamed tolerantly at my boyish eagerness. + +"Yes; zey should be zere." + +"You have not heard from Granny--and them?" I ventured, for the wish to +see Celeste had grown within the last quarter of an hour into an +irresistible force. I waited his reply with bated breath. + +"No," he answered, almost at once. "Zey lef' w'ile I was gone. I have +heard nuzzin'." + +Once again I tried to speak my gratitude, but the gentle old man stopped +me. This time he did not press me to stay, for he knew the magnet which +was drawing me back to the hut on Bald Knob. + +"I sink ze li'l wil' ma'm'selle will come soon," he said, as he held my +hand at parting; "zen we tell her, an' she be made vair happy." + +Forgotten was Buck and his fell purpose, forgotten was the lost Jeff +Angel as, passing through Hebron at a swift walk, I presently broke into +a run. Was this the same road, the same forest, the same sky, the same +earth? Beautiful as it always had been, it was transfigured now. My +Dryad! My lovely, innocent Dryad was free from the stigma which +hypercritical moralists would have thrust upon her! I was hastening +toward the proof with every breath I drew--toward the proof which had +lain within reach of my hand all these weeks! My heart exulted with each +onward spring, and I seemed light as air, so magically did my joy act +upon me. Swiftly I ran, but the way had never been so long. I reached +the Point. Scorning the bridge which heretofore had been a welcome aid +in crossing the creek, I dashed into the water at a place where I knew +it to be shallow, and a moment later was headed for the Dryad's Glade. +Very soon thereafter I was kneeling before the rude hearth in the Lodge, +gazing with flushed face and fascinated eyes at the front right-hand +corner stone. + +It differed in no way from all the others. A rough-surfaced, imperfect +square with an average width of ten or twelve inches, the irregular +interstices between it and its neighbors being filled with earth. It was +on a level with the others. There was nothing to indicate that it hid a +secret which meant so much. Now that I had come; now that any moment I +could prove the truth or falsity of Hannibal Ellsworth's statement, I +hesitated. Perhaps he had lied even at the last. A man capable of the +fiendish act he had committed would likewise be capable of this sardonic +jest. If this were true--if, when I lifted the stone, nothing was +revealed, what then? This torturing thought decided me. I leaped up, +took from the table the knife which Buck Steele had driven through my +journal, and with its point began to pick away the dirt between the +crevices. I worked feverishly, and presently, dropping the knife, I +gripped the stone and heaved. It moved. Again I strained backward, and +now the rock turned partly in its bed, where it had lain secure for a +score of years. Regardless of the jagged edges, I forced my fingers down +the rough sides through the loosened dirt, clawed and burrowed until I +had secured another and a stronger hold. Again I tugged, and up came my +burden bodily--up and out. I flung it rolling on the plank floor, and +trembling with anxiety gazed into the cavity it had left. I saw nothing. +Nothing but the brown earth sides and the brown earth bottom. I sank +backward with a groan. Ah! Hannibal Ellsworth! If you were alive, and +these hands were at your throat! You trickster even in death! You chosen +of Satan! You----A new thought came. Seizing the knife, I plunged it +desperately into the hole, just as I would have thrust it in the black +heart of Hannibal Ellsworth had he stood before me then. The point met +with partial resistance, then went on. I drew the knife out, and impaled +upon it was a small tin box--a tobacco box, nothing more. It had been +wrapped around and tied with a string of some kind, for the moldering +remnants still clung to it. It opened at the end. Now I was shaking with +the violence of one palsied, and presently the top fell down. I sat upon +the floor, drew the box from the knife point, and thrust in my finger +and thumb. Something was inside--something closely folded which so +filled the small space that I could not grasp it. I desisted long enough +to hold the opening to the light and peer within. I saw what appeared to +be many folds of yellowish-white paper, fitting snugly in the narrow +confines. A degree of calmness came now, and once more taking the knife, +I managed to extract the contents of the box. What the priest in Notre +Dame had written Father John was true. I held in my hand the attested +certificate of the marriage of Hannibal Ellsworth and Araminta +Kittredge, together with the license issued by the clerk of the county. +The papers were dry and crackled in my grasp; they were disfigured by +yellow splotches, and bore that peculiar odor