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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: The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains + +Author: Charles Egbert Craddock + +Release Date: March 20, 2011 [EBook #35619] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROPHET *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>THE PROPHET OF THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS</h1> + +<h2>BY CHARLES EGBERT CRADDOCK</h2> + + +<h3>A NEW EDITION</h3> + +<h3>LONDON<br /> +CHATTO & WINDUS<br /> +1901</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#I">I.</a><br /> +<a href="#II">II.</a><br /> +<a href="#III">III.</a><br /> +<a href="#IV">IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#V">V.</a><br /> +<a href="#VI">VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#VII">VII.</a><br /> +<a href="#VIII">VIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#IX">IX.</a><br /> +<a href="#X">X.</a><br /> +<a href="#XI">XI.</a><br /> +<a href="#XII">XII.</a><br /> +<a href="#XIII">XIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#XIV">XIV.</a><br /> +<a href="#XV">XV.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#BY_THE_SAME_AUTHOR">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h2> + + +<p>Always enwrapped in the illusory mists, always touching the evasive +clouds, the peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains are like some barren +ideal, that has bartered for the vague isolations of a higher atmosphere +the material values of the warm world below. Upon those mighty and +majestic domes no tree strikes root, no hearth is alight; humanity is an +alien thing, and utility set at naught. Below, dense forests cover the +massive, precipitous slopes of the range, and in the midst of the +wilderness a clearing shows, here and there, and the roof of a humble +log-cabin; in the valley, far, far lower still, a red spark at dusk may +suggest a home, nestling in the cove. Grain grows apace in these scanty +clearings, for the soil in certain favoured spots is mellow; and the +weeds grow, too, and in a wet season the ploughs are fain to be active. +They are of the bull-tongue variety, and are sometimes drawn by oxen. As +often as otherwise they are followed by women.</p> + +<p>In the gracious June mornings, when winds are astir and wings are awhirl +in the wide spaces of the sunlit air, the work seemed no hardship to +Dorinda Cayce—least of all one day when another plough ran parallel to +the furrows of her own, and a loud, drawling, intermittent conversation +became practicable. She paused often, and looked idly about her: +sometimes at the distant mountains, blue and misty, against the +indefinite horizon; sometimes down at the cool, dense shadows of the +wooded valley, so far below the precipice, to which the steep clearing +shelved; sometimes at the little log-cabin on the slope above, sheltered +by a beetling crag and shadowed by the pines; sometimes still higher at +the great 'bald' of the mountain, and its mingled phantasmagoria of +shifting clouds and flickering sheen and glimmering peak.</p> + +<p>'He 'lowed ter me,' she said suddenly, 'ez he hev been gin ter view +strange sights a many a time in them fogs, an' sech.'</p> + +<p>The eyes lifted to the shivering vapours might never have reflected +aught but a tropical sunshine, so warm, so bright, so languorously calm +were they. She turned them presently upon a young man, who was +ploughing with a horse close by, and who also came to a meditative halt +in the turn-row. He too was of intermittent conversational tendencies, +and between them it might be marvelled that so many furrows were already +run. He wore a wide-brimmed brown wool hat, set far back upon his head; +a mass of straight yellow hair hung down to the collar of his brown +jeans coat. His brown eyes were slow and contemplative. The corn was +knee-high, and hid the great boots drawn over his trousers. As he moved +there sounded the unexpected jingle of spurs. He looked, with the +stolid, lack-lustre expression of the mountaineer, at the girl, who +continued, as she leaned lightly on the plough-handles:</p> + +<p>'I 'lowed ter him ez mebbe he hed drempt them visions. I knows I hev +thunk some toler'ble cur'ous thoughts myself, ef I war tired an' +sleepin' hard. But he said he reckoned I hed drempt no sech dreams ez +his'n. I can't holp sorrowin' fur him some. He 'lowed ez Satan hev +hunted him like a pa'tridge on the mounting.'</p> + +<p>The young man's eyes dropped with sudden significance upon his +plough-handles. A pair of pistols in their leather cases swung +incongruously there. They gave a caustic suggestion of human adversaries +as fierce as the moral pursuit of the Principle of Evil, and the girl's +face fell. In absence of mind she recommenced her work.</p> + +<p>'Waal,' she gently drawled, as the old ox languidly started down the +row, ''pears like ter me ez it ain't goin' ter be no differ, nohow: it +won't hender ye none.'</p> + +<p>Her face was grave, but there was a smile in her eyes, which had the +lustre and depth of a sapphire, and a lambent glow like the heart of a +blue flame. They were fringed by long, black lashes, and her hair was +black also. Her pink calico sun-bonnet, flaring toward the front, showed +it lying in moist tendrils on her brow, and cast an unwonted roseate +tint upon the clear, healthful pallor of her complexion. She wore a dark +blue homespun dress, and, despite her coarse garb and uncouth occupation +and the gaunt old ox, there was something impressive in her simple +beauty, her youth, and her elastic vigour. As she drove the ploughshare +into the mould she might have seemed the type of a young +civilization—so fine a thing in itself, so roughly accoutred.</p> + +<p>When she came down the slope again, facing him, the pink curtain of her +bonnet waving about her shoulders, her blue skirts fluttering among the +blades of corn, a winged shadow sweeping along as if attendant upon her, +while a dove flew high above to its nest in the pines, he raised his +hand with an imperative gesture, and she paused obediently. He had +flushed deeply; the smouldering fire in his eyes was kindling. He leaned +across the few rows of corn that stood between them.</p> + +<p>'I hev a word ter ax right now. Who air under conviction hyar?' he +demanded.</p> + +<p>She seemed a trifle startled. Her grasp shifted uncertainly on the +plough-handles, and the old ox, accustomed to rest only at the turn-row, +mistook her intention, and started off. She stopped him with some +difficulty, and then, 'Convicted of sin?' she asked, in a voice that +showed her appreciation of the solemnity of the subject.</p> + +<p>'I hev said it,' the young man declared, with a half-suppressed +irritation which confused her.</p> + +<p>She remained silent.</p> + +<p>'Mebbe it air yer granny,' he suggested, with a sneer.</p> + +<p>She recoiled, with palpable surprise. 'Granny made her peace fifty year +ago,' she declared, with pride in this anciently acquired grace—'fifty +year an' better.'</p> + +<p>'The boys air convicted, then? he asked, still leaning over the corn and +still sneering.</p> + +<p>'The boys hev got thar religion, too,' she faltered, looking at him with +wide eyes, brilliant with astonishment, and yet a trifle dismayed. +Suddenly, she threw herself into her wonted confiding attitude, leaning +upon her plough-handles, and with an appealing glance began an +extenuation of her spiritual poverty: ''Pears like ez I hev never hed a +call ter tell you-uns afore ez I hev hed no time yit ter git my +religion. Granny bein' old, an' the boys at the still, I hev hed ter +spin, an' weave, an' cook, an' sew, an' plough some—the boys bein' +mos'ly at the still. An' then, thar be Mirandy Jane, my brother Ab's +darter, ez I hev hed ter l'arn how ter cook vittles. When I went down +yander ter my aunt Jerushy's house in Tuckaleechee Cove, ter holp her +some with weavin', I war plumb cur'ous ter know how Mirandy Jane would +make out whilst I war gone. They 'lowed ez she hed cooked the vittles +toler'ble, but ef she had washed a skillet or a platter in them three +days <i>I</i> couldn't find it.'</p> + +<p>Her tone was stern; all the outraged housekeeper was astir within her.</p> + +<p>He said nothing, and she presently continued discursively, still leaning +on the plough-handles:</p> + +<p>'I never stayed away but them three days. I warn't sati'fied in my mind, +nohow, whilst I bided down thar in Tuckaleechee Cove. I hankered +cornsider'ble arter the baby. He air three year old now, an' I hev +keered fur him ever sence his mother died—my brother Ab's wife, ye +know—two year ago an' better. They hed fedded him toler'ble whilst I +war away, an' I fund him fat ez common. But they hed crost him +somehows, an' he war ailin' in his temper when I got home, an' hed ter +hev cornsider'ble coddlin'.'</p> + +<p>She paused before the rising anger in his eyes.</p> + +<p>'Why air Mirandy Jane called ter l'arn how ter cook vittles?' he +demanded, irrelevantly, it might have seemed.</p> + +<p>She looked at him in deprecating surprise. Yet she turned at bay.</p> + +<p>'I hev never hearn ez ye war convicted yerself, Rick Tyler!' she said +tartly. 'Ye war never so much ez seen a-scoutin' round the mourner's +bench. Ef I hev got no religion, ye hev got none, nuther.'</p> + +<p>'Ye air minded ter git married, D'rindy Cayce,' he said severely, +solving his own problem, 'an' that's why Mirandy Jane hev got ter be +l'arned ter take yer place at home.'</p> + +<p>He produced this as if it were an accusation.</p> + +<p>She drew back, indignant and affronted, and with a rigid air of offended +propriety.</p> + +<p>'I hev no call ter spen' words 'bout sech ez that with a free-spoken man +like you-uns,' she staidly asseverated; and then she was about to move +on.</p> + +<p>Accepting her view of the gross unseemliness of his mention of the +subject, the young fellow's anger gave way to contrition.</p> + +<p>'Waal, D'rindy,' he said, in an eager, apologetic tone,' I hev seen that +critter, that thar preacher, a-hangin' round you-uns's house a powerful +deal lately, whilst I hev been obleeged ter hide out in the woods. An' +bein' ez nobody thar owns up ter needin' religion but ye, I reckoned he +war a-tryin' ter git ye ter take him an' grace tergether. That man hev +got his mouth stuffed chock-full o' words—more 'n enny other man I ever +see,' he added, with an expression of deep disgust.</p> + +<p>Dorinda might be thought to abuse her opportunities.</p> + +<p>'He ain't studyin' 'bout'n me, no more 'n I be 'bout'n him,' she said, +with scant relish for the spectacle of Rick Tyler's jealousy. 'Pa'son +Kelsey jes' stops thar ter the house ter rest his bones awhile, arter he +comes down off'n the bald, whar he goes ter pray.'</p> + +<p>'In the name o' reason,' exclaimed the young fellow petulantly, 'why +can't he pray somewhar else? A man ez hev got ter h'ist hisself on the +bald of a mounting ten mile high—except what's lackin'—ter git a +purchase on prayer hain't got no religion wuth talkin' 'bout. Sinner ez +I am, I kin pray in the valley—way down yander in Tuckaleechee Cove—ez +peart ez on enny bald in the Big Smoky. That critter air a powerful +aggervatin' contrivance.'</p> + +<p>Her eyes still shone upon him.</p> + +<p>''Pears like ter me ez it air no differ, nohow,' she said, with her +consolatory cadence. As she again started down the row, she added, +glancing over her shoulder and relenting even to explanation, ''Twar +granny's word ez Mirandy Jane hed ter be l'arned ter cook an' sech. She +air risin' thirteen now, an' air toler'ble bouncin' an' spry, an' +oughter be some use, ef ever. An' <i>she</i> mought marry when she gits +fairly grown, an',' pausing in the turn-row for argument, and looking +with earnest eyes at him, as he still stood in the midst of the waving +corn, idly holding his plough-handles, where the pistols swung, 'ef she +did marry, 'pears like ter me ez she would be mightily faulted ef she +couldn't cook tasty.'</p> + +<p>There was no reasonable doubt of this proposition, but it failed to +convince, and in miserable cogitation he completed another furrow, and +met her at the turn-row.</p> + +<p>'I s'pose ez Pa'son Kelsey an' yer granny air powerful sociable an' +frien'ly,' he hazarded, as they stood together.</p> + +<p>'I dunno ez them two air partic'lar frien'ly. Pa'son Kelsey air in +nowise a sociable critter,' said Dorinda, with a discriminating air. 'He +ain't like Brother Jake Tobin—though it 'pears like ter me ez his gift +in prayer air manifested more survigrus, ef ennything.' She submitted +this diffidently. Having no religion, she felt incompetent to judge of +such matters. ''Pears like ter me ez Pa'son Kelsey air more like 'Lijah +an' 'Lisha, an' them men, what he talks about cornsider'ble, an' goes +out ter meet on the bald.'</p> + +<p>'He don't meet them men on the bald; they air dead,' said Rick Tyler +abruptly.</p> + +<p>She looked at him in shocked surprise.</p> + +<p>'That's jes' his addling way o' talkin',' continued the young fellow. +'He don't mean fur true more 'n haffen what he say. He 'lows ez he meets +the sperits o' them men on the bald.'</p> + +<p>Once more she lifted her bright eyes to the shivering vapours—vague, +mysterious, veiling in solemn silence the barren, awful heights.</p> + +<p>An extreme gravity had fallen upon her face.</p> + +<p>'Did they live in thar lifetime up hyar in the Big Smoky, or in the +valley kentry?' she asked, in a lowered voice.</p> + +<p>'I ain't sure 'bout'n that,' he replied indifferently.</p> + +<p>''Crost the line in the old North State?' she hazarded, exhausting her +knowledge of the habitable globe.</p> + +<p>'I hearn him read 'bout'n it wunst, but I furgits now.'</p> + +<p>Still her reverent, beautiful eyes, full of the dreamy sunshine, were +lifted to the peak. 'It must hev been in the Big Smoky Mountings they +lived,' she said, with eager credulity, 'fur he tole me ez the word an' +the prophets holped him when Satan kem a-huntin' of him like a pa'tridge +on the mounting.'</p> + +<p>The young fellow turned away, with a gesture of angry impatience.</p> + +<p>'Ef he hed ever hed the State o' Tennessee a-huntin' of him he wouldn't +be so feared o' Satan. Ef thar war a warrant fur <i>him</i> in the sher'ffs +pocket, an' the gran' jury's true bill fur murder lyin' agin <i>him</i> +yander at Shaftesville, an' the gov'nor's reward, two hunderd dollars +blood-money, on <i>him</i>, he wouldn't be a-humpin' his bones round hyar so +peart, a-shakin' in his shoes fur the fear o' Satan.' He laughed—a +caustic, jeering laugh. 'Satan's mighty active, considerin' his age, but +I'd be willin' ter pit the State o' Tennessee agin him when it kem ter +huntin' of folks like a pa'tridge.'</p> + +<p>The sunshine in the girl's eyes was clouded. They had filled with tears. +Still leaning on the plough-handles, she looked at him, with suddenly +crimson cheeks and quivering lips. 'I dunno how the State o' Tennessee +kin git its own cornsent ter be so mean an' wicked ez it air,' she said, +his helpless little partizan.</p> + +<p>Despite their futility, her words comforted him. 'An' I hev done +nuthin', nohow!' he cried out, in shrill self-justification. 'I could no +more hender 'Bednego Tynes from shootin' Joel Byers down in his own +door 'n nuthin' in this worl'. I never even knowed they hed a grudge. +'Bednego Tynes, he tole me ez he owed Joel a debt, an' war goin' ter see +him 'bout'n it, an' wanted somebody along ter hear his word an' see +justice done 'twixt 'em. Thar air fower Byers boys, an' I reckon he war +feared they would all jump on him at wunst, an' he wanted me ter holp +him ef they did. An' I went along like a fool sheep, thinkin' 'bout +nuthin'. An' when we got way down yander in Eskaqua Cove, whar Joel +Byers's house air, he gin a hello at the fence, an' Joel kem ter the +door. An' 'Bednego whipped up his rifle suddint an' shot him through the +head, ez nip an' percise! An' thar stood Joel's wife, seein' it all. An' +'Bednego run off, nimble, I tell ye, an' I war so flustrated I run, too. +Somebody cotched 'Bednego in the old North State the nex' week, an' the +gov'nor hed ter send a requisition arter him. But sence I fund out ez +they 'lowed I war aidin' an' abettin' 'Bednego, an' war goin' ter arrest +me 'kase I war thar at the killin', they hev hed powerful little chance +o' tryin' me in the court. An' whilst the gov'nor hed his hand in, he +offered a reward fur sech a lawless man ez I be.'</p> + +<p>He broke off, visibly struggling for composure; then he recommenced in +increasing indignation: 'An' these hyar frien's o' mine in the Big +Smoky, I'll be bound they hanker powerful arter them two hunderd +dollars blood-money. I know ez I'd hev been tuk afore this, ef it warn't +fur them consarns thar.' He nodded frowningly at the pistols. 'Them's +the only frien's I hev got.'</p> + +<p>The girl's voice trembled. ''Pears like ye mought count me in,' she said +reproachfully.</p> + +<p>'Naw,' he retorted sternly; 'ye go round hyar sorrowin' fur a man ez hev +got nuthin' ter be afeared of but the devil.'</p> + +<p>She made no reply, and her meekness mollified him.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy,' he said, in an altered tone, and with the pathos of a keen +despair, 'I hed fixed it in my mind a good while ago, when I could hev +hed a house, an' lived like folks, stidd'er like a wolf in the woods, +ter ax ye ter marry me; but I war hendered by gittin' skeered 'bout'n +yer bein' all in favour o' Amos Jeemes, ez kem up ter see ye from +Eskaqua Cove, an' I didn't want ter git turned off. Mebbe ef I hed axed +ye then I wouldn't hev tuk ter goin' along o' Abednego Tynes an' sech, +an' the killin' o' Joel wouldn't hev happened like it done. Would +ye—would ye hev married me then?'</p> + +<p>Her eyes flashed. 'Ye air fairly sodden with foolishness, Rick!' she +exclaimed angrily. 'Air you-uns thinkin ez I'll 'low ez I would hev +married a man four months ago ez never axed me ter marry, nohow?' Then, +with an appreciation of the delicacy of the position and a conservation +of mutual pride, she added, 'An' I won't say nuther ez I <i>wouldn't</i> +marry a man ez hev never axed me ter marry, nohow.'</p> + +<p>Somehow, the contrariety of the proprieties, as she translated them, +bewildered and baffled him. Even had he been looking at her he might +hardly have interpreted, with his blunt perceptions, the dewy +wistfulness of the eyes which she bent upon him. The word might promise +nothing now. Still she would have valued it. He did not speak it. His +eyes were fixed on Chilhowee Mountain, rising up, massive and splendid, +against the west. The shadows of the clouds flecked the pure and perfect +blue of the sunny slopes with a dusky mottling of purple. The denser +shade in the valley had shifted, and one might know by this how the day +wore on. The dew had dried from the long, keen blades of the Indian +corn; the grasshoppers droned among them. A lizard basked on a flat +white stone hard by. The old ox dozed in the turn-row.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Rick Tyler lifted his hand, with an intent gesture and a +dilated eye. There came from far below, on the mountain road, the sound +of a horse's hoof striking on a stone, again, and yet again. A faint +metallic jingle—the air was so still now—suggested spurs. The girl's +hand trembled violently as she stepped swiftly to his horse and took +off the plough-gear. He had caught up a saddle that was lying in the +turn-row, and as hastily buckled the girth about the animal.</p> + +<p>'Ef that air ennybody a-hankerin' ter see me, don't you-uns be a-denyin' +ez I hev been hyar, D'rindy,' he said, as he put his foot in the +stirrup. 'I reckon they hev fund out by now ez I be in the kentry round +about. But keep 'em hyar ez long ez ye kin, ter gin me a start.'</p> + +<p>He mounted his horse, and rode noiselessly away along the newly turned +mould of the furrow.</p> + +<p>She stood leaning upon her plough-handles and silently watching him. His +equestrian figure, darkly outlined against the far blue mountains and +the intermediate valley, seemed of heroic size against the landscape, +which was reduced by the distance to the minimum of proportion. The deep +shadows of the woods encompassing the clearing fell upon him presently, +and he, too, was but a shadow in the dusky monochrome of the limited +vista. The dense laurel closed about him, and his mountain fastnesses, +that had befriended him of yore, received him once again.</p> + +<p>Then up and down the furrows Dorinda mechanically followed the plough, +her pulses throbbing, every nerve tense, every faculty alert. She winced +when she heard the frequent striking of hoofs upon the rocky slopes of +the road below. She was instantly aware when they were silent, and the +party had stopped to breathe the horses. She began accurately to gauge +their slow progress.</p> + +<p>''Tain't airish in nowise ter-day,' she said, glancing about at the +still, noontide landscape; 'an' ef them air valley cattle they mus' git +blowed mightily travellin' up sech steep mountings ez the Big Smoky.' +She checked her self-gratulation. 'Though I ain't wantin' ter gloat on +the beastis' misery, nuther,' she stipulated.</p> + +<p>She paused presently at the lower end of the clearing, and looked down +over the precipice, that presented a sheer sandstone cliff on one side, +and on the other a wild confusion of splintered and creviced rocks, +where the wild rose bloomed in the niches and the grape-vine swung. The +beech-trees on the slope below conserved beneath their dense, umbrageous +branches a tender green twilight. Loitering along in a gleaming silver +thread by the roadside was a mountain rill, hardly gurgling even when +with slight and primitive shift it was led into a hollow and mossy log, +that it might aggregate sufficient volume in the dry season to water the +horse of the chance wayfarer.</p> + +<p>The first stranger that rode into this shadowy nook took off a large +straw hat and bared his brow to the refreshing coolness. His grizzled +hair stood up in front after the manner denominated 'a roach.' His +temples were deeply sunken, and his strongly marked face was long and +singularly lean. He held it forward, as if he were snuffing the air. He +had a massive and powerful frame, with not an ounce of superfluous +flesh, and he looked like a hound in the midst of the hunting season.</p> + +<p>It served to quiet Dorinda's quivering nerves when he leisurely rode his +big grey horse up to the trough, and dropped the rein that the animal +might drink. If he were in pursuit he evidently had no idea how close he +had pressed the fugitive. He was joined there by the other members of +the party, six or eight in number, and presently a stentorian voice +broke upon the air. 'Hello! Hello!' he shouted, hailing the log cabin.</p> + +<p>Mirandy Jane, a slim, long-legged, filly-like girl of thirteen, with a +tangled black mane, the forelock hanging over her wild, prominent eyes, +had at that moment appeared on the porch. She paused, and stared at the +strangers with vivacious surprise. Then, taking sudden fright, she fled +precipitately, with as much attendant confusion of pattering footfalls, +flying mane, and excited snorts and gasps as if she were a troop of wild +horses.</p> + +<p>'Granny! Granny!' she exclaimed to the old crone in the chimney-corner, +'thar's a man on a big grey critter down at the trough, an' I an't +s'prised none ef he air a raider!'</p> + +<p>The hail of the intruders was regarded as a challenge by some fifteen or +twenty hounds that suddenly materialized among the beehives and the +althea bushes, and from behind the ash-hopper and the hen-house and the +rain-barrel. From under the cabin two huge curs came, their activity +impeded by the blocks and chains they drew. These were silent, while the +others yelped vociferously, and climbed over the fence, and dashed down +the road.</p> + +<p>The horses pricked up their ears, and the leader of the party awaited +the onslaught with a pistol in his hand.</p> + +<p>The old woman, glancing out of the window, observed this demonstration.</p> + +<p>'He'll kill one o' our dogs with that thar shootin'-iron o' his'n!' she +exclaimed in trepidation. 'Run, Mirandy Jane, an' tell him <i>our</i> dogs +don't bite.'</p> + +<p>The filly-like Mirandy Jane made great speed among the hounds as she +called them off, and remembered only after she had returned to the house +to be afraid of the 'shootin'-iron' herself.</p> + +<p>The old woman, who had come out on the porch, stood gazing at the party, +shading her eyes with her hands, and a long-range colloquy ensued.</p> + +<p>'Good-mornin', madam,' said the man at the trough.</p> + +<p>'Good-mornin', sir,' quavered the old crone on the mountain slope.</p> + +<p>'I'm the sher'ff o' the county, madam, an' I'd like ter know ef——'</p> + +<p>'Mirandy Jane,' the old woman interrupted, in a wrathful undertone, +''pears like I hev' hed the trouble o' raisin' a idjit in you-uns! Them +ain't raiders, 'n nuthin' like it. Run an' tell the sher'ff we air +dishin' up dinner right now, an' ax him an' his gang ter' light an' +hitch, an' eat it along o' we-uns.'</p> + +<p>The prospect was tempting. It was high noon, and the posse had been in +the saddle since dawn. Dorinda, with a beating heart, remarked how short +a consultation resulted in dismounting and hitching the horses; and +then, with their spurs jingling and their pistols belted about them, the +men trooped up to the house.</p> + +<p>As they seated themselves around the table, more than one looked back +over his shoulder at the open window, in which was framed, as motionless +as a painted picture, the vast perspective of the endless blue ranges +and the great vaulted sky, not more blue, all with the broad, still, +brilliant noontide upon it.</p> + +<p>'Ye ain't scrimped fur a view, Mis' Cayce, an' that's the Lord's truth!' +exclaimed the officer.</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said the old woman, as if her attention were called to the fact +for the first time, 'we kin see a power o' kentry from this spot o' +ourn, sure enough; but I dunno ez it gins us enny more chance o' ever +viewin' Canaan.'</p> + +<p>'It's a sight o' ground ter hev ter hunt a man over, ez ef he war a +needle in a haystack,' and once more the officer turned and surveyed the +prospect.</p> + +<p>The room was overheated by the fire which had cooked the dinner, and the +old woman actively plied her fan of turkey feathers, pausing +occasionally to readjust her cap, which had a flapping frill, and was +surmounted by a pair of gleaming spectacles. A bandana kerchief was +crossed over her breast, and she wore a blue-and-white-checked homespun +dress of the same pattern and style that she had worn here fifty years +ago. Her hands were tremulous and gnarled, and her face was deeply +wrinkled, but her interest in life was as fresh as Mirandy Jane's.</p> + +<p>The great frame of the warping-bars on one side of the room was swathed +with a rainbow of variegated yarn, and a spinning-wheel stood near the +door. A few shelves, scrupulously neat, held piggins, a cracked blue +bowl, brown earthenware, and the cooking utensils. There were rude +gun-racks on the walls. These indicated the fact of several men in the +family. It was the universal dinner-hour, yet none of them appeared. The +sheriff reflected that perhaps they had their own sufficient reason to +be shy of strangers, and the horses hitched outside advertised the +presence and number of unaccustomed visitors within. When the usual +appetizer was offered, it took the form of whisky in such quantity that +the conviction was forced upon him that it was come by very handily. +However, he applied himself with great relish to the bacon and +snap-beans, corn dodgers and fried chicken, not knowing that Mirandy +Jane, who was esteemed altogether second-rate, had cooked them, and he +spread honey upon the apple-pie, ate it with his knife, and washed it +down with buttermilk, kept cold as ice in the spring—the mixture being +calculated to surprise a more civilized stomach.</p> + +<p>Not even his conscience was roused—the first intimation of a disordered +digestion. He listened to old Mrs. Cayce with no betrayal of divination +when she vaguely but anxiously explained the absence of her son and his +boys in the equivocal phrase, 'Not round about ter-day, bein' gone off,' +and he asked how many miles distant was the Settlement, as if he +understood they had gone thither. He was saying to himself, the brush +whisky warming his heart, that the revenue department paid him nothing +to raid moonshiners, and there was no obligation of his office to sift +any such suspicion which might occur to him while accepting an unguarded +hospitality.</p> + +<p>He looked with somewhat appreciative eyes at Dorinda, as she went back +and forth from the table to the pot which hung in the deep chimney-place +above the smouldering coals. She had laid aside her bonnet. Her face was +grave, her eyes were bright and excited; her hair was drawn back, except +for the tendrils about her brow, and coiled, with the aid of a +much-prized 'tuckin'-comb,' at the back of her head in a knot +discriminated as Grecian in civilization. He remarked to her grandmother +that he was a family man himself, and had a daughter as old, he should +say, as Dorinda.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy air turned seventeen, now,' said Mrs. Cayce disparagingly. 'It +'pears like ter me ez the young folks nowadays air awk'ard an' back'ard. +I war married when I war sixteen—sixteen scant.'</p> + +<p>The girl felt that she was indeed of advanced years, and the sheriff +said that his daughter was not yet sixteen, and he thought it probable +that she weighed more than Dorinda.</p> + +<p>He lighted his pipe presently, and tilted his chair back against the +wall.</p> + +<p>'Yes 'm,' he said meditatively, gazing out of the window at the great +panorama, 'it's a pretty big spot o' kentry ter hev ter hunt a man over. +Now ef 'twar one o' the town folks we could make out ter overhaul him +somehows; but a mounting boy—why, he's ez free ter the hills ez a fox. +I s'pose ye hain't seen him hyar-abouts?'</p> + +<p>'I hain't hearn who it air yit,' the old woman replied, putting her hand +behind her ear.</p> + +<p>'It's Rick Tyler; he hails from this deestric'. I won't be 'stonished ef +we ketch him this time. The gov'nor has offered two hunderd dollars +reward fur him, an' I reckon somebody will find it wuth while ter head +him fur us.'</p> + +<p>He was talking idly. He had no expectation of developments here. He had +only stopped at the house in the first instance for the question which +he had asked at every habitation along the road. It suddenly occurred to +him as polite to include Dorinda in the conversation.</p> + +<p>'Ye hain't seen nor hearn of him, I s'pose, hev ye?' inquired the +sheriff, directly addressing her.</p> + +<p>As he turned toward her he marked her expression. His own face changed +suddenly. He rose at once.</p> + +<p>'Don't trifle with the law, I warn ye,' he said sternly. 'Ye hev seen +that man.'</p> + +<p>Dorinda was standing beside her spinning-wheel, one hand holding the +thread, the other raised to guide the motion. She looked at him pale and +breathless.</p> + +<p>'I hev seen him. I ain't onwillin' ter own it. Ye never axed me afore.'</p> + +<p>The other members of the party had crowded in from the porch, where they +had been sitting since dinner, smoking their pipes. The officer, +realizing his lapse of vigilance and the loss of his opportunity, was +sharply conscious, too, of their appreciation of his fatuity.</p> + +<p>'Whar did ye see him?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'I seen him hyar—this mornin'.' There was a stir of excitement in the +group. 'He kem by on his beastis whilst I war a-ploughin', an' we talked +a passel. An' then he tuk Pete's plough, ez war idle in the turn-row, +an' helped along some; he run a few furrows.'</p> + +<p>'Which way did he go?' asked the sheriff breathlessly.</p> + +<p>'I dunno,' faltered the girl.</p> + +<p>'Look-a-hyar!' he thundered, in rising wrath. 'Ye'll find yerself under +lock an' key in the jail at Shaftesville, if ye undertake ter fool with +me. Which way did he go?'</p> + +<p>A flush sprang into the girl's excited face. Her eyes flashed.</p> + +<p>'Ef ye kin jail me fur tellin' all I know, I can't holp it,' she said, +with spirit. 'I kin tell no more.'</p> + +<p>He saw the justice of her position. It did not make the situation +easier for him. Here he had sat eating and drinking and idly talking, +while the fugitive, who had escaped by a hair's-breadth, was counting +miles and miles between himself and his lax pursuer. This would be heard +of in Shaftesville—and he a candidate for re-election! He beheld +already an exchange of significant glances among his posse. Had he asked +that simple question earlier he might now be on his way back to +Shaftesville, his prisoner braceleted with the idle handcuffs that +jingled in his pocket as he moved.</p> + +<p>He caught at every illusive vagary that might promise to retrieve his +error. He declared that she could not say which way Rick Tyler had taken +because he was not gone.</p> + +<p>'He's in this house right now!' he exclaimed. He ordered a search, and +the guests, a little while ago so friendly, began exploring every nook +and cranny.</p> + +<p>'No, no!' cried the old woman shrilly, as they tried the door of the +shed-room, which was bolted and barred. 'Ye can't tech that thar door. +It can't be opened—not ef the Gov'nor o' Tennessee war hyar himself, +a-moanin' an' a-honin' ter git in.'</p> + +<p>The sheriff's eyes dilated. 'Open the door—I summon ye!' he proclaimed, +with his imperative official manner.</p> + +<p>'No!—I done tole ye,' she said indignantly. 'The word o' the men folks +hev been gin ter keep that thar door shet, an shet it's going ter be +kep'.'</p> + +<p>The officer laid his hand upon it.</p> + +<p>'Ye mustn't bust it open!' shrilled the old woman. 'Laws-a-massy! ef +thar be many sech ez you-uns in Shaftesville, I ain't s'prised none that +the Bible gits ter mournin' over the low kentry, an' calls it a vale o' +tears an' the valley o' the shadder o' death!'</p> + +<p>The sheriff had placed his powerful shoulder against the frail batten +door.</p> + +<p>'Hyar goes!' he said.</p> + +<p>There was a crash; the door lay in splinters on the floor; the men +rushed precipitately over it.</p> + +<p>They came back laughing sheepishly. The officer's face was angry and +scarlet.</p> + +<p>'Don't take the bar'l—don't take the bar'l!' the old woman besought of +him, as she fairly hung upon his arm. 'I dunno <i>how</i> the boys would +cavort ef they kem back an' fund the bar'l gone.'</p> + +<p>He gave her no heed. 'Whyn't ye tell me that man warn't thar?' he asked +of the girl.</p> + +<p>'Ye didn't ax me that word,' said Dorinda.</p> + +<p>'No, 'Cajah Green, ye didn't,' said one of the men, who, since the +abortive result of their leader's suspicion, were ashamed of their +mission, and prone to self-exoneration. 'I'll stand up ter it ez she +answered full an' true every word ez ye axed her.'</p> + +<p>'Lor'-a'mighty! Ef I jes' knowed aforehand how it will tech the boys +when they view the door down onto the floor!' exclaimed the old woman. +'They mought jounce round hyar ez ef they war bereft o' reason, an' all +thar hope o' salvation hed hung on the hinges. An' then agin they mought +'low ez they hed ruther hev no door than be at the trouble o' shettin' +it an' barrin' it up ez they come an' go. They air mighty onsartin in +thar temper, an' I hev never hankered ter see 'em crost. But fur the +glory's sake, don't tech the bar'l. It's been sot thar ter age some, ef +the Lord will spare it.'</p> + +<p>In the girl's lucent eyes the officer detected a gleam of triumph. How +far away in the tangled labyrinths of the mountain wilderness, among the +deer-paths and the cataracts and the cliffs, had these long hours led +Rick Tyler?</p> + +<p>He spoke on his angry impulse: 'An' I ain't goin' ter furgit in a hurry +how I hev fund out ez ye air a-consortin' with criminals, an' aidin' an' +abettin' men ez air fleein' from jestice an' wanted fur murder. Ye look +out; ye'll find yerself in Shaftesville jail 'fore long, I'm +a-thinkin'.'</p> + +<p>'He stopped an' talked ez other folks stop an' talk,' Dorinda retorted. +'I couldn't hender, an' I hed no mind ter hender. He took no bite nor +sup ez others hez done. 'Pears like ter me ez we hev gin aid an' comfort +ter the off'cer o' the law ez well ez we could.'</p> + +<p>And this was the story that went down to Shaftesville.</p> + +<p>The man, his wrath rebounding upon himself, hung his head, and went down +to the trough, and mounted his horse without another word.</p> + +<p>The others hardly knew what to say to Dorinda. But they were more +deliberate in their departure, and hung around apologizing in their rude +way to the old woman, who convulsively besought each to spare the +barrel, which had been set in the shed-room to 'age some, ef it could be +lef alone.'</p> + +<p>Dorinda stood under the jack-bean vines, blossoming purple and white, +and watched the men as they silently rode away. All the pride within her +was stirred. Every sensitive fibre flinched from the officer's coarse +threat. She followed him out of sight with vengeful eyes.</p> + +<p>'I wish I war a man!' she cried passionately.</p> + +<p>'A-law, D'rindy!' exclaimed her grandmother, aghast at the idea. 'That +ain't manners!'</p> + +<p>The shadows were beginning to creep slowly up the slopes of the Great +Smoky Mountains, as if they came from the depths of the earth. A roseate +suffusion idealised range and peak to the east. The delicate skyey +background of opaline tints and lustre made distinct and definite their +majestic symmetry of outline. Ah! and the air was so clear! What +infinite lengths of elastic distances stretched between that quivering +trumpet-flower by the fence and the azure heights which its scarlet horn +might almost seem to cover! The sun, its yellow blaze burned out, and +now a sphere of smouldering fire, was dropping down behind Chilhowee, +royally purple, richly dark. Wings were in the air, and every instinct +was homeward. An eagle, with a shadow skurrying through the valley like +some forlorn Icarus that might not soar, swept high over the landscape. +Above all rose the great 'bald,' still splendidly illumined with the red +glamour of the sunset, and holding its uncovered head so loftily against +the sky that it might seem it had bared its brow before the majesty of +heaven.</p> + +<p>When the 'men folks,' great, gaunt, bearded, jeans-clad fellows, stood +in the shed-room and gazed at the splintered door upon the floor, it was +difficult to judge what was the prevailing sentiment, so dawdling, so +uncommunicative, so inexpressive of gesture were they.</p> + +<p>'We knowed ez thar war strangers prowlin' roun',' said the master of the +house, when he had heard his mother's excited account of the events of +the day. 'We war a-startin' home ter dinner, an' seen thar beastises +hitched thar a-nigh the trough. An' I 'lowed ez mebbe they mought be the +revenue devils, so I jes' made the boys lay low. An' Sol war set ter +watch, an' he gin the word when they hed rid away.'</p> + +<p>He was a man of fifty-five, perhaps, tough and stalwart. His face was as +lined and seamed as that of his mother, who had counted nearly fourscore +years, but his frame was almost as supple as at thirty. This trait of +physical vigour was manifested in each of his muscular sons, and, +despite their slow and lank uncouthness, their movements suggested +latent elasticity. In Dorinda, his only daughter, it graced her youth +and perfected her beauty. He was known far and wide as 'Groundhog +Cayce,' but he would tell you, with a flash of the eye, that before the +war he bore the Christian name of John.</p> + +<p>Nothing more was said on the subject until after supper, when they were +all sitting, dusky shadows, on the little porch, where the fireflies +sparkled and the vines fluttered, and one might look out and see the new +moon, in the similitude of a silver boat, sailing down the western +skies, off the headlands of Chilhowee. A cricket was shrilling in the +weeds. The vague sighing voice of the woods rose and fell with a +melancholy monody. A creamy elder-blossom glimmered in a corner of the +rail fence, hard by, its delicate, delicious odour pervading the air.</p> + +<p>'I never knowed,' said one of the young men, 'ez this hyar sher'ff—this +'Cajah Green—war sech a headin' critter.'</p> + +<p>'He never teched the bar'l,' said the old woman, not wishing that he +should appear blacker than he had painted himself.</p> + +<p>'I s'pose you-uns gin him an' his gang a bite an' sup,' remarked +Groundhog Cayce.</p> + +<p>'They eat a sizable dinner hyar,' put in Mirandy Jane, who, having +cooked it, had no mind that it should be belittled.</p> + +<p>'An' they stayed a right smart while, an' talked powerful frien'ly an' +sociable-like,' said old Mrs. Cayce, 'till the sher'ff got addled with +the notion that we hed Rick Tyler hid hyar. An' unless we-uns hed tied +him in the cheer or shot him, nuthin' in natur' could hev held him. I +'lowed 't war the dram he tuk, though D'rindy thinks differ. They never +teched the bar'l, though.'</p> + +<p>'An' then,' said Dorinda, with a sudden gush of tears, all the afflicted +delicacy of a young and tender woman, all the overweening pride of the +mountaineer, throbbing wildly in her veins, her heart afire, her +helpless hands trembling, 'he said the word ez he would lock me up in +the jail at Shaftesville, sence I hed owned ter seein' a man ez he +warn't peart enough ter ketch. He spoke that word ter me—<i>the jail</i>!'</p> + +<p>She hung sobbing in the doorway.</p> + +<p>There was a murmur of indignation among the group, and John Cayce rose +to his feet with a furious oath.</p> + +<p>'He shell rue it!' he cried—'he shell rue it! Me an' mine take no word +off'n nobody. My gran'dad an' his three brothers, one hunderd an' +fourteen year ago, kem hyar from the old North State an' settled in the +Big Smoky. They an' thar sons rooted up the wilderness. They cropped. +They fit the beastis; they fit the Injun; they fit the British; an' this +last little war o' ourn they fit each other. Thar hev never been a +coward 'mongst 'em. Thar hev never been a key turned on one of 'em, or a +door shet. They hev respected the law fur what it war wuth, an' they hev +stood up fur thar rights agin it. They answer fur thar word, an others +hev ter answer.'</p> + +<p>He paused for a moment.</p> + +<p>The moon, still in the similitude of a silver boat, swung at anchor in a +deep indentation in the summit of Chilhowee that looked like some lonely +pine-girt bay; what strange, mysterious fancies did it land from its +cargo of sentiments and superstitions and uncanny influences!</p> + +<p>'D'rindy,' her father commanded, 'make a mark on this hyar rifle-bar'l +fur 'Cajah Green's word ter be remembered by.'</p> + +<p>There was a flash in the faint moonbeams, as he held out to her a long, +sharp knife. The rifle was in his hand. Other marks were on it +commemorating past events. This was to be a foregone conclusion.</p> + +<p>'No, no!' cried the girl, shrinking back aghast. 'I don't want him shot. +I wouldn't hev him hurted fur me, fur nothin'! I ain't keerin' now fur +what he said. Let him be—let him be!'</p> + +<p>She had smarted under the sense of indignity. She had wanted their +sympathy, and perhaps their idle anger. She was dismayed by the +revengeful passion she had roused.</p> + +<p>'No, no!' she reiterated, as one of the younger men, her brother Peter, +stepped swiftly out from the shadow, seized her hand with the knife +trembling in it, and, catching the moonlight on the barrel of the rifle, +guided upon it, close to the muzzle, the mark of a cross.</p> + +<p>The moon had weighed anchor at last, and dropped down behind the +mountain summit, leaving the bay with a melancholy waning suffusion of +light, and the night very dark.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2> + + +<p>The summer days climbed slowly over the Great Smoky Mountains. Long the +morning lingered among the crags, and chasms, and the dwindling shadows. +The vertical noontide poised motionless on the great balds. The evening +dawdled along the sunset slopes, and the waning crimson waited in the +dusk for the golden moonrise.</p> + +<p>So little speed they made that it seemed to Rick Tyler that weeks +multiplied while they loitered.</p> + +<p>It might have been deemed the ideal of a sylvan life—those days while +he lay hid out on the Big Smoky. His rifle brought him food with but the +glance of the eye and a touch on the trigger: 'Ekal ter the prophet's +raven, ef the truth war knowed,' he said sometimes, while he cooked the +game over a fire of dead-wood gathered by the wayside. A handful of +blackberries gave it a relish, and there were the ice-cold, +never-failing springs of the range wherever he might turn.</p> + +<p>But for the unquiet thoughts that followed him from the world, the +characteristic sloth of the mountaineer might have spared him all sense +of tedium, as he lay on the bank of a mountain stream, while the slow +days waxed and waned. Often he would see a musk-rat—picturesque little +body—swimming in a muddy dip. And again his listless gaze was riveted +upon the quivering diaphanous wings of a snake-doctor, hovering close at +hand, until the grotesque, airy thing would flit away. The arrowy +sunbeams shot into the dense umbrageous tangles, and fell spent to earth +as the shadows swayed. Farther down the stream two huge cliffs rose on +either side of the channel, giving a narrow view of far-away blue +mountains as through a gate. In and out stole the mist, uncertain +whither. The wind came and went, paying no toll. Sometimes, when the sun +was low, a shadow—an antlered shadow—slipped through like a fantasy.</p> + +<p>But when the skies would begin to darken and the night come tardily on, +the scanty incidents of the day lost their ephemeral interest. His human +heart would assert itself, and he would yearn for the life from which he +was banished, and writhe with an intolerable anguish under his sense of +injury.</p> + +<p>'An' the law holds me the same ez 'Bednego Tynes, who killed Joel Byers, +jes' ter keep his hand in—hevin' killed another man afore—an' I never +so much ez lifted a finger agin him!'</p> + +<p>He pondered much on his past, and the future that he had lost. Sometimes +he gave himself to adjusting, from the meagre circumstances of their +common lot on Big Smoky, the future of those with whose lives his own +had heretofore seemed an integral part, and from which it should for +evermore be dissevered. All the pangs of penance were in that sense of +irrevocability. It was done, and here was his choice: to live the life +of a skulking wolf, to prowl, to flee, to fight at bay, or to return and +confront an outraged law. He experienced a frenzy of rage to realize how +hardily his world would roll on without him. Big Smoky would not suffer! +The sun would shine, and the crops ripen, and the harvest come, and the +snows sift down, and the seasons revolve. The boys would shoot for beef, +and there was to be a gander-pulling at the Settlement when the +candidates should come 'stumpin' the Big Smoky' for the midsummer +elections. And when, periodically, 'the mountings' would wake to a sense +of sin, and a revival would be instituted, all the people would meet, +and clap their hands, and sing, and pray, and that busy sinner, D'rindy, +might find time to think upon grace, and perhaps upon the man whom she +likened to the prophets of old.</p> + +<p>Then Rick Tyler would start up from his bed of boughs, and stride wildly +about among the boulders, hardly pausing to listen if he heard a wolf +howling on the lonely heights. An owl would hoot derisively from the +tangled laurel. And oh, the melancholy moonlight in the melancholy +pines, where the whip-poor-will moaned and moaned!</p> + +<p>'I'd shoot that critter ef I could make out ter see him!' cried the +harassed fugitive, his every nerve quivering.</p> + +<p>It all began with Dorinda; it all came back to her. He drearily foresaw +that she would forget him; and yet he could not know how the alienation +was to commence, how it should progress, and the process of its +completion. 'All whilst I'm a-roamin' off with the painters an' sech!' +he exclaimed bitterly.</p> + +<p>And she—her future was plain enough. There was a little log-cabin by +the grist-mill: the mountains sheltered it; the valley held it as in the +palm of a hand. Hardly a moment since, his jealous heart had been racked +by the thought of the man she likened to the prophets of old, and now he +saw her spinning in the door of Amos James's house in the quiet depths +of Eskaqua Cove.</p> + +<p>This vision stilled his heart. He was numbed by his despair. Somehow, +the burly young miller seemed a fitter choice than the religious +enthusiast, whose leisure was spent in praying in the desert places. He +wondered that he should ever have felt other jealousy, and was +subacutely amazed to find this passion so elastic.</p> + +<p>With wild and haggard eyes he saw the day break upon this vision. It +came in at the great gate—a pale flush, a fainting star, a burst of +song, and the red and royal sun.</p> + +<p>The morning gradually exerted its revivifying influence and brought a +new impulse. He easily deceived himself, and disguised it as a reason.</p> + +<p>'This hyar powder is a-gittin' mighty low,' he said to himself, +examining the contents of his powder-horn. 'An' that thar rifle eats it +up toler'ble fast sence I hev hed ter hunt varmints fur my vittles. Ef +that war the sher'ff a-ridin' arter me the day I war at Cayce's, he's +done gone whar he b'longs by this time—'twar two weeks ago; an' ef he +ain't gone back, he wouldn't be layin' fur me roun' the Settle<i>mint</i>, +nohow. An' I kin git some powder thar, an' hear 'em tell what the +mounting air a-doin' of. An' mebbe I won't be so durned lonesome when I +gits back hyar.'</p> + +<p>He mounted his horse, later in the day, and picked his way slowly down +the banks of the stream and through the great gate.</p> + +<p>The Settlement on a spur of the Big Smoky illustrated the sacrilege of +civilization. A number of trees, girdled years ago, stretched above the +fields their gigantic skeletons, suggesting their former majesty of mien +and splendid proportions. Their forlorn, leafless branches rattled +together with a dreary sound, as the breeze stirred among the gaunt and +pallid assemblage. The little log-cabins, five or six in number, were so +situated among the stumps which disfigured the clearing, that if a +sudden wind should bring down one of the monarchial spectres of the +forest, it would make havoc only in the crops. The wheat was thin and +backward. A little patch of cotton in a mellow dip served to show the +plant at its minimum. There was tobacco, too, placed, like the cotton, +where it was hoped it would take a notion to grow. Sorghum flourished, +and the tasselled Indian corn, waving down a slope, had aboriginal +suggestions of plumed heads and glancing quivers. A clamour of Guinea +fowls arose, and geese and turkeys roved about in the publicity of the +clearing with the confident air of esteemed citizens. Sheep were feeding +among the ledges.</p> + +<p>It was hard to say what might be bought at the store except powder and +coffee, and sugar perhaps, if 'long-sweetenin'' might not suffice; for +each of the half-dozen small farms was a type of the region, producing +within its own confines all its necessities. Hand-looms could be +glimpsed through open doors, and as yet the dry-goods trade is unknown +to the homespun-clad denizens of the Settlement. Beeswax, feathers, +honey, dried fruit, are bartered here, and a night's rest has never been +lost for the perplexities of the currency question on the Big Smoky +Mountains.</p> + +<p>The proprietor of the store, his operations thus limited, was content to +grow rich slowly, if needs were to grow rich at all. In winter he sat +before the great wood fire in the store and smoked his pipe, and his +crony, the blacksmith, often came, hammer in hand and girded with his +leather apron, and smoked with him. In the summer he sat all day, as +now, in front of the door, looking meditatively at the scene before him. +The sunlight slanted upon the great dead trees; their forms were imposed +with a wonderful distinctness upon the landscape that stretched so far +below the precipice on which the little town was perched. They even +touched, with those bereaved and denuded limbs, the far blue mountains +encircling the horizon, and with their interlacing lines and curves they +seemed some mysterious scripture engraven upon the world.</p> + +<p>It was just six o'clock, and the shadow of a bough that still held a +mass of woven sticks, once the nest of an eagle, had reached the verge +of the cliff, when the sound of hoofs fell on the still air, and a man +rode into the clearing from the encompassing woods.</p> + +<p>The storekeeper glanced up to greet the new-comer, but did not risk the +fatigue of rising. Women looked out of the windows, and a girl on a +porch, reeling yarn, found a reason to stop her work. A man came out of +a house close by, and sat on the fence, within range of any colloquy in +which he might wish to participate. The whole town could join at will in +a municipal conversation. The forge fire showed a dull red against the +dusky brown shadows in the recesses of the shop. The blacksmith stood in +front of the door, his eyes shielded with his broad blackened right +hand, and looked critically at the steed. Horses were more in his line +than men. He was a tall, powerfully built fellow of thirty, perhaps, +with the sooty aspect peculiar to his calling, a swarthy complexion, and +a remarkably well-knit, compact, and muscular frame. He often said in +pride, 'Ef I hed hed the forgin' o myself, I wouldn't hev welded on a +pound more, or hammered out a leader differ.'</p> + +<p>Suddenly detaching his attention from the horse, he called out, 'Waal, +sir! Ef thar ain't Rick Tyler!' This was addressed to the town at large. +Then, 'What ails ye, Rick? I hearn tell ez you-uns war on yer way ter +Shaftesville along o' the sher'ff.' He had a keen and twinkling eye. He +cast it significantly at the man on the fence. 'Ye kem back, I reckon, +ter git yer handcuffs mended at my shop. Gimme the bracelets.' He held +out his hand in affected anxiety.</p> + +<p>'I ain't a-wearin' no bracelets now.' Rick Tyler's hasty impulse had +its impressiveness. He levelled his pistol. 'Ef ye hanker ter do enny +mendin', I'll gin ye repairs ter make in them cast-iron chit'lings o' +yourn,' he said coolly.</p> + +<p>He was received at the store with a distinct accession of respect. The +blacksmith stood watching him, with angry eyes, and a furtive +recollection of the reward offered by the governor for his apprehension.</p> + +<p>The young fellow, with a sudden return of caution, did not at once +venture to dismount; and Nathan Hoodendin, the storekeeper, rose for no +customer. Respectively seated, for these diverse reasons, they +transacted the negotiation.</p> + +<p>'Hy're, Rick,' drawled the storekeeper languidly. 'I hopes ye keeps yer +health,' he added politely.</p> + +<p>The young man melted at the friendly tone. This was the welcome he had +looked for at the Settlement. Loneliness had made his sensibilities +tender, and 'hiding out' affected his spirits more than dodging the +officers in the haunts of men, or daring the cupidity roused, he knew, +by the reward for his capture. The blacksmith's jeer touched him as +cruelly as an attempt upon his liberty. 'Jes' toler'ble,' he admitted, +with the usual rural reluctance to acknowledge full health. 'I hopes ye +an' yer fambly air thrivin',' he drawled, after a moment.</p> + +<p>A whiff came from the storekeeper's pipe; the smoke wreathed before his +face, and floated away.</p> + +<p>'Waal, we air makin' out—we air makin' out.'</p> + +<p>'I kem over hyar,' said Rick Tyler, proceeding to business, 'ter git +some powder out'n yer store. I wants one pound.'</p> + +<p>Nathan Hoodendin smoked silently for a moment. Then, with a facial +convulsion and a physical wrench, he lifted his voice.</p> + +<p>'Jer'miah!' he shouted in a wild wheeze. And again, 'Jer'miah!'</p> + +<p>The invoked Jer'miah did not materialize at once. When a small +tow-headed boy of ten came from a house among the stumps, with that +peculiar deftness of tread characteristic of the habitually barefoot, he +had an alert, startled expression, as if he had just jumped out of a +bush. His hair stood up in front; he had wide pop-eyes, and long ears, +and a rabbit-like aspect that was not diminished as he scudded round the +heels of Rick Tyler's horse, at which he looked apprehensively.</p> + +<p>'Jer'miah,' said his father, with a pathetic cadence, 'go into the +store, bub, an' git Rick Tyler a pound o' powder.'</p> + +<p>As Jeremiah started in, the paternal sentiment stirred in Nathan +Hoodendin's breast.</p> + +<p>'Jer'miah,' he wheezed, bringing the fore-legs of the chair to the +ground, and craning forward with unwonted alacrity to look into the +dusky interior of the store, 'don't ye be foolin' round that thar powder +with no lighted tallow dip nor nuthin'. I'll whale the life out'n ye ef +ye do. Jes' weigh it by the winder.'</p> + +<p>Whether from fear of a whaling by his active parent, or of the +conjunction of a lighted tallow dip and powder, Jeremiah dispensed with +the candle. He brought the commodity out presently, and Rick stowed it +away in his saddle-bags.</p> + +<p>'Can't ye 'light an' sot a while 'an talk, Rick?' said the storekeeper. +'We-uns hev done hed our supper, but I reckon they could fix ye a snack +yander ter the house.'</p> + +<p>Rick said he wanted nothing to eat, but, although he hesitated, he could +not finally resist the splint-bottomed chair tilted against the wall of +the store, and a sociable pipe, and the countryside gossip.</p> + +<p>'What's goin' on 'round the mounting?' he asked.</p> + +<p>Gid Fletcher, the blacksmith, came and sat in another chair, and the man +on the fence got off and took up his position on a stump hard by. The +great red sun dropped slowly behind the purple mountains; and the full +golden moon rose above the corn-field that lay on the eastern slope, and +hung there between the dark woods on either hand; and the blades caught +the light, and tossed with burnished flashes into the night; and the +great ghastly trees assumed a ghostly whiteness; and the mystic writing +laid on the landscape below had the aspect of an uninterpreted portent. +The houses were mostly silent; now and then a guard-dog growled at some +occult alarm; a woman somewhere was softly and fitfully singing a child +to sleep, and the baby crooned too, and joined in the vague, drowsy +ditty. And for aught else that could be seen, and for aught else that +could be heard, this was the world.</p> + +<p>'Waal, the Tempter air fairly stalkin' abroad on the Big +Smoky—leastwise sence the summer season hev opened,' said Nathan +Hoodendin. His habitual expression of heavy, joyless pondering had been +so graven into his face that his raised grizzled eye-brows, surmounted +by a multitude of perplexed wrinkles, his long, dismayed jaw, his thin, +slightly parted lips, and the deep grooves on either side of his nose, +were not susceptible of many gradations of meaning. His shifting eyes, +cast now at the stark trees, now at the splendid disk of the rising +moon, betokened but little anxiety for the Principle of Evil aloose in +the Big Smoky. 'Fust—lemme see—thar war Eph Lowry, ez got inter a +quar'l with his wife's half-brother's cousin, an' a-tusslin' 'roun' they +cut one another right smart, an' some say ez Eph'll never hev his +eyesight right good no more. Then thar war Baker Teal, what the folks +in Eskaqua Cove 'low let down the bars o' the milk-sick pen, one day +las' fall, an' druv Jacob White's red cow in; an' his folks never knowed +she hed grazed thar till they hed milked an' churned fur butter, when +she lay down an' died o' the milk-sick. Ef they hed drunk her milk +same ez common, 'twould hev sickened 'em, sure, 'an mebbe killed +'em. An' they've been quar'lin' 'bout'n it ever sence. Satan's +a-stirrin'—Satan's a-stirrin' 'roun' the Big Smoky.'</p> + +<p>'Waal, I hearn ez some o' them folks in Eskaqua Cove 'low ez the red cow +jes' hooked down the bars, bein' a turrible hooker,' spoke up the man on +the stump unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>'Waal, White an' his folks won't hear ter no sech word ez that,' said +the blacksmith; 'an' arter jowin' an' jowin' back an' fo'th they went +t'other day an' informed on Teal 'fore the jestice, an' the Squair fined +him twenty-five dollars, 'cordin' ter the law o' Tennessee fur them ez +m'liciously lets down the bars o' the milk-sick pen. An' Baker Teal hed +ter pay, an' the county treasury an' the informers divided the money +'twixt 'em.'</p> + +<p>'What did I tell you-uns? Satan's a-stirrin'—Satan's a-stirrin' 'roun' +the Big Smoky,' said the storekeeper, with a certain morbid pride in the +Enemy's activity.</p> + +<p>'The constable o' this hyar deestric',' recommenced Gid Fletcher, who +seemed as well informed as Nathan Hoodendin, 'he advised 'em ter lay it +afore the jestice; he war mighty peart 'bout'n that thar job. They 'low +ter me ez he hev tuk up a crazy fit ez he kin beat Micajah Green fur +sher'ff, an' he's a-skeetin' arter law-breakers same ez a rooster arter +a Juny-bug. He 'lows it'll show the kentry what a peart sher'ff he'd +make.'</p> + +<p>'Shucks!' said the man on the stump. 'I'll vote fur 'Cajah Green fur +sher'ff agin the old boy; he hev got a nose fur game.'</p> + +<p>'He hain't nosed you-uns out yit, hev he, Rick?' said the blacksmith, +with feigned heartiness and a covert sneer.</p> + +<p>'Ho! ho! ho!' laughed Nathan Hoodendin. 'What war I a-tellin' you-uns? +Satan's a-stirrin'—Satan's surely a-stirrin' on the Big Smoky.'</p> + +<p>Rick sat silent in the moonlight, smoking his pipe, his brown wool hat +far back, the light full on his yellow head. His face had grown a trifle +less square, and his features were more distinctly defined than of yore; +he did not look ill, but care had drawn a sharp line here and there.</p> + +<p>'One sher'ff's same ter you-uns ez another, ain't he, Rick?' said the +man on the stump. 'Any of 'em 'll do ter run from.'</p> + +<p>'They tell it ter me,' said the storekeeper, with so sudden a vivacity +that it seemed it must crack his graven wrinkles, 'ez the whole Cayce +gang air a-goin' ter vote agin 'Cajah Green, 'count o' the way he jawed +at old Mis' Cayce an' D'rindy, the day he run you-uns off from thar, +Rick.'</p> + +<p>'I ain't hearn tell o' that yit,' drawled Rick desolately, 'bein' hid +out.'</p> + +<p>'Waal, he jawed at D'rindy, an' from what I hev hearn D'rindy jawed +back; an' I dunno ez that's s'prisin'—the gal-folks ginerally do. +Leastwise, I know ez he sent word arterward ter D'rindy by his +dep'ty—ez war a-scoutin' 'roun' hyar, arter you-uns, I reckon, Rick—ez +he would be up some day soon ter 'lectioneer, an' he war a-goin' ter +stop ter thar house an' ax her pardin'. An' she sent him word, fur God's +sake ter bide away from thar.'</p> + +<p>A long pause ensued; the stars were faint and few; the iterative note of +the katydid vibrated monotonously in the dark woods; dew was falling; +the wind stirred.</p> + +<p>'What ailed D'rindy ter say that word?' asked Rick, mystified.</p> + +<p>'Waal, I dunno,' said Hoodendin indifferently. 'I hev never addled my +brains tryin' ter make out what a woman means. Though,' he qualified, 'I +did ax the dep'ty an' Amos Jeemes from down yander in Eskaqua Cove—the +dep'ty hed purtended ter hev summonsed him ez a posse, an' they war +jes' rollickin' 'roun' the kentry like two chickens with thar heads +off—I axed 'em what D'rindy meant; an' they 'lowed they didn't know, +nor war they takin' it ter heart. They 'lowed ez she never axed <i>them</i> +ter bide away from thar fur God's sake. An' then they snickered an' +laffed, like single men do. An' I up an' tole 'em ez the Book sot it +down ez the laffter o' fools is like the cracklin' o' bresh under a +pot.'</p> + +<p>Rick Tyler was eager, his eyes kindling, his breath quick. He looked +with uncharacteristic alertness at the inexpressive face of the +leisurely narrator.</p> + +<p>'They capered like a dunno-what-all on the Big Smoky, them two,—the +off'cer o' the law an' his posse! Thar goin's on war jes' scandalous: +they played kyerds, an' they consorted with the moonshiners over +yander,' nodding his head at the wilderness, 'an' got ez drunk ez two +fraish biled ow<i>els</i>: an' they sung an' they hollered. An' they went ter +the meetin'-house over yander whilst they war in liquor, an' the +preacher riz up an' put 'em out. He's toler'ble tough, that thar Pa'son +Kelsey, an' kin hold right smart show in a fight. An' the dep'ty, he +straightened hisself, an' 'lowed he war a off'cer o' the law. An' Pa'son +Kelsey, he 'lowed <i>he</i> war a off'cer o' the law, an' he 'lowed ez his +law war higher 'n the law o' Tennessee. An' with that he barred up the +door. They hed a cornsider'ble disturba<i>mint</i> at the meetin'-house +yander at the Notch, an' the saints war tried in thar temper.'</p> + +<p>'The dep'ty 'lows ez Pa'son Kelsey air crazy in his mind,' said the man +on the stump. 'The dep'ty said the pa'son talked ter him like ez ef he +war a onregenerate critter. An' he 'lowed he war baptized in Scolacutta +River two year ago an' better. The dep'ty say these hyar mounting +preachers hain't got no doctrine like the valley folks. He called Pa'son +Kelsey a ignorant cuss!'</p> + +<p>'Laws-a-massy!' exclaimed Nathan Hoodendin, scandalized.</p> + +<p>'He say it fairly makes him laff ter hear Pa'son Kelsey performing like +he hed a cut-throat mortgage on a seat 'mongst the angels. He say ez he +thinks Pa'son Kelsey speaks with more insurance 'n enny man he ever +see.'</p> + +<p>'I reckon, ef the truth war knowed, the dep'ty ain't got no religion, +an' never war in Scolacutta River, 'thout it war a-fishing',' said the +blacksmith, meditatively.</p> + +<p>The fugitive from justice, pining for the simple society of his world, +listened like a starveling thing to these meagre details, so replete +with interest to him, so full of life and spirit. The next moment he was +sorry he had come.</p> + +<p>'That thar Amos Jeemes air a comical critter,' said the man on the +stump, after an interval of cogitation, and with a gurgling reminiscent +laugh. 'He war a-cuttin' up his shines over thar ter Cayce's, t'other +day; he warn't drunk <i>then</i>, ye onderstan'——'</p> + +<p>'I onderstan'. He war jes' fool, like he always air,' said the +blacksmith.</p> + +<p>'Edzactly,' assented the man on the stump. 'An' he fairly made D'rindy +laff ter see what the critter would say nex'. An' D'rindy always seemed +ter me a powerful solemn sorter gal. Waal, she laffed at Amos. An' +whilst him an' the dep'ty war a-goin' down the mounting—I went down ter +Jeemes's mill ter leave some grist over night ter be ground—the dep'ty, +he run Amos 'bout'n it. The dep'ty he 'lowed ez no gal hed ever made so +much fun o' him, an' Amos 'lowed ez D'rindy <i>didn't</i> make game o' him. +She thunk too much o' him fur that. An' that bold-faced dep'ty, he +'lowed he thought 'twar <i>him</i> ez hed fund favior. An' Amos—we war +mighty nigh down in Eskaqua Cove then—he turned suddint an' p'inted up +the mounting. "What kin you-uns view on the mounting?" he axed. The +dep'ty, he stopped an' stared; an' thar mighty nigh ez high ez the lower +e-end o' the bald, war a light. "That shines fur me ter see whilst I'm +'bleeged ter be in Eskaqua Cove," sez Amos. An' the dep'ty said, "I +think it air a star!" An' Amos sez, sez he, "Bless yer bones, I think +so, too—sometimes!" But 'twarn't no star. 'Twar jes' a light in the +roof-room window o' Cayce's house; an' ye could see it, sure enough, +plumb to the mill in Eskaqua Cove!'</p> + +<p>Rick rose to go. Why should he linger, and wring his heart, and garner +bitterness to feed upon in his lonely days? Why should he look upon the +outer darkness of his life, and dream of the star that shone so far for +another man's sake into the sheltered depths of Eskaqua Cove? He had an +impulse which he scorned, for his sight was blurred as he laid his hand +on the pommel of his saddle. He did not see that one of the other men +rose too.</p> + +<p>An approach, stealthy, swift, and the sinewy blacksmith flung himself +upon his prisoner with the supple ferocity of a panther.</p> + +<p>'Naw—naw!' he said, showing his strong teeth, closely set. 'We can't +part with ye yit, Rick Tyler! I'll arrest you-uns, ef the sher'ff can't. +The peace o' Big Smoky an' the law o' the land air ez dear ter me ez ter +enny other man.'</p> + +<p>The young fellow made a frantic effort to mount; then, as his horse +sprang snorting away, he strove to draw one of his pistols. There was a +turbulent struggle under the great silver moon and the dead trees. Again +and again the swaying figures and their interlocked shadows reeled to +the verge of the cliff; one striving to fall and carry the other with +him, the other straining every nerve to hold back his captive.</p> + +<p>Even the storekeeper stood up and wheezed out a remonstrance.</p> + +<p>'Look-a-hyar, boys'—he began; then, 'Jer'miah,' he broke off abruptly, +as the hopeful scion peered shyly out of the store door, 'clar out'n the +way, sonny; they hev got shootin'-irons, an' some o' em mought go off.'</p> + +<p>He himself stepped prudently back. The man on the stump, however, forgot +danger in his excitement. He sat and watched the scene with an eager +relish which might suggest that a love of bull-fights is not a +cultivated taste.</p> + +<p>'Be them men a-wraistlin'?' called out a woman, appearing in the doorway +of a neighbouring house.</p> + +<p>''Pears like it ter me,' he said dryly.</p> + +<p>The strength of despair had served to make the younger man the +blacksmith's equal, and the contest might have terminated differently +had Rick Tyler not stumbled on a ledge. He was forced to his knees, then +full upon the ground, his antagonist's grasp upon his throat. The +blacksmith roared out for help; the man on the stump slowly responded, +and the storekeeper languidly came and overlooked the operation, as the +young fellow was disarmed and securely bound, hand and foot.</p> + +<p>'Waal, now, Gid Fletcher, ye hev got him,' said Nathan Hoodendin. 'What +d'ye want with him?'</p> + +<p>The blacksmith had risen, panting, with wild eyes, his veins standing +out in thick cords, perspiring from every pore, and in a bounding fury.</p> + +<p>'What do I want with him? I want ter put his head on my anvil thar, an' +beat the foolishness out'n it with my hammer. I want ter kick him off'n +this hyar bluff down ter the forge fires o' hell. That air what <i>I</i> +want. An' the State o' Tennessee ain't wantin' much differ.'</p> + +<p>'Gid Fletcher,' said the man who had been sitting on the stump—he spoke +in an accusing voice—'ye ain't keerin' nuthin' fur the law o' the land, +nor the peace o' Big Smoky, nuther. It air jes' that two hundred dollars +blood-money ye air cottonin' ter, an' ye knows it.'</p> + +<p>The love of money, the root of evil, is so rare in the mountains that +the blacksmith stood as before a deep reproof. Then, with a moral +hardihood that matched his physical prowess, he asked, 'An' what ef I +be?'</p> + +<p>'What war I a-tellin' you-uns? Satan's a-stirrin'—Satan's a-stirrin' on +the Big Smoky!' interpolated old Hoodendin.</p> + +<p>'Waal, I'd never hev been hankerin' fur sech,' drawled the moralist.</p> + +<p>A number of other men had come out from the houses, and a discussion +ensued as to the best plan to keep the prisoner until morning. It was +suggested that the time-honoured expedient in localities without the +civilization of a jail—a wagon-body inverted, with a rock upon +it—would be as secure as the state prison.</p> + +<p>'But who wants ter go ter heftin' rocks?' asked Nathan Hoodendin +pertinently.</p> + +<p>For the sake of convenience, therefore, they left the prisoner bound +with a rope made fast around a stump, that he might not, in his +desperation, roll himself from the crag, and deputing a number of the +men to watch him by turns, the Settlement retired to its slumbers.</p> + +<p>The night wore on; the moon journeyed toward the mountains in the west; +the mists rose to meet it, and glistened like a silver sea. Some lonely, +undiscovered ocean, this; never a sail set, never a pennant flying; all +the valley was submerged; the black summits in the distance were +isolated and insular; the moonlight glanced on the sparkling ripples, on +the long reaches of illusive vapour.</p> + +<p>At intervals cocks crew; a faint response, like farthest echoes, came +from some neighbouring cove; and then silence, save for the drone of the +nocturnal insects and the far blast of a hunter's horn.</p> + +<p>'Jer'miah,' said Rick Tyler suddenly, as the boy crouched by one of the +stumps and watched him with dilated, moonlit eyes—when Nathan +Hoodendin's vigil came the little factotum served in his +stead—'Jer'miah, git my knife out'n the store an' cut these hyar ropes. +I'll gin ye my rifle ef ye will.'</p> + +<p>The boy sprang up, scudded off swiftly, then came back, and crouched by +the stump again.</p> + +<p>The moon slipped lower and lower; the silver sea had turned to molten +gold; the stars that had journeyed westward with the moon were dying out +of a dim blue sky. Over the corn-field in the east was one larger than +the rest, burning in an amber haze, charged with an unspoken poetical +emotion that set its heart of white fire aquiver.</p> + +<p>'I'll gin ye my horse ef ye will.'</p> + +<p>'I dassent,' said Jer'miah.</p> + +<p>The morning star was burned out at last, and the prosaic day came over +the corn-field.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2> + + +<p>Twilight was slipping down on the Big Smoky. Definiteness was +annihilated, and distance a suggestion. Mountain forms lay darkening +along the horizon, still flushed with the sunset. Eskaqua Cove had +abysmal suggestions, and the ravines were vague glooms. Fire-flies were +a-flicker in the woods. There might be a star, outpost of the night.</p> + +<p>Dorinda, hunting for the vagrant 'crumply cow,' paused sometimes when +the wandering path led to the mountain's brink, and looked down those +gigantic slopes and unmeasured depths. She carried her milk-piggin, and +her head was uncovered. Now and then she called with long, vague vowels, +'Soo—cow! Soo!' There was no response save the echoes, and the vibrant +iteration of the katydid. Once she heard an alien sound, and she paused +to listen. From the projecting spur where she stood, looking across the +Cove, she could see, above the forests on the slopes, the bare, uprising +dome, towering in stupendous proportions against the sky. The sound came +again and yet again, and she recognised the voice of the man who was +wont to go and pray in the desert places on the 'bald' of the mountain, +and whom she had likened to the prophets of old. There was something +indescribably wild and weird in those appealing, tempestuous tones, now +rising as in frenzy, and now falling as with exhaustion—beseeching, +adjuring, reproaching.</p> + +<p>'He hev fairly beset the throne o' grace!' she said, with a sort of pity +for this insistent piety. A shivering, filmy mist was slipping down over +the great dome. It glittered in the last rays of the sunlight, already +vanished from the world below, like an illuminated silver gauze. She was +reminded of the veil of the temple, and she had a sense of intrusion.</p> + +<p>'Prayer, though, air free for all,' she remarked, as self-justification, +since she had paused to hear.</p> + +<p>She did not linger. His voice died in the distance, and the solemnity of +the impression was gradually obliterated. As she went she presently +began to sing, sometimes interpolating, without a sense of interruption, +her mellow call of 'Soo—cow! Soo!' until it took the resemblance of a +refrain, with an abrupt crescendo. The wild roses were flowering along +the paths, and the pink and white azaleas—what perfumed ways, what +lavish grace and beauty! The blooms of the laurel in the darkling places +were like a spangling of stars. Dew was falling—it dashed into her +face from the boughs that interlaced across the unfrequented path—and +still the light lingered, loath to leave. She heard the stir of some +wild things in the hollow of a great tree, and then a faint, low growl. +She fancied she saw a pair of bright eyes looking apprehensively at her.</p> + +<p>'We-uns hev got a baby at our house, too, an' we don't want yourn, +ma'am; much obleeged, all the same,' she said, with a laugh. But she +looked back with a sort of pity for that alert maternal fear, and she +never mentioned to the youngest brother, a persistent trapper, the +little family of raccoons in the woods.</p> + +<p>She had forgotten the voice raised in importunate supplication on the +'bald,' until, pursuing the path, she was led into the road, hard by a +little bridge, or more properly culvert, which had rotted long ago; the +vines came up through the cavities in the timbers, and a blackberry +bush, with a wren's nest, flourished in their midst. The road was fain +to wade through the stream; but the channel was dry now—a narrow belt +of yellow sand lying in a long curving vista in the midst of the dense +woods. A yoke of oxen, drawing a rude slide, paused to rest in the +middle of the channel, and beside them was a man, of medium height, +slender but sinewy, dressed in brown jeans, his trousers thrust into the +legs of his boots, a rifle on his shoulder, and a broad-brimmed old wool +hat surmounting his dark hair, that hung down to the collar of his coat. +Her singing had prepared him for her advent, but he barely raised his +eyes. That quick glance was incongruous with his dullard aspect; it held +a spark of fire, inspiration, frenzy—who can say?</p> + +<p>He spoke suddenly, in a meek, drawling way, and with the air of +submitting the proposition:</p> + +<p>'I hev gin the beastises a toler'ble hard day's work, an' I'm +a-favourin' 'em goin' home.'</p> + +<p>A long pause ensued. The oxen hung down their weary heads, with the +symbol of slavery upon them. The smell of ferns and damp mould was on +the air. Rotting logs lay here and there, where the failing water had +stranded them. The grape-vine, draping the giant oaks, swayed gently, +and suggested an observation to break the silence.</p> + +<p>'How air the moral vineyard a-thrivin'?' she asked solemnly.</p> + +<p>He looked downcast. 'Toler'ble, I reckon.'</p> + +<p>'I hearn tell ez thar war a right smart passel o' folks baptized over +yander in Scolacutta River,' she remarked encouragingly.</p> + +<p>'I baptized fourteen.'</p> + +<p>She turned the warm brightness of her eyes upon him. 'They hed all fund +grace!' she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>'They 'lowed so. I hopes they'll prove it by thar works,' he said, +without enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>'Ye war a-prayin' fur 'em on the bald?' she asked, apprehending that he +accounted these converts peculiarly precarious.</p> + +<p>'Naw,' he replied, with moody sincerity; 'I war a-prayin' fur myself.'</p> + +<p>There was another pause, longer and more awkward than before.</p> + +<p>'What work be you-uns a-doin' of?' asked Dorinda timidly. She quailed a +trifle before the uncomprehended light in his eyes. It was not of her +world, she felt instinctively.</p> + +<p>'I hev ploughed some, holpin' Jonas Trice, an' hev been a-hauling wood. +I tuk my rifle along,' he added, 'thinkin' I mought see suthin' ez would +be tasty fur the old men's supper ez I kem home, but I forgot ter look +around keen.'</p> + +<p>There was a sudden sound along the road—a sound of quick hoof-beats. +Because of the deep sand the rider was close at hand before his approach +was discovered. He drew rein abruptly, and they saw that it was Gid +Fletcher, the blacksmith of the Settlement.</p> + +<p>'Hev you-uns hearn the news?' he cried excitedly, as he threw himself +from the saddle.</p> + +<p>The man, leaning on the rifle, looked up, with no question in his eyes. +There was an almost monastic indifference to the world suggested in his +manner.</p> + +<p>'Thar's a mighty disturbamint at the Settle<i>mint</i>. Las' night this hyar +Rick Tyler—what air under indictment fur a-killin' o' Joel Byers—he +kem a-nosin' 'roun' the Settle<i>mint</i> a-tryin' ter buy powder——'</p> + +<p>Dorinda stretched out her hand; the trees were unsteady before her; the +few faint stars, no longer pulsating points of light, described a circle +of dazzling gleams. She caught at the yoke on the neck of the oxen; she +leaned upon the impassive beast, and then it seemed that every faculty +was merged in the sense of hearing. The horse had moved away from the +blacksmith, holding his head down among the boulders, and snuffing about +for the water he remembered here with a disappointment almost pathetic.</p> + +<p>'War he tuk?' demanded the preacher.</p> + +<p>'Percisely so,' drawled the blacksmith, with a sub-current of elation in +his tone.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden change in Kelsey's manner. He turned fiery eyes upon +the blacksmith. Light and life were in every line of his face. He drew +himself up tense and erect; he stretched forth his hand with an accusing +gesture.</p> + +<p>''Twar you-uns, Gid Fletcher, ez tuk the boy!'</p> + +<p>'Lord, pa'son, how'd you-uns know that?' exclaimed the blacksmith. His +manner combined a difference, which in civilization we recognise as +respect for the cloth, with the easy familiarity, induced by the +association since boyhood, of equals in age and station. 'I hedn't let +on a word, hed I, D'rindy?'</p> + +<p>The idea of an abnormal foreknowledge, mysteriously possessed, had its +uncanny influences. The lonely woods were darkening about them. The +stars seemed very far off. A rotting log in the midst of the débris of +the stream, in a wild tangle of underbrush and shelving rocks, showed +fox-fire and glowed in the glooms.</p> + +<p>'I knowed,' said Kelsey, contemptuously waiving the suggestion of +miraculous forecast, 'bekase the sher'ff hain't been in the Big Smoky +for two weeks, an' that thar danglin' shadder o' his'n rid off las' +Monday from Jeemes's Mill in Eskaqua Cove. An' the constable o' the +deestric air sick abed. So I 'lowed 'twar you-uns.'</p> + +<p>'An' why air it me more'n enny other man at the Settle<i>mint</i>?' The +blacksmith's blood was rising; his sensibilities descried a covert taunt +which as yet his slower intelligence failed to comprehend.</p> + +<p>'An' ye hev rid with speed fur the sher'ff—or mebbe ter overhaul the +dep'ty—ter come an' jail the prisoner afore he gits away.'</p> + +<p>'An' why me, more'n the t'others?' demanded the blacksmith.</p> + +<p>'Yer heart air ez hard ez your anvil, Gid Fletcher,' said the +mind-reader. 'Thar ain't another man on the Big Smoky ez would stir +himself ter gin over ter the gallus or the pen'tiary the frien' ez +trested him, who hev done no harm, but hev got tangled in a twist of a +unjest law. Ef the law tuk him, that's a differ.'</p> + +<p>''Tain't fur we-uns ter jedge o' the law!' exclaimed Gid Fletcher, his +logic sharpened by the anxiety of his greed and his prideful +self-esteem. 'Let the law jedge o' his crime.'</p> + +<p>'Jes' so; let the law take him, an' let the law try him. The law is ekal +ter it. Ef the sheriff summons me with his posse, I'll hunt Rick Tyler +through all the Big Smoky——'</p> + +<p>'Look-a-hyar, Hi Kelsey, the Gov'nor o' Tennessee hev offered a reward +o' two hundred dollars——'</p> + +<p>'Blood-money,' interpolated the parson.</p> + +<p>'Ye kin call it so, ef so minded; but ef it war right fur the Guv'nor +ter offer it, it air right fur me ter yearn it.'</p> + +<p>He had come very close. It was his nature and his habit to brook no +resistance. He subdued the hard metals upon his anvil. His hammer +disciplined the iron. The fire wrought his will. His instinct was to +forge this man's opinion into the likeness of his own. His conviction +was the moral swage that must shape the belief of others.</p> + +<p>'It air lawful fur me ter yearn it,' he repeated.</p> + +<p>'Lawful!' exclaimed the parson, with a tense, jeering laugh. 'Judas war +a law-abidin' citizen. He mos' lawfully betrayed <i>his</i> Frien' ter the +law. Them thirty pieces o' silver! Sech currency ain't out o' +circulation yit!'</p> + +<p>Quick as a flash the blacksmith's heavy hand struck the prophet in the +face. The next moment his sudden anger was merged in fear. He stood, +unarmed, at the mercy of an assaulted and outraged man, with a loaded +rifle in his hands and all the lightnings of heaven quivering in his +angry eyes.</p> + +<p>Gid Fletcher had hardly time to draw the breath he thought his last, +when the prophet slowly turned the other cheek.</p> + +<p>'In the name of the Master,' he said, with all the dignity of his +calling.</p> + +<p>As the blacksmith mounted his horse and rode away, he felt that the +parson's rifle-ball would be preferable to the gross slur that he had +incurred. His reputation, moral and spiritual, was annihilated; and he +held this dear, for piety, or its simulacrum, on the primitive Big +Smoky, is the point of honour. What a text! What an illustration of +iniquity he would furnish for the sermons, foretelling wrath and +vengeance, that sometimes shook the Big Smoky to its foundations! He was +cast down and indignant too.</p> + +<p>'Fur Hi Kelsey ter be a-puttin' up sech a pious mouth, an' a-turnin' the +t'other cheek, an' sech, ter me, ez hev seen him hold his own ez stiff +in many a free-handed fight, an' hev drawed his shootin'-irons on folks +agin an' agin! An' he fairly tuk the dep'ty, at that thar disturbamint +at the meet'n'-house, by the scruff o' the neck, an' shuck him ez ef he +hed been a rat or suthin', an' drapped him out'n the door. An' now ter +be a-turnin' the t'other cheek! An' thar's that thar D'rindy, a-seein' +it all, an' a-lookin' at it ez wide-eyed ez a cat in the dark.'