which old parchments +always acquire. + +All afternoon I sat in the same spot, with those priceless documents +before me. I read each of them an hundred times, and examined every +letter of every written word. They were the passports of my wife to +enter into my world. Only when it grew too dark to see did I put them +back in the box, put the box in the hole, and replace the stone upon the +treasure. It would be safer right there until I could take it away. + +After supper I went out to one of the benches in front, and smoked. The +moon came up soon; a great, big, yellow moon, hoisting itself +majestically over the forest sea. It seemed as big as the end of a sugar +barrel, and the face of the lady etched upon it was a cameo of Celeste +Ellsworth. I wonder if any other man anywhere in the world has ever +dared to imagine this moon-lady bore a resemblance to someone in whom he +was interested? He was very silly and presumptuous if he did, for the +profile of this lunar enchantress reflects line for line that of my +Dryad! + +The soft, soundless, midsummer night wrought upon me in a wonderfully +peaceful way. Yet a positive, adamantine resolve grew within me ere I +came in. I shall wait one more day--one only. If Celeste does not return +to-morrow, then the day after I take up the search. There is nothing to +be gained by staying here longer, and all to lose, even life. When I +find her--when I find her--my God! At the very thought my love surges +through me so that my chest hurts and my eyelids are hot upon the balls. +I write no more to-night. I am lonely, and I am starving--for her! I +want to see her golden hair tremble in the breeze, hear her laugh, look +into the deeps of her eyes, hold her to me and tell her that I love +her--love her! + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR + +IN WHICH I VANQUISH A DEMONIAC, AND ENTER INTO GLORY + + +This is written a month later. + +The next day passed eventless. I kept to the plateau, for now I had even +greater cause not to incur needless risks. After supper I sought my seat +of the night before, my mind made up. Again I saw the moon creep up the +sky, and it was full that night; its immense disk was a perfect circle. +I sat watching the grotesque, ever-changing shapes evolved from my pipe +smoke, silvery luminous in the moonshine, and wondering just how and +where I would begin my search in the morning. Then my unchecked thoughts +drifted to Celeste, and as the minutes glided by I felt the restraint +which I had placed upon myself slipping more and more. I made no effort +to stay my imaginings, or to turn their trend. The hour was made +delicious by this mental revel; by sublime visions of what the future +would be. Most rigidly had I held myself in check since that night on +the peak, when I woke to a sense of my condition, and whither it was +leading me. Now I would relax, and suffer my feelings to assume +predominance again, for I was weary of the constant battle to banish +this girl from my brain, and anyway, the game was about played. Unless +Buck came upon me that night, I would speedily be beyond his reach. + +As my unleashed emotions mastered me more and more, a keen restlessness +seized me, the natural result of unsatisfied longing. The bench where I +had passed contented hours the night before became at length unendurable +and I arose, my face set hungrily toward the whispering woods. Sweetly +it lured me with its breath of odorous greenness; strongly it drew me by +its very mystery of being, and I responded. I would go to the Dryad's +Glade. + +I was without coat or hat. My shirt was open at the throat and the +sleeves were rolled above my elbows, for the day had been one of the +hottest I had ever known, and in the early night the heat had not yet +been conquered by the dew and the shadows. How well and strong I was! I +tarried for a moment before the unlighted Lodge to enjoy a full +conception of my superb physical vigor. It is something to make a man +rejoice--this mere knowledge of brute power. I had it in perfection that +night, and flooding my maligned lungs with a deep-drawn breath of +Nature's exquisite attar, I moved away. + +I had always loved to roam by night; I had always loved to tread the +wild; I had always loved the face of old earth best when kissed by +moonlight. These three conditions became important accessories to my +mood that evening, a mood both tender and fierce. I reached the base of +my hill of refuge, mechanically turned toward the west, and with bowed +head and leisurely steps went forward where all was vast and dim and +holy, to receive the benediction of the trees. I scarcely noticed my +surroundings, although my perceptions received and appreciated the +enveloping silence, and the pearl-gray gloom. The subtle scents of moss, +and dew-soaked