</p> + +<p>Dorinda went home planning a rescue. Against the law this probably was, +she thought. 'Ef it air—it oughtn't ter be,' she concluded arbitrarily. +'It don't hurt nobody.' How serious it was—a felony—she did not know, +nor did she care. She went on sturdily, debating within herself how best +to tell the news. With an intuitive knowledge of human nature, she +reckoned on the prejudice aroused by the recital of the blacksmith's +assault upon the preacher, and the forbearance of the man of God. She +began to count those who would be likely to attempt the enterprise when +it should be suggested. There were the five men at home, all bold, +reckless, antagonistic to the law, and at odds with the sheriff. She +paused, with a frightened face and a wild gesture, as if to ward off an +unforeseen danger. Send them to meet him! Never, never would she lift +her hand or raise her voice to aid in fulfilling that grimly prophesied +death on the muzzle of the old rifle-barrel. She trembled at the thought +of her precipitancy. His life was in her hand. With a constraining moral +sense she felt that it was she who had placed it in jeopardy, and that +she held it in trust.</p> + +<p>She was cold, shivering. There was a change in the temperature; perhaps +hail had fallen somewhere near, for the rare air had icy suggestions. +She was seldom out so late, and was glad to see, high on the slope, the +light that was wont to shine like a star into the dark depths of Eskaqua +Cove. The white mists gathered around it; a circle of pearly light +encompassed it, like Saturn's ring. As she came nearer, the roof of the +house defined itself, with its oblique ridge-pole against the sky, and +its clay and stick chimney, also built in defiance of rectangles, and +its little porch, the curtaining hop-vines, dripping, dripping, with +dew. In the corner of the rail fence was the 'crumply cow,' chewing her +cud.</p> + +<p>The radiance of firelight streamed out through the open door, around +which was grouped a number of shadows, of intent and wistful aspect. +These were the hounds, and they crowded about her ecstatically as she +came up on the porch.</p> + +<p>She paused at the door, and looked in with melancholy eyes. The light +fell on her face, still damp with the dew, giving its gentle curves a +subdued glister, like marble; the dark blue of her dress heightened its +fairness. A sudden smile broke upon it as she leaned forward. There were +three men, Ab, Pete, and Ben, seated around the fire; but she was +looking at none of them, and they silently followed her gaze. Only one +pair of eyes met hers—the eyes of a fat young person, wonderfully +muscular for the tender age of three, who sat in the chimney-corner in a +little wooden chair, and preserved the important and impassive air of a +domestic magnate. This was hardly impaired by his ill-defined, infantile +features, his large tow-head, his stolid blue eyes, his feminine garb of +blue-checked cotton, short enough to disclose sturdy white calves and +two feet with the usual complement of toes. He looked at her in grave +recognition but made no sign.</p> + +<p>'Jacob,' she softly drawled, 'whyn't ye go ter bed?'</p> + +<p>But Jacob was indisposed to conversation on this theme; he said nothing.</p> + +<p>'Whyn't you-uns git him ter bed?' she asked of the assemblage at large. +'He'll git stunted, a-settin' up so late in the night.'</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said one of the huge jeans-clad mountaineers, taking his pipe +from his mouth, and scrutinizing the subject of conversation, 'I 'low it +takes more'n three full-grown men ter git that thar survigrus buzzard +ter bed when he don't want ter go thar, an' we warn't a-goin' ter resk +it.'</p> + +<p>'I did ax him ter go ter bed, D'rindy,' said another of the bearded +giants, 'but he 'lowed he <i>wouldn't</i>. I never see a critter so pompered +ez Jacob; he ain't got no medjure o' respec' fur nobody.'</p> + +<p>The subject of these strictures gazed unconcernedly, first at one +speaker, then at the other. Dorinda still looked at him, her face +transfigured by its tender smile. But she was fain to exert her +authority. 'Waal, Jacob,' she said decisively, 'ye mus' gin yer cornsent +ter go ter bed, arter a while.'</p> + +<p>Jacob calmly nodded. He expected to go to bed some time that night.</p> + +<p>The hounds had taken advantage of Dorinda's entrance to creep into the +room and adjust themselves among the family group about the fire. One of +them, near Jacob, lured by the tempting plumpness, put out a long, red +tongue, and gave a furtive lick to his fat white leg. The little +mountaineer promptly doubled his plucky fist, and administered a sharp +blow on the black nose of the offender, whose yelp of repentant pain +attracted attention to the canine intruders. Ab Cayce rose to his feet +with an oath. There was a shrill chorus of anguish as he actively kicked +them out with his great cowhide boots.</p> + +<p>'Git out'n hyar, ye dad-burned beastises! I hev druv ye out fifty times +sence sundown; now <i>stay</i> druv!'</p> + +<p>He emphasized the lesson with several gratuitous kicks after the room +and the porch were fairly cleared. But before he was again seated the +dogs were once more clustered about the door, with intent bobbing heads +and glistening eyes that peered in wistfully, with a longing for the +society of their human friends, and a pathetic anxiety to be accounted +of the family circle.</p> + +<p>There was more stir than usual in the interval between supper and +bedtime. During the three memorable days that Dorinda had sojourned in +Tuckaleechee Cove, Miranda Jane's ineffective administration had +resulted in domestic chaos in several departments. The lantern by which +the cow was to be milked was nowhere to be found. The filly-like Miranda +Jane, with her tousled mane and black forelock hanging over her eyes, +was greatly distraught in the effort to remember where it had been put +and for what it had been last used, and was 'plumb beat out and beset,' +she declared, as she cantered in and cantered out, and took much +exercise in the search, to little purpose. One of the men rose +presently, and addressed himself to the effort. He found it at last, and +handed it to Dorinda without a word. He did not offer to milk the +cow—as essentially a feminine task, in the mountains, as to sew or +knit. When she came back she sat down among them in the chair usually +occupied by her grandmother—who had in her turn gone on a visit to +'Aunt Jerushy' in Tuckaleechee Cove—and as she busied herself in +putting on her needles a sizable stocking for Jacob she did not join in +the fragmentary conversation.</p> + +<p>Ab Cayce, the eldest, talked fitfully as he smoked his pipe—a lank, +lantern-jawed man, with a small, gleaming eye and a ragged beard. The +youngest of the brothers, Solomon, was like him, except that his long +chin, of the style familiarly denominated jimber-jawed, was still smooth +and boyish, and, big-boned as he was, he lacked in weight and somewhat +in height the proportions of the senior. Peter was the contentious +member of the family. He was wont to bicker in solitary disaffection, +until he seemed to disprove the adage that it takes two to make a +quarrel. He was afflicted with a stammer, and at every obstruction his +voice broke out with startling shrillness, several keys higher than the +tone with which the sentence commenced. He was loose-jointed and had a +shambling gait; his hair seemed never to have outgrown the bleached, +colourless tone so common among the children of the mountains, and it +hung in long locks of a dreary drab about his sun-embrowned face. His +teeth were irregular, and protruded slightly. 'Ez hard-favored ez Pete +Cayce,' was a proverb on the Big Smoky. His wrangles about the amount of +seed necessary to sow to the acre, and his objurgation concerning the +horse he had been ploughing with that day, filled the evening.</p> + +<p>'Thar ain't a durned fool on the Big Smoky ez dunno that thar sayin' +'bout'n the beastises:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"One white huff—buy him;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two white huffs—try him;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Three white huffs—deny him;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Four white huffs an' a white nose—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take off his hide an feed him ter the crows."'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Outside, the rising wind wandered fitfully through the Great Smoky, like +a spirit of unrest. The surging trees in the wooded vastness on every +side filled the air with the turbulent sound of their commotion. The +fire smouldered on the hearth. The room was visible in the warm glow: +the walls, rich and mellow with the alternate dark shade of the hewn +logs and the dull yellow of the 'daubin''; the great frame of the +warping-bars, hung about with scarlet and blue and saffron yarn; the +brilliant strings of red pepper, swinging from the rafters. The +spinning-wheel, near the open door, revolved slightly, with a stealthy +motion, when the wind touched it, as though some invisible woodland +thing had half a mind for uncanny industrial experiments.</p> + +<p>Dorinda told her news at last, in few words and with what composure she +could command. As the listeners broke into surprised ejaculations and +comments, she sat gazing silently at the fire. Should she speak the +thought nearest to her heart? Should she suggest a rescue? She was torn +by contending terrors—fears for them, for the man in his primitive +shackles at the Settlement, for the enemy whose life she felt she had +jeopardized. She had a wild vision—half in hope, half in anguish—of +her brothers, in the saddle, armed to the teeth and riding like the +wind. They had not moved of their own accord. Should she urge them to +go?</p> + +<p>Oh, never had the long days on the Big Smoky, never had all the years +that had visibly rolled from east to west with the changing seasons, +brought her so much of life as the last few hours—such intensity of +emotion, such swiftness of thought, such baffling perplexity, such woe!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2> + + +<p>Kelsey trudged on with his slide and his oxen, elated by his moral +triumph. He glorified himself for his meekness. He joyed, with all the +turbulent impulses of victory, in the blacksmith's discomfiture.</p> + +<p>Yet he was cognizant of his own deeper, subtler springs of action. There +was that within him which forbade him to take the life of an unarmed +man, but he piqued himself that he forbore. He had withheld even the +return of the blow. But he knew that in refraining he had struck deeper +still. He dwelt upon the scene with the satisfaction of an inventor. He, +too, could foresee the consequences: the blood-curdling eloquence; the +port and pose of a martyr; the far-spread distrust of the blacksmith's +professions of piety, under which that doughty religionist already +quaked.</p> + +<p>And as he reflected he replied, tartly, to the monitor within, 'Be +angry, and sin not.'</p> + +<p>And the monitor had no text.</p> + +<p>Because of the night drifting down, perhaps—drifting down with a +chilling change; because of the darkened solemnity of the dreary woods; +because of the stars shining with a splendid aloofness from all that is +human; because of the melancholy suggestions of a will-o'-the-wisp +glowing in a marshy tangle, his exultant mood began to wane.</p> + +<p>'Thar it is!' he cried suddenly, pointing at the mocking +illusion—'that's my religion: looks like fire, an' it's fog!'</p> + +<p>His mind had reverted to his wild supplications in the solitudes of the +'bald'—his unanswered prayers. The oxen had paused of their own accord +to rest, and he stood looking at the spectral gleam.</p> + +<p>'I'd never hev thunk o' takin' up with religion,' he said, in a shrill, +upbraiding tone, 'ef I hed been let ter live along like other men be, or +ef me an mine could die like other folks be let ter die! But it 'peared +ter me ez religion war 'bout all ez war lef', arter I hed gin the baby +the stuff the valley doctor hed lef' fur Em'ly—bein' ez I couldn't read +right the old critter's cur'ous scrapin's with his pencil—an' gin Em'ly +the stuff fur the baby. An' it died. An' then Em'ly got onsettled an' +crazy, an' tuk ter vagrantin' 'roun', an' fell off'n the bluff. An' some +say she flunged herself off'n it. And I knows she flunged herself off'n +it through bein' out'n her mind with grief.'</p> + +<p>He paused, leaning on the yoke, his dreary eyes still on the <i>ignis +fatuus</i> of the woods. 'An' then Brother Jake Tobin 'lowed ez religion +war fur sech ez me. I hed no mind ter religion. But the worl' hed in an' +about petered out for me. An' I tuk up with religion. I hev sarved it +five year faithful. An' now'—he cast his angry eyes upward—'ye let me +believe that thar is no God!'</p> + +<p>So it was that Satan hunted him like a partridge on the mountains. So it +was that he went out into the desert places to upbraid the God in whom +he I believed because he believed that there was no God. There was a +tragedy in his faith and his unfaith. That this untrained, untutored +mind should grope among the irreconcilable things—the problems of a +merciful God and His afflicted people, foreordained from the beginning +of the world and free agents! That to the ignorant mountaineer should +come those distraught questions that vex polemics, and try the strength +of theologies, and give the wise men an illimitable field for the +display of their agile and ingenious solutions and substitutions! He +knew naught of this: the wild Alleghanies intervened between his +yearning, empty despair and their plenished fame, the splendid +superstructure on the ruins of their faith. He thought himself the only +unbeliever in a Christian world, the only inherent infidel: a +mysteriously accursed creature charged with the discovery of the +monstrous fallacy of that beneficent comfort, assuaging the grief of a +stricken world, and called an overruling Providence. Again his +flickering faith would flare up, and he would reproach God who had +suffered its lapse. This was his secret and his shame, and he guarded +it. And so when he preached his wild sermons with a certain natural +eloquence; and prayed his frantic prayers, instinct with all the +sincerities of despair; and sang with the people the mournful old hymns, +in the little meeting-house on the notch, or on the banks of the +Scolacutta River, where they went down to be baptized, his keen +introspection, his moral dissent, which he might not forbear, yet would +not avow, were an intolerable burden, and his spiritual life was the +throe of a spiritual anguish.</p> + +<p>Often there was no intimation in those sermons of his of the quaint +doctrines which delight the simple men of his calling in that region, +who are fain to feel learned. His Christ, to judge from this mood, was a +Paramount Emotion; not the Christ who confuted the wise men in the +temple, and read in the synagogues, and said dark allegories; but He who +stilled the storm, and healed the sick, and raised the dead, and wept, +most humanly, for the friend whom he loved. Kelsey's trusting heart +contended with his doubting mind, and the simple humanities of these +sermons comforted him. Sometimes he sought consolation otherwise; he +would remember that he had never been like his fellows. This was only +another manifestation of the dissimilarity that dated from his earliest +recollections. He had from his infancy peculiar gifts. He was learned in +the signs of the weather, and predicted the mountain storms; he knew the +haunts and habits of every beast and bird in the Great Smoky, every leaf +that burgeons, every flower that blows. So deep and incisive a knowledge +of human nature had he, that this faculty was deemed supernatural, and +akin to the gift of prophecy. He himself understood, although perhaps he +could not have accurately limited and defined it, that he exercised +unconsciously a vigilant attention and an acute discrimination; his +forecast was based upon observation so close and unsparing, and a power +of deduction so just, that in a wider sphere it might have been called +judgment, and, reinforced by education, have attained all the functions +of a ripened sagacity.</p> + +<p>Crude as it was, it did not fail of recognition. In many ways his 'word' +was sought and heeded. His influence yielded its richest effect when his +<i>confrère</i> of the pulpit would call on him to foretell the fate of the +sinner and the wrath of God to the Big Smoky. And then Brother Jake +Tobin would accompany the glowing picture by a slow rhythmic clapping of +hands and a fragmentary chant, 'That dreadful Day air a-comin' +along!'—bearing all the time a smiling and beatific countenance, as if +he were fireproof himself, and brimstone and flame were only for his +friends.</p> + +<p>Rousing himself from his reverie with a sigh, Hiram Kelsey urged the +oxen along the sandy road, which had here and there a stony interval +threatening the slide with dissolution at every jolt. They began +presently to quicken their pace of their own accord. The encompassing +woods and the laurel were so dense that no gleam of light was visible +till they brought up suddenly beside a rail fence, and the fitful +glimmer of firelight from an open door close at hand revealed the +presence of a double log cabin. There was an uninclosed passage between +the two rooms, and in this a tall, gaunt woman was standing.</p> + +<p>'Thar be Hi now, with the steers,' she said, detecting the dim bovine +shadows in the flickering gleams.</p> + +<p>Tell Hiram ter come in right now,' cried a chirping voice, like a +superannuated cricket. 'I hev a word ter ax him.'</p> + +<p>'Tell Hiram ter feed them thar steers fust,' cried out another ancient +voice, keyed several tones lower, and also with the ring of authority.</p> + +<p>'Tell Hiram,' shrilly piped the other, 'ter hustle his bones, ef he +knows what air good fur 'em.'</p> + +<p>'Tell Hiram,' said the deeper voice, sustaining the antiphonal effect, +'I want them thar steers feded foreshortly.'</p> + +<p>Then ensued a muttered wrangle within, and finally the shriller voice +was again uplifted:</p> + +<p>'Tell Hiram what my word air.'</p> + +<p>'An' ye tell Hiram what <i>my</i> word air.'</p> + +<p>The woman, who was tall as a grenadier, and had a voice like velvet, +looked meekly back into the room, upon each mandate, with a nod of mild +obedience.</p> + +<p>'Ye hearn 'em,' she said softly to Kelsey. Evidently she could not +undertake the hazard of discriminating between these co-equal +authorities.</p> + +<p>'I hearn 'em,' he replied.</p> + +<p>She sat down near the door, and resumed her occupation of monotonously +peeling June apples for 'sass.' Her brown calico sun-bonnet, which she +habitually wore, in doors and out, obscured her visage, except her chin +and absorbed mouth, that now and then moved in unconscious sympathy with +her work. There was a piggin on one side of her to receive the quartered +fruit, and on the other a white oak splint basket, already half full of +the spiral parings. On the doorstep her husband sat, a shaggy-headed, +full-bearded, unkempt fellow, in brown jeans trousers reaching almost to +his collarbone in front, and supported by the single capable suspender +so much affected in the mountains. His unbleached cotton shirt was open +at the throat, for there was fire enough in the huge chimney-place to +make the room unpleasantly warm, despite the change of temperature +without. Now and then he stretched out his hand for an apple already +pared, which his wife gave him with an adroit back-handed movement, and +which he ate in a mouthful or two. He made way for Kelsey to enter, and +asked him a question, almost inarticulate because of the apples, but +apparently of hospitable intent, for Kelsey said he had had a bite and a +sup at Jonas Trice's, and did not want the supper which had been +providently saved for him.</p> + +<p>Kelsey did not betray which command he had thought best to obey.</p> + +<p>'I hed ter put my rifle on the rack in the t'other room, gran'dad,' he +observed meekly, addressing one of two very old men who sat on either +side of the huge fireplace. There were cushions in their rude arm +chairs, and awkward little three-legged footstools were placed in front +of them. Their shoes and clothing, although coarse to the last degree, +were clean and carefully tended. They had each long ago lived out the +allotted threescore years and ten, but they had evidently not worn out +their welcome. One had suffered a paralytic attack, and every word and +motion was accompanied with a convulsive gasp and jerk. The other old +man was saturnine and lymphatic, and seemed a trifle younger than his +venerable associate.</p> + +<p>'What war ye a-doin' of with yer rifle?' mumbled gran'dad in wild, +toothless haste.</p> + +<p>'I tuk it along ter see, when I war a-comin' home, ef I mought shoot +suthin' tasty for supper.'</p> + +<p>'What did ye git?' demanded gran'dad, with retrospective greed; for +supper was over, and he had done full justice to his share.</p> + +<p>'I never got nuthin',' said Kelsey, a trifle shame-facedly.</p> + +<p>'Waal, waal, waal! These hyar latter times gits cur'ouser ez they goes +along. The stren'th an' the seasonin' hev all gone out'n the lan'. +Whenst I war young, folks ez kerried rifles ter git suthin' fur supper +never kem home a-suckin' the bar'l. Folks ez kerried rifles in them days +didn't tote 'em fur—fur—a 'ornamint. Folks in them days lef preachin' +an' prophecy an' sech ter thar elders, an' hunted the beastis an' the +Injun,—though sinners is plentier than the t'other kind o' game on the +Big Smoky these times. No man in them days, jes' turned thirty, sot +hisself down ter idlin', an' preachin', an' convictin' his elders o' +sin.'</p> + +<p>Kelsey bore himself with the deferential humility characteristic of the +mountaineers towards the aged among them.</p> + +<p>'What war the word ez ye war a-layin' off to say ter me, gran'dad?' he +asked, striving to effect a diversion.</p> + +<p>'Waal, waal, look a-hyar, Hiram,' exclaimed the old man, remembering his +question in eager precipitancy. 'This hyar 'Cajah Green, ye know, ez air +a-runnin' fur sher'ff—air—air he Republikin or Dimmycrat?'</p> + +<p>'Thar's no man in these hyar parts smart enough ter find that out,' +interpolated Obediah Scruggs in the door, circumspectly taking the apple +seeds out of his mouth. He was the son of one of the magnates, and the +son-in-law of the other; his matrimonial venture had resulted in +doubling his filial obligations. His wife had brought, instead of a +dowry, her aged father to the fireside.</p> + +<p>''Cajah Green,' continued the speaker, 'run ez a independent las' time, +an' thar war so many bolters an' sech they split the vote, an' he war +'lected. An' now he air a-runnin' agin.'</p> + +<p>The old man listened to this statement, his eye blazing, his chin in a +quiver, his lean figure erect, and the pipe in his palsied hand shaking +till the coal of fire on top showed brightening tendencies.</p> + +<p>'Waal, sir! waal!' exclaimed the aged politician, with intense +bitterness. 'The stren'th an' the seasonin' hev <i>all</i> gone out'n the +lan'! Whenst I war young,' he declared dramatically, drawing the +pitiable contrast, 'folks knowed what they war, an they let other folks +know, too, ef they hed ter club it inter 'em. But them was Old Hickory's +times. Waal, waal, we ain't a-goin' ter see Old Hickory no +more—no—more!'</p> + +<p>'I hopes not,' said the other old man, with sudden asperity. 'I hopes +we'll never see no sech tormentin' old Dimmycrat agin. But law! I +needn't fret my soul. Henry Clay shook all the life out'n him five year +afore he died. Henry Clay made a speech agin Andrew Jackson in 1840 what +forty thousan' people kem ter hear. <i>Thar</i> war a man fur ye! He hed a +tongue like a bell; 'pears like ter me I kin hear it yit, when I listens +right hard. By Gum!' triumphantly, 'that day he tuk the stiffenin' out'n +Old Hickory! Surely, surely, he did! Ef I thought I war never a-goin' +ter hear Old Hickory's name agin I'd tune up my ears fur the angel's +quirin'. I war born a Republikin, I grow'd ter be a good Whig, an' I'll +die a Republikin. Ef that ain't religion I dunno what air! That's the +way I hev lived an' walked afore the Lord. An' hyar in the evenin' o' my +days I hev got ter set alongside o' this hyar old consarn, an' hear him +jow 'bout'n Old Hickory from mornin' till night. Ef I hed knowed how he +war goin' ter turn out 'bout'n Old Hickory in his las' days, I wouldn't +hev let my darter marry his son, thirty-five year ago. I knowed he war a +Dimmycrat, but I never knowed the stren'th o' the failin' till I were +called on ter 'speriunce it.'</p> + +<p>'Ye 'lowed t'other day, gran'dad,' said Kelsey, addressing the aged +paralytic in a propitiatory manner, 'ez ye warn't a-goin' ter talk +'bout'n Old Hickory no more. It 'pears like ter me ez ye oughter gin yer +'tention ter the candidates ez ye hev got ter vote fur in August—'Cajah +Green, an' sech.'</p> + +<p>But it must be admitted that Micajah Green was not half the man that Old +Hickory was, and the filial remonstrance had no effect. The acrimonies +of fifty years ago were renewed across the hearth with a rancour that +suggests that an old grudge, like old wine, improves with time. No one +ventured to interrupt, but Obediah Scruggs, still lounging in the door, +commented in a low tone:</p> + +<p>'The law stirs itself ter sot a time when a man air old enough ter vote +an' meddle with politics ginerally. 'Pears like ter me it ought ter sot +a time when he hev got ter quit.'</p> + +<p>'Waal, Obediah!' exclaimed the soft-voiced woman, the red parings +hanging in concentric circles from her motionless knife. 'That ain't +religion. Ye talk like a man would hev ter be ez sensible an' solid fur +politics ez fur workin' on the road. They don't summons the old men fur +sech jobs ez that. They mought ez well enjye the evenin' o' thar days +with this foolishness o' politics ez enny other.'</p> + +<p>'Shucks!' said Obediah, who had the courage of his convictions. 'These +hyar old folks hev hed ter live in the same house an' ride in the same +wagin thirty-five year, jes' 'kase, when we war married, they agreed ter +put what they hed tergether; an' they hev been a-fightin' over thar dead +an' gone politics ev'ry minit o' the time sence. Thar may be some good +Dimmycrats, an' thar may be some good Republikins, but they make a +powerful oneasy team, yoked tergether. An' when it grows on 'em so, the +law oughter step in, an' count 'em over age, an' shet 'em up. 'Specially +ez dad hev voted fur Andy Jackson fur Presi<i>dint</i> outer respec' fur his +mem'ry, ev'y 'lection sence the tormentin' old crittur died.'</p> + +<p>But he said all this below his breath, and presently fell silent, for +his wife's face had clouded, and her soft drawling voice had an +intimation of a depression of spirit.</p> + +<p>'The kentry hev kem ter its ruin,' exclaimed the paralytic, 'when +men—brazen-faced buzzards—kin go an' git 'lected ter office 'thout no +party ter boost 'em! Look a-hyar,'—he turned to his grandson,—'ye air +always a-prophesyin'. Prophesy some now. Air 'Cajah Green a-goin' ter be +'lected?'</p> + +<p>He thumped the floor with his stick, and fixed his imperative eye upon +Hiram Kelsey's face.</p> + +<p>'Naw, gran'dad. He won't be 'lected,' said the prophet.</p> + +<p>The old man's face was scarlet because of this contradiction of his own +dismal vaticinations.</p> + +<p>''Cajah Green <i>will</i> be 'lected,' he cried. 'The kentry's ruined. Folks +dunno whether they air Republikins or Dimmycrats! Lor' Almighty, ter +think o' that! The kentry's ruined! An' yer prophesyin' don't tech it. +They hed false prophets in the old days, an' the tribe holds out yit.'</p> + +<p>He struck the floor venomously with his stick. Its defective aim once or +twice brought it upon a rough black bundle that lay rolled up in front +of the fire like a great dog. A slow head was lifted inquiringly, with +an offended mien, from the rolls of fat and far. Twinkling small eyes +glared out. When another blow descended, with a wild disregard of +results, there was a whimper, a long, low growl, a flash of white teeth, +and with claw and fang the pet cub caught at the stick. The old man +dropped it in a panic.</p> + +<p>'Look a-yander at the bar!' he shrieked.</p> + +<p>But the cub had crouched on the floor since the stick had fallen, and +was whimpering again, and looking about in cowardly appeal.</p> + +<p>The old man rallied. 'What d'ye bring the savage beastis home fur, +Hiram, out'n the woods whar they b'long?' he vociferated.</p> + +<p>'Kase he 'lowed he hed killed the dam, an' the young 'un war bound ter +starve,' put in the other old man, actuated, perhaps, by some sympathy +for the grandson, whose strength and youth counted for naught against +this adversary.</p> + +<p>'What air ye a-aimin' ter do with it? Ter kill sech chillen ez happen +ter make game o' ye? That's what the prophets of old 'cited thar bars +ter do—ter kill the little laffin' chillen.'</p> + +<p>Kelsey winced. The cruelties of the old chronicles bore hard upon his +wavering faith.</p> + +<p>The old man saw his advantage, and with the wantonness of tyranny +followed it up: 'That's it—that's it! That would suit Hiram, like the +prophets—ter kill the innercent chillen!'</p> + +<p>The young man recoiled suddenly. The patriarch, a wild terror on his +pallid, aged face, recognised the significance of his words. He held up +his shaking hands as if to recall them—to clutch them. He had +remembered the domestic tragedy; the humble figure of the little +mountain child, all gaiety and dimples and gurgling laughter, who had +known no grief and had wrought such woe, who had left a rude, empty +cradle in the corner, a mound—such a tiny mound!—in the graveyard, and +an imperishable anguish of self-reproach, unquenchable as the fires of +hell.</p> + +<p>'I furgot—I furgot!' shrieked the old man. 'I furgot the baby! When +war she buried?—las' week or year afore las'? The only one—the only +great-gran'child I ever hed. The frien'liest baby! Knowed me jes' ez +well!' He burst into senile tears. 'Don't ye go, Hiram. What did the +doctor say ye gin her? Laws-a-massy! 'Pears like 'twar jes' yestiddy she +war a-crawlin' 'round the floor, stidd'er that heejus beastis ez I wisht +war in the woods—laffin'—Lord A'mighty! laffin' an' takin' notice ez +peart. Hiram, don't ye go—don't ye go! Peartes', pretties' chile I ever +see—an' I had six o' my own—an' the frien'lies'! An' I hed planned fur +sech a many pleasures when she hed got some growth an' hed l'arned ter +talk. I wanted ter hear what she hed ter say—the only great-gran'child +I ever hed—an' now the words will never be spoke. 'Pears like ter me ez +the Lord shows mighty little jedgmint ter take her, an' leave me +a-cumberin' the groun'.'</p> + +<p>Then he began once more to wring his hands and sob aloud—that piteous +weeping of the aged!—and to mumble brokenly, 'The frien'lies' baby!'</p> + +<p>The woman left her work and took off her bonnet, showing her grey hair +drawn into a skimpy knot at the back of her head, and leaving in high +relief her strong, honest, candid features, on which the refinements of +all benign impulses effaced the effects of poverty and ignorance. She +crossed the room to the old man's chair; her velvety voice soothed him. +He suffered himself to be lifted by his son and grandson, and carried +away bodily to bed in the room across the passage. In the meantime the +woman filled a tin cup with lard, placing in its midst a button tied in +a bit of cloth to serve as a wick, and lighted it at the fire, while the +cub presided with sniffing curiosity at the unusual proceeding, pressing +up close against her as she knelt on the hearth, well knowing that she +was not to be held in fear nor in any special respect by young bears.</p> + +<p>'I'm goin' ter gin him a button-lamp ter sleep by, bein' ez he hev tuk +the baby in his head agin,' she said to her father in explanation; 'he +won't feel so lonesome ef he wakes up.'</p> + +<p>He had looked keenly after his venerable compeer as the paralytic was +borne across the uninclosed passage between the two rooms.</p> + +<p>'He's breaking some. He's aging,' he said critically; not without +sympathy, but with a stalwart conviction that his own feebleness was as +strength to the other's weakness. 'He's breaking some,' he repeated, +with a physical vanity that might have graced a prize-fighter.</p> + +<p>The next moment there came sharp and shrill through the open door the +old man's voice, high and glib in cheerful forgetfulness, conversing +with his attendants as they got him to bed.</p> + +<p>'Whenst I war young,' he cried, 'I went down to Sevierville wunst. 'Twar +when they war a-runnin' of Old Hickory.'</p> + +<p>'Thar it is again!' exclaimed the ancient Republican. 'Old Hickory war +bad enough when he war alive; but I b'lieves he's wusser now that he is +dead, with this hyar old critter a-moanin' 'bout him night and day. I'd +feel myself called ter fling him of'n the bluff, ef it warn't that he +hev got the palsy, an' I gits sorry fur him wunst in a while. An' then I +b'lieves that ennybody what is a Dimmycrat air teched in the head, an' +ain't 'sponsible fur thar foolishness, 'kase sensible folks ain't +Dimmycrats. That's been my 'speriunce fur eighty year, an' I hev hed no +call ter change my mind. So I hev to try my patience an' stan' this hyar +old critter's foolishness, but it air a mighty tough strain.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2> + + +<p>The shadows of the great dead trees in the midst of the Settlement were +at their minimum in the vertical vividness of the noontide. They bore +scant resemblance to those memorials of gigantic growths which towered, +stark and white, so high to the intensely blue sky; instead, they were +like some dark and leafless underbrush clustering about the sapless +trunks. The sandy stretch of the clearing reflected the sunlight with a +deeply yellow glare, its poverty of soil illustrated by frequent clumps +of the woolly mullein-weeds. The Indian corn and the sparse grass were +crudely green in the enclosures about the grey, weather-beaten +log-houses, which stood distinct against the dark, restful tones of the +forest filling the background. The mountains with each remove wore every +changing disguise of distance: shading from sombre green to a dull +purple; then overlaid with a dubious blue; next showing a true and +turquoise richness; still farther, a delicate transient hue that has no +name; and so away to the vantage-ground of illusions, where the ideal +poises upon the horizon, and the fact and the fantasy are +undistinguishably blended. The intermediate valleys appeared in +fragmentary glimpses here and there; sometimes there was only the +verdure of the tree-tops; one was cleft by a canary-coloured streak +which betokened a harvested wheat-field; in another blazed a sapphire +circle, where the vertical sun burned in the waters of a blue salt +'lick.'</p> + +<p>The landscape was still—very still; not the idle floating of a cloud, +not the vague shifting of a shadow, not the flutter of a wing. But the +Settlement on the crags above had known within its experience no similar +commotion. There were many horses hitched to the fences, some girded +with blankets in lieu of saddles. Clumsy waggons stood among the stumps +in the clearing, with the oxen unyoked and their provender spread before +them on the ground. Although the log-cabins gave evidence of hospitable +proceedings within, family parties were seated in some of the vehicles, +munching the dinner providently brought with them. All the dogs in the +Great Smoky, except perhaps a very few incapacitated by extreme age or +extreme youth, were humble participants in the outing, having trotted +under the waggons many miles from their mountain homes, and now lay with +lolling tongues among the wheels. About the store lounged a number of +men, mostly the stolid, impassive mountaineers. A few, however, although +in the customary jeans, bore the evidence of more worldly prosperity +and a higher culture; and there were two or three resplendent in the +'b'iled shirt and store clothes' of civilization, albeit the first was +without collar or cravat, and the latter showed antique cut and reverend +age. These were candidates—talkative, full of anecdote, quick to +respond, easily flattered, and flattering to the last degree. They were +especially jocose and friendly with each other, but amid the fraternal +guffaws and interchanges of 'chaws o' terbacco' many quips were bandied, +barbed with ridicule; many good stories recounted, charged with +uncomplimentary deductions; many jokes cracked, discovering the kernel +of slander or detraction in the merry shell. The mountaineers looked on, +devoid of envy, and despite their stolidity with an understanding of the +conversational masquerade. Beneath this motley verbal garb was a grave +and eager aspiration for public favour, and it was a matter of no small +import when a voter would languidly glance at another with a silent +laugh, slowly shake his head with a not-to-be-convinced gesture, and +spit profusely on the ground.</p> + +<p>In and out of the store dawdled a ceaseless procession of free and +enlightened citizens; always emerging with an aspect of increased +satisfaction, wiping their mouths with big bandanna handkerchiefs, and +sometimes with the more primitive expedient of a horny hand. Nathan +Hoodendin sat in front of the door, keeping store after his usual +fashion, except that the melancholy wheeze 'Jer'miah' rose more +frequently upon the air. Jer'miah's duties consisted chiefly in serving +out whisky and apple-jack, and the little drudge stuck to his work with +an earnest pertinacity, for which the privilege of draining the very few +drops left in the bottom of the glass after each dram seemed hardly an +adequate reward.</p> + +<p>The speeches, which were made in the open air, the candidate mounted on +a stump in front of the store, were all much alike—the same +self-laudatory meekness, the same inflamed party spirit, the same jocose +allusions to opponents,—each ending, 'Gentlemen, if I am elected to +office I will serve you to the best of my skill and ability. Gentlemen, +I thank you for your attention.' The crowd, close about, stood listening +with great intentness, each wearing the impartial pondering aspect of an +umpire.</p> + +<p>On the extreme outskirts of the audience, however, there was an +unprecedented lapse of attention; a few of the men, seated on stumps or +on the waggon-tongues, now and then whispering together, and casting +excited glances towards the blacksmith's shop. Sometimes one would rise, +approach it stealthily, stoop down, and peer in at the low window. The +glare outside made the interior seem doubly dark, and a moment or two +was needed to distinguish the anvil, the fireless hearth, the sooty +hood. A vague glimmer fell through a crevice in the clapboard roof upon +a shock of yellow hair and gleaming eyes, two sullen points of light in +the midst of the deep shadows. None of the mountaineers had ever seen a +wild beast caged, but Rick Tyler's look of fierce and surly despair, of +defiance, of all vain and vengeful impulses, as he sat bound hand and +foot in the forge, was hardly more human. The faces multiplied at the +window,—stolid, or morbidly curious, awe-struck, or with a grinning +display of long tobacco-stained teeth. Many of them were well known to +Rick Tyler, and if ever he had liked them he hated them now.</p> + +<p>There was a stir outside, a clamour of many voices. The 'speaking' was +over. Footsteps sounded close to the door of the blacksmith's shop. The +sheriff was about to enter, and the crowd pressed eagerly forward to +catch a glimpse of the prisoner. Arriving this morning, the sheriff had +been glad to combine his electioneering interests with his official +duty. The opportunity of canvassing among the assemblage gave him, he +thought, an ample excuse for remaining a few hours longer at the +Settlement than was necessary; and when he heard of the impending +diversion of the gander-pulling he was convinced that his horse required +still more rest before starting with his prisoner for Shaftesville jail.</p> + +<p>He went briskly into the forge, carrying a pair of clanking handcuffs. +He busied himself in exchanging these for the cord with which the young +fellow's wrists were bound. It had been drawn brutally tight, and the +flesh was swollen and raw. 'It seems ter me, ez 'twas the blacksmith +that nabbed ye, he might hev done better for ye than this, by a darned +sight,' he said in an undertone.</p> + +<p>He had not been reluctant at first that the crowd should come in, but he +appreciated unnecessary harshness as an appeal for sympathy, and he +called out to his deputy, who had accompanied him on his mission, to +clear the room.</p> + +<p>'We're goin' ter keep him shet up fur an hour or so, an' start down the +mounting in the cool o' the evenin',' he explained; 'so ef ye want ter +view him the winder is yer chance.'</p> + +<p>The forge was cleared at last, the broad light vanishing with the +closing of the great barn-like doors. Rick heard the lowered voices of +the sheriff and deputy gravely consulting without, as they secured the +fastenings with a padlock which they had brought with them in view of +emergencies. They had taken the precaution, too, to nail strips of board +at close intervals across the shutterless windows; more, perhaps, to +prevent the intrusion of the curious without than the escape of the +manacled prisoner. The section of the landscape glimpsed through the +bars—the far blue mountains and a cluster of garnet pokeberries, with a +leaf or two of the bush growing close by the wall—sprang into abnormal +brilliancy at the end of the dark vista of the interior. It was a +duskier brown within for that fragment of vivid colour and dazzling +clearness in the window. Naught else could be seen, except a diagonal +view of the porch of one of the log-cabins, and the corn-field beyond.</p> + +<p>Curiosity was not yet sated; now and then a face peered in, as Rick sat +bound securely, the cords still about his limbs and feet and the +clanking handcuffs on his wrists. These inquisitive apparitions at the +window grew fewer as the time went by, and presently ceased altogether. +The bustle outside increased: it drowned the drowsy drone of the cicada; +it filled the mountain solitudes with a trivial incongruity. Often +sounded there the sudden tramp of a horse and a loud guffaw. Rick knew +that they were making ready for the gander-pulling, which unique sport +had been selected by the long-headed mountain politicians as likely to +insure the largest assemblage possible from the surrounding region to +hear the candidates prefer their claims.