earth, and the indescribable tang from bark and leaf +refreshed my nostrils with their blended odors. I felt that I was in the +first sanctuary the world had ever known; a spot where Creator and +creation were all but one; a place undefiled by the feet of grasping, +sordid men. If a prayer were born in this temple it were born of the +spirit, and not of mumbling lips more used to the shaping of lies and +hypocrisies. + +A sound came to me, threading the silence like a note from a flute; +elfin, elusive, wild. For a moment I thought I was deceived. I stopped +and listened. Piercing the continuous sigh which is never absent from a +vast forest, even in times of greatest calm, the note came again, +followed by a series of quirks and trills. Eerie enough was the sound. +Was the jest which I had offered the Satyr, while under the influence of +liquor, coming true? Did the great god Pan yet live, in truth, and did +he make merry o' summer nights in sylvan court and viney bower? My spine +grew chilly at the thought, and for an instant I was tempted to believe. +Would I see him if I pressed forward cautiously, without noise? Would I +find him dancing a drunken reel to his own music? For the nonce I cast +logic and common sense aside, and determined to stalk this heathen +deity. Bending forward, I advanced with the utmost care, walking on the +balls of my feet. At intervals I heard the pagan fantasy--jumbled +measures of the most fascinating, tuneless music that was ever set +afloat. From familiar signs I knew I was approaching my objective point. +My eagerness became intense as the pipe-notes sounded louder and louder, +and then, suddenly, the scale fell a full octave, or more, and the +liquid tones which now sifted through the motionless air were laden with +a burden I knew. I stopped, grasped a tree, and threw my left hand to my +forehead. I was listening to Jeff Angel's magic reed! He was playing the +Song of the Brook, as he had played it for me that memorable night. Was +the last vestige of his mind gone? Had he succeeded? Why was he dallying +here when he must have known that my heart was aching and breaking for +the news which he would bring? These thoughts and a dozen more congested +my brain during the fleeting second I leaned against the tree. Then I +was erect and dashing forward. It was a sort of natural lane down which +I rushed, whose other end debouched into the Dryad's Glade. Fast and +heedless as I sped, I saw that which checked me ere I dashed into the +open; which drove me to one side, softly and breathlessly, where I could +see without chance of discovery. + +The Dryad had come home. I know that I can but poorly describe the scene +to-night, but had I possessed pen and paper at that moment my plight +would have been the same, or worse. About half of the little woodland +court was whitened by the radiance from above, and the other portion was +in alternate light and shadow. But even in this portion--which was next +to me--a moving form could be plainly seen. The wildest, most bizarre, +most graceful dance was in progress. Celeste was all in white; a loose, +flowing robe with wing-like sleeves which waved and fluttered from her +outstretched arms. Upon her head was a wreath of great, bell-shaped, +snowy flowers, and draped loosely about her waist was a garland +similarly wrought. They were the exquisite blooms of the jimson weed, +that humble plant which grows undisturbed in every country barn lot in +Kentucky. Back and forth and around she sped, in the intricate steps of +a dance which made me dizzy to behold. Once she passed near my +hiding-place--so near that I heard the quick intake of her breath and +caught the gleam of her teeth back of her parted lips. I saw the +expression on her face, too, as she whirled by, and it was one of purest +enjoyment. The Satyr was piping and dancing, too. Weird and fantastic he +was, with the tails of his long coat flapping behind, and the sugar-loaf +hat atop his head. Time and again he measured the diameter of the glade, +turning when he had crossed it to retrace his route. His movements were +very much like those of a cake walker on parade. His middle was thrust +out, his shoulders back, and his face was turned squarely to the sky. +The goat-tuft bobbed and shook with each prancing step, and ever came +that wonderful music, which he had taken from music's source. + +Charmed into passiveness for the time, I crouched and stared at this +strange sight. Then all at once the dancers abandoned the separate +figures they had been treading, joined hands, his left in her right, and +the Satyr, playing with one hand only, began a flute-like, dreamy +movement, to whose bewitching melody they started afresh, an entirely +different measure. This continued for a minute or more, not without a +degree