</p> + +<p>Electioneering topics were not suspended even while the younger men were +saddling and bridling their horses for the proposed festivity. As +Micajah Green strolled across the clearing and joined a group of elderly +spectators who in their chairs sat tilted against the walls of the +store, which began to afford some shade, he found that his own prospects +were under discussion.</p> + +<p>'They tell me, 'Cajah,' said Nathan Hoodendin, who had hardly budged +that day, his conversational activity, however, atoning for his physical +inertia, 'ez ye air bound ter eend this 'lection with yer finger in yer +mouth.'</p> + +<p>'Don't know why,' said Micajah Green, with a sharp, sudden effect as of +an angry bark, and lapsing from the smiling mien which he was wont to +conserve as a candidate.</p> + +<p>'Waal, word hev been brung hyar ter the Settle<i>mint</i> ez this prophet o' +ourn in the Big Smoky, he say ye ain't goin' ter be re'lected.'</p> + +<p>The sheriff laughed scornfully, snapping his fingers as he stood before +the group, and whirled airily on his boot-heel.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, he was visibly annoyed. He knew the strength of a +fantastic superstition among ignorant people, and their disposition to +verify rather than to disprove. There were voters in the Big Smoky +liable to be controlled by a morbid impulse to make the prophet's word +true. It was an unexpected and unmeasured adverse influence, and he +chafed under the realization.</p> + +<p>'An' what sets Pa'son Kelsey agin me?' he demanded.</p> + +<p>'He ain't in no ways <i>sot agin you-uns</i> ez I knows on,' discriminated +Nathan Hoodendin, studious impartiality expressed among the graven +wrinkles of his face. 'Not ez it war <i>sot agin</i> ye; but ye jes' 'lows ez +that air the fac'. Ye ain't goin' ter be 'lected agin.'</p> + +<p>'The pa'son hev got a gredge agin the old man, hyar,' said the deputy. +He was a stalwart fellow of about twenty-five years of age. He had sandy +hair and moustache, a broad freckled face, light grey eyes, and a +thin-lipped, defiant mouth. He bore himself with an air of bravado which +conveyed as many degrees of insult as one felt disposed to take up. 'He +lit out on me fust—I war with Amos Jeemes thar,—an' the pa'son put us +out'n the meet'n'-house. He did! He don't want no sorter sher'ff's in +the Big Smoky. An' he called Gid Fletcher, the blacksmith, "Judas" fur +arrestin' that lot o' bacon yander in the shop, when he kem hyar ter the +Settle<i>mint</i> fur powder, ter keep him able to resis' the law! Who sold +Rick Tyler that powder, Mister Hoodendin?' he added, turning his eyes on +the proprietor of the store.</p> + +<p>Old Hoodendin hesitated. 'Jer'miah,' he wheezed feebly.</p> + +<p>His anxious eyes gleamed from out their perplexed wrinkles like a ray of +sunlight twinkling through a spider-web.</p> + +<p>There was an interchange of glances between the sheriff and his deputy, +and the admonished subordinate continued:</p> + +<p>''Twar jes' the boy, eh; an' I reckon he war afeard o' Rick's +shootin'-irons an' sech.'</p> + +<p>''Twar Jer'miah,' repeated the storekeeper, his discreet eyes upon the +bosom of his blue-checked homespun shirt.</p> + +<p>'Waal, the pa'son, ez I war sayin', he called the blacksmith "Judas" fur +capturing the malefactor, an' the gov'nor's reward "blood-money,"' +continued the deputy, expertly electioneering, since his own tenure was +on the uncertain continuance of the sheriff in office. 'An' now he's +goin' round the kentry prophesyin' as 'Cajah Green ain't goin' ter be +'lected. Waal, thar war false prophets 'fore his time, an' will be agin, +I'm thinkin'.'</p> + +<p>There was a sudden clamour upon the air; a vibrant, childish voice, and +then a great horse-laugh. An old crone had come out of one of the cabins +and was standing by the fence, holding out to Gid Fletcher, who seemed +master of ceremonies, a large white gander. The fowl's physiognomy was +thrown into bold prominence by a thorough greasing of the head and neck. +His wings flapped, he hissed fiercely, he dolorously squawked. A little +girl was running frantically by the side of the old woman, clutching at +her skirt and vociferously claiming the 'gaynder.' Hers it was, since +'Mam gin me the las' aig when the grey goose laid her ladder out, an' it +war sot under the old Dominicky hen ez kem off'n her nest through +settin' three weeks, like a hen will do. An' then 'twar put under old +Top-knot, an' 'twar the fust aig hatched out'n old Top-knot's settin'.'</p> + +<p>This unique pedigree, shrieked out with a shrill distinctness, mixed +with the lament of the prescient bird, had a ludicrous effect. Fletcher +took the gander with a guffaw, the old crone chuckled, and the young men +laughed as they mounted their horses.</p> + +<p>The blacksmith hardly knew which part he preferred to play. The element +of domination in his character gave a peculiar relish to the rôle of +umpire; yet with his pride in his deftness and strength it cost him a +pang to forego the competition in which he felt himself an assured +victor. He armed himself with a whip of many thongs, and took his stand +beneath a branch of one of the trees, from which the gander was +suspended by his big feet, head downward. Aghast at his disagreeable +situation, his wild eyes stared about; his great wings flapped +drearily; his long neck protruded with its peculiar motion, unaware of +the clutch it invited. What a pity so funny a thing can suffer!</p> + +<p>The gaping crowd at the store, on the cabin porches, on the fences, +watched the competitors with wide-eyed, wide-mouthed delight. There were +gallant figures amongst them, shown to advantage on young horses whose +spirit was not yet quelled by the plough. They filed slowly around the +prescribed space once, twice; then each made the circuit alone at a +break-neck gallop. As the first horseman rode swiftly along the crest of +the precipice, his head high against the blue sky, the stride of the +steed covering mountain and valley, he had the miraculous effect of +Prince Firouz Shah and the enchanted horse in their mysterious aërial +journeys. When he passed beneath the branch whence hung the frantic, +fluttering bird, the blacksmith, standing sentinel with his whip of many +thongs, laid it upon the flank of the horse, and despite the wild and +sudden plunge the rider rose in his stirrups and clutched the greased +neck of the swaying gander. Tough old fowl! The strong ligaments +resisted. The first hardly hoped to pluck the head, and after his hasty, +convulsive grasp his frightened horse carried him on almost over the +bluff. The slippery neck refused to yield at the second pull, and the +screams of the delighted spectators mingled with the shrieks of the +gander. The mountain colt, a clay-bank, with a long black tail full of +cockle-burrs, bearing the third man, reared violently under the surprise +of the lash. As the rider changed the balance of his weight, rising in +his stirrups to tug at the gander's neck, the colt pawed the air wildly +with his fore feet, fell backward, and rolled upon the ground, almost +over the hapless wight. The blacksmith was fain to support himself +against the tree for laughter, and the hurrahing Settlement could not +remember when it had enjoyed anything so much. The man gathered himself +up sheepishly, and limped off; the colt being probably a mile away, +running through the woods at the height of his speed.</p> + +<p>The gander was in a panic by this time. If ever a fowl of that gender +has hysterics, that gander exhibited the disease. He hissed; he flapped +his wings; he squawked; he stared; he used every limited power of +expression with which nature has gifted him. He was so funny one could +hardly look at him.</p> + +<p>As Amos James was about to take his turn, amid flattering cries of +'Amos'll pull his head!' 'Amos'll git his head!' a man who had suddenly +appeared on horseback at the verge of the clearing, and had paused, +contemplating the scene, rode swiftly forward to the tree.</p> + +<p>'Ye can't pull out'n turn—ye can't pull out'n turn, pa'son!' cried half +a dozen voices from the younger men. The elders stared in amaze that the +preacher should demean his calling by engaging in this public sport.</p> + +<p>Kelsey checked his pace before he reached the blacksmith, who, seeing +that he was not going to pull, forbore to lay on the lash. The next +moment he thought that Kelsey was going to pull; he had risen in his +stirrups with uplifted arm.</p> + +<p>'What be you-uns a-goin' ter do?' demanded Gid Fletcher, amazed.</p> + +<p>'I'm a-goin' ter take this hyar critter down.'</p> + +<p>His words thrilled through the settlement like a current of electricity. +The next phrase was lost in a wild chorus of exclamations.</p> + +<p>'Take the gaynder down?'</p> + +<p>'What fur?'</p> + +<p>'Hi Kelsey hev los' his mind; surely he hev!'</p> + +<p>Then above the angry, undistinguishable tumult of remonstrance the +preacher's voice rose clear and impressive:</p> + +<p>'The pains o' the beastis He hev made teches the Lord in heaven; fur He +marks the sparrow's fall, an' minds Himself o' the pitiful o' yearth!' +He spoke with the authority appertaining to his calling. 'The spark o' +life in this fow-<i>el</i> air kindled ez fraish ez yourn—fur hevin' a soul, +ye don't ginerally prove it; an' hevin' no soul ter save, this gaynder +hain't yearned the torments o' hell, an' I'm a-goin' ter take the +critter down.'</p> + +<p>''Tain't yer gaynder!' conclusively argued the blacksmith, applying the +swage of his own conviction.</p> + +<p>'He air <i>my</i> gaynder!' shrieked out a childish voice. 'Take him +down—take him down!'</p> + +<p>This objection to the time-honoured sport seemed hardly less eccentric +than an exhibition of insanity. To apply a dignified axiom of humanity +to that fluttering, long-suffering tumult of anguish familiarly known as +the 'gaynder' was regarded as ludicrously inappropriate. To refer to the +Lord and the typical sparrow in this connection seemed almost blasphemy. +Nevertheless, with the rural reverence for spiritual authority and the +superior moral perception of the clergy, the crowd wore a submissively +balked aspect, and even the young men who had not yet had their tug at +the fowl's neck succumbed, under the impression that the preacher's fiat +had put a stop to the gander-pulling for this occasion.</p> + +<p>As Kelsey once more lifted his hand to liberate the creator of the day's +merriment, the blacksmith, his old grudge reinforced by a new one, gave +the horse a cut with his whip. The animal plunged under the unexpected +blow, and carried the rider beyond the tree. Reverence for the cloth +had no longer a restraining influence on the young mountaineers. They +burst into yells of laughter.</p> + +<p>'Cl'ar out, pa'son!' they exclaimed delightedly. 'Ye hev hed yer pull. +Cl'ar out!'</p> + +<p>There was a guffaw among the elders about the store. A clamour of +commenting voices rose from the cabin porches, where the feminine +spectators stood. The gander squawked dolorously. The hubbub was +increased by the sudden sharp yelping of hounds that had started game +somewhere near at hand. Afterward, from time to time, canine snarls and +yaps rose vociferously upon the air—unheeded, since the inherent +interests of a gander-pulling were so enhanced by the addition of a +moral discussion and the jeopardy of its conclusion.</p> + +<p>The next man in turn, Amos James, put his horse to a canter, and came in +a cloud of yellow dust toward the objective point under the tree. In +another moment there was almost a collision, for Kelsey had wheeled and +ridden back so swiftly that he reined up under the bough where the fowl +hung as Amos James, rising in his stirrups, dashed toward it. His horse +shied, and carried him past, out of reach, while the blacksmith stepped +precipitately toward the bole, exclaiming angrily:</p> + +<p>'Don't ride me down, Hi Kelsey!'</p> + +<p>He recovered his presence of mind and the use of his whip immediately, +and laid a stinging lash upon the parson's horse, as once more the +champion of the bird reached up to release it. The next instant Gid +Fletcher recoiled suddenly; there was a significant gesture, a steely +glimmer, and the blacksmith was gazing with petrified reluctance down +the muzzle of a six-shooter. He dared not move a muscle as he stood, +with that limited field of vision, and with more respectful acquiescence +in the opinion of another man than he had ever before been brought to +entertain. The horseman looked at his enemy in silence for a moment, the +broad-brimmed hat shading his face, with its melancholy expression, its +immobile features, and its flashing eyes.</p> + +<p>'Drap that lash,' Kelsey said.</p> + +<p>Gid Fletcher's grasp relaxed; then the parson with his left hand reached +up and contrived to unloose the fluttering gander. He handed the bird +down to the little girl, who had been fairly under the horse's heels at +the tree since the first suggestion of its deliverance. She clutched it +in great haste, wrapped her apron about it, and carrying it baby-wise, +ran fleetly off, casting apprehensive glances over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>So the gander was saved, but in its fright, its woe, and the frantic +presage in whatever organ may serve it for mind, the fowl had a pretty +fair case against the Settlement for exemplary damages.</p> + +<p>The sport ended in great disaffection and a surly spirit. Several small +grievances among the younger men promised to result in a disturbance of +the peace. The blacksmith, held at bay only by the pistol, flared out +furiously when relieved of that strong coercion. His pride was roused in +that he should be publicly balked and terrorized.</p> + +<p>'I'll remember this,' he said, shaking his fist in the prophet's face. +'I'll save the gredge agin ye.'</p> + +<p>But he was pulled off by his brethren in the church, who thought it +unwise to have a member in good standing again assault the apostle of +peace.</p> + +<p>Amos James—a tall, black-eyed fellow of twenty-three or four, with +black hair, slightly powdered with flour, and a brown jeans suit, thus +reminiscent also of the mill—sighed for the sport in which he had hoped +to be victorious.</p> + +<p>'Pa'son talked like the gaynder war his blood relation—own brothers, +I'm a-thinkin',' he drawled disconsolately.</p> + +<p>The sheriff was disposed to investigate prophecy.</p> + +<p>'I've heard, pa'son,' he said, with a smile ill concealing his vexation, +'ye have foreseen I ain't goin' ter be lucky with this here 'lection; +goin' ter come out o' the leetle eend o' the horn.'</p> + +<p>The prophet, too, was perturbed and out of sorts. The sustaining grace +of feeling a martyr was lacking in the event of to-day, in which he +himself had wielded the coercive hand. He marked the covert +aggressiveness of the sheriff's manner, and revolted at being held to +account and forced to contest. He fixed his gleaming eyes upon the +officer's face, but said nothing.</p> + +<p>'I'm a-hustlin' off now,' said Micajah Green, 'an' ez I won't be up in +the Big Smoky agin afore the 'lection, I lowed ez I'd find out what ails +yer ter set sech a durned thing down as a fac'. Why ain't I goin' ter be +'lected?' he reiterated, his temper flaring in his face, his eyes +fierce.</p> + +<p>But for the dragging block and chain of his jeopardized prospects he +could not have restrained himself from active insult. With his peculiar +qualifications for making enemies, and the opportunities afforded by the +difficult office he had filled for the past two years, he illustrated at +this moment the justice of the prophecy. But his evident anxiety, his +eagerness, even his fierce intolerance, had a touch of the pathetic to +the man for whom earth held so little and heaven nothing. It seemed +useless to suggest, to admonish, to argue.</p> + +<p>'I say the word,' declared the prophet. 'I can't ondertake ter gin the +reason.'</p> + +<p>'Ye won't gin the reason?' said the sheriff, between his teeth.</p> + +<p>'Naw,' said the prophet.</p> + +<p>'An' I won't be 'lected, hey?'</p> + +<p>'Ye won't be 'lected.'</p> + +<p>The deputy touched the sheriff on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>'I want ter see ye.'</p> + +<p>'In a minute,' said the elder man impatiently.</p> + +<p>'I want ter see ye.'</p> + +<p>Something in the tone constrained attention. The sheriff turned, and +looked into a changed face. He suffered himself to be led aside.</p> + +<p>'Ye <i>ain't</i> goin' ter be 'lected,' said the deputy grimly, 'an' for a +damned good reason. Look-a-thar!'</p> + +<p>They had walked to the blacksmith's shop. The deputy motioned to him to +look into the window.</p> + +<p>'Damn ye, what is it?' demanded Micajah Green, mystified.</p> + +<p>The other made no reply, and the officer stooped, and looked into the +dusky interior.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h2> + + +<p>Three sides of the blacksmith's shop, the door, and the window were in +full view from the little hamlet; the blank wall of the rear was close +to a sheer precipice. The door was locked, and the key was in the +sheriff's pocket.</p> + +<p>The prisoner, bound with cords around his ankles and limbs, and with his +wrists manacled, was gone!</p> + +<p>Every detail was as it had been left, except that at the rear, the only +point secure from observation, there were traces of burrowing in the +earth. In the cavity thus made between the lowest log and the 'dirt +floor' a man's body might with difficulty have been compressed—but a +man so shackled! Undoubtedly he had had assistance. This was a rescue.</p> + +<p>Only a moment elapsed before the great barn-like doors were widely +flaring, and the anxious care of the officers and the eager curiosity of +the crowd had explored every nook and cranny within.</p> + +<p>The ground was dry, and there was not even a footprint to betoken the +movements of the fugitive and his rescuers; only in the freshly upturned +earth where he effected escape were the distinct marks of the palms of +his hands, significantly close together.</p> + +<p>Evidently he was still handcuffed when he had crawled through.</p> + +<p>'He's a-wearin' my bracelets yit!' exclaimed the sheriff excitedly. 'Him +an' his friends warn't able ter cut them off, like they done the ropes.'</p> + +<p>A search was organized in hot haste.</p> + +<p>Every cabin, the corn-fields, the woods near at hand, were ransacked. +Parties went beating about through the dense undergrowth. They climbed +the ledges of great crags. They hovered with keen eyes above dark +abysses. They pursued for hours a tortuous course down a deep gorge, +strewn with gigantic boulders, washed by the wintry torrents into divers +channellings, overhung by cliffs hundreds of feet high, honeycombed with +fantastic niches and rifts.</p> + +<p>What futile quest! What vastness of mountain wilderness!</p> + +<p>The great sun went down in a splendid suffusion of crimson colour, and a +translucent golden haze, with a purple garb for the mountains, and a +glamourous dream for the sky, and bestowing far and near the gilded +license of imagination.</p> + +<p>The searchers were hard at it until late into the night; never a clue +to encourage them, never a hope to lure them on.</p> + +<p>More than once they flagged, these sluggish mountaineers, who had passed +the day in unwonted excitement, and had earned their night's rest. But +the penalties of refusing to aid the officers of the law spurred them +on.</p> + +<p>Even old Hoodendin—not so old as to be exempt from this duty, for the +sheriff had summoned every available man at the Settlement to his +assistance—hobbled from stone to stone, from one rotting log to +another, where he sat down to recuperate from his exertions.</p> + +<p>The search degenerated into a mere form, an aimless beating about in the +brush, before Micajah Green could be induced to relinquish the hope of +capture, and blow the horn as a signal for reassembling.</p> + +<p>The bands of fagged-out men, straggling back to the Settlement toward +dawn, found reciprocal satisfaction in expressing the opinion that +'Cajah Green had 'keerlessly let Rick git away, an' warn't a-goin' ter +mend the matter by incitin' the mounting ter bust 'round the woods like +a lot o' crazy deer all night, ter find a man ez warn't nowhar.'</p> + +<p>They wore surly enough faces as they gathered about the door of the +store, or lounged on the stumps and the few chairs, waiting for a +mounted party that had been ordered to extend the search down in the +adjacent coves and along the spurs.</p> + +<p>The agile Jer'miah scudded about, furnishing such consolation as can be +contained in a jug. Had the quest resulted differently, they would have +laughed and joked and caroused till daybreak. As it was, their talk was +fragmentary; slight and innuendo were in every word.</p> + +<p>The sheriff had supplemented his own negligence by a grievous disregard +of their comfort, and the sense of defeat, so bitter to an American +citizen, completed the ĉsthetic misery of the situation.</p> + +<p>The waggons still stood about in the clearing; here and there the burly +dark steers lay ruminant and half asleep among the stumps. Among them, +too, were the cattle of the place; the cows, milked late the evening +before, had not yet roamed away.</p> + +<p>Against a dark background of blackberry bushes a white bull stood in the +moonlight, motionless, the lustre gilding his horns and touching his +great sullen eyes with a spark of amber light. In his imperious +stillness he looked like a statue of a masquerading Jupiter.</p> + +<p>A sound.</p> + +<p>'Hist!' said the sheriff.</p> + +<p>The moon, low in the west, was drawing a seine of fine-spun gold across +the dark depths of the valley. In that enchanted enmeshment were tangled +all the fancies of the night; the vague magic of dreams; vagrant +romances, dumb but for the pulses; the gleams of a poetry too delicately +pellucid to be focused by a pen. The mountains maintained a majesty of +silence. All the world beneath was still. The wind was laid.</p> + +<p>Far, far away, once again, a sound.</p> + +<p>So indistinct, so undistinguishable—they hardly knew if they had heard +aright. There was a sudden scuffle near at hand. Over one of the rail +fences, gleaming wet with dew, and rich with the loan of a silver beam, +there climbed a long, lean old hound; with an anxious aspect he ran to +the verge of the crag. Once more that sound, alien alike to the mountain +solitudes and the lonely sky; then the deep-mouthed baying broke forth, +waking all the echoes, and rousing all the dogs in the cove as well as +the canine visitors and residents at the Settlement.</p> + +<p>'Dod-rot that critter!' exclaimed the sheriff angrily. 'We can't hear +nuthin' now but his long jaw.'</p> + +<p>'Jes' say "Silence in court!"' suggested Amos James from where he lay at +length in the grass.</p> + +<p>The sheriff nimbly kicked the dog instead, and the night was filled +with wild shrieks of pain and anger. When his barking was renewed, it +was punctuated with sharp, reminiscent yelps, as the injustice of his +treatment ever and anon recurred to his mind.</p> + +<p>The sound of human voices grew very distinct when it could be heard at +all, and the tramp of approaching horses shook the ground.</p> + +<p>Every eye was turned toward the point at which the road came into the +Settlement, between the densities of the forest and the gleaming array +of shining, curved blades and tossing plumes, where the corn-field +spread its martial suggestions. When an equestrian shadow suddenly +appeared, the sheriff saluted it in a tremor of excitement.</p> + +<p>'Hello!' he shouted. 'Did ye ketch him?'</p> + +<p>The foremost of the party rode slowly forward: the horse was jaded; the +rider slouched in the saddle with an aspect of surly exhaustion.</p> + +<p>'Ketch him!' thundered out Gid Fletcher's gruff voice. 'Ketch the +devil!'</p> + +<p>The bold-faced deputy was brazening it out. He rode up with as dapper a +style as a man may well maintain who has been in the saddle ten hours +without food, sustained only by the strength of a 'tickler' in his +pocket, whose prospects are jeopardized and whose official prestige is +ruined. The demeanour of the other riders expressed varying degrees of +injured disaffection as they threw themselves from their horses.</p> + +<p>The blacksmith dismounted in front of the cumbersome doors of his shop, +on which still hung the sheriff's padlock, and with the stiff gait of +one who has ridden long and hard he strode across the clearing, and +stopped before the group in front of the store.</p> + +<p>He looked infuriated. It might have been a matter of wonder that so +tired a man could nourish so strong and active a passion.</p> + +<p>'Look a-hyar, 'Cajah Green!' he exclaimed, with an oath, 'folks 'low ter +me ez I ain't got no right ter my reward fur ketchin' that thar greased +peeg,—ez ye hed ter leave go of—kase he warn't landed in jail or +bailed. That air the law, they tells me.'</p> + +<p>'That's the law,' replied the sheriff. His chair was tilted back against +the wall of the store, his hat drawn over his brow. He spoke with the +calmness of desperation.</p> + +<p>'Then 'pears like ter me ez I hev hed all my trouble fur nuthin', an' +all the resk I hev tuk,' said the blacksmith, coming close, and +mechanically rolling up the sleeve of his hammer-arm.</p> + +<p>'Edzac'ly.'</p> + +<p>The blacksmith turned on him a look like that of a wounded bear. 'An' ye +sit thar ez peaceful ez skim-milk, an' 'low ez ye hev let my two +hundred dollars slip away?' he demanded. 'Dad burn yer greasy soul!'</p> + +<p>'I hopes it air all I hev let slip,' said the sheriff quietly. There was +so much besides which he had cause to fear that it did not occur to him +to be afraid of the blacksmith.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was the subacute perception that he shared the officer's +attention with more engrossing subjects which had the effect of +tempering Gid Fletcher's anger.</p> + +<p>The rim of the moon was slipping behind the purple heights of Chilhowee. +Day was suddenly upon them, though the sun had not yet risen—when did +the darkness flee?—the day, cool, with a freshness as of a new +creation, and with an atmosphere so clear that one might know the ash +from the oak in the deep green depths of the wooded valley.</p> + +<p>The hour had not yet done with witchery: the rose-red cloud was in the +east, and the wild red rose had burst its bud; a mocking-bird sprang +from its nest in a dogwood-tree, with a scintillating wing and a soaring +song, and a ray of sunlight like a magic wand fell athwart the +landscape.</p> + +<p>Gid Fletcher sat vaguely staring. Presently he lifted his hand with a +sudden gesture demanding attention.</p> + +<p>'Ye ain't goin' ter be 'lected, air ye, 'Cajah Green?'</p> + +<p>The sheriff stirred uneasily. His ambition, a little and a selfish +thing, was the index to his soul. Without it he himself would not be +able to find the page whereon was writ all that there was of the +spiritual within him. He writhed to forego it.</p> + +<p>'Naw,' he said desperately. 'I s'pose I ain't.' He pushed his hat back +nervously.</p> + +<p>He heard, without marking, the sudden rattling of one of the waggons +that had left some time ago: it was crossing a rickety bridge near the +foot of the mountain; the hollow reverberations rose and fell, echoed +and died away. One of the cabin doors opened, and a man came out upon +the porch. He washed his face in a tin pan which stood on a bench for +the public toilet, treated his head to a refreshing souse, and then, +with the water dripping from his long locks upon the shoulders of his +shirt, the bold-faced deputy, much refreshed by a snack and his +ablutions, came lounging across the clearing to join them.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Micajah Green noted that the blacksmith was looking at him with +a significant gleam in his black eyes and a flush on his swarthy face.</p> + +<p>'Who said ye warn't goin' ter be 'lected?'</p> + +<p>'Why, this hyar prophet o' yourn on the Big Smoky.'</p> + +<p>'Why did he 'low ez that warn't comin' ter pass?'</p> + +<p>'He wouldn't gin no reason.'</p> + +<p>'He lef' ye ter find that out. An' ye fund it out?'</p> + +<p>The sheriff said nothing. He was breathlessly intent.</p> + +<p>'An' he met me in the woods, an' lowed ez Rick Tyler oughtn't ter be +tuk, an' hed done no wrong; an' he called the gov'nor's reward +blood-money, an' worked hisself nigh up ter the shoutin' p'int; an' +called me "Judas" fur takin' the boy, sence me an' him hed been +frien'ly, an' lowed ez them thar thirty pieces o' silver warn't out o' +circulation yit.'</p> + +<p>'An' then,' the bold-faced deputy struck in, 'he rode up yestiddy, +a-raisin' a great wondermint over a gaynder-pullin', ez if thar'd never +been one before; purtendin' 'twar wicked, like he'd never killed an' eat +a fowel, an' drawin' pistols, an' raisin' a great commotion an' excitin' +an' <i>de</i>stractin' the Settlemint, so a man handcuffed, an' with a rope +twisted round his arms an' legs, gits out of a house right under thar +nose, an' runs away. Rick Tyler couldn't hev done it 'thout them ropes +war cut, an' he war gin a chance ter sneak out. Now, I ain't a prophet +by natur'e but I kin say who cut them ropes, an' who raised a +disturbamint outside ter gin him a chance ter mosey.'</p> + +<p>'Whar's he now?' demanded the sheriff, rising from his chair and +glancing about.</p> + +<p>'He was a-huntin' with the posse, las' night,' said the deputy. 'He +never lef' till 'bout an hour ago. He never wanted nobody ter 'spicion +nuthin', I reckon. Mebbe that's him now.'</p> + +<p>He pointed to a road in the valley, a tawny streak elusively appearing +upon a hilltop or skirting a rocky spur, soon lost in a sea of foliage. +Beside a harvested wheat-field it was again visible, and a tiny moving +object might be discerned by eyes trained to the long stretches of +mountain landscape. The sun was higher, the dew exhaled in warm and +languishing perfume, the mocking-bird filled the air with ecstasy. The +men stood among their elongated shadows on the crag, staring at the +moving object until it reached the dense woods, and so passed out of +sight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h2> + + +<p>Down a precipitous path, hardly more civilized of aspect than if it were +trodden by the deer, filled with interlacing roots, barricaded by long +briery tangles, overhung by brush and overshadowed by trees—down this +sylvan way Dorinda, followed by Jacob and one or two of the +companionable old hounds, was wont to go to the spring under the crag.</p> + +<p>The spot had its fascinations. The great beetling cliff towered far +above, the jagged line of its summit serrating the zenith. Its rugged +face was seamed with many a fissure, and here and there were clumps of +ferns, a swaying vine, a huckleberry bush that fed the birds of the air. +Below surged the tops of the trees. There was a shelving descent from +the base of the crag, and Jacob must needs have heed of the rocky depths +beneath in treading the narrow ledge that led to a great cavernous niche +in the face of the rock.</p> + +<p>Here in a deep cleft welled the never-failing spring. It always reminded +Dorinda of that rock which Moses smote; although, of course, when she +thought of it, she said she knew that Mount Horeb was in Jefferson +County, because a man who had married her brother's wife's cousin had +an aunt who lived there. And when she had abandoned that unconscious +effort to bring the great things near, she would sit upon the rock and +look with a sigh of pleasure at that pure, outgushing limpidity, +unfailing and unchanging, and say it reminded her of the well-springs of +pity.</p> + +<p>One day, as she sat there, her dreaming head thrown back upon her hands +clasped behind it, there sounded a sudden step close by. The old hounds, +lying without the cavernous recess, could see along the upward vista of +the path, and their low growl was rather in surly recognition than in +active defiance. Dorinda and Jacob, within the great niche, beheld +naught but the distant mountain landscape framed in the rugged arch +above their heads. The step did not at once advance; it hesitated, and +then Amos James came slowly into view. Dorinda looked up dubiously at +him, and it occurred to him that this was the accepted moment to examine +the lock of his gun.</p> + +<p>'Howdy,' he ventured, as he turned the rifle about.</p> + +<p>She had assumed a more constrained attitude, and had unclasped her hands +from behind her head. The seat was a low one, and the dark blue folds of +her homespun dress fell about her with simple amplitude. Her pink calico +sun-bonnet lay on the rock under her elbow. The figure of the pudgy +Jacob in the foreground had a callow grotesqueness. He, too, undertook +the demeanour he had learned to discriminate as 'manners.' Outside, the +old dog snapped at the flies.</p> + +<p>Amos James seemed to think an account of himself appropriate.</p> + +<p>'I hev been a-huntin',' he said, his grave black eyes on the rifle and +his face in the shadow of his big white hat. 'I happened ter pass by the +house, an' yer granny said ez ye hed started down hyar arter a pail o' +water, an' I 'lowed ez I'd kem an' fetch it fur ye.'</p> + +<p>Dorinda murmured that she was 'much obleeged,' and relapsed into silent +propriety.</p> + +<p>Extraordinary gun! It really seemed as if Amos James would be compelled +to take it to pieces then and there, so persistently did it require his +attention.</p> + +<p>Jacob, whose hearing was unimpaired, but whose education in the specious +ways of those of a larger growth was as yet incomplete, got up briskly. +Since Amos had come to fetch the pail he saw no reason in nature why the +pail should not be fetched, and he imagined that the return was in +order. He paused for a moment in surprise; then seeing that no one else +moved, he sat down abruptly. But for her manners Dorinda could have +laughed. Amos James's cheek flushed darkly as he still worked at the +gun.</p> + +<p>'I s'pose ez you-uns hev hearn the news?' he remarked presently. As he +asked the question he quickly lifted his eyes.</p> + +<p>Ah, what laughing lights in hers—what radiant joys! She did not look at +him. Her gaze was turned far away to the soft horizon. Her delicate lips +had such dainty curves. Her pale cheek flushed tumultuously. She leaned +her head back against the rock, the tendrils of her dark hair spreading +over the unyielding grey stone, which, weather-shielded, was almost +white. In its dead, dumb finality—the memorial of seas ebbed long ago, +of forms of life extinct—she bore it a buoyant contrast. She looked +immortal!</p> + +<p>'I hev hearn the news,' she said, her long lashes falling, and with +quiet circumspection at variance with the triumph in her face.</p> + +<p>He looked at her gravely, breathlessly. A new idea had taken possession +of him. The rescue—it was a strange thing! Who in the Great Smoky +Mountains had an adequate temptation to risk the penalty of ten years in +the state-prison for rescuing Rick Tyler from the officers of the law? +His brothers?—they were step-brothers. His father was dead. Affection +could not be accounted a factor. Venom might do more. Some reckless +enemy of the sheriff's might thus have craftily compassed his ruin. Then +there suddenly came upon Amos James a recollection of the Cayces' grudge +against Micajah Green, and of the fact that they had already actively +bestirred themselves to electioneer against him. Once, before it all +happened, Rick Tyler had hung persistently about Dorinda, and perhaps +the 'men-folks' approved him. Amos remembered too that a story was +current at the gander-pulling that the reason the Cayces had absented +themselves and were lying low was because a party of revenue raiders had +been heard of on the Big Smoky. Who had heard of them, and when did they +come, and where did they go? It seemed a fabrication, a cloak. And +Dorinda—she was the impersonation of delighted triumph.</p> + +<p>'Agged the men-folks on, I reckon,' he thought—'agged 'em on, fur the +sake o' Rick Tyler!'</p> + +<p>A sense of despair, quiet, numbing, was creeping over him.</p> + +<p>''Tain't no reg'lar ail, I know,' he said to himself; 'but I b'lieve +it'll kill me.'</p> + +<p>Conversation in the mountains is a leisurely procedure, time being of +little value. The ensuing pause, however, was of abnormal duration, and +at last Amos was fain to break it, albeit irrelevantly.</p> + +<p>'This hyar weather is gittin' mighty hot,' he observed, taking off his +hat and fanning himself with it. 'I feel like I hed been dragged +bodaciously through the hopper.'</p> + +<p>From the shaded coolness of the grotto the girl admitted that it was +'middlin' warm.'</p> + +<p>Despite the slumberous sunshine here, all the world was not so quiet. +Over the valley a cloud was hovering, densely black, but with a grey, +nebulous margin; now and then it was rent by a flash of lightning in +swift zigzag lines, yet the mountains beyond were a tender blue in the +golden glow of a sunshine yet more tender.</p> + +<p>''Pears like they air gittin' a shower over yander, at the furder eend +o' the cove,' Dorinda remarked encouragingly. 'Ef it war ter storm right +smart, mebbe the thunder would cool the air some.'</p> + +<p>'Mebbe so,' he assented.</p> + +<p>Then he marked again the new beauty abloom in her face, and his heart +sank within him. His pride was touched, too. He was a man well-to-do for +the 'mountings,' with his own grist-mill, and a widowed mother whose +plaint it was, night and day, that Amos was 'sech a slowly boy ter git +married, an' the Lord knows thar oughter be somebody roun' the house +spry'r 'n a pore old woman mighty nigh fifty year old—yes, sir! a-going +on fifty. An' I want ter live down ter Emmert's Cove along o' Malviny, +my married darter,' she would insist, 'whar thar air chillen, an' +babies ter look arter, an' not sech a everlastin' gang o' men, a-lopin' +'round the mill. But I dunno <i>what</i> Amos would do ef I lef' him.'</p> + +<p>Evidently it was a field for a daughter-in-law. Amos felt in his secret +soul that this was not the only attraction. He was well favoured and +tall and straight, and had a good name in the county, despite his +pranks, which were leniently regarded. He honestly thought that Dorinda +might do worse. Whether it was tact or whether it was delicacy, he did +not allude to the worldly contrast with the fugitive from justice.</p> + +<p>'I s'pose they won't ketch Rick agin,' he hazarded.</p> + +<p>'I reckon not,' she said demurely, her long black lashes again falling.</p> + +<p>He leaned uneasily on his gun, looked down at his great boots drawn over +his brown jeans trousers to his knees, adjusted his leathern belt, and +pulled his hat a trifle farther over his eyes.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy,' he said suddenly, 'ye set a heap o' store on Rick Tyler?'</p> + +<p>Then he was doubtful, and feared he had offended her.</p> + +<p>Her sapphire eyes, with their leaping blue lights and dark clear depths, +all blended and commingled in the softest brilliancy, shone upon him. +The bliss of the event was supreme.</p> + +<p>'Mebbe I do,' she said.</p> + +<p>He turned and looked away at the storm, seeming ineffective as it surged +in the distance. The trees in the cove were tossed by a wind that raged +on a lower level, as if it issued from Ĉolian caverns in the depths of +the range. It was a wild, aërial panorama—the black clouds, and the +rain, and the mist rolling through the deep gorge, veined with +lightnings and vocal with thunder, and the thunderous echoes among the +rocks.</p> + +<p>Not a leaf stirred on the mountain's brow, and the great 'bald' lifted +its majestic crest in a sunshine all unpaled, and against the upper +regions of the air, splendidly blue. There was an analogy in the scene +with his mood and hers.</p> + +<p>A moment ago he had been saying to himself that he did not want to be +'turned off' in favour of a man who was hunted like a wild animal +through the woods; who, if his luck and his friends should hold out, and +he could evade capture, might look forward to naught but uncertainty and +a fearful life, like others in the Big Smoky, who dared not open their +own doors to a summons from without, skulking in their homes like beasts +in their den.</p> + +<p>The dangers, misfortunes, and indignities suffered by his preferred +rival were an added slur upon him, who had all the backing of propitious +circumstance. Since there was nothing to gain, why humble himself in +vain?</p> + +<p>This was his logic—sound, just, approved by his judgment; and as it +arranged itself in his mind with all the lucidity of pure reason, he +spoke from the complex foolish dictates of his unreasoning heart.</p> + +<p>'I hev hoped ter marry ye, D'rindy, like I hev hoped fur salvation,' he +said abruptly.</p> + +<p>He looked at her now, straight and earnestly, with his shaded, serious +black eyes. Her rebuking glance slanted beyond him from under her +half-lifted lashes.</p> + +<p>'I thought ye war a good church member,' she said unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>'I am. But that don't make me a liar ez I knows on. I'd ruther hear ye +a-singin' 'roun' the house in Eskaqua Cove, an' a-callin' the chickens, +an' sech, 'n ter hear all the angels in heaven a-quirin' tergether.'</p> + +<p>'That ain't religion, Amos Jeemes,' she said, with cool disapproval.</p> + +<p>'Waal,' he rejoined with low-spirited obstinacy, 'mebbe 'tain't.'</p> + +<p>There was a delicate odour of ferns on the air; the cool, outgushing +water tinkled on the stones like a chime of silver bells; his shadow +fell athwart the portal as he leaned on his rifle, and his wandering +glance mechanically swept the landscape.</p> + +<p>The sudden storm had passed, the verge of the cloud hovering so near +that they could hear the last heavy raindrops pattering on the tops of +the trees in Eskaqua Cove. Vapours were rising from the ravine: the sun +shone upon them, throwing a golden aureola about the opposite mountains, +and all the wreathing mists that the wind whirled down the valley had +elusive, opalescent effects. The thunder muttered in the distance; the +sharp-bladed lightnings were sheathed; a rainbow girdled the world, that +had sprung into a magic beauty as if cinctured by the zone of Venus. The +arch spanned the blue sky, and on the dark mountains extended the +polychromatic reflection. The freshened wind came rushing up the gorge, +and the tree-tops bent.</p> + +<p>'Look-a-hyar, D'rindy,' said Amos James sturdily; 'I want ye ter promise +me one thing.'</p> + +<p>Dorinda had risen in embarrassment. She looked down at Jacob.</p> + +<p>'It air about time for we-uns ter be a-goin' ter the house, I reckon,' +she said.</p> + +<p>But Jacob sat still. He was apt in 'takin' l'arnin',' and he had begun +to perceive that his elders did not always mean what they said. He was +cool and comfortable, and content to remain.</p> + +<p>'I want ye ter promise me that ef ever ye find ez ye hev thunk too well +o' Rick Tyler, an' hev sot him up too high in yer mind over other folks, +ye'll let me know.'</p> + +<p>Her cheek dimpled; her rare laughter fell on the air; a fervid faith +glowed in her deep, bright eyes.</p> + +<p>'I promise ye!'</p> + +<p>'Ye think Rick Tyler air mighty safe in that promise,' he rejoined, +crestfallen.</p> + +<p>But Dorinda would say no more.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h2> + + +<p>The disappointment which Amos James experienced found expression in much +the same manner as that of many men of higher culture. He went down to +his home in Eskaqua Cove, moody and morose. He replied to his chirping +mother in discouraging monosyllables. In taciturn disaffection he sat on +the step of the little porch, and watched absently a spider weaving her +glittering gossamer maze about an overhanging mass of purple grapes, +with great green leaves that were already edged with a rusty red and +mottled with brown. A mocking-bird boldly perched among them, ever and +anon, the airy grace of his pose hardly giving, in its exquisite +lightness, the effect of a pause. The bird swallowed the grapes whole +with a mighty gulp, and presently flew away with one in his bill for the +refreshment of his family, whose vibratory clamour in an althea bush +hard by mingled with the drone of the grasshoppers in the wet grass, +louder than ever since the rain, and the persistent strophe and +antistrophe of the frogs down on the bank of the mill-pond.</p> + +<p>'Did they git enny shower up in the mounting, Amos?' demanded his +mother, as she sat knitting on the porch—a thin little woman, with a +nervous, uncertain eye and a drawling, high-pitched voice.</p> + +<p>'Naw'm,' said Amos, 'not ez I knows on.'</p> + +<p>'I reckon ye'd hev knowed ef ye hed got wet,' she said, with asperity. +'Ye hain't got much feelin', no ways—yer manners shows it—but I 'low +ye <i>would</i> feel the rain ef it kem down right smart, or ef ye war streck +by lightnin'.'</p> + +<p>There was no retort, and from the subtle disappointment in the little +woman's eye it might have seemed that to inaugurate a controversy would +have been more filial, so bereft of conversational opportunity was her +lonely life, where only a 'gang o' men loped 'round the mill.'</p> + +<p>She knitted on with a sharp clicking of the needles for a time, carrying +the thread on a gnarled fourth finger, which seemed unnaturally active +for that member, and somehow officious.</p> + +<p>'I'll be bound ye went ter Cayce's house,' she said aggressively.</p> + +<p>There was another long pause. The empty dwelling behind them was so +still that one could hear the footsteps of an intruding rooster, as he +furtively entered at the back door.</p> + +<p>'Shoo!' she said, shaking her needles at him, as she bent forward and +saw him standing in the slant of the sunshine, all his red and yellow +feathers burnished. He had one foot poised motionless, and looked at her +with a reproving side-glance, as if he could not believe he had caught +the drift of her remarks. Another gesture, more pronounced than the +first, and he went scuttling out, his wings half spread and his +toe-nails clattering on the puncheon floor. 'Ye went ter Cayce's, I'll +be bound, and hyar ye be, with nuthin' ter tell. Ef I war free ter +jounce 'round the mounting same ez the idle, shif'less men-folks, who +hev got nuthin' ter do but eye a mill ez the water works, I'd hev so +much ter tell whenst I got home that ye'd hev ter tie me in a cheer ter +keep me from talkin' myself away, like somebody happy with religion. An' +hyar ye be, actin' like ye hed no mo' gift o' speech'n the rooster. +Shoo! Shoo! Whar did ye go, ennyhow, when ye war on the mounting?'</p> + +<p>'A-huntin',' said Amos.</p> + +<p>'Huntin' D'rindy Cayce, I reckon. An' ye never got her, ter jedge from +yer looks. An' I ain't got the heart ter blame the gal. Sech a lonesome, +say-nuthin' husband ye'd make!'</p> + +<p>The sharp click of her knitting-needles filled the pause. But her +countenance had relaxed. She was in a measure enjoying the conversation, +since the spice of her own share atoned for the lack of news or +satisfactory response.</p> + +<p>'Air old Mis' Cayce's gyarden-truck suff'rin' fur rain?'</p> + +<p>There was a gleam of hopeful expectation behind her spectacles. With her +reeking 'gyarden-spot' dripping with raindrops, and the smell of thyme +and sage and the damp mould on the air, she could afford some pity as an +added flavour for her pride.</p> + +<p>'Never looked ter see,' murmured her son, between two long whiffs from +his pipe.</p> + +<p>His mother laid her knitting on her lap.</p> + +<p>'I'll be bound, Amos Jeemes, ez ye never tole her how 'special our'n war +a-thrivin' this season.'</p> + +<p>'Naw'm,' said Amos, a trifle more promptly than usual, 'I never. 'Fore +I'd go a-crowin' over old Mis' Cayce 'bout'n our gyarden-truck I'd see +it withered in a night, like Jonah's gourd.'</p> + +<p>'It's the Lord's han',' said his mother quickly, in self-justification. +'I ain't been prayin' fur no drought in Mis' Cayce's gyarden-spot.'</p> + +<p>Another long pause ensued. The sun shining through a bunch of grapes +made them seem pellucid globes of gold and amber and crimson among +others darkly purple in the shadow. The mocking-bird came once more +a-foraging. A yellow and red butterfly flickered around in the air, as +if one of the tiger-lilies there by the porch had taken wings and was +wantoning about in the wind. On the towering bald of the mountain a +cloud rested, obscuring the dome—a cloud of dazzling whiteness—and it +seemed as if the mountain had been admitted to some close communion with +the heavens. Below, the colour was intense, so deeply green were the +trees, so clear and sharp a grey were the crags, so blue were the +shadows in the ravines. Amos was looking upward. He looked upward much +of the time.</p> + +<p>'See old Groundhog?' inquired his mother, suddenly.</p> + +<p>'Whar?' he demanded with a start, breaking from his reverie.</p> + +<p>'Laws-a-massy, boy!' she exclaimed, in exasperation. 'Whenst ye war up +ter the Cayces', this mornin'.'</p> + +<p>'Naw'm,' said Amos. He had never admitted, save by indirection, that he +had been to the Cayces'.</p> + +<p>'War he gone ter the still?'</p> + +<p>'I never axed.'</p> + +<p>'I s'pose not, bein' ez ye never drinks nuthin' but buttermilk, do +ye?'—this with a scathing inflection.</p> + +<p>She presently sighed deeply.</p> + +<p>'Waal, waal. The millinium an' the revenue will git thar rights one of +these days, I hopes an' prays. I'm a favorin' of ennythink ez'll storp +sin an' a-swillin' o' liquor. Tax 'em all, I say! Tax the sinners!'</p> + +<p>She had assumed a pious aspect, and spoke in a tone of drawling +solemnity, with a vague idea that the whisky tax was in the interest of +temperance, and the revenue department was a religious institution. The +delusions of ignorance!</p> + +<p>'Thar ain't ez much drunk nohow now ez thar useter war. I 'members when +I war a gal whisky war so cheap that up to the store at the Settlemint +they'd hev a bucket set full o' whisky an' a gourd, free fur all comers, +an' another bucket alongside with water ter season it. An' the way that +thar water lasted war surprisin'—that it war! Nowadays ye ain't goin' +to find liquor so plenty nowhar, 'cept mebbe at old Groundhog's still.'</p> + +<p>Amos made no reply. His eyes were fixed on the road. A man on an old +white horse had emerged from the woods, and was slowly ambling toward +the mill. The crazy old structure was like a caricature; it seemed that +only by a lapse of all the rules of interdependent timbers did it hang +together, with such oblique disregard of rectangles. Its doors and +windows were rhomboidal; its supports tottered in the water. The gate +was shut. The whir was hushed. A sleep lay upon the pond, save where the +water fell like a silver veil over the dam. Even this motion was dreamy +and somnambulistic.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the stream the great sandstone walls of the channel +showed the water-marks of flood and fall of past years, cut in sharp +levels and registered in the rock. They beetled here and there, and the +verdure on the summits looked over and gave the deep waters below the +grace of a dense and shady reflection. Above the dark old roof on every +hand the majestic encompassing mountains rose against the sky, and the +cove nestled sequestered from the world in this environment.</p> + +<p>The man on the gaunt white horse suddenly paused, seeing the mill silent +and lonely; his eyes turned to the little house farther down the stream.</p> + +<p>'Hello!' he yelled. 'I kem hyar ter git some gris' groun'.'</p> + +<p>'Grin' yer gris' yerse'f,' vociferated the miller, cavalierly renouncing +his vocation. 'I hev no mind ter go a-medjurin' o' toll.'</p> + +<p>Thus privileged, the stranger dismounted, went into the old mill, +himself lifted the gate, and presently the musical whir broke forth. It +summoned an echo from the mountain that was hardly like a reflection of +its simple, industrial sound, so elfin, so romantically faint, so fitful +and far, it seemed! The pond awoke, the water gurgled about the wheel, +the tail-race was billowy with foam.</p> + +<p>Presently there was silence. The gate had fallen; the farmer had +measured the toll, and was riding away. As he vanished Amos James rose +slowly, and began to stretch his stalwart limbs.</p> + +<p>'I'm glad ye ain't palsied with settin' so long, Amos,' said his mother. +'Ye seem ter hev los' interes' in everythink 'ceptin' the doorstep. Lord +A'mighty! I never thunk ez ye'd grow up ter be sech pore comp'ny. No +wonder ez D'rindy hardens her heart! An' when ye war a baby—my sakes! I +could set an' list'n ter yer jowin' all day. An' sech comp'ny ye war, +when ye couldn't say a word an' hedn't a tooth in yer head!'</p> + +<p>He lived in continual rivalry with this younger self in his mother's +affections. She was one of those women whose maternal love is expressed +in an idolatry of infancy. She could not forgive him for outgrowing his +babyhood, and regarded every added year upon his head as a sort of +affront and a sorrow.</p> + +<p>He strode away, still gloomily downcast, and when the woman next looked +up she saw him mounted on his bay horse, and riding toward the base of +the mountain.</p> + +<p>'Waal, sir!' she exclaimed, taking off her spectacles and rubbing the +glasses on her blue-checked apron, 'D'rindy Cayce'll hev ter marry that +thar boy ter git shet o' him. I hev never hearn o' nobody ridin' up that +thar mounting twict in one day 'thout they hed suthin' 'special ter +boost 'em—a-runnin' from the sher'ff, or sech.'</p> + +<p>But Amos James soon turned from the road that wound in long, serpentine +undulations to the mountain's brow, and pursued a narrow bridlepath, +leading deep into the dense forests. It might have seemed that he was +losing his way altogether when the path disappeared among the boulders +of a stream, half dry.</p> + +<p>He followed the channel up the rugged, rock-girt gorge for perhaps a +mile, emerging at length upon a slope of out-cropping ledges, where his +horse left no hoof-print.</p> + +<p>Soon he struck into the laurel, and pressed on, guided by signs +distinguishable only to the initiated: some grotesque gnarling of limbs, +perhaps, of the great trees that stretched above the almost impenetrable +undergrowth; some projecting crag, visible at long intervals, high up +and cut sharply against the sky.</p> + +<p>All at once, in the midst of the dense laurel, he came upon a cavity in +the side of the mountain. The irregularly shaped fissure was more than +tall enough to admit a man.</p> + +<p>He stood still for a moment, and called his own name. There was no +response save the echoes, and, dismounting, he took the bridle and began +to lead the horse into the cave. The animal shied dubiously, protesting +against this unique translation to vague subterranean spheres. The +shadow of the fissured portal fell upon them; the light began to grow +dim; the dust thickened.</p> + +<p>As Amos glanced over his shoulder he could see the woods without +suffused with a golden radiance, and there was a freshness on the +intensely green foliage as if it were newly washed with rain. The world +seemed suddenly clarified, and tiny objects stood out with strange +distinctness; he saw the twigs on the great trees and the white tips of +the tail-feathers of a fluttering bluejay. Far down the aisles of the +forest the enchantment held its wonderful sway, and he felt in his own +ignorant fashion how beautiful is the accustomed light.</p> + +<p>When the horse's stumbling feet had ceased to sound among the stones, +the wilderness without was as lonely and as unsuggestive of human +occupation or human existence as when the Great Smoky Mountains first +rose from the sea.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h2> + + +<p>Amos and his steed made their way along a narrow passage, growing wider, +however, and taller, but darker, and with many short turns—an +embarrassment to the resisting brute's physical conformation.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a vague red haze in the dark, the sound of voices, +and an abrupt turn brought man and horse into a great subterranean +vault, where dusky distorted figures, wreathing smoke, and a flare of +red fire suggested Tartarus.</p> + +<p>'Hy're, Amos!' cried a hospitable voice.</p> + +<p>A weird tone repeated the words with precipitate promptness.</p> + +<p>Again and again the abrupt echoes spoke; far down the unseen blackness +of the cave a hollow whisper announced his entrance, and he seemed +mysteriously welcomed by the unseen powers of the earth.</p> + +<p>He was not an imaginative man nor observant, but the upper regions were +his sphere, and he had all the acute sensitiveness incident to being out +of one's element. Even after he had seated himself he noted a far, +faint voice crying, 'Hy're, Amos!' in abysmal depths explored only by +the sound of his name.</p> + +<p>And here it was that old Groundhog Cayce evaded the law, and ran his +still, and defied the revenue department, and maintained his right to do +as he would with his own.</p> + +<p>'Lord A'mighty, air the corn mine, or no?' he would argue. 'Air the +orchard mine, or the raiders'? An' what ails me ez I can't make whisky +an' apple-jack same ez in my dad's time, when him an' me run a sour mash +still on the top o' the mounting in the light o' day, up'ards o' twenty +year, an' never hearn o' no raider. Tell me that's agin the law, +nowadays! Waal, now, who made that law? I never; an' I ain't a-goin' ter +abide by it, nuther. Ez sure ez ye air born, it air jes' a Yankee trick +fotched down hyar by the Fed'ral army. An' if I hed knowed they war +goin' ter gin tharse'fs ter sech persecutions arter the war, I dunno how +I'd hev got my consent ter fit alongside of 'em like I done fower year +fur the Union.'</p> + +<p>A rude furnace made of fire-rock was the prominent feature of the place, +and on it glimmered the pleasing rotundities of a small copper still. +The neck curved away into the obscurity. There was the sound of gurgling +water, with vague babbling echoes; for the never-failing rill of an +underground spring, which rose among the rocks, was diverted to the +unexpected purpose of flowing through the tub where the worm was coiled, +and of condensing the precious vapours, which dripped monotonously into +their rude receiver at the extremity of the primitive fixtures.</p> + +<p>The iron door of the furnace was open now as Ab Cayce replenished the +fire. It sent out a red glare, revealing the dark walls; the black +distances; the wreaths of smoke, that were given a start by a short +chimney, and left to wander away and dissipate themselves in the wide +subterranean spaces; and the uncouth, slouching figures and illuminated +faces of the distillers. They lounged upon the rocks or sat on inverted +baskets and tubs, and one stalwart fellow lay at length upon the ground.</p> + +<p>The shadows were all grotesquely elongated, almost divested of the +semblance of humanity, as they stretched in unnatural proportions upon +the rocks.</p> + +<p>Amos James's horse cast on the wall an image so gigantic that it seemed +as if the past and the present were mysteriously united, and he stood +stabled beside the grim mastodon whom the cave had sheltered from the +rigours of his day long before Groundhog Cayce was moved to seek a +refuge.</p> + +<p>The furnace door clashed; the scene faded; only a glittering line of +vivid white light, emitted between the ill-fitting door and the unhewn +rock, enlivened the gloom. Now and then, as one of the distillers moved, +it fell upon him, and gave his face an abnormal distinctness in the +surrounding blackness, like some curiously cut onyx.</p> + +<p>'Waal, Amos,' said a voice from out the darkness, 'I'm middlin' glad ter +see you-uns. Hev a drink.'</p> + +<p>A hand came out into the gleaming line of light extending with a +flourish of invitation a jug of jovial aspect.</p> + +<p>'Don't keer ef I do,' said Amos politely.</p> + +<p>He lifted the jug, and drank without stint. The hand received it back +again, shook it as if to judge of the quantity of its contents, and +then, with a gesture of relish, raised it to an unseen mouth.</p> + +<p>'Enny news 'round the mill, Amos?' demanded his invisible pot companion.</p> + +<p>'None ez I knows on,' drawled Amos.</p> + +<p>'Grind some fur we-uns ter-morrer?' asked Ab.</p> + +<p>'I'll grind yer bones, ef ye'll send 'em down,' said Amos +accommodatingly. 'All's grist ez goes ter the hopper. How kem you-uns +ter git the nightmare 'bout'n the raiders? I waited fur Sol an' the +corn right sharp time Wednesday mornin'; jes' hed nuthin' ter do but ter +sot an' suck my paws, like a b'ar in winter, till 't war time ter put +out an' go ter the gaynder-pullin'.'</p> + +<p>'Waal'—there was embarrassment in the tones of the burly shadow, and +all the echoes were hesitant as Groundhog Cayce replied in Ab's stead: +'Mirandy Jane 'lowed ez she hed seen a strange man 'bout'n the spring, +an' thought it war a raider—though he'd hev been in a mighty ticklish +place fur a raider, all by himself. Mirandy Jane hev fairly got the +jim-jams, seein' raiders stiddier snakes; we-uns can't put no dependence +in the gal. An' mam, she drempt the raiders hed camped on Chilhowee +Mounting. An' D'rindy, she turned fool: fust she 'lowed ez we-uns would +all be ruined ef we went ter the gaynder-pullin', an' then she war +powerful interrupted when we 'lowed we wouldn't go, like ez ef she +wanted us ter go most awful. I axed this hyer Pa'son Kelsey, ez rid by +that mornin', ef he treed enny raiders in his mind. An' he 'lowed none, +'ceptin' the devil a-raidin' 'roun' his own soul. But 'mongst 'em we-uns +jest bided away that day. I wouldn't hev done it, 'ceptin' D'rindy tuk +ter talkin' six ways fur Sunday, an' she got me plumb catawampus, so ez +I didn't rightly know what I wanted ter do myself.'</p> + +<p>It was a lame story for old Groundhog Cayce to tell. Even the +hesitating echoes seemed ashamed of it. Mirandy Jane's mythical raider, +and mam's dream, and D'rindy's folly—were these to baffle that +stout-hearted old soldier?</p> + +<p>Amos James said no more. If old Cayce employed an awkward subterfuge to +conceal the enterprise of the rescue, he had no occasion to intermeddle. +Somehow, the strengthening of his suspicions brought Amos to a new +realization of his despair. He sought to modify it by frequent reference +to the jug, which came his way at hospitably short intervals. But he had +a strong head, and had seen the jug often before; and although he +thought his grief would be alleviated by getting as drunk as a 'fraish +b'iled ow<i>el</i>,' that consummation of consolation was coy and tardy. He +was only mournfully frisky after a while, feeling that he should +presently be obliged to cut his throat, yet laughing at his own jokes +when the moonshiners laughed, then pausing in sudden seriousness to +listen to the elfin merriment evoked among the lurking echoes. And he +sang, too, after a time, a merry catch, in a rich and resonant voice, +with long, dawdling, untutored cadences and distortions of +effect—sudden changes of register, many an abrupt crescendo and +diminuendo, and 'spoken' interpolations and improvisations, all of +humorous intent.</p> + +<p>The others listened with the universal greedy appetite for +entertainment which might have been supposed to have dwindled and died +of inanition in their serious and deprived lives. Pete Cayce first +revolted from the strain on his attention, subordination, and +acquiescence. It was not his habit to allow any man to so completely +absorb public attention.</p> + +<p>'Look-a-hyar, Amos, fur Gawd's sake, shet up that thar foolishness!' he +stuttered at last. 'Thar's n-no tellin' how f-f-fur yer survigrus +bellerin' kin be hearn. An' besides, ye'll b-b-bring the rocks down on +to we-uns d-d'rectly. They tell me that it air dangerous ter f-f-f-fire +pistols an' jounce 'round in a cave. Bring the roof down.'</p> + +<p>'That air jes' what I'm a-aimin' ter do, Pete,' said Amos, with his +comical gravity. 'I went ter meetin' week 'fore las', an' the pa'son +read 'bout Samson; an' it streck my ambition, an' I'm jes' a-honin' ter +pull the roof down on the Philistine.'</p> + +<p>'Look-a-hyar, Amos Jeemes, ye air the b-b-banged-est critter on this +hyar m-mounting! Jes' kem hyar ter our s-still an' c-c-call me a +Ph-Ph-Philistine.'</p> + +<p>The jug had not been stationary, and as Pete thrust his aggressive face +forward the vivid, quivering line of light from the furnace showed that +it was flushed with liquor, and that his eyes were bloodshot. His gaunt +head, with long, colourless hair, protruding teeth, and homely, +prominent features, as it hung there in the isolating effect of that +sharp and slender gleam—the rest of his body cancelled by the +darkness—had a singularly unnatural and sinister aspect. The light +glanced back with a steely glimmer. The drunken man had a knife in his +hand.</p> + +<p>'Storp it, now!' his younger brother drawlingly admonished him. 'Who be +ye a-goin' ter cut?'</p> + +<p>'Call m-m-me a Philistine! I'll bust his brains out!' asseverated Pete.</p> + +<p>'Ye're drunk, Pete,' said old Groundhog Cayce, in an explanatory manner.</p> + +<p>There was no move to defend the threatened guest. Perhaps Amos James was +supposed to be able to take care of himself.</p> + +<p>'Call me a Ph-Philistine—a Philistine!' exclaimed Pete, steadying +himself on the keg on which he sat, and peering with wide, light eyes +into the darkness, as if to mark the whereabouts of the enemy before +dealing the blow. 'Jes' got insurance—c-c-c-call me a Philistine!'</p> + +<p>'Shet up, Pete. I'll take it back,' said Amos gravely. '<i>I'm</i> the +Philistine myself; fur pa'son read ez Samson killed a passel o' +Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, an' ez long ez ye be talkin' I +feel in an' about dead.'</p> + +<p>Amos James had bent close attention to the sermon, and had brought as +much accurate information from meeting as was consistent with hearing so +sensational a story as Samson's for the first time. In the mountains men +do not regard church privileges as the opportunity of a quiet hour to +meditate on secular affairs, while a gentle voice drones on antiquated +themes. To Amos, Samson was the latest thing out.</p> + +<p>Pete did not quite catch the full meaning of this sarcasm. He was +content that Amos should seem to recant. He replaced his knife, but sat +surly and muttering, and now and then glancing toward the guest.</p> + +<p>Meantime that vivid white gleam quivered across the dusky shadows; now +and then the horse pawed, raising martial echoes, as of squadrons of +cavalry, among the multitudinous reverberations of the place, while his +stall-companion, that the light could conjure up, was always noiseless; +the continuous fresh sound of water gurgling over the rocks mingled with +the monotonous drip from the worm; occasionally a gopher would skud +among the heavily booted feet, and the jug's activity was marked by the +shifting for an interval of the red sparks which indicated the glowing +pipes of the burly shadows around the still.</p> + +<p>The stories went on, growing weird as the evening outside waned, in +some unconscious sympathy with the melancholy hour—for in these sunless +depths one knew nor day nor night—stories of bloody vendettas, and +headless ghosts, and strange provisions, and unnamed terrors. And Amos +James recounted the fable of a mountain witch, interspersed with a wild +vocal refrain:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Cu-vo! Cu-vo! Kil-dar! Kil-dar! Kil-dar!</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Thus she called her hungry dogs that fed on human flesh, while the winds +were awhirl, and the waning moon was red, and the Big Smoky lay in +densest gloom.</p> + +<p>The white line of light had yellowed, deepened, grown dull. The furnace +needed fuel. Ab suddenly leaned down and threw open the door. The flare +of the pulsing coals resuscitated the dim scene and the long +dun-coloured shadows. Here in the broad red light were the stolid, +meditative faces of the distillers, each with his pipe in his mouth and +his hat on his head; it revealed the dilated eye and unconsciously +dramatic gesture of the story-teller, sitting upon a barrel in their +midst; the horse was distinct in the background, now dreaming and now +lifting an impatient fore-foot, and his gigantic stall-mate, the +simulacrum of the mastodon, moved as he moved, but softly, that the +echoes might not know—the immortal echoes, who were here before him, +and here still.</p> + +<p>And behind all were the great walls of the vault, with its vague +apertures leading to unexplored recesses; with many jagged ledges, +devoted to shelf-like usage, and showing here a jug, and here a +shot-pouch, and here a rat—fat and sleek, thanks to the plenteous waste +of mash and grain—looking down with a glittering eye, and here a bag of +meal, and here a rifle.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Amos James broke off.</p> + +<p>'Who's that?' he exclaimed, and all the echoes were sharply +interrogative.</p> + +<p>There was a galvanic start among the moonshiners. They looked hastily +about—perhaps for the witch, perhaps for the frightful dogs, perhaps +expecting the materialization of Mirandy Jane's raider.</p> + +<p>Amos had turned half-round and was staring intently beyond the still. +The man lying on the ground had shifted his position; his soft brown hat +was doubled under his head. The red flare showed its long, tawny, +tangled hair, of a hue unusual enough to be an identification. His +stalwart limbs were stretched out at length; the hands he thrust above +his head were unmanacled; as he moved there was the jingle of spurs.</p> + +<p>'Why, thar be Rick Tyler!' exclaimed Amos James.</p> + +<p>'Hev ye jes' fund that out?' drawled the man on the ground, with a +jeering inflection.</p> + +<p>'W-w-w-whyn't ye lie low, Rick?' demanded Pete aggressively. 'Ef ever +thar war a empty cymblin', it's yer head. Amos an' that thar thin-lipped +sneak ez called hisself a dep'ty air thick'n thieves.'</p> + +<p>There was no hesitation in Amos James's character. He leaned forward +suddenly and clutched Pete by the throat, and the old man and Solomon +were fain to interfere actively to prevent that doughty member of the +family from being throttled on the spot.</p> + +<p>Pending the interchange of these amenities, Rick Tyler lay motionless on +the ground; Ab calmly continued his task of replenishing the fire; and +Ben asked, in a low monotone, the favour of leaving the furnace-door +open for a 'spell, whilst I unkiver the kag in the corner, an' fill the +jug, an' kiver the kag agin keerful, 'kase I don't want no rat in mine.'</p> + +<p>When Pete, with a scarlet face and starting eyes and a throat full of +complicated coughs and gurgles, was torn out of the young miller's +strong hands, old Groundhog Cayce remonstrated:</p> + +<p>'Lord A'mighty, boys! Can't ye set an' drink yer liquor sociable, +'thout clinchin' that-a-way? What did Pete do ter ye, Amos?'</p> + +<p>'Nuthin'; he dassent,' said the panting Amos.</p> + +<p>'Did he hurt yer feelin's?' asked the old man with respectful sympathy.</p> + +<p>'Yes, he did,' said Amos, admitting vulnerability in that tender +ĉsthetic organ.</p> + +<p>'Never none—now—koo—koo!' coughed Pete. 'He hev got no +f-f-f-feelin's, koo—koo! I hev hearn his own m-mam say so a-many a +time.'</p> + +<p>'He 'lowed,' said Amos, his black eyes flashing indignantly, his face +scarlet, the perspiration thick in his black hair, 'ez I'd tell the +deputy—kase he war toler'ble lively hyar, an' I got sorter friendly +with him when I hed ter sarve on the posse—ez I seen Rick Tyler hyar. +Mebbe ye think I want two hundred dollars—hey!'</p> + +<p>He made a gesture as if to seize again his late antagonist.</p> + +<p>'A-koo, koo, koo!' coughed Pete, moving cautiously out of reach.</p> + +<p>All the echoes clamoured mockingly with the convulsive sound, and thus +multiplied they gave a ludicrous suggestion of the whooping cough.</p> + +<p>'I dunno, Mr. Cayce,' said Amos, with some dignity, addressing the old +man, 'what call ye hev got ter consort with them under indictment for +murder, an' offenders agin the law. But hevin' seen Rick Tyler hyar in +a friendly way along o' you-uns, he air ez safe from me ez ef he war +under my own roof.'</p> + +<p>Rick Tyler drew himself up on his elbow, and turned upon the speaker a +face inflamed by sudden passion.</p> + +<p>'Go tell the dep'ty!' he screamed. 'I'll take no faviors from ye, Amos +Jeemes. Kem on! Arrest me yerse'f!' He rose to his feet, and held out +his bruised and scarred hands, smiting them together as if he were again +handcuffed. The light fell full on his clothes, tattered by his briery +flight, the long dishevelment of his yellow hair, his burning face, and +the blazing fury in his brown eyes. 'Kem on! Arrest me yerse'f—ye air +ekal ter it. I kin better bide the law than ter take faviors from +you-uns. Kem on! Arrest me!'</p> + +<p>Once more he held out his free hands as if for the manacles.</p> + +<p>Their angry eyes met. Then, as Amos James still sat silent and +motionless on the barrel, Rick Tyler turned, and with a gesture of +desperation again flung himself on the ground.</p> + +<p>There was a pause. Two of the moonshiners were arranging to decant some +liquor into a keg, and were lighting a tallow dip for the purpose. In +the dense darkness of the recess where they stood it took on a large and +lunar aspect. A rayonnant circle hovered attendant upon it; the shadows +about it were densely black, and in the sharp and colourless contrasts +the two bending figures of the men handling the keg stood out in +peculiar distinctness of pose and gesture. The glare of the fire in the +foreground deepened to a dull orange, to a tawny red, even to a dusty +brown, in comparison with the pearly, luminous effect of the candle. The +tallow dip was extinguished when the task was complete. Presently the +furnace door clashed, the group of distillers disappeared as with a +bound, and that long, livid line of pulsating light emitted by the +ill-fitting door cleft the gloom like a glittering blade.</p> + +<p>'I s'pose ye don't mean ter be sassy in 'special, Amos, faultin' yer +elders, talkin' 'bout consortin' with them under indictment,' said old +Groundhog Cayce's voice. 'But I dunno ez ye hev enny call ter sot +yerse'f up in jedgmint on my actions.'</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said Amos, apologetic, 'I never went ter say nuthin' like +faultin' nohow. Sech ez yer actions I leaves ter you-uns.'</p> + +<p>'Ye mought ez well,' said the elder, unconsciously satiric. 'The Bible +'lows ez every man air a law unto hisself. An' I hev fund I gits peace +mos'ly in abidin' by the law ez kems from within. An' I kin see no +jestice in my denyin' a rifle an' a lot o' lead an' powder ter a +half-starvin' critter ter save his life. Rick war bound ter starve, hid +out, ef he hed nuthin' ter shoot deer an' wild varmints with, bein' ez +his rifle war tuk by the sher'ff. I knows no law ez lays on me the +starvin' o' a human. An' when that boy kem a-cropin' hyar ter the still +this evenin', he got ez fair-spoke a welcome, an' ez much liquor ez he'd +swaller, same ez enny comer on the mounting. I dunno ez he air a +offender agin the law, an' 'tain't my say-so. I ain't a jedge, an' thar +ain't enough o' me fur a jury.'</p> + +<p>This lucid discourse, its emphasis doubled by the iterative echoes, had +much slow, impersonal effect as it issued from the darkness. It was to +Amos James, accustomed to rural logic, as if reason, pure and simple, +had spoken. His heart had its own passionate protest. Not that he +disapproved the loan of the rifle, but he distrusted the impulse which +prompted it. To find the hunted fugitive here among the distillers added +the force of conviction to his suspicions of a rescue and its +instigation.</p> + +<p>The personal interest which he had in all this annulled for a moment his +sense of the becoming, and defied the constraints of etiquette.</p> + +<p>'How'd Rick Tyler say he got away from the sher'ff, ennyhow?' he +demanded bluntly.</p> + +<p>'He warn't axed,' said old Groundhog Cayce quietly.</p> + +<p>A silence ensued, charged with all the rigours of reproof.</p> + +<p>'An' I dunno ez ye hev enny call ter know, Amos Jeemes,' cried out Rick, +still prone upon the ground. 'That won't holp the sher'ff none now. Ye'd +better be studyin' 'bout settin' him on the trail ter ketch me agin.'</p> + +<p>The line of light from the rift in the furnace door showed a yellow +gleam in the blackness where his head lay. Amos James fixed a burning +eye upon it.</p> + +<p>'I'll kem thar d'rec'ly an' tromp the life out'n ye, Rick Tyler. I'll +grind yer skull ter pieces with my boot-heel, like ez ef ye war a +copper-head.'</p> + +<p>'Laws-a-massy, boys, sech a quar'lin', fightin' batch ez ye be! I fairly +gits gagged with my liquor a-listenin' ter ye—furgits how ter swaller,' +said Groundhog Cayce, suddenly fretful.</p> + +<p>'Leave Rick be, Amos Jeemes,' he added, in an authoritative tone. And +then, with a slant of his head toward Rick Tyler, lying on the ground, +'Hold yer jaw down thar!'</p> + +<p>And the two young men lapsed into silence.</p> + +<p>The spring, rising among the barren rocks, chanted aloud its prescient +sylvan song of the woodland ways, and the glancing beam, and the +springing trout, and the dream of the drifting leaf, as true of tone and +as delicately keyed to the dryadic chorus in the forest without as if +the waters that knew but darkness and the cavernous sterilities were +already in the liberated joys of the gorge yonder, reflecting the sky, +wantoning with the wind, and swirling down the mountain side. The +spirits dripped from the worm, the furnace roared, the men's feet grated +upon the rocks as they now and then shifted their position.</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said Amos at last, rising, 'I'd better be a-goin'. 'Pears like +ez I hev wore out my welcome hyar.'</p> + +<p>He stood looking at the line of light, remembering desolately Dorinda's +buoyant, triumphant mood. Its embellishment of her beauty had smitten +him with an afflicted sense of her withdrawal from all the prospects of +his future. He had thought that he had given up hope, but he began to +appreciate, when he found Rick Tyler in intimate refuge with her +kindred, how sturdy an organism was that heart of his, and to realize +that to reduce it to despair must needs cost many a throe.</p> + +<p>'I hev wore out my welcome, I reckon,' he repeated dismally.</p> + +<p>'I dunno what ails ye ter say that. Ye hev jes' got tired o' comin' +hyar, I reckon,' said old man Cayce. 'Wore out yer welcome—shucks!'</p> + +<p>'Mighty nigh wore me out,' said Pete, remembering to cough.</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said Amos, slightly salved by the protestations of his host, 'I +reckon it air time I war a-puttin' out, ennyhow. Jes' set that thar +furnace door on the jar, Pete, so I kin see ter lay a-holt o' the +beastis.'</p> + +<p>The door opened, the red glow flared out, the figures of the moonshiners +all reappeared in a semicircle about the still, and as Amos James took +the horse's bridle and led him away from the wall the mastodon vanished, +with noiseless tread, into the dim distance of the unmeasured past.</p> + +<p>The horse's hoofs reverberated down the cavernous depths, echoed, +re-echoed, multiplied indefinitely. Even after the animal had been led +through the tortuous windings of the passage his tramp resounded through +the gloom.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</h2> + + +<p>The displeasure of his fellows is a slight and ephemeral matter to a man +whose mind is fixed on a great essential question, charged with moral +gravity and imperishable consequence; whose physical courage is the +instinct of his nature, conserved by its active exercise in a life of +physical hardship.</p> + +<p>Kelsey had forgotten the gander-pulling, the impending election, the +excitement of the escape, before he had ridden five miles from the +Settlement. He jogged along the valley road, the reins on the horse's +neck, his eyes lifted to the heights. The fulness of day was on their +unpeopled summits. Infinity was expressed before the eye. On and on the +chain of mountains stretched, with every illusion of mist and colour, +with every differing grace of distance, with inconceivable measures of +vastness. The grave delight in which their presence steeped the senses +stirred his heart. They breathed solemnities. They lent wings to the +thoughts. They lifted the soul. Could he look at them and doubt that one +day he should see God? He had been near—oh, surely, He had been near.</p> + +<p>Kelsey was comforted as he rode on. Somehow, the mountains had for his +ignorant mind some coercive internal evidence of the great truths. In +their exalted suggestiveness were congruities; so far from the world +were they—so high above it; so interlinked with the history of all that +makes the races of men more than the beasts that perish, that conserves +the value of that noble idea—an immortal soul. On a mountain the ark +rested; on a mountain the cross was planted; the steeps beheld the +glories of the transfiguration; the lofty solitudes heard the prayers of +the Christ; and from the heights issued the great Sermon instinct with +all the moralities of every creed. How often He went up into the +mountain!</p> + +<p>The thought uplifted Kelsey. The flush of strong feeling touched his +cheek. His eyes were fired with that sudden gleam of enthusiasm as +remote from earthly impulses as the lightnings of Sinai.</p> + +<p>'An' I will preach his name!' the parson exclaimed, in a tense and +thrilling voice. He checked his horse, drew out of his pocket a thumbed +old Bible, clumsily turned the leaves and sought for his text.</p> + +<p>No other book had he ever read: only that sublime epic, with its deep +tendernesses and its mighty portents; with its subtleties of prophecy in +wide and splendid phrase, and their fulfilment in the barren record of +the simplest life; with all the throbbing presentment of martyrdom and +doom and death, dominated by the miracle of resurrection and the potency +of divinity. Every detail was as clearly pictured to his mind as if, +instead of the vast, unstoried stretches of the Great Smoky Mountains, +he looked upon the sanctities of the hills of Judĉa.</p> + +<p>He read as he rode along—slowly, slowly. A bird's shadow would flit +across the holy page, and then away to the mountain; the winds of heaven +caressed it. Sometimes the pollen of flowering weeds fell upon it; for +in the midst of the unfrequented road they often stood in tall rank +rows, with a narrow path on either side, trodden by the oxen of the +occasional team, while the growth bent elastically under the passing bed +of the waggon.</p> + +<p>He was almost happy. The clamours of his insistent heart were still. His +conscience, his memory, his self-reproach, had loosed their hold. His +keen and subtile native intellect stretched its unconscious powers, and +discriminated the workings of character, and reviewed the deploying of +events, and measured results. He was far away, walking with the +disciples.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, like an aërolite, he was whirled from high ethereal spaces by +the attraction of the earth. A man was peering from between the rails of +a fence by the wayside.</p> + +<p>'Kin ye read yer book, pa'son, an' ride yer beastis all ter wunst?' he +cried out with the fervour of admiration.</p> + +<p>That tree of knowledge—ah, the wily serpent!</p> + +<p>Galilee—it was thousands of miles away across the deep salt seas.</p> + +<p>The parson closed his book with a smile of exultation.</p> + +<p>'The beast don't hender me none. I kin read ennywhar,' he said, proud of +the attainment.</p> + +<p>'Waal, sir!' exclaimed the other, one of that class, too numerous in +Tennessee, who can neither read nor write. 'Air it the Good Book?' he +demanded, with a sudden thought.</p> + +<p>'It air the Holy Bible,' said the parson, handing him the book.</p> + +<p>The man eyed it with reverence. Then, with a gingerly gesture, he gave +it back. The parson was looking down at him, all softened and humanized +by this unconscious flattery.</p> + +<p>'Waal, pa'son,' said the illiterate admirer of knowledge, with a +respectful and subordinate air, 'I hearn ez ye war a-goin' ter hold +fo'th up yander at the meet'n-house at the Notch nex' Sunday. Air that a +true word?'</p> + +<p>'I 'lows ter preach thar on the nex' Lord's day,' replied the parson.</p> + +<p>'Then,' with the promptness of a sudden resolution, 'I'm a-goin' ter +take the old woman an' the chillen an' waggon up the Big Smoky ter hear +the sermon. I 'low ez a man what kin ride a beastis an' read a book all +ter wunst mus' be a powerful exhorter; an' mebbe ye'll lead us all ter +grace.'</p> + +<p>The parson said he would be glad to see the family at the meeting-house, +and presently jogged off down the road.</p> + +<p>One might regard the satisfaction of this simple scene as the due meed +of his labours; one might account his pride in his attainments as a +harmless human weakness. There have been those of his calling, proud, +too, of a finite knowledge, and fain to conserve fame, whose conscience +makes no moan—who care naught for humility, and hardly hope to be +genuine.</p> + +<p>The flush of pleasure passed in a moment. His face hardened. That fire +of a sublimated anger or frenzy touched his eyes. He remembered Peter, +the impetuous, and Thomas, the doubter, and the warm generosities of the +heart of him whom Jesus loved, and he 'reckoned' that they would not +have left Him standing in the road for the joy of hearing their learning +praised.