of stateliness, then, abruptly as a lightning flash, the Satyr +sprang away from his partner with a burst of yelling laughter wholly +uncivilized, and furiously began the Song of the Storm Wind. I had heard +it before, but not as now. As if inspired to newer effort, each began to +run. It was half race, half dance now, for even in the seeming +carelessness of this rout I detected certain steps executed with regard +to time and rhythm. Never had I seen such an extraordinary performance! +The very contrast of the participants rendered it unique, but this +unconscious revival of rites which had passed away centuries ago lent a +deeper and more enigmatical significance to it all. There was nothing +unseemly in this revel, if I may call it such. It was simply an +expression of their love for the forest which had cradled and nurtured +them. In everything but this common affection they were far apart, but +in worshiping at Nature's shrine they were one. Each felt the call to +the still places, and if we, whom life has cruelly thrust among brick +walls and stone streets and steel towers pine for such things until our +very souls cry out, how much more should they slip out alone to take +their joy of them. That was all it amounted to, and even my jealous eye +could find naught at which to carp. Two children had come forth to +gambol, nothing more. + +The pace set by the Song of the Storm Wind was too furious to continue +long. Presently the climax was reached, and Jeff flung himself upon the +ground like a tired boy, his thin legs outstretched, his body inclined +backward and supported by his arms thrust out behind him. Celeste +stopped near me, almost in the center of the moonlighted space, and +throwing her arms high she bent her head sideways and gave a deep, happy +sigh. I knew it was happy, for her countenance was tenderly aglow. +Quickly I advanced and stood before her, both hands outheld. + +"Dryad! O little Dryad! I have missed you so!" + +A startled look came to her face, but it passed on the instant, and with +a low, inarticulate cry she took one step and put her palms on mine. + +Another instant both my arms were around her and I was pressing her +closer, closer, closer, calling her all the precious names which only +lovers know, kissing her face, her warm, sweet lips, her tumbled hair. +Her arms went about my neck, her soft young body sank trembling upon my +breast. She was mine! What we said the next fifteen minutes does not +need transcription. Her words formed the most divine speech which ever +fell from mortal lips, but there are fools abroad in the world who would +not understand, so I forbear. Then, her arm in mine, we walked toward +the Satyr, still in his unconventional attitude of rest. As we drew +nearer, I saw that his ugly face bore an expression which indicated that +he was scandalized beyond measure at the meeting he had witnessed. I was +preparing to hail him jocularly, for my heart beat high with happiness +which almost made me dizzy, when his features became convulsed in a look +of mortal terror, and I knew that he was gazing at something behind me. +I had heard no sound, but intuition now flashed me the needed warning. +With the arm linked in hers I flung Celeste forward and from me as far +as I could and wheeled at the same instant with the agility and ferocity +of a tiger. I knew what I would see, but I was totally unprepared for +the truly horrible spectacle which confronted me. + +The smith was almost upon us. Bareheaded he came, stark naked to the +waist. Barefooted, too, he was. His huge, hairy chest and arms, his +bearded face and neck, and the long, unkempt hair of his head, invested +him with a certain hideousness which might well have sent a tremor of +fear to the stoutest heart. He was gnashing his teeth like a wolf--I +could hear them click plainly--and muttering throaty, guttural sounds of +wrath. He checked his rush short when I turned and faced him, and stood +ten feet away, glaring insanely from me to Celeste, from Celeste to me. +His mind was gone; I knew it then. As I waited his attack, he gave vent +to a yell which was a fearful mingling of screech and laugh, stooped as +though about to charge me, then, with motions so swift I could not +comprehend his hellish purpose, he swung a short, thick club which he +held and cast it with all his might--at Celeste! It sang fiendishly by +my ear, I heard a scream, and there my Dryad was lying on the ground, a +crumpled bit of white in the shadow-flecked glade. For a moment the +night grew black. The darkness passed. I looked again. Jeff Angel was +bending over her. I could not go to her yet. Time to bury my dead when +her murderer--A new sound dispelled the numbing lethargy which this +devil's blow had thrown upon me. It was Buck laughing. He was bending +over, his