</p> + +<p>He rebuked himself as caring less for the Holy Book than that his craft +could read it. His terrible insight into motives was not dulled by a +personal application. Introverted upon his own heart, it was keen, +unsparing, insidiously subtle. He saw his pride as if it had been +another man's, except that it had no lenient mediator; for he was just +to other men, even gentle.</p> + +<p>He took pitiless heed of the pettiness of his vanity; he detected +pleasure that the man by the wayside should come, not for salvation, but +to hear the powerful exhorter speak. He saw the instability of his high +mood, of the gracious re-awaking of faith; he realized the lapse from +the heights of an ecstasy at the lightest touch of temptation.</p> + +<p>'The Lord lifts me up,' he said, 'ter dash me on the groun'!'</p> + +<p>No more in Judĉa, in the holy mountains; no more among the disciples. +Drearily along the valley road, glaring and yellow in the sun, the book +closed, the inspiration fled, journeyed the ignorant man, who would fain +lay hold on a true and perfected sanctity.</p> + +<p>He despatched his errand in the valley—a secular matter, relating to +the exchange of a cow and a calf.</p> + +<p>The afternoon was waning when he was again upon the slopes of the Big +Smoky; for the roads were rough, and he had travelled slowly, always +prone to 'favour the beastis.' He stopped in front of Cayce's house, +where he saw Dorinda spinning on the porch, and preferred a request for +a gourd of water.</p> + +<p>The old woman heard his voice, and came hastily out with hospitable +insistence that he should dismount and 'rest his bones, sence he hed rid +fur, an' tell the news from the Settlemint.' There was a cordial +contrast between this warm esteem and his own unkind thoughts, and he +suffered himself to be persuaded.</p> + +<p>He sat under the hop-vines, and replied in monosyllables to the old +woman's animated questions, and gave little news of the excitements at +the Settlement which they had not already heard.</p> + +<p>Dorinda, her wheel awhirl, one hand lifted holding the thread, the other +poised in the air to control the motion, her figure thrown back in a +fine, alert pose, looked at him with a freshened pity for his downcast +spirit, and with intuitive sympathy. He sorrowed not because of the +things of this world, she felt. It was some high and spiritual grief, +such as might pierce a prophet's heart. Her eyes, full of the ideality +of the sentiment, dwelt upon him reverently.</p> + +<p>He marked the look. With his overwhelming sense of his sins, he was +abased under it, and he scourged himself as a hypocrite.</p> + +<p>'Thar air goin' ter be preachin' at the meetin'-house Sunday, I hearn,' +she observed presently, thinking this topic more meet for his discussion +than the 'gaynder-pullin'' and the escape, and such mundane matters.</p> + +<p>The tempered green light fell upon her fair face, adding a delicacy to +its creamy tint; her black hair caught a shifting golden flake of +sunshine as she moved back and forth; her red lips were slightly parted. +The grasshoppers droned in the leaves an accompaniment to the whirr of +her wheel. The 'prince's feathers' bloomed in great clumsy crimson tufts +close by the step.</p> + +<p>Mirandy Jane, seated on an inverted noggin, listened tamely to the +conversation, her wild, uncertain eyes fixed upon the parson's face; she +dropped them, and turned her head with a shying gesture, if by chance +his glance fell upon her.</p> + +<p>From this shadowed, leafy recess the world seen through the green +hop-vines was all in a great yellow glare.</p> + +<p>'Be you-uns a-goin' ter hold fo'th,' demanded the old woman, 'or Brother +Jake Tobin?'</p> + +<p>'It air me ez air a-goin' ter preach,' he said.</p> + +<p>'Then I'm a-comin',' she declared promptly. 'It do me good ter hear +you-uns fairly make the sinners spin. Sech a gift o' speech ye hev got! +I fairly see hell when ye talk o' thar doom. I see wrath an' I smell +brimstone. Lord be thanked, I hev fund peace! An' I'm jes' a-waitin' fur +the good day ter come when the Lord'll rescue me from yearth!' She threw +herself back in her chair, closing her eyes in a sort of ecstasy, and +beating her hands on her knees, her feet tapping in rhythm.</p> + +<p>'Though ef ye'll b'lieve me,' she added, sitting up straight with an +appalling suddenness, and opening her eyes, 'D'rindy thar ain't +convicted yit. Oh, child,' in an enthused tone of reproof, 'time is +short—time is short!'</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said Dorinda, speaking more quickly than usual, and holding up +her hand to stop the wheel, 'I hev hed no chance sca'cely ter think on +salvation, bein' ez the weavin' war hendered some—an'——'</p> + +<p>She paused in embarrassment.</p> + +<p>'That air a awful word ter say—puttin' the Lord ter wait! Whyn't ye +speak the truth ter her, pa'son? Fix her sins on her.'</p> + +<p>'Sometimes,' said the parson abruptly, looking at her as if he saw more +or less than was before him, 'I dunno ef I hev enny call ter say a word. +I hev preached ter others, an' I'm like ter be a castaway myself.'</p> + +<p>The old woman stared at him in dumb astonishment. But he was rising to +take leave—a simple ceremony. He unhitched the horse at the gate, +mounted, and, with a silent nod to the group on the porch, rode slowly +away.</p> + +<p>Old Mrs. Cayce followed him with curious eyes, peering out in the gaps +of the hop-vines.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy,' she said, 'that thar Pa'son Kelsey—we-uns useter call him +nuthin' but Hi—he's got suthin' heavy on his mind. It always 'peared +ter me ez he war a mighty cur'ous man ter take up with religion an' +sech. A mighty suddint boy he war—ez good a fighter ez a catamount, an' +always 'mongst the evil, bold men. Them he consorted with till he gin +his child morphine by mistake, an' its mammy quine-iron; an' she los' +her senses arterward, an' flunged herse'f off'n the bluff. 'Pears like +to me ez them war jedgments on him—though Em'ly warn't much loss; ez +triflin' a ch'ice fur a wife ez a man could make. An' now he hev got +suthin' on his mind.'</p> + +<p>The girl said nothing. She stayed her wheel with one hand, holding the +thread with the other, and looked over her shoulder at the receding +figure riding slowly along the vista of the forest-shadowed road. Then +she turned, and fixed her lucent, speculative eyes on her grandmother, +who continued:</p> + +<p>'Calls hisself a castaway! Waal, he knows bes', bein' a prophet an' +sech. But it air toler'ble comical talk fur a preacher. Brother Jake +Tobin kin hardly hold hisself together, a-waitin' fur his sheer o' the +joys o' the golden shore.'</p> + +<p>'Waal, 'pears like ter me,' said Mirandy Jane, whose mind seemed never +far from the culinary achievements to which she had been dedicated, 'ez +Brother Jake Tobin sets mo' store on chicken fixin's than on grace, an' +he fattens ev'y year.'</p> + +<p>'I hopes,' proceeded the grandmother, disregarding the interruption, and +peering out again at the road where the horseman had disappeared, 'ez Hi +Kelsey won't sot hisself ter prophesyin' evil at the meetin'; 'pears ter +me he ought to be hendered, ef mought be, 'kase the wrath he foresees +mos'ly kems ter pass, an' I'm always lookin' ter see him prophesy the +raiders—though he hev hed the grace ter hold his hand 'bout'n the +still. An' I hopes he won't hev nuthin' ter say 'bout it at the meetin' +Sunday.'</p> + +<p>The little log meeting-house at the Notch stood high on a rugged spur of +the Great Smoky. Dense forests encompassed it on every hand, obscuring +that familiar picture of mountain and cloud and cove. From its rude, +glassless windows one could look out on no distant vista, save, perhaps, +in the visionary glories of heaven or the climatic discomforts of hell, +according to the state of the conscience, or perchance the liver. The +sky was aloof and limited. The laurel tangled the aisles of the woods.</p> + +<p>Sometimes from the hard benches a weary tow-headed brat might rejoice to +mark in the monotony the frisking of a squirrel on a bough hard by, or a +woodpecker solemnly tapping. The acorns would rattle on the roof, if the +wind stirred, as if in punctuation of the discourse. The pines, +mustering strong among the oaks, joined their mystic threnody to the +sad-voiced quiring within. The firs stretched down long, pendulous, +darkling boughs, and filled the air with their balsamic fragrance.</p> + +<p>Within the house the dull light fell over a few rude benches and a +platform with a chair and table, which was used as pulpit. Shadows of +many deep, rich tones of brown lurked among the rafters. Here and there +a cobweb, woven to the consistence of a fabric, swung in the air. The +drone of a blue-bottle, fluttering in and out of the window in a slant +of sunshine, might invade the reverent silence, as Brother Jake Tobin +turned the leaves to read the chapter.</p> + +<p>Sometimes there would sound, too, a commotion among the horses without, +unharnessed from the waggons and hitched to the trees; then in more +than one of the solemn faces might be descried an anxious +perturbation—not fear because of equine perversities, but because of +the idiosyncrasies of callow human nature in the urchins left in charge +of the teams. No one ventured to investigate, however, and, with that +worldly discomfort contending with the spiritual exaltations they sought +to foster, the rows of religionists swayed backward and forward in +rhythm to the reader's voice, rising and falling in long, billowy sweeps +of sound, like the ground swell of ocean waves.</p> + +<p>It was strange, looking upon their faces, and with a knowledge of the +limited phases of their existence, their similarity of experience here, +where a century might come and go, working no change save that, like the +leaves, they fluttered awhile in the outer air with the spurious +animation called life, and fell in death, and made way for new +bourgeonings like unto themselves—strange to mark how they differed. +Here was a man of a stern, darkly religious conviction, who might either +have writhed at the stake or stooped to kindle the flames; and here was +an accountant soul that knew only those keen mercantile motives—the +hope of reward and the fear of hell; and here was an enthusiast's eye, +touched by the love of God; and here was an unfinished, hardly humanized +face, that it seemed as presumptuous to claim as the exponent of a soul +as the faces of the stupid oxen out-of-doors. All were earnest; many +wore an expression of excited interest, as the details of the chapter +waxed to a climax, like the tense stillness of a metropolitan audience +before an unimagined <i>coup de théâtre</i>. The men all sat on one side, +chewing their quids; the women on the other, almost masked by their limp +sun-bonnets. The ubiquitous baby—several of him—was there, and more +than once babbled aloud and cried out peevishly. Only one, becoming +uproarious, was made a public example, being quietly borne out and +deposited in the ox-waggon, at the mercy of the urchins who presided +over the teams, while his mother creaked in again on the tips of +deprecating, anxious toes, to hear the Word.</p> + +<p>Brother Jake Tobin might be accounted in some sort a dramatic reader. He +was a tall, burly man, inclining to fatness, with grizzled hair reached +back from his face. He cast his light grey eyes upward at the end of +every phrase, with a long, resonant 'Ah!' He smote the table with his +hands at emphatic passages; he rolled out denunciatory clauses with a +freshened relish which intimated that he considered one of the choicest +pleasures of the saved might be to gloat over the unhappy predicament of +the damned. He chose for his reading paragraphs that, applied to aught +but spiritual enemies and personified sins, might make a civilized man +quake for his dearest foe. He paused often and interpolated his own +observations, standing a little to the side of the table, and speaking +in a conversational tone. 'Ain't that so, my brethren an' sisters! But +<i>we</i> air saved in the covenant—ah!' Then, clapping his hands with an +ecstatic upward look, 'I'm so happy, I'm so happy!'—he would go on to +read with the unction of immediate intention, 'Let death seize them! Let +them go down quick into hell!'</p> + +<p>He wore a brown jeans suit, the vest much creased in the regions of his +enhanced portliness, its maker's philosophy not having taken into due +account his susceptibility to 'chicken fixin's.' After concluding the +reading, he wiped the perspiration from his brow with his red bandanna +handkerchief, and placed it around the collar of his unbleached cotton +shirt, as he proceeded to the further exertion of 'lining out' the hymn.</p> + +<p>The voice broke forth in those long, lingering cadences that have a +melancholy, spiritual, yearning effect, in which the more tutored church +music utterly fails. The hymn rose with a solemn jubilance, filling the +little house, and surging out into the woods; sounding far across unseen +chasms and gorges, and rousing in the unsentient crags an echo with a +testimony so sweet, charged with so devout a sentiment, that it seemed +as if with this voice the very stones would have cried out, had there +been dearth of human homage when Christ rode into Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>Then the sudden pause, the failing echo, the sylvan stillness, and the +chanting voice 'lined out' another couplet. It was well, perhaps, that +this part of the service was so long; the soul might rise on its +solemnity, might rise on its aspiration.</p> + +<p>It came to an end at last. Another long pause ensued. Kelsey, sitting on +the opposite side of the table, his elbow on the back of his chair, his +hand shading his eyes, made no movement. Brother Jake Tobin looked hard +at him, with an expression which in a worldly man we should pronounce +exasperation. He hesitated for a moment in perplexity. There was a faint +commotion, implying suppressed excitement in the congregation. Parson +Kelsey's idiosyncrasies were known by more than one to be a thorn in the +side of the frankly confiding Brother Jake Tobin.</p> + +<p>'Whenst I hev got him in the pul<i>pit</i> alongside o' me,' he would say to +his cronies, 'I feel ez onlucky an' weighted ez ef I war a-lookin' over +my lef' shoulder at the new moon on a November Friday. I feel ez +oncommon ez ef he war a deer, or suthin', ez hev got no salvation in +him. An' eff he don't feel the sperit ter pray, he <i>won't</i> pray, an' I +hev got ter surroun' the throne o' grace by myself. He <i>kin</i> pray ef he +hev a mind ter, an' he <i>do</i> seem ter hev hed a outpourin' o' the sperit +o' prophecy; but he hev made me 'pear mighty comical 'fore the Lord a +many a time, when I hev axed him ter open his mouth an' he hev kep' it +shut.'</p> + +<p>Brother Jake did not venture to address him now. An alternative was open +to him.</p> + +<p>'Brother Reuben Bates, will ye lead us in prayer?' he said to one of the +congregation.</p> + +<p>They all knelt down, huddled like sheep in the narrow spaces between the +benches, and from among them went up the voice of supplication, that +anywhere and anyhow has the commanding dignity of spiritual communion, +the fervour of exaltation, and all the moving humility of the finite +leaning upon the infinite. Ignorance was annihilated, so far as Brother +Reuben Bates's prayer was concerned. It grasped the fact of +immortality—all worth knowing!—and humble humanity was presented as +possessing the intimate inherent principles of the splendid fruitions of +eternity.</p> + +<p>He had few words, Brother Reuben, and the aspirated 'Ah!' was long drawn +often, while he swiftly thought of something else to say. Brother Jake +Tobin, after the manner in vogue among them, broke out from time to +time with a fervour of assent. 'Yes, my Master!' he would exclaim in a +wild, ecstatic tone. 'Bless the Lord!' 'That's a true word!' 'I'm so +happy!'</p> + +<p>Always these interpolations came opportunely when Brother Reuben seemed +entangled in his primitive rhetoric, and gave him a moment for +improvisation. It was doubtless Hi Kelsey's miserable misfortune that +his acute intuition should detect in the reverend tones a vainglorious +self-satisfaction, known to no one else, not even to the speaker; that +he should accurately gauge how Brother Jake Tobin secretly piqued +himself upon his own gift in prayer, never having experienced these +stuttering halts, never having needed these pious boosts; that he should +be aware, ignorant as he was, of that duality of cerebration by which +Brother Jake's mind was divided between the effect on God, bending down +a gracious ear, and the impression of these ecstatic outbursts on the +congregation; that the petty contemptibleness of it should depress him; +that its dissimulations angered him. With the rigour of an upright man, +he upbraided himself. He was on his knees: was he praying? Were these +the sincerities of faith? Was this lukewarm inattention the guerdon of +the sacrifice of the cross? His ideal and himself, himself and what he +sought to be—oh, the gulf! the deep divisions!</p> + +<p>He gave his intentions no grace. He conceded naught to human nature. His +conscience revolted at a sham. And he was a living, breathing sham—upon +his knees.</p> + +<p>Ah, let us have a little mercy on ourselves! Most of us do. For there +was Brother Jake Tobin, with a conscience free of offence, happily +unobservant of his own complicated mental processes and of the motives +of his own human heart, becoming more and more actively assistant as +Brother Reuben Bates grew panicky, hesitant, and involved, and kept +convulsively on through sheer inability to stop, suggesting epilepsy +rather than piety.</p> + +<p>It was over at last; exhausted nature prevailed, and Brother Bates +resumed his seat, wiping the perspiration from his brow and raucously +clearing his rasped throat.</p> + +<p>There was a great scraping of the rough shoes and boots on the floor as +the congregation rose, and one or two of the benches were moved backward +with a harsh, grating sound. A small boy had gone to sleep during the +petition, and remained in his prayerful attitude. Brother Jake Tobin +settled himself in his chair as comfortably as might be, tilted it back +on its hind-legs against the wall, and wore the air of having fairly +exploited his share of the services and cast off responsibility. The +congregation composed itself to listen to the sermon.</p> + +<p>There was an expectant pause. Kelsey remembered ever after the tumult of +emotion with which he stepped forward to the table and opened the book. +He turned to the New Testament for his text—turned the leaves with a +familiar hand. Some ennobling phase of that wonderful story which would +touch the tender, true affinity of human nature for the higher +things—from this he would preach to-day. And yet, at the same moment, +with a contrariety of feeling from which he shrank aghast, there was +skulking into his mind all that grewsome company of doubts. In double +file they came: fate and free agency, free will and fore-ordination, +infinite mercy and infinite justice, God's loving-kindness and man's +intolerable misery, redemption and damnation. He had evolved them all +from his own unconscious logical faculty, and they pursued him as if he +had, in some spiritual necromancy, conjured up a devil—nay, legions of +devils. Perhaps if he had known how they have assaulted the hearts of +men in times gone past; how they have been combated and baffled, and yet +have risen and pursued again; how, in the scrutiny of science and +research, men have paused before their awful presence, analyzed them, +philosophized about them, and found them interesting; how others, in the +levity of the world, having heard of them, grudge the time to think upon +them—if he had known all this, he might have felt some courage in +numbers.</p> + +<p>As it was, there was no fight left in him. He closed the book with a +sudden impulse. 'My frien's,' he said, 'I stan' not hyar ter preach +ter-day, but fur confession.'</p> + +<p>There was a galvanic start among the congregation, then intense silence.</p> + +<p>'I hev los' my faith!' he cried out, with a poignant despair. 'God ez +gin it—ef thar is a God—hev tuk it away. You-uns kin go on. You-uns +kin b'lieve. Yer paster b'lieves, an' he'll lead ye ter grace—leastwise +ter a better life. But fur me thar's the nethermost depths of hell, +ef'—how his faith and his unfaith tried him!—'ef thar be enny hell. +Leastwise——Stop, brother,'—he held up his hand in deprecation, for +Parson Tobin had risen at last, with a white, scared face; nothing like +this had ever been heard in all the length and breadth of the Great +Smoky Mountains—'bear with me a little; ye'll see me hyer no more. Fur +me thar is shame, ah! an' trial, ah! an' doubt, ah! an' despair, ah! The +good things o' life hev not fallen ter me. The good things o' heaven air +denied. My name is ter be a by-word an' a reproach 'mongst ye. Ye'll +grieve ez ye hev ever hearn the Word from me, ah! Ye'll be held in +derision! An' I hev hed trials—none like them ez air comin', comin', +down the wind. I hev been a man marked fur sorrow, an' now fur shame.'</p> + +<p>He stood erect; he looked bold, youthful. The weight of his secret, +lifted now, had been heavier than he knew. In his eyes shone that +strange light which was frenzy, or prophecy, or inspiration; in his +voice rang a vibration they had never before heard.</p> + +<p>'I will go forth from 'mongst ye—I that am not of ye. Another shall +gird me an' carry me where I would not. Hell an' the devil hev prevailed +agin me. Pray fur me, brethren, ez I cannot pray fur myself. Pray that +God may yet speak ter me—speak from out o' the whurlwind.'</p> + +<p>There was a sound upon the air. Was it the rising of the wind? A thrill +ran through the congregation. The wild emotion, evoked and suspended in +this abrupt pause, showed in pallid excitement on every face. Several of +the men rose aimlessly, then turned and sat down again. Brought from the +calm monotony of their inner life into this supreme crisis of his, they +were struck aghast by the hardly comprehended situations of his +spiritual drama enacted before them. And what was that sound on the air? +In the plenitude of their ignorant faith, were they listening for the +invoked voice of God?</p> + +<p>Kelsey, too, was listening, in anguished suspense.</p> + +<p>It was not the voice of God, that man was wont to hear when the earth +was young; not the rising of the wind. The peace of the golden sunshine +was supreme. Even a tiny cloudlet, anchored in the limited sky, would +not sail to-day.</p> + +<p>On and on it came. It was the galloping of horse—the beat of hoofs, +individualized presently to the ear—with that thunderous, swift, +impetuous advance that so domineers over the imagination, quickens the +pulse, shakes the courage.</p> + +<p>It might seem that all the ingenuity of malignity could not have +compassed so complete a revenge. The fulfilment of his prophecy entered +at the door. All its spiritual significance was annihilated; it was +merged into a prosaic material degradation when the sheriff of the +county strode, with jingling spurs, up the aisle, and laid his hand upon +the preacher's shoulder. He wore his impassive official aspect. But his +deputy, following hard at his heels, had a grin of facetious triumph +upon his thin lips. He had been caught by the nape of the neck, and in a +helpless, rodent-like attitude had been slung out of the door by the +stalwart man of God, when he and Amos James had ventured to the +meeting-house in liquor; and neither he nor the congregation had +forgotten the sensation. It was improbable that such high-handed +proceedings could be instituted to-day, but the sheriff had taken the +precaution to summon the aid of five or six burly fellows, all armed to +the teeth. They, too, came tramping heavily up the aisle. Several wore +the reflection of the deputy's grin; they were the 'bold, bad men,' the +prophet's early associates before 'he got religion, an' sot hisself ter +consortin' with the saints.' The others were sheepish and doubtful, +serving on the posse with a protest under the constraining penalties of +the law.</p> + +<p>The congregation was still with a stunned astonishment. The preacher +stood as one petrified, his eyes fixed upon the sheriff's face. The +officer, with a slow, magisterial gesture, took a paper from his +breast-pocket, and laid it upon the Bible.</p> + +<p>'Ye kin read, pa'son,' he said. 'Ye kin read the warrant fur yer +arrest.'</p> + +<p>The deputy laughed, a trifle insolently. He turned, swinging his hat—he +had done the sacred edifice the reverence of removing it—and surveyed +the wide-eyed, wide-mouthed people, leaning forward, standing up, +huddled together, as if he had some speculation as to the effect upon +them of these unprecedented proceedings.</p> + +<p>Kelsey could read nothing. His strong head was in a whirl; he caught at +the table, or he might have fallen. The amazement of it—the shame of +it!</p> + +<p>'Who does this?' he exclaimed, in sudden realization of the situation. +Already self-convicted of the blasphemy of infidelity, he stood in his +pulpit in the infinitely ignoble guise of a culprit before the law.</p> + +<p>Those fine immaterial issues of faith and unfaith—where were they? The +torturing fear of futurity, and of a personal devil and a material +hell—how impotent! His honest name—never a man had borne it that had +suffered this shame; the precious dignity of freedom was riven from him; +the calm securities of his self-respect were shaken for ever. He could +never forget the degradation of the sheriff's touch, from which he +shrank with so abrupt a gesture that the officer grasped his pistol and +every nerve was on the alert. Kelsey was animated at this moment by a +pulse as essentially mundane as if he had seen no visions and dreamed no +dreams. He had not known how he held himself—how he cherished those +values, so familiar that he had forgotten to be thankful till their +possession was a retrospection.</p> + +<p>He sought to regain his self-control. He caught up the paper; it +quivered in his trembling hands; he strove to read it. 'Rescue!' he +cried out in a tense voice. 'Rick Tyler! I never rescued Rick Tyler!'</p> + +<p>The words broke the long constraint. They were an elucidation, a flash +of light. The congregation looked at him with changed eyes, and then +looked at each other. Why did he deny? Were not the words of his +prophecy still on the air? Had he not confessed himself an evil-doer, +forsaken of God and bereft of grace? His prophecy was matched by the +details of his experience. Had he done no wrong he could have foreseen +no vengeance.</p> + +<p>'Rick Tyler ain't wuth it,' said one old man to another, as he spat on +the floor.</p> + +<p>The widow of Joel Byers, the murdered man, fell into hysterical +screaming at Rick Tyler's name, and was presently borne out by her +friends and lifted into one of the wagons.</p> + +<p>'It air jes' ez well that the sher'ff takes Pa'son Kelsey, arter that +thar confession o' his'n,' said one of the dark-browed men, helping to +yoke the oxen. 'We couldn't hev kep' him in the church arter sech words +ez his'n, and church discipline ain't a-goin' ter cast out no sech devil +ez he air possessed by.'</p> + +<p>Brother Jake Tobin, too, appreciated that the arrest of the preacher in +his pulpit was a solution of a difficult question. It was manifestly +easier for the majesty of the State of Tennessee to deal with him than +for the little church on the Big Smoky.</p> + +<p>'Yer sins hev surely fund ye out, Brother Kelsey,' he began, with the +air of having washed his hands of all responsibility. 'God would never +hev fursook ye ef ye hedn't fursook the good cause fust. Ye air ter be +cast down—ye who hev stood high.'</p> + +<p>There was a momentary silence.</p> + +<p>'Will ye come?' said the sheriff, smiling fixedly, 'or had ye ruther be +fetched?'</p> + +<p>The deputy had a pair of handcuffs dangling officiously. They rattled in +rude contrast with the accustomed sounds of the place.</p> + +<p>Kelsey hesitated. Then, after a fierce internal struggle, he submitted +meekly, and was led out from among them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.</h2> + + +<p>It is seldom, in this world at least, that a man who absents himself +from church repents it with the fervour of regret which Amos James +experienced when he heard of the unexpected proceedings at the Notch.</p> + +<p>'Sech a rumpus—dad-burn my luck—I mought never git the chance ter see +agin!' he declared with a pious sense of deprivation. And he thought it +had been a poor substitute to sit on the doorstep all the forenoon +Sunday, 'ez lonesome ez a b'ar in a hollow tree,' because his heart was +yet so sore and sensitive that he could not see Dorinda's pink +sun-bonnet without a rush of painful emotion, or her face without +remembering how she looked when he talked of the rescue of Rick Tyler.</p> + +<p>The 'gang o' men'—actively described by his mother as 'lopin' roun' the +mill'—lingered long in conclave this morning. Perhaps their views had a +more confident and sturdy effect from being propounded at the top of the +voice, since the insistent whirr of the busy old mill drowned all +efforts in a lower tone; but it was very generally the opinion that +Micajah Green had transcended all the license of his official character +in making the arrest at the place and time he had selected.</p> + +<p>'I knows,' commented one of the disaffected, 'ez it air the law o' +Tennessee ez a arrest kin be made of a Sunday, ef so be it must. But +'pears like ter me 'twar nuthin' in this worl' but malice an' meanness +ez tuk ch'ice o' the minute the man hed stood up ter preach the Word ter +arrest him. 'Cajah Green mus' hev tuk keerful heed o' time—jes' got +thar spang on the minute.'</p> + +<p>'He w-warn't p-p-preachin' the Word,' stuttered Pete Cayce +antagonistically. 'He hed 'jest 'lowed he w-w-warn't fit ter preach it. +No more war he.'</p> + +<p>He had come down from the still to treat for meal for the mash. He was +willing to wait—nay anxious, that he might bear his share in the +conversation.</p> + +<p>He tilted his chair back against the wall, and nodded his long, +drab-tinted locks convincingly.</p> + +<p>The water whirled around the wheel; the race foamed with prismatic +bubbles, flashing opal-like in the sun; the vague lapsing of the calm +depths in the pond was like some deep sigh, as of the fulness of +happiness or reflective content—not pain. The water falling over the +dam babbled in a meditative undertone. All sounds were dominated by the +whirr of the mill in its busy, industrial monody, and within naught else +could be heard, save the strident voices pitched on the miller's key +and roaring the gossip.</p> + +<p>Through the window could be seen the rocky banks opposite, their summits +tufted with huckleberry and sassafras bushes and many a tangle of weeds; +the dark shadow in the water below; the slope of the mountain rising +above. A branch, too, of the low-spreading chestnut-oak, that hung above +the roof of the mill, was visible, swaying close without; it cast a +tempered shade over the long cobwebs depending from the rafters, +whitened by the dust of the flour.</p> + +<p>The rough, undressed timbers within were of that mellow, rich tint, +intermediate between yellow and brown, so restful to the eye. The floor +was littered with bags of corn, on which some of the men lounged; others +sat in the few chairs, and Amos James leaned against the hopper.</p> + +<p>'Waal,' retorted the first speaker, 'ez fur ez 'Cajah Green could know, +he'd hev been a-preachin' then, an' argyfyin' his own righteousness; an' +'Cajah laid off ter kem a-steppin' in with his warrant ter prove him a +liar an' convict him o' sinnin' agin the law 'fore his congregation.'</p> + +<p>''Pears like ter me ez pa'son war sorter forehanded,' said Pete +captiously. 'He hed proved hisself a liar 'fore the sher'ff got thar; +saved 'Cajah the trouble.'</p> + +<p>'I hearn,' said another man, 'ez pa'son up-ed an' 'lowed ez he didn't +b'lieve in the Lord, an' prophesied his own downfall an' his trial 'fore +the sher'ff got thar.'</p> + +<p>'He d-d-did!' shouted Pete. 'We never knowed much more arter 'Cajah an' +the dep'ty kem 'n we did afore. Pa'son said they'd gird him an' t-t-take +him whar he didn't want ter g-go—an' so they d-d-d-did.'</p> + +<p>'D-d-did what?' mockingly demanded Amos James, with unnecessary rancour, +it might have seemed.</p> + +<p>Pete's infirmity became more pronounced under this cavalier treatment.</p> + +<p>'T-t-take him w-w-w-whar he didn't w-w-w-want'—explosively—'ter go, ye +fool!'</p> + +<p>'Whar?'</p> + +<p>'D'ye reckon that he wanted ter go ter jail in Shaftesville?' demanded +Pete, with scathing scorn.</p> + +<p>His sneering lip exposed his long, protruding teeth, and his +hard-featured face was unusually repellant.</p> + +<p>'Hev they tuk him ter jail—the pa'son—Pa'son Kelsey?' exclaimed Amos +James, in a deeply serious tone.</p> + +<p>He looked fixedly at Pete, as if he might thus express more than he said +in words. There was indignation in his black eyes, even reproach. He +still leaned on the hopper, but there was nothing between the stones, +for he had forgotten to pour in more corn, and the industrious flurry of +the unsentient old mill was like the bustle of many clever people—a +great stir about nothing. He wore his broad-brimmed white hat far back +on his head. His black hair was sprinkled with flour and meal, and along +the curves of his features the snowy flakes had congregated in thin +lines, bringing out the olive tint of his complexion, and intensifying +the sombre depths of his eyes.</p> + +<p>Pete returned the allusion to his defective speech by a comment on the +intentness of the miller's gaze.</p> + +<p>'Ye look percisely like a ow-<i>el</i>, Amos—percisely like a old horned +ho-ho-hooter,' he declared, with a laugh. 'Ya-as,' he continued,' they +did take pa'son ter jail, bein' ez the jestice that the sher'ff tuk him +afore—old Squair Prine, ye know—h-he couldn't decide ez ter his +g-guilt. The Squair air so onsartain in his mind, an' wavers so ez ter +his knowledge, that I hev hearn ez ev'y day he counts his toes ter make +sure he's got ten. So the old Squair h-hummed and h-h-hawed over the +evidence, an' he 'l-lowed ter Pa'son K-Kelsey ez he couldn't b'lieve +nuthin' agin him right handy, ez he hed sot under his p-preachin' many a +time an' profited by it; but thar war his cur'ous performin' 'bout'n +the gaynder whilst Rick got off, an' he hed hearn ez pa'son turned his +back on the Lord in a s'prisin' way. Then the Squair axed how he kem ter +prophesy his own arrest ef he hed done nuthin' ter bring it on. The +Squair 'lowed 'twar a serious matter, a pen'tiary offence; an' he warn't +cl'ar in his own mind; an he up-ed an' down-ed, an' twisted an' turned, +an' he didn't know <i>what</i> ter do: so the e-end war he jes' committed +Pa'son Kelsey ter jail, ter await the action of the g-g-g-gran' jury.'</p> + +<p>Pete gave this detail with some humour, wagging his head back and forth +to imitate the magisterial treatment of the quandary, and putting up +first one hand, then the other, stretching out first one rough boot, +then the other, to signify the various points of the dilemma.</p> + +<p>Amos James did not laugh. He still gravely gazed at the narrator.</p> + +<p>'Whyn't he git bail?' he demanded gruffly.</p> + +<p>'Waal, he didn't—'kase he couldn't. The old man, he fixed the bail +without so much dilly-dallyin' an' jouncin' 'roun' in his mind ez ye +mought expec'. He jes' put on his specs, an' polished his old bald +noodle with his red h-h-handkercher, an' tuk a fraish chaw o' terbacco, +an' put his nose in his book, an' tuk it out ter brag ez them crazy bugs +in N-N-Nashvul sent him a book ev'y time they made a batch o' new +laws—pore, prideful old critter mus' hev been lyin'!—an' then he put +his nose in his book agin like he smelt the law an' trailed it by scent. +'Twarn't more'n haffen hour 'fore he tuk it out, an' say the least bail +he could take war a thousand d-d-dollars fur the defendant, an' five +hunderd fur each of his sureties—like it hev been in ev'y sech case +'fore a jestice s-sence the Big Smoky Mountings war made.'</p> + +<p>Pete laughed, his great fore-teeth, his flexible lip, his long, bony +face and tangled mane giving him something of an equine aspect. His mood +was unusually jocular; and, indeed, a man might experience some elation +of spirit to be the only one of the 'lopers round' at the mill who had +been present at a trial of such significance. The close attention +accorded his every word demonstrated the interest in the subject, and +the guffaws which greeted his sketch of the familiar character of the +old 'Squair' was a flattering tribute to his skill as a <i>raconteur</i>. The +peculiar antagonism of his disposition was manifested only in the delay +and digressions by which he thwarted Amos James's eagerness to know why +Parson Kelsey had not been admitted to bail. He could not accurately +interpret the indignation in the miller's look, and he cared less for +the threat it expressed. Cowardice was not predicable of one of the +Cayce tribe. Perhaps it might have been agreeable for the community if +the discordant Pete could have been more readily intimidated.</p> + +<p>'Whyn't pa'son gin the bail, then?' demanded Amos again.</p> + +<p>'He <i>did</i> gin it,' returned Pete perversely.</p> + +<p>'Waal, then, how'd the sher'ff take him ter jail?'</p> + +<p>'Right down the county road, ez ye an' me an' the rest of us hyar in the +Big Smoky hev worked on till sech c-c-cattle ez 'Cajah Green an' his +buzzardy dep'ty hain't got no sort'n c-chance o' breakin' thar necks +over the rocks an' sech.'</p> + +<p>'Look-a-hyar, Pete Cayce, I'll fling ye bodaciously over that thar +bluff!' exclaimed Amos James, darkly frowning.</p> + +<p>A rat that had boldly run across the floor a number of times, its +whiskers powdered white, its tail white also, and gaily frisking behind +it, had ventured so close to the miller's motionless foot, that when he +stepped hastily forward it sprang into the air with a wonderfully human +expression of fright; then, in a sprawling fashion, it swiftly sped away +to some dark corner, where it might meditate on the escaped danger and +take heed of foolhardiness.</p> + +<p>'W-w-what would I be a-doin' of, Amos Jeemes, whilst ye war a-flingin' +m-me over the b-b-bluff?' demanded Pete pertinently.</p> + +<p>'What ails ye, ter git tuk so suddint in yer temper, Amos?' asked +another of the baffled listeners, who desired to promote peace and +further the account of Parson Kelsey's examination before the +magistrate. 'Amos jes' axed ye, Pete, why pa'son warn't admitted ter +bail.'</p> + +<p>'H-h-he never none now,' said Pete. 'He axed w-w-why Pa'son Kelsey +didn't g-<i>gin</i> bail. He did gin it, but 't-twarn't accepted.'</p> + +<p>'What fur?' demanded Amos, relapsing into interest in the subject, and +leaning back against the hopper.</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said Pete, preferring, on the whole, the distinction of relating +the proceedings before the magistrate to the more familiar diversion of +bickering, 'pa'son he 'lowed he'd gin his gran'dad an' his uncle ter go +on his bond; an' the Squair, arter he hed stuck his nose into his book a +couple o' times, an' didn't see nuthin' abolishin' gran'dads an' uncles, +he tuk it out an' refraished it with a pinch o' snuff, an' 'lowed he'd +take gran'dad an' uncle on the bond. An' then up jumped Gid Fletcher, +the blacksmith over yander ter the Settlemint—him it war ez swore out +the warrant—and demanded the Squair would hear his testimony agin it. +That thar 'Cajah Green, he sick-ed him on, all the time. I seen Gid +Fletcher storp suddint wunst, an' wall his eye 'round onsartin' at +'Cajah Green, ez ef ter make sure he war a-sayin' all right. An' 'Cajah +Green, he batted his eye, ez much ez ter say, "Go it, old hoss!" Sure ez +ye air born them two fixed it up aforehand.'</p> + +<p>'I do <i>de</i>-spise that thar critter, 'Cajah Green!' exclaimed one of the +men, who was sitting on a sack of corn in the middle of the floor. 'He +fairly makes the trigger o' my rifle itch! I hope he won't kem out ahead +at the August election. The Big Smoky'll hev ter git him beat somehows; +we can't hev him aggervatin' 'roun' hyar another two year.'</p> + +<p>The fore-legs of Pete Cayce's tilted chair came down with a thump. He +leaned forward, and with a marked gesture offered his big horny paw to +the man who sat on the bag of corn; they solemnly shook hands as on a +compact.</p> + +<p>Amos James still leaned against the empty hopper, listening with a face +of angry gloom as Pete recommenced:</p> + +<p>'Waal, the Squair, he put his nose inter his book agin, an' then he +'lowed he'd hear Gid Fletcher's say-so. An' Gid—waal, he'll be mighty +good metal fur the devil's anvil; I feel it in my bones how Satan will +rej'ice ter draw Gid Fletcher down small—he got up an' 'lowed ez pa'son +an' his uncle an' his gran'dad didn't wuth two thousand dollars. They +hed what they hed all tergether, an' 'twarn't enough—'twarn't wuth +more'n a thousan', ef that. An' so the Squair—waal, he looked toler'ble +comical, a-nosin' in his book an' a-polishin' off the torp o' his head +with his red handkercher, an' he war ez oneasy an' onsartain in his +actions ez a man consortin' accidentally with a bumbly bee. He tried 'em +all powerful in thar temper, bein' so gin over ter backin' an' fo'thin'; +but ez he war the jestice they hed ter sot 'round an' look solemn an' +respec'ful. An' at las' he said he couldn't accept the bail, ez 'twar +insufficient. The dep'ty looked like h'd jump up and down, an' crack his +heels together; 'peared like he war glad fur true. An' the Squair, he +'lowed ez the rescue war a crime ez mought make a jestice keerful how he +tuk insufficient bail. Ennybody ez would holp a man ter escape from +cust'dy would jump his bond hisself, though he war toler'ble keerful ter +explain ter pa'son ez he never ondertook ter charge nuthin' on him, +nuther. An' he hed ter bear in mind ez he oc'pied a m-m-mighty important +place in the l-law—though I can't see ez it air so mighty important ter +h-h-hev ter say, "I dunno; let the court decide."'</p> + +<p>Amos James remembered the hopper at last. He turned, and, as he lifted a +bag and poured in the corn, he asked, his eyes on the golden stream of +grain:</p> + +<p>'An' what did pa'son say when he fund it out?'</p> + +<p>Pete Cayce laughed, his big teeth making the facetious demonstration +peculiarly pronounced. He was looking out of the window, through the +leafy bough of the overspreading chestnut-oak, at the deep, transparent +water in the pond. The dark, lustrous reflection of the sassafras and +huckleberry bushes on the summit of the vertical rocky bank was like +some mezzotinted landscape under glass. A frog on one of the ledges at +the waterside was a picture of amphibious content; sometimes his mouth +opened and shut quickly, with an expression, if not beautiful, implying +satisfaction. Pete lazily caught up a stick which he had been whittling. +The slight missile flew through the air, catching the light as it went. +Its aim was accurate, and the next moment the monotony of the placid +surface was broken by the elastically widening circles above the spot +where the frog jumped in.