hands on his knees, and his insane merriment was grating and +mechanical. I sprang for him then; silent, grim. He jumped aside with a +gibing croak, and, yielding to some reasonless vagary, whirled and ran. +I was after him ere he had measured his first leap, for now I was +harried by the hounds of Despair and Hate, and my life had been shorn of +all aim and purpose but one. That one I knew I would accomplish--knew I +must accomplish, or be a curse unto myself forever. + +Buck ran with the speed of a greyhound, leaping now and then into the +air like a demoniac, and striking out with his fists as he did so. He +was never silent. Now he was shrieking his blood-chilling laugh, now +shouting disjointed sentences in a voice which had ceased to be human, +now singing something which might have been a war-chant of the Huns for +all its consonantal slurring and meager scope. Neither did he ever look +behind. He had taken the natural lane down which I had come, and down +which he had doubtless followed me on unshod, noiseless feet. I put +forth my strongest efforts and tried to overtake him. Though I ran +steadily and with scientific care, and he expended strength and +sacrificed distance during his numerous upward bounds, I could not gain +an inch. I doubt if such a pursuit was ever undertaken before. A +half-naked, hairy, maniac-giant leading, and a sane man well-nigh as +big, whose holiest feelings had been outraged, following. On we swept +through the checkered spaces of the forest, our progress accompanied by +that rumbling chant suggestive of forgotten ages. I do not know how such +things are, but it may have been that the slumbering strain transmitted +through many generations from some ancient warrior ancestor who lived +and fought when the world was young, had been quickened in the primitive +brain when reason left it. He had ceased laughing and mouthing +indistinguishable words now, but with every breath there rolled out the +sonorous staves of this chant of a remote past. + +We reached the base of Bald Knob, and here, instead of holding to the +ravine which led around it, Buck swerved into the road leading up. He +was going to the Lodge. Well and good. I would as soon end it on the +plateau as elsewhere. Through the weeds and vines which choked the +ascent we crashed, and as I gained the level in front of the Lodge I saw +with joy that I had lessened the distance between us. Buck sped straight +toward the open door, and I flew to overtake him, for that which had to +be had best occur in the open. In vain. I could not catch this +Mercury-footed Vulcan. As I looked to see him disappear within the +house, he made a dextrous flank movement and circled it. Instantly I was +on his track again. Now he had set his face toward the belt of +evergreens which loomed blackly above us in the brilliant moonshine. A +dread seized me. Was it his sly intention to reach this shelter first, +and hide ere I could come up? I harbored this idea only a second. This +being did not fear me. That he had run when I sought to attack him was +due solely to some antic twist of his unaccountable mind. Any moment his +mood might change. The dense gloom swallowed him, but still, a guide +through the darkness, floated back the chant. How he could keep it up +under such fearful exertion I could not understand. He must have been +made of iron and steel. I pressed on. Bursting through the furthest edge +of the encircling band of trees, I saw him once more. He had quit +running, as this was practically impossible here, and was toiling up the +steep slope silently, for his song had at last ceased. I stood a moment, +legs apart, my chest heaving laboredly, for I felt the hard chase. Up +went the great figure, grisly in its seeming now--up toward the peak. + +A remembrance of that white, crumpled form lying in the glade assailed +me poignantly, and starting beneath it as under the touch of white-hot +iron, I shouted a frightful curse, and threw myself at the acclivity. I +must reach there when he did. I must top the crest at the same time, so +that he would have no chance to make a descent on the other side. For a +while I ran, though the task was Herculean, goaded as I was into +temporary madness by the stinging thought of my lost love. So it was I +came within my own length of the climbing demoniac, who never yet had +cast a glance behind him, and who even now, though he must have heard my +progress, went directly on, without a sign. It was gruesome. In the +midst of the inferno wherein my soul burned I recognized the uncanny +strangeness of the scene. Night. A wilderness. A towering gray-white +peak of earth, and on its slope two crawling specks, one bent on--God +knows what!--the other intent on revenge. The law of Moses reigned +supreme in my mind that night: forgotten was the law of Christ. +Forgotten, or ignored. I knew no law. I was reduced to that simple plane +where I was going to claim a life--a base and worthless life in exchange +for the pure and priceless one he had taken. The united logic of all the +united churches in Christendom or out could not have convinced me that I +was wrong. + +We reached the last ascent, almost perpendicular, and here I expected +the smith to hesitate, or halt. He did neither. He put himself at it +immediately, and I imitated him. His going here was swifter than mine. +It must have been because of his bare feet, which allowed him to grasp, +cling and thrust with his sinewy toes. As we slowly neared the top he +had drawn away from me for an appreciable distance. I increased my +efforts. If I lost him now I probably never would see him again. I saw +his huge arms, looking like moss-draped limbs, shoot up, and his fingers +grip the top of the peak. I shut my teeth and my eyes and put out all +there was in me. Now I was up, and yonder--yonder was Buck, crouched +just across from me at the further rim, preparing evidently to descend, +for one leg was over the rather abrupt edge. I could not reach him; he +would slip down and be gone before I could make the passage, brief +though it was. My hand rested upon a small stone. Impelled by impulse +more than by reason, I threw the stone at him. It struck him a smarting +blow on one arm, and he turned with a snarl, half squatting, half +sitting. + +"Murderer!" I gasped; "come back and fight!" I cannot say if he +understood. I doubt it, but my voice acted as a supplementary irritant +to the cast stone. I heard the infuriate grinding of his teeth as he +rose up, and came plunging toward me with the intention to hug. I had no +wish for these tactics, and dodged just enough to escape him. Thereat he +sent forth a roar, wheeled, and struck at me. The blow was not gauged at +all, and I had no trouble warding it. Then for a little while we stood +face to face, not over five feet between us, while our heavy +respirations were the only sounds. Closely as I watched him, his +subtlety exceeded my caution. He feigned to draw back, as if to circle, +and the next moment was speeding toward me through the air in a +prodigious leap. I might have avoided his onset; I do not know. But even +as I saw him in mid-air the desperate resolve was born within me to end +the score, and that quickly. So, instead of attempting any action which +would mean delay, I gathered my strength and leaped to meet him! We +crashed together both from earth, and locked with such holds as we could +find. We came to our knees from the terrific force of the impact, and +there for a while we stayed, chest to chest, and cheek to cheek. The +deep, strained breath of the smith hissed by my ear in heavy gusts, and +I was in no better strait, for my lungs seemed on fire and my +inhalations brought no respite from the torture. It could not have been +long that we remained thus, and while the lull lasted our embrace was so +intense that we were as one body. Buck made the first move, for I was +content to continue as we were for a time, and so recover in a measure +from the exhaustion caused by the run and the steep climb. All at once I +was aware that the steel-like bands which encircled me were pressing +deeper into my flesh, with a suddenness and a violence which was +terrifying. For a second I writhed, then the muscles of my back +responded, and I felt them ridging and swelling in resistance. Now my +body was wrapped and swathed in rigid folds of strength, and I strove to +force my adversary backward. My brain was veiled in a bloody mist, and +angry seas dashed and thundered in my ears, but I knew that he was +yielding! Teeth set, eyes bulging, I called again upon myself, but now +the shaggy head dropped forward, and the fiend bit me savagely between +shoulder and neck. The shock of the pain caused me to relax, and moved +by a common impulse we arose to our feet. Then I saw his face, and had I +not been well-nigh as crazy as he, the sight would have shaken every +nerve. His curled-back lips were wet and red with my blood, his face +expressed the insane rage which filled him, and his eyes--his eyes will +haunt me to my last day, for there was no meaning in them whatever! Just +two glassy, protruding orbs shining vacantly in the peaceful moonlight. +Then he laughed; hollow, hoarse and rattling, and caught up again that +devilish, rune-like battle-chant. It was only a momentary respite which +came after we were up. This time I took the initiative, and at once +closed with him silently. New strength had come to the smith, and during +the next minute I was off my feet more than once, dragged bodily from +the ground by his superb might. The spot where we fought was perhaps ten +yards