</p> + +<p>'The pa'son,' he said languidly, having satisfactorily concluded this +exploit—'at fust it looked like the c-critter couldn't make it out—he +'peared toler'ble peaked an' white-faced, but the way he behaved ter the +sher'ff 'minds me o' the tales the old men tell 'bout'n Hangin' Maw an' +Bloody Feller, an' them t'other wild Injuns that useter aggervate the +white folks in the Big Smoky—proud an' straight, an' lookin' at 'Cajah +Green ez ef he war jes' the dirt under his feet. Waal, pa'son 'lowed, +calm an' quiet, ez I'd be skinnin' a deer or suthin', ez he'd ruther be +obligated ter his own f-folks fur that holp, but ez that couldn't be +he'd git bail from others. 'Twarn't m-much matter jes' till he could +'pear 'fore the court, fur nuthin' could be easier'n ter prove ez he +hedn't rescued Rick Tyler, nor never gin offence agin the law. An' he +turned round ez s-s-sure an' quiet ter Pa'son Tobin, who hed kem along +ter see what mought be a-doin', an' sez he, "B-Brother Jake Tobin, +you-uns an' some o' the c-church folks, I know, will be 'sponsible fur +the bail." An' ef ye'll b'lieve me, Brother Jake Tobin, he got up +slanch-wise, and in sech a hurry the cheer fell over ahint him; an' sez +he, "Naw, brother—I will call ye brother,"—like that war powerful +'commodatin'—"I kin not sot my p-people ter do sech, arter yer words +yestiddy. We kin lose no money by ye—the church air pore an' the cause +air needy. I kin only pray fur the devil ter l-loose his holt on ye, +f-fur I perceive the devil in ye." Waal, sir,' continued Pete, drawing a +plug of tobacco from his pocket, and gnawing on it with tugging +persistence, 'Christian perfesser ez I be, I felt sorter 'shamed o' +Brother J-Jake Tobin—he looked s-s-sech a skerry h-half-liver, 'feard +o' losin' money! Shucks! I could sca'cely keep my hands off 'n him. He +looked so—so cur'ous, I wanted ter—ter'—he remembered the reverence +due to the cloth—'ter trip him up,' he concluded temperately. 'An' +then, ez he war a-whurlin' his fat sides around ter pick up the cheer, +Pa'son K-Kelsey—he hed t-turned plumb bleached, like a corpse—he stood +up, an' sez, "The Lord hev fursaken me!" An' Brother Jake Tobin humps +around, with the cheer in his hand, an' sez, "Naw, brother, naw, ye hev +fursook the Lord!"'</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said the man on the bag of corn, gazing meditatively at the +dusty floor and at a great yellow cur who had ventured within, as a +shelter from the mid-day heat, and lay at ungainly length asleep near +the door, 'I dunno ez I kin blame Brother Jake Tobin. 'Twould hev made a +mighty scandal ter keep Pa'son Kelsey in the church, arter what he said +agin' the faith. We'll hev ter turn him out; an' ez he air ter be turned +out, I dunno ez the church members hev enny call ter go on his bond. He +air none o' we-uns, nowadays.'</p> + +<p>'Leastwise none o' 'em war a-goin' t-ter do it,' said Pete quietly. +'They air all mindful o' Brother Jake Tobin's longest ear, ez kin hear a +call from the church yander in Cade's Cove ev'y time he g-gits mad at +'em. But I tell ye,' added Pete, restoring his plug of tobacco to his +pocket, and chewing hard on the bit which his strong teeth had wrenched +off, 'it did 'pear to me ez they mought hev stretched a p'int when I see +the pa'son ridin' off with them two sneakin' off'cers. He hed so nigh +los' his senses with the notion he war a-goin' ter be jailed ez they had +ter hold him up in the saddle, else he'd hev been under the beastis's +huffs in a minute.'</p> + +<p>'Whyn't you-uns go on his bond?' asked Amos James suddenly.</p> + +<p>'Who?' shouted Pete, in stentorian amaze, above the clamour of the old +mill.</p> + +<p>'You-uns—the whole Cayce lay-out,' reiterated Amos James.</p> + +<p>His blood had risen to his face. All the instincts of justice within him +revolted at the picture Pete had drawn, coarsely and crudely outlined, +but touched with the vivid realities of nature. It was as a scene +present before him: the falsely accused man borne away, crushed with +shame, while the true criminal looked on with a lax conscience and an +impersonal interest, and thriftily saved his observations to recount to +his cronies at the mill.</p> + +<p>Amos James cared naught for the outraged majesty of the law. The rescue +of the prisoner from its fierce talons seemed to him, instead, humane +and beneficent. His sense of justice was touched only by the manifest +cruelty when one man was forced to bear the consequences of another's +act.</p> + +<p>'You-uns mought hev done ez much,' he said significantly.</p> + +<p>'I reckon they would hev 'lowed ez we warn't wuth it,' said Pete, +quietly ruminant; 'the still can't show up.'</p> + +<p>'Ye never tried it,' said Amos.</p> + +<p>'Waal, d-dad, he warn't thar, an' I couldn't ondertake ter speak for the +rest. An' I ain't beholden no ways to Pa'son Kelsey. I hev no call ter +b-b-bail him ez I knows on. I hev no hand in his bein' arrested an' +sech.'</p> + +<p>'Hev no hand in his bein' arrested!' retorted Amos scornfully.</p> + +<p>Pete was staring stolidly at him, and the other men assumed an intent, +inquiring attitude.</p> + +<p>Amos James felt suddenly that he had gone too far. He had no wish to +fasten this stigma upon the Cayces; he had every reason to avoid it. He +did not know how far he had been accounted a confidant in the intimacies +of the cave when Rick Tyler had found a refuge there. He could not +disregard the trust reposed in him. And yet he could not recall his +words.</p> + +<p>Pete's blank gaze changed to an amazed comprehension. He spoke out +bluntly the thought in the other's mind.</p> + +<p>'Ye air a-thinkin', Amos Jeemes, ez 'twar we-uns ez cut Rick Tyler +a-loose o' the sher'ff!' he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Amos, confronted with his own suspicion, listened with a guilty air.</p> + +<p>'Ye air surely the b-b-b-biggest f-f-f-fool'—the words seemed very +large with these additional consonants—'in the shadder o' the B-b-b-Big +S-s-s-sm-Smoky M-m-Mountings!' Pete spread them out with all the +magnifying facilities of his infirmity.</p> + +<p>'Waal, then,' said Amos, crestfallen, 'who done it?'</p> + +<p>'Why, P-Pa'son Kelsey, I reckon.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII.</h2> + + +<p>That memorable arrest in the Big Smoky was the last official act of the +sheriff, except the surrender of his books and papers and taking his +successor's receipt for the prisoners in the county jail. The defeat had +its odious aspects. The race had been amazingly unequal. Had the ground +tottered beneath him, as he stood in the grass-fringed streets of +Shaftesville, and heard the rumours of the returns from the civil +districts, he could hardly have experienced a sensation of insecurity +commensurate with this, for all his moral supports were threatened. His +self-confidence, his arrogant affinity for authority, his pride, and his +ambition keenly barbed the prescience of this abnormal flatness of +failure. He was pierced by every careless glance; every casual word +wounded him. He had a strange disturbing sense of a loss of identity. +This anxious, browbeaten, humiliated creature—was this Micajah Green? +He did not recognise himself; every throb within him had an alien +impulse; he repudiated every cringing mental process. It was his first +experience of the rigours of adversity; it did not quell him; he felt +effaced.</p> + +<p>He feebly sought to goad himself to answer the rough chaff of spurious +sympathizers with his old bluff spirit; his retort was like the lisp of +a child in defiance of the challenge of a bugle. He saw with faltering +bewilderment how the interesting spectacle increased his audience; it +resembled in some sort an experiment in vivisection, and where the +writhings most suggested an appreciated anguish, each curious scientist +most longed to thrust the scalpel.</p> + +<p>The coroner held the election, as the sheriff himself was a candidate, +and when the result became known the details excited increased comment. +In the district of the county town he had a majority, but the unanimity +against him in the outlying districts, especially in the Big Smoky and +its wide-spread spurs and coves, was unprecedented in the annals of the +county. He had hoped that the election of judge and attorney-general, +taking place at the same time, might divert attention from the +disastrous completeness of his failure. But their race involved no +peculiar phase of popular interest, and the more important results were +subordinated, so far as the county was concerned, to the spectacle of +'Cajah Green, 'flabbergasted an' flustrated like never war seen.'</p> + +<p>New elements of gossip were added now and then, vivaciously canvassed +among the knots of men perched on barrels in the stores, or congregated +in the post-office, or sitting on the steps of the courthouse, and were +ruthlessly detailed to the ex-sheriff, whose starts of rage, unthinking +relapses into official speech, jerks of convulsive surprise, prolonged +the amusement beyond its natural span.</p> + +<p>It ceased suddenly. The adjustment to a new line of thought and to a +future under altered conditions was facilitated by the inception of an +immediate definite intention and a sentiment co-equal with the passion +of despair. The idlers of the town might not have been able to +accurately define the moment when the drama of defeat, with which he had +prodigally entertained them, lost its interest. But there was a moment +that differed from all the others of the lazy August hours; the minimum +of time charged with disproportionate importance. It might be likened to +a symbol of chemistry, which, though the simplest alphabetical +character, is significant of an essential element involving +life—perhaps death.</p> + +<p>That moment the wind came freshly down from the mountains; the glare of +the morning sun rested on the empty, sandy street of the village, the +weeds and grass that obscured the curbing of the pavement were still +overhung by a glittering gossamer net of dew. A yellow butterfly flitted +over it, followed by another so like that it could not be distinguished +from its aërial counterpart. The fragrance of new-mown hay somewhere in +the rural metropolis was sweet on the air. A blue-bottle, inside the +window of the store hard by, droned against the glass, and seemed in +some sort an echo to the monotonous drawl of a man who had lately been +up in the Big Smoky, and who had gleaned fresh points concerning the +recent election.</p> + +<p>'What did ye ever do ter the Cayces, 'Cajah, or what did Bluff Peake +ever do fur 'em?' he asked, as preliminary to detailing that the Cayces +had turned out and pervaded the Great Smoky Mountains, electioneering +against the incumbent. 'They rid hyar an' they rid thar—up in the +mountings an' down in the coves; an' some do say thar war one o' 'em in +ev'y votin'-place in all the mounting deestric's the day the 'lection +kem off, jes' a-stiffenin' up the Peake men, an' a-beggin', an' +a-prayin', an' a-wraslin' in argymint with them ez hed gin out they war +a-goin' ter vote fur you-uns. Bluff Peake say they fairly 'lected him, +though he 'lowed 'twarn't fur love o' him. I wonder ye done ez well ez +ye did, 'Cajah, though ye couldn't hev done much wuss, sure enough. All +o' 'em war out, from old Groundhog down ter Sol, when they war +'lectioneerin', an' the whisky ez war drunk round the Settlemint an' +sech war 'sprisin'. Some say old Groundhog furnished it free.'</p> + +<p>The ex-sheriff made no reply. There was a look in his eye that gave his +long, lean head, deeply sunken at the temples, less the aspect of that +of a whipped hound than it had worn of late. One might have augured that +he was a dangerous brute. And after that, the conversation with the +recent election as a theme flagged, and died out gradually.</p> + +<p>It was only a few days before he had occasion to go up into the Great +Smoky Mountains, on matters, he averred, connected with closing +unsettled business of the office which he held.</p> + +<p>As he jogged along, he moodily watched the distant mountains, growing +ever nearer, and engirdled here and there with belts of white mists, +above whose shining silver densities sometimes would tower a gigantic +'bald,' with a suspended, isolated effect, like some wonderful aërial +regions unknown to geography, foreign to humanity.</p> + +<p>The supreme dignity of their presence was familiar to him. Their awful +silence, like the unspeakable impressiveness of some overpowering +thought, affected him not. The vastness of the earth which they +suggested, beneath the immensities of the sky, which leaned upon them, +found no responsive largeness in his emotions.</p> + +<p>Those barren domes of an intense blue, tinged with purple where the bold +rocks jutted out, flushed where the yellow sunshine languished to a +blush; those heavily wooded slopes below the balds, sombre and rich in +green and bronze and all darkling shades—touched, too, here and there +with a vivid crimson where the first fickle sumach flared; those coves +in which shadows lurked and vague sentiments of colour were abroad in +visionary guise, in unexplained softness of greys and hardly realized +blues, in dun browns and sedate yellows, vanishing before the plain +prose of an approach,—he had reduced all this to a scale of miles, and +the splendours of the landscape were not more seemly or suggestive than +the colours of a map on the wall. It was a mental scale of miles, for +the law decreeing a sufficiency of mileposts seemed to weaken in the +ruggedness of the advance, and when he was fairly among the coves and +ravines they disappeared.</p> + +<p>He pushed his horse rather hard, as the time wore on, but sunset was on +the mountains before he came upon the great silent company of dead trees +towering above the Settlement in the reddening light, and tracing their +undeciphered hieroglyphics across the valley beneath and upon the +heights beyond. The ringing vibrations of the anvil were on the air; the +measured alternations of the hand-hammer and the sledge resounded in a +clear, metallic fugue; the flare from the forge fire streamed through +the great door of the blacksmith's shop, giving fluctuating glimpses of +the interior, but fainting and fading into impotent artificiality before +the gold and scarlet fires ablaze in the western sky.</p> + +<p>A waggon, broken down and upheld by a pole in lieu of one of the wheels, +stood in front of the blacksmith's shop, and was evidently the reason of +Gid Fletcher's industry at this late hour.</p> + +<p>Its owner loitered aimlessly about; now looking, with a gloat of +acquisition, at his purchases stowed away in the waggon, and now +nervously at a little barefoot girl whom he had brought with him to +behold the metropolitan glories of the Settlement.</p> + +<p>He occasionally asked her anxious questions.</p> + +<p>'Ain't you-uns 'most tired out, Euraliny?' he would say; or, 'Don't ye +feel wore in yer backbone, hevin' ter wait so long?' or, 'Hedn't ye +better lay down on the blanket in the waggin an' rest yer bones, bein' +ez we-uns started 'fore daybreak?'</p> + +<p>But the sturdy Euralina shook her sun-bonnet, with her head in it, in +emphatic negation at every suggestion, and sat upright on the board laid +across the rough, springless waggon, looking about her gravely, with a +stalwart determination to see all there was in the famed Settlement; +thinking, perhaps, that her backbone would have leisure to humour its +ails in the retirement of home. What an ideal traveller Euralina would +be under a wider propitiousness of circumstance!</p> + +<p>And so the anxious parent could only stroll about as before, and +contemplate his purchases, and pause at the door of the blacksmith's +shop to say, 'Ain't you-uns 'most done, Gid?' in a tone of harrowing +insistence, for the fortieth time since the blacksmith's services were +invoked.</p> + +<p>Gid Fletcher looked up with lowering brow as Micajah Green entered.</p> + +<p>The shadows of evening were dense in the ill-lighted place; the +fluctuations of the forge fire, now flaring, now fading, intensified the +idea of gloom.</p> + +<p>The red-hot iron that the blacksmith held on the anvil threw its lurid +reflection into his swarthy face and his eyes; his throat was bare; his +athletic figure, girded with his leather apron, demonstrated in its +poses the picturesqueness of the simple craft; his sleeve was rolled +tightly from his huge, corded hammer-arm. His hand-hammer seemed +endowed with some nice discriminating sense as it tapped here and there +with an imperative clink, and the great sledge in the striker's hands +came crashing down to execute its sharp behests, while the flakes flew +from the metal in jets of golden sparks.</p> + +<p>A man is never so plastic to virtuous impulses as when he is doing well +his chosen work. Labour was ordained to humanity as a curse; surely God +repented Him of the evil. What blessing has proved so beneficent!</p> + +<p>The suggestions entering with the new-comer were at variance with this +wholesome industrial mood. They recalled to the blacksmith his baffled +avarice, his revenge, and the malice that had influenced his testimony +at the committing trial. More than once, of late, while the anvil sang +responsive to the hammer's sonorous clangour, and the sparks flew, +emblazoning the twilight of the shop with arabesques of golden flakes, +and the iron yielded like wax to fire and force, he had a sudden fear +that he had not done well.</p> + +<p>True, he had sworn to nothing which he did not believe, either in the +affidavit for the warrant or at the committing trial; but the widely +chartered credulity of an angry man! He said to himself in extenuation +that he would not have gone so far but for the sheriff.</p> + +<p>He was not glad, with these recollections paramount, to see Micajah +Green again. Some concession he made, however, to the dictates of +hospitality.</p> + +<p>'Hy're, 'Cajah,' he said, albeit gruffly, and the monotonous clinking of +the hand-hammer and the clanking of the sledge went on as before.</p> + +<p>Micajah Green's knowledge of life had not been wide, but there was space +to evolve a cynical reflection that, being down in the world now, he +must bite the dust, and he attributed this cavalier treatment to the +perverse result of the election.</p> + +<p>He had acquired something of the manner of bravado, from his recent +experience as a defeated candidate, and he swaggered a little as he +strolled about the dirt floor of the shop; glancing at the forge fire, +slumberously glowing, at the smoky hood above it, at the window opening +upon the purpling mountains and the fading west. He even paused, and +turned with his foot the clods of the cavity still yawning below the +log, where the escaped man had crawled through.</p> + +<p>There was an altercation at this moment between the smith and his +assistant; for the work was not so satisfactory as when Gid Fletcher's +mind was exclusively bent upon it, and his striker officiated also as +scapegoat, although that function was not specified as his duty in their +agreement. Gid Fletcher had marked with furtive surprise and doubt +every movement of the intruder, and this show of interest in the only +trace of the escape by which was lost his rich reward roused his ire.</p> + +<p>'Even the dogs hev quit that, 'Cajah,' he said enigmatically, as he +caught up the iron for the new skene and thrust it into the fire, while +the striker fell to at the bellows. The long sighing burst forth; the +fire flared to redness, to a white heat, every vivid coal edged by a fan +of yellow shimmer. The blacksmith's fine stalwart figure was thrown +backward; his face was lined with sharp white lights; he was looking +over his shoulder, and laughing silently, but with a sneer.</p> + +<p>'The dogs?' said Micajah Green, amazed. He did not sneer.</p> + +<p>'The dogs tuk ter cropin' in an' out'n that thar hole fur five or six +days arter Rick Tyler got away,' Gid Fletcher explained. 'Peared ter be +nosin' round fur him, too. I dunno what notion tuk 'em, but I never +would abide 'em in the shop, an' so I jes' kep' that fur 'em'—he nodded +at a leather strap hanging on the rod—'an' larnt 'em ter stay out o' +hyar. But even they hev gin it up now.'</p> + +<p>'I hain't gin it up, though,' said Micajah Green, still turning the +clods with his foot. 'I'll be held responsible by the court fur the +escape, I rackon, ef the gran' jury remembers ter indict me fur it, ez +negligence. An' ef I kin lay my hands on Rick Tyler yit I'll be mighty +glad ter feel of him.'</p> + +<p>The blacksmith, without changing his attitude, looked hard at his +visitor for a moment. Something rang false in the speech. He could not +have said what it was, but his moral sense detected it, as his practised +ear might have discovered by the sound a flaw in the metal under his +hammer.</p> + +<p>'Ye ain't kem up the Big Smoky a-huntin' fur Rick Tyler?' he said at +length.</p> + +<p>'Naw,' admitted Micajah Green; 'it's jes' 'bout some onsettled business +o' the county. But ef I war ter meet up with Rick in the road I wouldn't +pass him by.'</p> + +<p>He said this with a satirical half-laugh, still turning the clods with +his foot, the vivid white light illuminating his figure and his face +beneath his straw hat. The next moment the sighing bellows was silent, +and Gid Fletcher and his striker had the red-hot metal between them on +the anvil, and were once more forging that intricate metallic melody, +with its singing echoes, that seemed to endow the little log cabin with +a pulsing heart, that flowed from its surcharged chamber out into the +grey night, to the deeply purple mountains, to the crescent golden moon, +to the first few stars pulsating as if in rhythm to the clinking of the +hand-hammer and the clanking of the sledge—forging this, and as its +incident the durable skene which should enable Euralina and her parent +to leave the Settlement shortly.</p> + +<p>'I hopes ter git home 'fore daybreak, Gid,' he said desperately, +standing in the door, and looking wistfully at the iron in process of +transformation upon the anvil.</p> + +<p>He turned out again presently, and Micajah Green paused, leaning against +the window, and looking doubtfully from time to time at the striker. +This was an ungainly, heavy young mountaineer, with a shock of red hair, +a thick neck, and unfinished features which seemed not to have been +accounted worthy of more careful moulding. There was a look of humble +pain in his face when the blacksmith angrily upbraided him. His +perceptions were inefficient to accurately distribute blame; he was only +receptive, poor fellow! and we all know that in every sense those who +can only take, and cannot return, have little to hope from the world. He +was evidently not worth fearing; and Micajah Green disregarded him as +completely as the presence of the anvil.</p> + +<p>'Talkin' 'bout Rick Tyler, did you-uns go sarchin' that night—the +dep'ty's party—ter the still they say old man Cayce runs?'</p> + +<p>'Naw'—Gid Fletcher paused, his hammer uplifted, the red glow of the +iron on his meditative face and eyes; the striker, both hands upholding +the poised sledge, waited in the dusky background—'naw. We met up with +Pete Cayce, an' he 'lowed ez he hedn't seen nor hearn o' Rick Tyler.'</p> + +<p>'Ef I hed been along I'd have sarched the still, too.'</p> + +<p>The blacksmith stared in astonishment.</p> + +<p>'Pete Cayce's say-so war all I wanted,' he declared; 'an' I hed the two +hunderd dollars ez I hed yearned, an' ye hed flunged away, a-hangin' on +ter it,' he added.</p> + +<p>'I hev a mind ter go thar now, whilst I be on the Big Smoky, an' talk +ter the old man 'bout'n it,' Green said reflectively.</p> + +<p>He had drawn out his clasp-knife, and was whittling a piece of white oak +which he had picked up from the ground. With the energy of his intention +the slivers flew.</p> + +<p>The blacksmith glanced in furtive surprise at his downcast face, but for +a moment said nothing. Then:</p> + +<p>'Hain't you-uns hearn how the Cayces turned out agin ye at the 'lection? +Ef they didn't defeat ye, they made it an all-fired sight wuss. Ez fur +ez I could hear, me and Tobe Grimes war the only men in the Big Smoky ez +voted fur ye. I war plumb 'shamed o' it arterward. I hates ter be beat. +I'm thinkin' they ain't a-hankerin' ter see ye down yander at the +still.'</p> + +<p>The defeated candidate's face turned deeply scarlet pending this +recital. But he said, with an off-hand air:</p> + +<p>'I ain't a-keerin' fur that now; that's 'count o' an old grudge the +Cayces hold agin me. All I want now is ter kem up with Rick Tyler, ef so +be I can, afore the gran' jury sits again; an' I hev talked with +ev'ybody on the mountings, mighty nigh, 'ceptin' it be the Cayces. Which +fork o' the road is it ye take fur the still—I furgit—the lef' or the +right?'</p> + +<p>Gid Fletcher burst into a sudden laugh, almost as metallic, as +inexpressive of any human emotion, as if it had issued from the anvil. +His face flushed, not the reflection from the iron, which had cooled, +but with his own angry red blood; his figure, visible in the sullen +illumination of the dull forge fire, was tense and motionless.</p> + +<p>'Ye never knew, 'Cajah Green!' he cried. 'Ye don't take nare one o' the +forks o' the road. Ye ain't a-goin' ter know, nuther, from me. I ain't +a-hankerin' ter be fund dead in the road some mornin', with a big bullet +in my skull-bone, an' nobody ter know how sech happened. Ef ye hev a +mind ter spy out the Cayces fur the raiders, ye air on a powerful cold +scent; thar ain't nobody on this mounting ez loves lead well enough ter +tell whar old Groundhog holds forth. Them ez he wants ter know—knows +'thout bein' told. Ye ain't smart enough, 'Cajah Green, ter match yer +meanness!'</p> + +<p>It is difficult for a man, without the hope of deceiving, to maintain a +deception, and it was with scant verisimilitude that Micajah Green +denied the detection of his clumsy ruse, and swore that he only wanted +to come up with Rick Tyler. He went through the motions, however, while +the blacksmith looked at him with uncovered teeth, and a demonstration +that in a man might be described as a smile, but in a wild cat would be +called a snarl. The fierce, surprised glare of the eyes added the +complement of expression. Now and then he growled indignant +interpolations:</p> + +<p>'Naw; ye 'lowed ez I'd tell ye, an' ye'd tell the raiders, an' then +somehow ye'd hev shifted the blame on me, an' them Cayces—five of 'em +an' all thar kin—would hev riddled me with thar bullets till folks +wouldn't hev knowed which war metal an' which war man.'</p> + +<p>Still Micajah Green maintained his feint of denial, and the blacksmith +presently ceased to contradict.</p> + +<p>It was Fletcher's privilege to entertain this visitor at the Settlement, +and the behests of hospitality could hardly be served without ignoring +the disagreement that had arisen between them. Little, however, was +said while the waggon axle and skene were in process of completion, and +then adjusted to the vehicle by the light of a lantern.</p> + +<p>Jer'miah came over from the store, and presided after the manner of +small boys, regarding each phase of the operation with an interest for +which a questioner would have found no corresponding fulness of +information—a sort of spurious curiosity, satisfying the eye, but +having no connection with the brain. Euralina, who was small for her +sun-bonnet, a grotesque and top-heavy little figure, stood in the door +of the forge—also a wide-eyed and impressed spectator.</p> + +<p>The blacksmith was a very good illustration of a rural Hercules, as he +riveted his bolts, and lifted the body of the ponderous vehicle, and +went lightly in and out of the forge. He did his work well and quickly +too, for a mountaineer, and he had the artisan's satisfaction in his +handicraft, as, with his hammer still in his hand, he watched the slow +vehicle creak along the road between the corn-field and the woods, and +disappear gradually from view.</p> + +<p>The wheels still sounded assertively on the air; the katydids' iteration +rose in vibrant insistence; the long, vague, pervasive sighing of the +woods added to the night its deep melancholy. The golden burnished +blade of the new moon was half sheathed in invisibility behind a dark +mountain's summit.</p> + +<p>The blacksmith's house was on the elevated slope beyond the forge, and +as he turned on his porch and looked back, he noted the one salient +change in the landscape as seen from the higher level—above the distant +mountain-summit the moon showed its glittering length, as if withdrawn +from the scabbard. He glanced at it and shut the door.</p> + +<p>Micajah Green had the best that the humble log cabin could afford, and +no dearth of fair words as a relish to the primitive feast. It was only +the next morning, when his foot was in the stirrup, that his host +recurred to the theme of the evening before.</p> + +<p>'Look-a-hyar, 'Cajah Green, you-uns jes' let old Groundhog Cayce be. Ye +ain't a-goin' ter find out whar his still air a-workin', an' ef he war +ter hear ez ye had been 'quirin' 'round 'bout'n it 'twould be ez much ez +yer life air wuth.'</p> + +<p>Micajah Green renewed his hollow protestations, discredited as before, +and the blacksmith, shading his eyes from the sun with his broad +blackened right hand, watched him ride away.</p> + +<p>Even when he was out of sight, Gid Fletcher stood for a time silently +looking at the spot where horse and man had disappeared. Then he shook +his head, and went into the forge.</p> + +<p>'Zeke,' he said to his humble striker, 'ye air a fool, an' ye know it. +But ye air a smart man ter that loon, fur the hell of it air he dunno he +air a loon.'</p> + +<p>His warnings, nevertheless, had more effect than he realized. They +served as a check on Micajah Green's speech with the few men that he +met—all surly enough, however, to repel confidence, were there no other +motive to withhold it.</p> + +<p>He saw in this another confirmation of the Cayces' enmity, and their +activity in weakening his hold on the people. He began to think it hard +that he should be thus at their mercy; that his office should be wrested +from him; that they should impose unexampled indignities of defeat; that +he should not dare to raise his hand against them—nay, his voice, for +even the reckless Gid Fletcher had cautions for so much as a word.</p> + +<p>Some trifling errand which he had used as a pretext for his journey +brought him several miles along the range, and when he was actually +starting down the mountain, his vengeance still muzzled, his ingenuity +at fault, his courage faltering, all the intention of his journey +merged in its subterfuge, he found himself upon the road which led past +the Cayces' house, and in many serpentine windings down the long jagged +slopes to the base. Noontide was near. The shadows were short. He heard +the bees droning. The far-away mountains were of an exquisite ethereal +azure, discrediting the opaque turquoise blue of the sky. The dark +wooded coves had a clear distinctness of tone and definiteness of +detail, despite the distance. The harmonies of colour that filled the +landscape culminated in a crimson sumach growing hard by in a corner of +a rail fence. The little house was still. The muffled tread of his +horse's hoofs in the deep, dry sand did not rouse the sleeping hounds +under the porch. The vines clambering to its roof were full of tiny +yellow gourds; he could see through the gaps Dorinda's spinning-wheel +against the wall. A hazy curl of smoke wreathed upward from the chimney +with a deliberate grace in the sunshine. He smelled the warm fragrance +of the apples in the orchard at the rear, stretching along the mountain +side. The corn that Dorinda had ploughed on the steep slope was high, +and waved above the staked and ridered fence. There were wild blue +morning glories among it, the blossom still open here and there under a +sheltering canopy of blades; and there were trumpet flowers, too, +boldly facing the blazing sun with a beauty as ardent.</p> + +<p>He looked up at this still picture more than once, as he paused for his +horse to drink at the wayside trough, and then he rode on down the +mountain, speculating on his baffled mission.</p> + +<p>He hardly knew how far he had gone when he heard voices in loud +altercation. He could not give immediate attention, for he was in a +rocky section of the road, so full of boulders and out-cropping ledges +that it was easy to divine that the overseer had a lenient +interpretation of the idea of repair.</p> + +<p>Once his horse fell, and after pulling the animal up, with an oath of +irritation, he came, suddenly, turning sharply around a jutting crag, +upon another rider and a recalcitrant steed. This rider was a child, +carried on the shoulders of a girl of twelve or so, who had a peculiarly +wiry and alert appearance, with long legs, a precipitate and bounding +action, a tousled mane, the forelock hanging in her wild, excited eyes.</p> + +<p>He recognised at once the filly-like Miranda Jane, before either caught +a glimpse of him, and he heard enough of her remonstrance to acquaint +him with Jacob's tyranny in insisting that his unshod steed should keep +straight up the rocky 'big road,' as he ambitiously called it, in lieu +of turning aside in the sandy byways of a cow-path.</p> + +<p>The expedient flashed through Micajah Green's mind in an instant. He +drew up his horse. 'I'll give ye a lift, bubby,' he said; then, with a +mighty effort at recollection, 'Howdy, Mirandy Jane!' he cried +jubilantly.</p> + +<p>His success in recalling the name affected him like an inspiration.</p> + +<p>The girl had shied off, according to her custom with a visible tremour, +looking at him with big eyes and a quivering nostril, instantly +accounting him a raider. As he called her name she stopped and stared +dubiously at him.</p> + +<p>'How's granny?' he asked familiarly, 'and D'rindy?'</p> + +<p>'She's well,' Miranda Jane returned, lumping them in the singular +number.</p> + +<p>Had he inquired for the men folks, she would have been alarmed. As it +was, she began to be at ease. She could not at once remember him, it was +true, but he was evidently a familiar of the family.</p> + +<p>'Come, bubby,' he said to Jacob, who had been peering over Miranda +Jane's head, sharing her doubts, but sturdily repudiating her fears, +'I'll gin ye a ride ter the trough.'</p> + +<p>Jacob held up his arms, he was swung to the pommel, and the cortege +started, Miranda Jane nimbly following in the rear.</p> + +<p>Such simple things Jacob said, elicited by questions the craft of which +he could not divine. Where had he been? He and Mirandy Jane had gone +with the apples in the waggon, but the waggon had afterward been driven +to the mill, and Mirandy Jane had been charged by D'rindy to 'tote' him +on the way home if he got tired, and Mirandy Jane wanted to tote him in +the cow-path, 'mongst the briars. And where did he say he went with the +apples? To the cave.</p> + +<p>'To the cave!' exclaimed the querist, astonished.</p> + +<p>'Over yander on the backbone,' returned the guileless Jacob, reinforcing +the information with a stubby forefinger, pointing toward the base of +the mountain.</p> + +<p>And here was the trough. And Miranda Jane and Jacob stood by the +roadside to regretfully watch the big grey horse trot slowly away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII.</h2> + + +<p>There came a change in the weather. A vagueness fell upon the landscape. +The farthest mountains receded into invisibility, and the horizon was +marked by an outline of summits hitherto familiar in the middle +distance. The sunshine was languid, slumberous. A haze clothed the air +in a splendid garb of translucent, gold-tinted folds, and trailing +across the dim blue of the ranges invested them with many a dreamy +illusion. Athwart the sky were long sweeps of fibrous white clouds +presaging rain. Since dawn they were thickening; silent in the intense +stillness of the noontide, they gathered and overspread the heavens and +quenched the sun, and bereaved the vapours hanging in the ravines of all +the poetic glamours of reflection.</p> + +<p>A rain-crow was huskily cawing on the trough by the roadside where he +had perched. Dorinda heard the guttural note, and went out to gather up +the fruit spread to dry on boards that were stretched from stone to +stone. Dark clouds were rolling up from the west. She paused to see them +submerge Chilhowee, its outline stark and hard beneath their turbulent +whirl; toward the south their heavy folds broke into sudden commotion, +and they were torn into fringes as the rain began to fall. The mist +followed and isolated the Great Smoky from all the rest of the world.</p> + +<p>And now the little house was as lonely as the ark on Ararat. The mists +possessed the universe. They filled the forests and lay upon the corn +and hid the 'gyarden-spot,' and came skulking about the porch, peering +through the vines in a ghostly fashion. Presently they sifted through, +and whenever the door was opened it showed them lurking there as if +wistfully waiting or with some half-humanized curiosity.</p> + +<p>Night stole on, and the ruddy flare of the fire had heightened +suggestions of good cheer and comfort, because of these waifs of the +rain and the air shivering in chilly guise about the door.</p> + +<p>The men came to supper and all went again, except Pete. He was ailing, +he declared, and betook himself to bed betimes. The house grew quiet. +The grandmother nodded over her knitting, with a limp falling of the +lower jaw, occasional spasmodic gestures, and an absorbed, unfamiliar +expression of countenance.</p> + +<p>Dorinda, in her low chair, sat in the glow of the fire. As it rose and +fell it cast a warm light or a dreamy shadow on her delicately rounded +cheek and her shining eyes. One dishevelled tress of her dense black +hair fell over the red kerchief twisted round her neck. Her blue +homespun dress lay in lustreless folds about her. The shadowy and rude +interior of the room—the dark brown of the logs of the wall and the +intervening yellow clay daubing; the great clumsy warping-bars; the +pendent peltry and pop-corn and strings of red pepper swaying from the +rafters; the puncheon floor gilded by the firelight; the deep yawning +chimney with its heaps of ashes and its pulsating coals—all formed in +the rich colours and soft blending of detail an harmonious setting for +her vivid, definite face, as she settled herself to work at her evening +'stent.' Her reel was before her; the spokes, worn smooth and dark and +glossy by age and use, reflected with polished lustre the glimmer of the +fire. She had a broche in her hand, just taken from the spindle. For the +lack of the more modern broche-holder she thrust a stick through the +tunnel of the shuck on which the yarn was wound, placing the end of it, +to hold it steady, in her low shoe; catching the thread between her deft +fingers she threw it with a fine free gesture over the periphery of the +reel. And then the whirling spokes were only a rayonnant suggestion, so +swiftly they sped round and round in the light of the fire, and a +musical low whirr broke forth. Now and then the reel ticked and told off +another cut, and she would bend forward to tie the thread with a +practised dextrous hand.</p> + +<p>The downpour of the rain had a dreary, melancholy persistence, beating +upon the roof and splashing from the eaves into the puddles beneath. At +intervals a drop fell down the wide chimney and hissed upon the coals.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was another splash, differing in its abrupt energy; a +foot had slipped outside, and groping hands were laid upon the wall.</p> + +<p>Dorinda sprang up with a white face and tense muscles. The old woman was +suddenly bolt upright in her corner, although not recognising the sound.</p> + +<p>'Hurry 'long, D'rindy,' she said peremptorily, 'you-uns ain't goin' ter +reel a hank ef ye don't mosey. What ails the gal?' she broke off, her +attention attracted to her grand-daughter's changed expression.</p> + +<p>'Thar's suthin' out o' doors,' said Dorinda, in a tremulous whisper. 'I +hearn 'em step whenst ye war asleep.'</p> + +<p>'I ain't batted my eye this night,' said her grandmother, with the force +of conviction. 'I ain't slep' a wink. An' ye never hearn nuthin'.'</p> + +<p>There was a bolder demonstration outside; a footfall sounded on the +porch, and a hand tried the latch.</p> + +<p>'Massy on us! Raiders!' shrieked the old woman, rising precipitately, +her knitting falling from her lap, the ball of yarn rolling away and the +kitten springing after it.</p> + +<p>Dorinda ran to the door—perhaps to put up the bar. But with sudden +courage she lifted the latch. Outside were the ghostly vapours, white +and visible in the light from within.</p> + +<p>She peered out doubtfully for a moment. A sudden rush of colour surged +into her face; she made a feint of closing the door and ran back to her +work, looking over her shoulder with radiant eyes; she caught up the +broche, sticking it deftly in her shoe, seated herself in her low chair, +and with her light free gesture led the thread over the reel.</p> + +<p>'Massy on us!' shrilled the old woman aghast. 'D'rindy, shet the door! +Be ye a-lettin' the lawless ones in on us! raiders an' sech, scoutin' +'roun' in the fog—an' nobody hyar but Pete, ez couldn't be waked up +right handy with nuthin' more wholesome'n a bullet—a——'</p> + +<p>There was a man's figure in the doorway—a slow, hesitating figure, and +Rick Tyler, his face grave and dubious, embarrassed by the complicated +effort to look at Dorinda and yet seem to ignore her, trod heavily in, +and with a soft and circumspect manner closed the door.</p> + +<p>'I kem over hyar, Mis' Cayce,' he remarked, 'ez I 'lowed mebbe the boys +war at the still an' yer felt lonesome, bein' ez it air rainin' right +smart, an''—he hesitated.</p> + +<p>'Howdy, Rick—howdy!' she exclaimed cordially. He had the benefit of her +relief in finding the visitor not a raider. 'Jes' sot yer bones down +hyar by the fire. Airish out o' doors, ain't it? I'm powerful glad to +see ye. D'rindy ain't much company when she air busy, an' the weavin' +ain't done yit.'</p> + +<p>'I 'lowed ez I mought resk comin' up hyar wunst in a while now,' he +said, with a covert glance at Dorinda. 'I ain't keerin' much fur the new +sher'ff, 'kase he air a town man, an' don't know me; an' the new +constable, he 'lowed over yander ter the store ez he war a off'cer o' +the law, an' not a shootin' mark fur folks ez war minded ter hide out; +an' Gid Fletcher hev been told ez he'd hev others ter deal with ef he +ondertook ter fool along arrestin' me agin. So I hev got no call ter +stay ez close in the bresh ez I hev been, though I ain't a-goin' ter +furgit these hyar consarns, nuther.'