across, was almost perfectly flat, and was covered with a sort of +granular deposit which prevented us from slipping. Over this narrow area +we tugged and strove, sometimes approaching dangerously near the edge, +but eventually working back to safer ground. If he had only ceased that +brain-racking, heathenish litany! But after a time it came in gasps, and +jerks, for despite his marvelous stamina, my enemy began at last to feel +the strain. How long we battled upon the peak I do not know, but there +came a time when I felt that I had been fighting Buck Steele since the +dawn of creation. I was sore from head to foot; dizzy, and growing weak, +but I was assured that his case was no better. So, locked like two stags +which war to the death, we staggered and sprawled hither and yonder. +Then our efforts became automatic, for each had reached the point where +he was incapable of intelligent action. Suddenly the moon fell from +heaven, straight down to the top of the forest. Then it rebounded back +into the sky, and began a series of most erratic movements. At this the +glimmer of sense which I yet retained made me grow afraid. I knew that +my limit had been reached. Then was projected upon that spark of +conscious mentality the picture of my stricken Dryad--and now I laughed! +Yea, laughed wildly and mirthlessly, as I slid one arm under the smith's +huge hams, and in a resistless access of frenzied power lifted his vast +bulk as I would have raised an infant. If he struggled I did not know +it, for in that supreme moment a Titan had come to earth. To the +flume-like chute I bore him and cast him down it--down to darkness and +to hell! + + * * * * * + +How I got back to the Lodge I do not know. But as I tottered to the open +door, behold! there stood 'Crombie before the fireplace, the Satyr +crouched on a box, and sitting near the table was my Dryad! + +I fell forward at the sight, senseless. + + * * * * * + +My wife sits near me reading in the first reader as I pen these final +lines of my journal. 'Crombie's presence at the Lodge is easily +explained. The time had come for his annual trip to the great north +woods, and he determined to run down and surprise me before he left, and +see how I was getting along. He drove out from Cedarton, and arrived +just as Jeff Angel was leading Celeste up to the Lodge. Buck's club had +not struck her. When she saw his intention she had fainted from fright. +'Crombie's coming was opportune, for he has told me I would have died +without his ready help. I was in a pretty bad way. + +I am happy to relate that I did not kill Buck Steele. Just how he +escaped destruction I cannot say, but the morning succeeding our awful +combat 'Crombie made a thorough search at the base of the peak, at my +suggestion, but found nothing. In some miraculous way the smith's life +was preserved, although this was contrary to my intent and purpose at +the time. But now, with my golden-haired Dryad here safe in my home, I +am glad. I had some trouble persuading Granny that this arrangement was +best, but Gran'fer stood by me valiantly and Father John also lent his +aid, so the matter was arranged peaceably. I asked the Satyr how he +managed to induce the runaways to come back, and the graceless rascal +informed me that he told them I had gone back home! A blessed lie, dear +Satyr! + +I also questioned 'Crombie about the life-plant, for I had never been +quite easy on the subject. + +"You found it and did not know it, my son," he said, his good, honest +face beaming. "Do you remember my description of it? Well, the vivid +green stem is the universal green of Nature's dress; the golden leaves +is the healing sunlight, and the flower--the cluster of clear little +globules, is the crystalline air and water of the untainted wild. I +deceived you in a way, my son, for it was all symbolical, but it was for +your good. Now I think I was hasty in my diagnosis, and that nothing was +wrong with you. Do you forgive me?" + +He smiled upon me almost in a pathetic way. + +"It was the best thing that could have happened to me!" I replied, +thinking that by it I had gained Celeste. + +Now it comes to me that I have told my story and have never told my +name. Which goes to show that a name amounts to very little. But there +may be some curious readers who would be glad to know it, and for such I +do not mind declaring it. + +It is Nicholas Jard. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Maid of the Kentucky Hills, by +Edwin Carlile Litsey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MAID OF THE KENTUCKY HILLS *** + +***** This file should be named 35147.txt or 35147.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/1/4/35147/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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