</p> + +<p>He glanced down at the glimmer of steel in his belt, where Dorinda +recognised her father's pistols.</p> + +<p>'Bes' be on the safe side,' said the old woman approvingly, her nimble +needles quivering in the light. 'But law! I useter know a man over +yandar on Chilhowee Mounting, whar I lived afore I war married, an' he +hed killed fower men—though I b'lieve one o' 'em war a Injun—an' he +hed no call ter aggervate hisself with sher'ffs nor shootin'-irons, +nuther. He walked 'round ez favoured an' free ez my old tur-r-key +gobbler. Though some said he hed bad dreams. But ez he war a hearty +feeder they mought hev kem from the stummick stiddier the heart.'</p> + +<p>The young man listened with a doubtful mien. He was thrown back at his +ease in the splint-bottomed chair. One stalwart leg, the boot reaching +over his trousers to the knee, was stretched out to the fire; from the +damp sole the steam was starting in the warm air. On his other knee one +of the shooting-irons in question rested; he held it lightly with one +hand. The other hand was thrust into the belt that girded his brown +jeans coat. His tawny yellow hair, the ends of a deeper tint, being wet, +hung to his coat collar.</p> + +<p>His hat, from the broad brim of which raindrops were still trickling, +was deposited beneath the chair, and the kitten was investigating it +with a dainty, scornful white mitten. He bore the marks of his trials in +his sharpened features; his face took on readily a lowering expression, +and a touch of anger kindled the smouldering fire in his brown eyes.</p> + +<p>'But I hev killed no man,' he said, with emphasis. 'I hev hurt nobody. +Ef I hed, 'twouldn't be no more'n I oughter do ter g'long with the +sher'ff an' leave it ter men. But I ain't done no harm. An' I don't want +ter stay in jail, an' be tried, an' kem ter jedgment, an' sech, an' +mebbe hev them buzzardy lawyers fix suthin' on me ennyways.'</p> + +<p>All through this speech the old woman tried to interrupt.</p> + +<p>'Laws-a-massy, Rick,' she said at length, 'ye hev got mighty tetchy +sence ye hev been hid out. I ain't sayin' nuthin' agin you-uns, ez I +knows on—nor agin that man that lived on Chilhowee Mounting, nuther. I +can't sot myself ter jedge o' him. He war a perfessin' member, an' he +hed a powerful gift in 'quirin'; useter raise the chune reg'lar at all +the meetin's ez fur back ez I kin remember.'</p> + +<p>Her interest in the visit was impaired to some degree by this collision; +she would have rejoiced to express her mental estimate of Rick as the +'headin'est critter in the kentry,' but the hospitable instincts +constrained her, and she nobly swallowed her vexation. His presence, +however, 'hectored' her, and she seized an excuse to absent herself +presently, saying that she had to get her clean plaid coat to mend, +'bein' ez when it last hung on the clothes-line that thar fresky young +hound named Bose stood on his hind legs ter gnaw it, an' actially +chawed a piece out'n it, and I hev ter put a wedge in it afore I kin +wear it.'</p> + +<p>She creaked away into the next room, and as the door shut he turned his +eyes for the first time on Dorinda. The firelight played on the reel, +whirling in a lustrous circle before her, on the broche stuck in the +rough little shoe, on her arm, uplifted in a graceful curve as she held +the thread. Her brilliant eyes were grave and intent; her dense black +hair and her dark blue dress heightened the fairness of her face, and +the crimson kerchief about her throat was hardly more vivid than the +flush on her cheeks.</p> + +<p>The knowledge that her embarrassment was greater than his own made him +bolder. They sat, however, some time in silence. Then, his heart waxing +soft in the coveted domestic atmosphere and the contemplation of the +picture before him, he said gently:</p> + +<p>'They air all agin me, D'rindy.'</p> + +<p>She forgot herself instantly. She looked full at him with soft +melancholy deprecation.</p> + +<p>'They don't hender ye none,' she said.</p> + +<p>'Ye don't sot no store by me nuther, these days, D'rindy,' he went on, +with a thrill of elation in his heart belying the doubt and despair in +his speech.</p> + +<p>The reel ticked and told off another cut. She leaned forward to tie the +thread. She could not lift her eyelids now; still he saw the vivid +sapphire iris, half eclipsed by the long black lash.</p> + +<p>He patted the pistol on his knee.</p> + +<p>'Would ye be afeared, D'rindy, ter marry a man ez would hev ter keep his +life, and yourn, mebbe, with this pistol? Would ye be afeard ter live in +his house along o' him, a hunted critter—an' set an' sing in his door, +when the muzzle of a rifle or the sher'ff's revolver mought peek through +the rails of the fence? Would ye be afeared?'</p> + +<p>He put the weapon slowly into his belt.</p> + +<p>'Would ye be afeared?' he reiterated.</p> + +<p>The reel stopped. She turned her eyes, dilated with a splendid boldness, +full upon him. How they flouted fear!</p> + +<p>Such audacity of courage seemed to him gallant in a man; in a woman, +expressing faith in his valiance, it was enchanting. He lost his slow +decorum. He caught the hand that held the thread. She could not withdraw +it from that strong, ecstatic clutch, and as she started, protesting, to +her feet, he rose too, overturning the reel; and the kittens made merry +confusion in the methodical cuts.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy,' he exclaimed, catching her in his arms, 'thar ain't no need +ter be afeard! Word kem up the mounting—I got it from Steve Byers—ez +when Abednego Tynes war tried he plead guilty, an' axed ter go on the +stand an' make a statement. An' he told the truth at last—at last! An' +he war sentenced, an' the case war nolle prosequied agin me! An' ye +warn't afeared! Ye would hev married me an' resked it. Ye warn't +afeard!'</p> + +<p>She was tall, and her agitated, upturned face was close to his shoulder. +He knew it was simply unpardonable, according to the rigid decorums of +their code of manners, but the impetuosity of his joy overbore him, and +he bent down and kissed her lips.</p> + +<p>Dorinda's courage!—it was gone. She looked so frightened and amazed +that he relaxed his clasp.</p> + +<p>'Ye know, D'rindy,' he said apologetically, 'I'm fairly out'n my head +with joy.'</p> + +<p>She stood trembling, her hand pressed to her beating heart, her head +whirling. And then, he never forgot it, of her own accord she laid her +other hand on his breast.</p> + +<p>'I always believed ye war <i>good—good—good</i>!'</p> + +<p>And the wild winds whirled around the Great Smoky, and the world was +given over to the clouds and the night, and the rain fell, and the drops +splashed with a dreary sound down from the eaves of the house.</p> + +<p>They did not hear. How little they heeded. Within, all the atmosphere +was suffused by that wonderful irradiation of love, and happiness, and +hope that was confidence. The fire might flare if it listed. The shadows +might flicker if they would. It seemed to them at the moment each would +never see aught, care for aught, save what was expressed in the other's +eyes.</p> + +<p>The kitten had waxed riotous in the unprecedented opportunities of the +reel, still lying with all its tangled yellow yarn upon the floor. As it +sprang tigerishly in the air and fell, fixing its predatory claws in +another cut, Dorinda looked down with a startled air.</p> + +<p>'Granny'll be axin' mighty p'inted how that thar spun-truck kem ter be +twisted so,' she said, crestfallen and prescient. 'It looks like a +hurrah's nest.'</p> + +<p>'Tell her ez how 'twar the cat,' said Rick.</p> + +<p>Dorinda shook her head dubiously.</p> + +<p>'The cat couldn't hev got it ef the reel hedn't been flunged on the +floor.'</p> + +<p>'Let's wind it inter balls, then,' suggested Rick, quick at expedients. +'She'll never know it war tangled. I'll hold it fur ye.'</p> + +<p>It was no great hardship for Rick. She lightly slipped the skeins over +the wrists that had known sterner shackles. The task required her to sit +near him; her face and head were bent toward him as she absorbed +herself in the effort to find the end of the thread; sometimes she +lifted her eyes and looked radiantly at him.</p> + +<p>He had not known how beautiful she was—because he saw her face more +closely, he thought, not averted, nor coy, as always before—or was it +embellished by that ineffable joy that filled her heart? Well for them +both, perhaps, that those few moments were so happy—or is it well to +remember a supreme felicity, for this is fleeting. Yellow yarn! she was +winding threads of gold. How his pulses thrilled at the lightest flying +touch of her fleet hands!</p> + +<p>He looked at her—into her eyes if he might—at her round crimson cheek, +at her clearly cut chin, at the long lashes, at the black hair drawn +back from her brow, where a curling tendril drooped over the temple. And +he held the yarn all awry.</p> + +<p>It was no first-class job, for this reason and her haste.</p> + +<p>'What ails ye ter hustle 'long so, D'rindy?' he asked at last. 'Ye ain't +so mighty afeared o' yer granny.'</p> + +<p>'Naw,' Dorinda admitted; 'but brother Pete, he be at home ter-night, an' +he air toler'ble fractious ef he sees his chance, an' I don't want him +a-laffin' at we-uns; kase I hev hearn him say ez when young folks gits +ter windin' yarn tergether 'tain't fur love o' the spun-truck, but jes' +fur one another.'</p> + +<p>Rick laughed a little, slowly. Then, growing grave:</p> + +<p>'Ef ye'll b'lieve me, Pete told the word yander ter the still ez Amos +Jeemes—a mis'able addled aig he be!—'lowed ter the men at the mill ez +he b'lieved ez 'twar the Cayces ez rescued me, the day o' the +gaynder-pullin', from the sher'ff.'</p> + +<p>She paused, the bright thread in her motionless hand, her fire-lit face +bent upon him.</p> + +<p>'Amos Jeemes hed better be keerful how he tries ter fix it on we-uns!' +she cried, with the tense vibration of anger, 'tellin' the mill an' +sech! I hev hearn the boys 'low ez 'twar ten year in the pen'tiary fur +rescuing a man from the sher'ff, ef it got fund out.'</p> + +<p>'Pete say ez how he jes' laffed at him an' named him a fool.'</p> + +<p>'Pete air ekal ter that,' she returned with some sarcasm.</p> + +<p>She was deftly winding the yarn once more, the fire showing a deeper +thoughtfulness upon her face. Its flicker gave the room a sense of +motion; the festoons of scarlet pepper-pods, the long yellow and red +strings of pop-corn, the peltry hanging from the rafters, apparently +swayed as the light rose and fell; and the warping-bars, with their +rainbow of spun-truck stretched from peg to peg, seemed to be dancing a +clumsy measure in the corner. The rocking-chair where granny was wont to +sit was occupied now by a shadow, and now was visibly vacant.</p> + +<p>She looked up into his face with an absorbed un-noting eye. He was +pierced by the knowledge that though she saw him, she was thinking of +something else.</p> + +<p>'Won't the Court let the pa'son go free now, sence they know ye done no +crime?' she asked.</p> + +<p>'Naw. The pa'son air accused of a rescue, an' whether the man he rescued +air convicted or no it air jes' the same ter the law ez agin him. The +<i>rescue</i> air the thing he hev got ter answer fur.'</p> + +<p>She dropped her hands in her lap and threw herself back in her chair.</p> + +<p>'Ten year in prison!' she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Her face was all the tenderest pity; her voice was full of yearning +sympathy; she cast her eyes upward with a look that was reverence +itself.</p> + +<p>'How good he war! I s'pose he knowed ye never done no harm, an' he war +willin' ter suffer stiddier you-uns. I never hearn o' sech a man! 'Pears +ter me them old prophets don't tech him! I never hearn o' <i>them</i> showin' +sech love o' God an' thar feller man. He rescued ye jes' fur that!'</p> + +<p>Rick Tyler looked at her for a moment with a kindling eye. He sprang to +his feet, throwing the golden skein—it was only yarn after all, a +coarse yellow yarn—upon the floor. He strode across the rude hearth and +leaned against the mantelpiece, which was as high as his head. The light +fell upon his changed face, the weapons in his belt, his long tawny +hair, the flashing fire in his eye. He raised his right hand with an +importunate gesture.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy Cayce, ye air in love with that man!' he said, in a low +passionate voice and between his set teeth. 'I hev seen it afore—long +ago; but sence ye hev promised ter marry me, ef ye say his name agin, +I'll kill him—I'll shoot him through the heart—dead—dead—do ye hear +me—<i>dead</i>!'</p> + +<p>She was shaken by the spectacle of his sudden anger, and she was angered +in turn by his jealous rage. There was a dull aching in her heart in the +voids left by the ebbing of her ecstatic happiness.</p> + +<p>This was too precious to lightly let go. She walked over to him and took +hold of his right arm, although his hand was toying nervously with his +pistol.</p> + +<p>'Ye don't b'lieve no sech word, Rick,' she said, 'deep down in yer +heart, ye don't b'lieve it. An' how kin ye grudge me from thinkin' well +o' the man, an' feelin' frien'ly—oh, mighty frien'ly—when he will hev +ter take ten year in the pen'tiary fur givin' ye yer freedom? He rescued +ye! An' I'll thank him an' praise him fur it ev'y day I live. My love, +ef ye call it love, will foller him fur that all through the prison, an' +the bolts an' bars, an' gyards. An' yer pistols can't holp it.'</p> + +<p>He put her from him with a mechanical gesture and a perplexed brow. He +sat down in the chair he had occupied at first; his hat was still under +it, one leg was stretched out to the fire, on the other knee his hand +rested; he looked exactly as when he first came into the room, but she +had a vague idea, as she stood opposite on the hearth, that it was long +ago, so much had happened since.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy,' he said, 'he never done it. The pa'son never rescued me.'</p> + +<p>She stood staring at him in wide-eyed amaze.</p> + +<p>He was silent for a moment, and then he broke into a bitter laugh.</p> + +<p>'I do declar,' he said, 'it fairy tickles me ter hear o' one man bein' +arrested fur rescuin' me, an' another set bein' s'pected fur rescuin' +me, an another set bein' s'pected o' the same thing, when not one of 'em +in all the Big Smoky, not one, lifted a hand ter holp me. Whether the +gallus or a life sentence 'twar all the same ter them. Accusing' yer dad +an' the boys at the still—shucks! Old Groundhog loant me a rifle, an' +ter hear him talk saaft sawder 'bout'n it ter Amos Jeemes ye'd hev thunk +he war the author o' my salvation! An' arrest the pa'son! he war a +likely one ter rescue a body!—too 'feared o' Satan! An' ef all they say +air true 'bout'n the word he spoke yander at the meetin' 'fore they tuk +him off, he hev got cornsider'ble call ter be afeard o' Satan. Naw, sir! +he never rescued nuthin' but the gaynder! Nobody holped me! Nobody on +the Big Smoky held out a hand! I ain't goin' ter furgit it, nuther!'</p> + +<p>She stood looking intently at his face, with its caustic laugh upon it +and his eyes full of bitterness. She knew that he secretly upbraided her +as well as her people that they had made no move to save him from the +clutches of the sheriff. She involuntarily turned her eyes to the +gun-rack where the barrel of 'Old Betsy' gleamed, and she remembered the +mark it bore to commemorate the foregone conclusion of Micajah Green's +death. For this she had held her hand. She felt humble and guilty, since +she had acted in the interests of peace. And yet that shrewd sense, that +true conscience, which coexisted with the idealistic tendencies of her +nature, demanded how could she justify herself in asking the sacrifice +of ten years of other men's liberty that her lover might escape the +consequences of his own act; how could she dare to precipitate a +collision with the sheriff, while their grievance was still fresh in +their minds? Fortunately she did not lay this train of thought bare +before Rick Tyler. Natures like his foster craft in the most pellucid +candour.</p> + +<p>'How'd ye git away, Rick?' she said instead.</p> + +<p>'I won't tell ye,' he replied rudely; 'it don't consarn ye ter know.' +Then suddenly softening, 'I take that back, D'rindy. I ain't goin' ter +furgit ez ye owned up ye war willin' ter marry me an' live all yer life +along with a hunted man in a house that mought be fired over yer head +enny time, or a rifle-ball whiz in at the winder. I ain't goin' ter +furgit that.'</p> + +<p>Alas! he could not divine how he should remember it!</p> + +<p>He fixed his eyes on the fire, as if moodily recalling the scene. She +noted that desperate, hunted look in his face which it had not worn +to-night.</p> + +<p>'I war a-settin' thar,' he began abruptly, 'my feet tied with ropes, and +with handcuffs on'—he held his hands together as if manacled; she +shuddered a little—'an' I hearn the hurrahin' an' fuss outside whilst +they was all a-rowin' over the gaynder. An' then I hearn a powerful +commotion 'mongst the dogs, ez ef they hed started some sorter game or +suthin'. An' the fust I knowed thar war a powerful scuttlin' 'round the +back o' the blacksmith's shop, an' a rabbit squez in a hole 'twixt the +lowes' log an' the groun'—'twarn't bigger 'n a gopher's hole. An' I +never thunk nuthin' 'ceptin' them boys outside would be mighty mad ef +they knowed thar hounds hed run a rabbit same ez a deer.'</p> + +<p>Dorinda had sunk into her chair; her hands trembled, her face was pale.</p> + +<p>'An' the cur'ous part of it,' he continued, now in the full swing of +narrative, 'war that the hounds wouldn't gin it up. They jes' kep' +a-nosin' an' yappin' roun' that thar little hole. Thar sot the +rabbit—she 'minded me o' myself, got in an' couldn't git out. Thar war +nowhar else fur her ter sneak through. She sot thar ez upright an' +trembly ez me; jes' ez skeered, an' jes' about ez little chance. The +only diff'ence 'twixt us war I hed a soul, an' that didn't do me enny +good, an' the lack o' it didn't do her enny harm; both o' we-uns war +more pertic'lar 'bout keepin' a skin full o' whole bones 'n ennything +else. An' then them nosin' hounds began ter scratch an' claw up dirt. +Bless yer soul, D'rindy, they hed a hole ez big ez that thar piggin, +afore I thunk ennything 'bout'n it. It makes me feel the cold shakes +when I 'members ez I mought not hev thunk 'bout'n it till 'twar too +late. Lord! how slow them hounds seemed! though the rabbit she fund 'em +fast enough, I reckon. Ev'y now an' then she'd hop along this way an' +that, an' the hounds would git her scent agin—an' the way they'd yap! +The critter would hop along an' look up at me—I never will furgit the +look in the critter's eyes ez she sot thar an' waited fur the dogs. They +war in a hurry an' toler'ble lively, I reckon, but they 'peared ter me +ez slow ez ef ev'y one war weighted with a block an' chain. Waal, the +hole got bigger an' they yapped louder, an' I got so weak waitin', an' +fearin' somebody would hear 'em, an' kem ter see 'bout what they hed got +up fur game, an' find that hole, I didn't know how I could bide it. The +hole got big enough fur the hounds ter squeeze through, an' hyar they +kem bouncin' in. They lept round the shop, an' flopped up agin the door, +so that ef thar hedn't been all that fuss outside 'bout takin' the +gaynder down, somebody would hev been boun' ter notice it. I hed ter +wait fur the dogs ter ketch the rabbit an' shake the life out'n her +'fore I darst move a paig, they kep' up sech a commotion. An' when they +hed dragged the critter's little carcass outside an' begun fightin' over +it, I got up. I jes' could sheffle along a leetle bit; that eternally +cussed scoundrel, Gid Fletcher——'</p> + +<p>He paused.</p> + +<p>It was beyond the power of language to express the deep damnation he +desired for the blacksmith. His face grew scarlet, the tears started to +his angry eyes. How he pitied himself, remembering his hard straits, and +his cruel indignities! And how she pitied him!</p> + +<p>He caught his breath, and went on:</p> + +<p>'That black-hearted devil hed tied my feet so close I could sca'cely +hobble, an' my hands an' wrists hed all puffed an' swelled up, whar the +cords had been—'twar the sher'ff ez gin me the handcuffs. Waal, I tuk +steps 'bout two inches long till I got 'crost the shop ter the hole. +Then I jes' flopped down an' croped through. I didn't stan' up outside, +though 'twar at the back o' the shop an' nobody could see me. Ye know +the aidge o' the bluff ain't five feet from the shop; the cliff's ez +sheer ez a wall, but thar's a ledge 'bout twenty feet down. It looked +mighty narrer, an' thar warn't no vines ter swing by; but I jes' hed ter +think o' them devils on t'other side the shop ter make me willin' ter +resk it. Waal, thar war a clump o' sass'fras—ye know the bark's +tough—near the aidge. I jes' bruk one o' the shoots ter the root an' +turned it down over the aidge o' the bluff an' swung on ter the e-end +o' it. Waal, it tore off in my hands, but I didn't fall more'n a few +feet, an' lighted on the ledge. An' I tossed the saplin' away, an' then +I walked—steps 'bout'n two inches long, ef that—ez fur ez the ledge +went, cornsider'ble way from the Settlemint, an' 'twar two or three +hundred feet ter the bottom, whar I stopped. An' thar war a niche thar +whar I could sit an' lay down, sorter. Thar I bided all night. I hearn +'em huntin', an' it made me laff. I knowed they warn't a-goin' ter find +me, but I didn't know how I war a-going' ter git away from thar with +them handcuffs on, an' ropes 'roun' my legs; they war knotted so ez I +couldn't reach 'em fur the irons. I waited all nex' day, though I never +hed nuthin' ter eat but some jew-berries ez growed 'mongst the rocks +thar. An' the nex' morn'n','—his eye dilated with triumph—'the +swellin' o' my wrists hed gone down, an' I could draw my hands out'n the +handcuffs ez easy ez lyin'.'</p> + +<p>He held up his hands; they were small for his size, and bore little +token of hard work; the wrists were supple.</p> + +<p>'An' then,' he said, with brisk conclusiveness, 'I jes' ontied the ropes +'roun' my feet an' clumb up ter the top o' the mounting by vines an' +sech, an' struck inter the laurel, an' never stopped a-travellin' till I +got ter Cayce's still.'</p> + +<p>He drew a long sigh not unmixed with pleasure. He had a sense of +achievement. It gave, perhaps, a certain value to his harsh experience +to recount his triumph to so fair an audience. He was looking at her +with a dawning smile in his eyes, and she was silently looking at him. +Suddenly she burst into sobs.</p> + +<p>'Shucks, D'rindy, it's all over an' done now,' he said, appropriating +the soft sympathy of her tears.</p> + +<p>'An' I'm so glad, Rick; so glad fur that. I'd hev bartered my hope o' +heaven fur it,' she sobbed. 'But I war thinkin' that minit o' the +pa'son. They 'rested him in his pulpit, an' they wouldn't gin him bail, +an' they kerried him 'way from the mountings, an' jailed him, an' he'll +go ter the pen'tiary, ten year mebbe, fur a crime ez he never done. Ye +wouldn't let him do that ef ye could holp it, would ye, Rick?'</p> + +<p>She looked up tearfully at him. His eyes gleamed; his nostrils were +quivering; every fibre in him responded to his anger.</p> + +<p>'Ef I could, D'rindy Cayce, I'd hev that man chained in the lowest pits +o' hell fur all time, so ye mought never see his face agin. An' ef I +could, I'd wipe his mem'ry off'n the face o' the yearth, so ye mought +never speak his name.'</p> + +<p>'Law, Rick Tyler, don't!' protested the girl, aghast. 'I've seen ye ez +jealous o' Amos Jeemes——'</p> + +<p>'I don't keer <i>that</i> fur Amos Jeemes!' he exclaimed, snapping his +fingers. 'I hevn't seen ye sit an' cry over Amos Jeemes, an' sech +cattle, an' say he war like a prophet. I thought ye war thinkin' 'bout +<i>me</i>, an'—an'——'</p> + +<p>He paused in mortification.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy,' he said, suddenly calm, though his eye was excited and +quickly glancing, 'did ye ax him ef he would do ennything fur me when I +war in cust'dy?'</p> + +<p>'Naw,' said Dorinda, 'nobody could do nuthin' fur you-uns, 'kase they'd +hev ter resk tharselfs an' run agin the law. But what I want ye ter do +fur pa'son air fur jestice. He never done what he war accused of. An' ye +<i>war</i> along o' Abednego Tynes, though innercent. Law, Rick, ef the +murderer would say the word ter set ye free, can't ye do ez much fur the +pa'son, ez hev seen so much trouble a'ready?'</p> + +<p>'In the name o' Gawd, D'rindy, what air you-uns a-wantin' me ter do?' he +asked, in sheer amazement.</p> + +<p>She mistook the question for relenting. She caressed his coat sleeve as +she stood beside him. All her beauty was overcast; her face was stained +with weeping; tears dimmed her eyes, and her pathetic gesture of +insistence seemed forlorn. He looked down dubiously at her.</p> + +<p>'What I want ye ter do, Rick, fur him, air right, an' law, an' jestice. +Nobody could hev done that fur ye, 'cept Abednego Tynes. I want yer ter +go ter pa'son's trial fur the rescue, an' gin yer testimony, an' tell +the jedge an' jury the tale ye hev tole me—the truth—an' they'll be +obleeged ter acquit.'</p> + +<p>He flung away in a tumult of rage. It was exhausting to witness how his +frequent gusts of passion shook him.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy,' he thundered, 'ye want me ter gin myself up fur the pa'son; +ye don't keer nuthin' fur me, so he gits back ter the Big Smoky an' +you-uns. I mought be arrested yit on the same indictment; the nolle +prosequi don't hender—it jes' don't set no day fur me ter be tried. An' +mebbe Steve Byers hev been foolin' me some. Ye jes' want ter trade me +off ter the State fur the pa'son.'</p> + +<p>'Ye shan't go!' cried the girl. 'I didn't know that about the nolle +prosequi. Ye shan't go!'</p> + +<p>He was mollified for a moment. He noticed again how pale she was.</p> + +<p>'Law, D'rindy,' he said, 'ye fairly wear yerself out with yer tantrums. +Whyn't ye do like other folks; the pa'son never holped me none, an' I +ain't got no call ter holp him.'</p> + +<p>'Ef ye war ter go afore the Squair an' swear 'bout'n the rescue an' +sech, an' git him ter write it ter the Court fur the pa'son——'</p> + +<p>'The constable o' the deestric' ez hangs 'roun' thar at the jestice's +house mought be thar an' arrest me,' he said speciously. 'The gov'nor +hain't withdrawn that reward yit, ez I knows on.'</p> + +<p>'Naw,' she said quickly, 'I'll make the boys toll the constable down ter +the still till ye git through. The jestice air lame, an' ain't able ter +arrest ye, an' I'd be thar an' gin ye the wink, ef thar war ennything +oncommon ennywhar, or enny men aroun'.'</p> + +<p>He could hardly refuse. He could not affect fear. He hesitated.</p> + +<p>'Ez long ez I thunk he hed rescued ye, I didn't hev no call ter move. +But now I know how 'twar, I'd fairly die ef he war lef' ter suffer in +jail, knowin' he hev done nuthin' agin the law.'</p> + +<p>Her lip quivered. The tears started to her eyes. The sight of them, shed +for another man's sake, excited again the vigilant jealousy in his +breast.</p> + +<p>'I'll do nuthin' fur Hi Kelsey,' he declared. 'Ef ye ain't in love with +him, ye would be ef he war ter git back ter the Big Smoky. He done +nuthin' fur me, an' I hev no call ter do nuthin' fur him.'</p> + +<p>He looked furiously at her, holding her at arm's length.</p> + +<p>'Ye hev tole me ye love <i>me</i>, an' I expec' ye ter live up ter it. Ye hev +promised ter marry me, an' I claim ye fur my wife. Say that man's name +another time, an' I'll kill him, ef ever he gits in rifle range agin. +I'll kill him! I'll kill him!' his right hand was once more mechanically +toying with the pistol, while he held her arm with the other, 'an' I'll +kill ye, too!'</p> + +<p>He had gone too far; he had touched the dominant impulse of her nature. +Her cheeks were flaring. Her courage blazed in her eyes.</p> + +<p>'An' I tell ye, Rick Tyler, that I am not afeard o' ye! An' if ye let a +man suffer fur a word ez ye can say in safety, an' an act ez ye kin do +in ease, ye ain't the Rick Tyler I knowed—ye air suthin' else. I 'lowed +ye war good, but mebbe I hev been cheated in ye, an' ef I hev, I'll gin +ye up. I ain't a-goin' ter marry no man ez I can't look up ter, an' say +"he air <i>good</i>!" An' ef ye'll meet me a hour 'fore sundown, at the +Squair's house, ter-morrow evenin', I'll b'lieve in ye, an' I'll marry +ye. An' ef ye don't, I won't.'</p> + +<p>She caught up his hat and gave it to him. Then she opened the door. The +white mists stood shivering in the little porch.</p> + +<p>He turned and looked in angry dismay at her resolute face. But he did +not say a word, though he knew her heart yearned for it beneath her +inflexible mask.</p> + +<p>He walked slowly out, and the door closed upon him, and upon the +shivering white mists. He paused for a moment, hesitating.</p> + +<p>He heard nothing within—not even her retreating step. He knew as well +as if he had seen her that she was leaning against the door, silently +sobbing her heart out.</p> + +<p>'D'rindy needs a lesson,' he said sternly. And so he went out into the +night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV.</h2> + + +<p>The rain ceased the next day, but the clouds did not vanish. Their +folds, dense, opaque, impalpable, filled the vastness. The landscape was +lost in their midst. The horizon had vanished. Distance was annihilated.</p> + +<p>Only a yard or so of the path was seen by Dorinda, as she plodded along +through the white vagueness that had absorbed the familiar world. And +yet for all essentials she saw quite enough; in her ignorant fashion she +deduced the moral, that if the few immediate steps before the eye are +taken aright, the long lengths of the future will bring you at last +where you would wish to be.</p> + +<p>The reflection sustained her in some sort as she went. She was reluctant +to acknowledge it even to herself; but she had a terrible fear that she +had imposed a test that Rick would not endure.</p> + +<p>'Ef he air so powerful jealous ez that, ter not holp another man a +leetle bit, when he knows it can't hurt him none, he air jes' selfish, +an' nuthin' shorter.'</p> + +<p>She paused, looking about her mechanically. The few blackberry bushes, +almost leafless, stretching out on either hand, were indistinct in the +mist, and against the dense vapour they had the meagre effect of a hasty +sketch on a white paper. The trees overhung her, she knew, in the +invisible heights above; she heard the moisture dripping monotonously +from their leaves. It was a dreary sound as it invaded the solemn +stillness of the air.</p> + +<p>'An' <i>I'm</i> boun' ter try ter holp him, ef I kin. I know too much, sence +Rick spoke las' night, ter let me set an' fold my hands in peace. 'Pears +like ter me ez that thar air all the diff'ence 'twixt humans an' the +beastis, ter holp one another some. An' ef a human won't, 'pears like +ter me ez the Lord hev wasted a soul on that critter.'</p> + +<p>Despite her logic she stood still; her blue eyes were surcharged with +shadows as they wistfully turned upward to the sad and sheeted day; her +lips were grave and pathetic; her blue dress had gleams of moisture here +and there, and a plaid woollen shawl, faded to the faintest hues, was +drawn over her dense black hair. She stood and hesitated. She thought of +the man she loved, and she thought of the word she denied the man in +prison. Poor Dorinda! to hold the scales of justice unblinded.</p> + +<p>'I dunno what ails me ter be 'feared he won't kem!' she said, striving +to reassure herself; 'an' ennyhow'—she remembered the few immediate +steps before her taken aright, and went along down the clouded, +curtained path that was itself an allegory of the future.</p> + +<p>The justice's gate loomed up like fate—the poor little palings to be +the journey's end of hope or despair! A pig, without any appreciation of +its subtler significance, had in his frequent wallowings at its base +impaired in a measure its stability. He grunted at the sound of a +footfall, as if to warn the new-comer that she might step on him. +Dorinda took heed of the imperative caution, opened the gate gingerly, +and it only grazed his back. He grunted again, whether in meagre, surly +approval, or reproof that she had come at all, was hardly to be +discriminated in his gruff, disaffected tone.</p> + +<p>She noticed that the locust leaves, first of all to show the changing +season, were yellow on the ground; a half-denuded limb was visible in +the haze. There were late red roses, widely a-bloom, by the doorstep of +the justice's house—a large double cabin of hewn logs, with a +frame-inclosed passage between the two rooms. There was glass in the +windows, for the justice was a man of some means for these parts; and +she saw behind one of the tiny panes his bald polished head and his +silver-rimmed spectacles gleaming in animated curiosity. He came +limping, with the assistance of a heavy cane, to the door.</p> + +<p>'Howdy, D'rindy,' he exclaimed cheerfully; 'come in, child. What sort o' +weather is this?'</p> + +<p>In abrupt digression, he looked over her head into the blank vagueness +of the world. But for the dim light, it might have suggested the empty +inexpressiveness of the periods before the creation, when 'the earth was +without form and void.'</p> + +<p>'It air toler'ble airish in the fog,' said Dorinda, finding her voice +with difficulty.</p> + +<p>The room into which she was ushered seemed to her limited experience a +handsome apartment. But somehow the passion of covetousness is an +untouched spring in the nature of these mountaineers. The idea of +ownership did not enter into Dorinda's mind as she gazed at the green +plaster parrot that perched in state on the high mantelpiece. She was +sensible of its merits as a feature of the domestic landscape at the +'jestice's house,' precisely as the sight of the distant Chilhowee was +company in her lonely errands about the mountain. To be deprived of +either would be like a revulsion of nature. She did not grudge the +justice his possession, nor did she desire it for herself. She +entertained a simple admiration for the image, and always looked to see +it on its lofty perch when she first entered the room.</p> + +<p>There were several books piled beside it, which the justice valued more. +There was, too, a little square looking-glass, in which one might behold +a distortion of physiognomy. Above all hung a framed picture of General +Washington crossing the Delaware. The mantelpiece was to the girl a +museum of curiosities. A rag-carpet covered the floor; there was a +spinning-wheel in the corner; a bed, too, draped with a gay quilt—a mad +disportment of red and yellow patchwork, which was supposed to represent +the rising sun, and was considered a triumph of handicraft. The +justice's seat was a splint-bottomed chair, which stood near +a pine table where ink was always displayed—of a pale green +variety—writing-paper, and a pile of books. The table had a drawer +which it was difficult to open or shut, and now and then 'the Squair' +engaged in muscular wrestling with it.</p> + +<p>He sat down, with a sigh, and drew forth his red bandana handkerchief +from the pocket of his brown jeans coat, and polished the top of his +head, and stared at Dorinda, much marvelling as to her mission. She had +not, in her primitive experience, attained to the duplicity of a +subterfuge; she declined the invitation to go into the opposite room, +where his wife was busy cooking supper, by saying she was waiting for a +man whom she expected to meet here to explain something to the justice.</p> + +<p>'Is it a weddin', D'rindy?' exclaimed the old fellow waggishly.</p> + +<p>''Tain't a weddin',' said Dorinda curtly.</p> + +<p>'Ye air foolin' me!' he declared, with a jocose affectation of +inspecting his attire. 'I hev got another coat I always wears ter marry +a couple, an' ye don't want ter gimme a chance to spruce up, fur fear +I'll take the shine off'n the groom. It's a weddin'! Who is the happy +man, D'rindy?'</p> + +<p>This jesting, as appropriate, according to rural etiquette, to a young +and pretty woman as the compliments of the season, seemed a dreary sort +of fun to Dorinda, so heavy had her presaging heart become. There was a +trifle of sensibility in the old Squire, perhaps induced by much +meditation in his inactive indoor life, and he recognised something +appealing in the girl's face and attitude, as she sat in a low chair +before the dull fire that served rather to annul the chilliness of the +day than to diffuse a perceptible warmth. The shawl had dropped from her +head and loosely encircled her throat; her hand twisted its coarse +fringes; she was always turning her face toward the window where only +the pallid mists might be seen—the pallid mists and a great glowing +crimson rose, that, motionless, touched the pane with its velvet petals. +The old justice forbore his jokes, his dignities might serve him better. +He entertained Dorinda by telling her how many times he had been elected +to office. And he said he wouldn't count how many times he expected to +be, for it was his firm persuasion that, 'when Gabriel blew that thar +old horn o' his'n, he'd find the Squair still a-settin' in jedgment on +the Big Smoky.' He showed her his books, and told her how the folks at +Nashville were constrained by the law of the State to send him one every +time they made new laws. And she understood this as a special and +personal compliment, and was duly impressed.</p> + +<p>Outdoors the still day was dying silently, like the gradual sinking from +a comatose state, that is hardly life, to the death it simulates. How +did the gathering darkness express itself in that void whiteness of the +mists, still visibly white as ever! Night was sifting through them; the +room was shadowy; yet still in the glow of the fire she beheld their +pallid presence close against the window. And the red rose was shedding +its petals!—down dropping, with the richness of summer spent in their +fleeting beauty, their fragrance a memory, the place they had +embellished, bereft. She did not reflect; she only felt. She saw the +rose fade, the sad night steal on apace; the hour had passed, and she +knew he would not come. She burst into sudden tears.</p> + +<p>The old man, whether it was in curiosity or sympathy, had his questions +justified by her self-betrayal, and his craft easily drew the story from +her simplicity. He got up suddenly with an expression of keen interest. +She followed his emotions dubiously, as he took from the mantelpiece a +tallow dip in an old pewter candlestick, and with slow circumspection +lighted the sputtering wick.</p> + +<p>'I want ter look up a p'int o' law, D'rindy,' he said impressively. 'Ye +jes' set thar an' I'll let ye know d'rec'ly how the law stands.'</p> + +<p>It seemed to Dorinda a long time that he sat with his book before him on +the table, his spectacles gleaming in the light of the tallow dip, close +at hand, his lips moving as he slowly read beneath his breath, now and +then clutching his big red handkerchief, and polishing off the top of +his round head and his wrinkled brow. Twice he was about to close the +book. Twice he renewed his search.</p> + +<p>And now at last it was small comfort to Dorinda to know that the +affidavit would not, in the justice's opinion, have been competent +testimony. He called it an <i>ex parte</i> statement, and said that unless +Rick Tyler's deposition were taken in the regular way, giving due notice +to the attorney-general, it could not be admitted, and that in almost +all criminal cases witnesses were compelled to testify <i>vivâ voce</i>. +Small comfort to Dorinda to know that the effort was worthless from the +beginning, and that on it she had staked and lost the dearest values of +her life. As he read aloud the prosy, prolix sentences, they were +annotated by her sobs.</p> + +<p>'Dell-law! D'rindy, 'twarn't no good, nohow!' he exclaimed, presently, +breaking off with an effort from his reading, for he relished the rotund +verbiage—the large freedom of legal diction impressed him as a +privilege, accustomed as he was only to the simple phrasings of his +simple neighbours. He could not understand her disappointment. Surely +Rick Tyler's defection could not matter, he argued, since the affidavit +would have been worthless.</p> + +<p>She did not tell him more. All the world was changed to her. +Nothing—not her lover himself—could ever make her see it as once it +was. She declined the invitation to stay and eat supper, and soon was +once more out in the pallid mist and the contending dusk. The scene that +she had left was still vivid in her mind, and she looked back once at +the lucent yellow square of the lighted window gleaming through the +white vapours. The rose-bush showed across the lower panes, and she +remembered the melancholy fall of the flower.</p> + +<p>Alas, the roses all were dead!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV.</h2> + + +<p>It was not so dreary in the dark depths of the cavern as in the still +white world without; and the constable of the district, one Ephraim +Todd, found the flare of the open furnace and the far-reaching lights, +red among the glooms, and a perch on an empty barrel, and the warm +generosities of the jug, a genial transition. Nevertheless he protested.</p> + +<p>'You-uns oughter be plumb 'shamed, Pete,' he said, 'ter toll me hyar, +an' me a off'cer o' the law.'</p> + +<p>'Ye hev been hyar often afore, the Lord above knows,' asseverated Pete, +'an' ye needed mighty little tollin'.'</p> + +<p>'But I warn't a off'cer o' the law then,' said the constable, wrestling +with his official conscience. 'An' I hev tuk a oath an' am under bonds. +An' hyar I be a-consortin' with law-breakers, an' 'tain't becomin' in a +off'cer o' the law.'</p> + +<p>'Ye ain't tuk no oath, nor entered into no bonds ter keep yer throat ez +dry ez a limekiln,' retorted Pete. 'Jes' take a swig at that thar jug +an' hand it over hyar, will ye, an' hold yer jaw.'</p> + +<p>Thus readily the official conscience, never rampant, was pacified. The +constable had formerly been, as Pete said, an <i>habitué</i> of the place, +but since his elevation to office he had made himself scarce, in +deference to the promptings of that newly acquired sense of dignity and +propriety.</p> + +<p>Should some chemical process obliterate for a time a leopard's spots, +consider the satisfaction of the creature to find himself once more +restored to his natural polka-dots; and such was the complacence of the +constable, with his artificial conscience evaporated and his heart +mottled with its native instincts of good and evil. He was glad to be +back in the enjoyment of the affluent hospitalities of the moonshiner's +jug.</p> + +<p>He was a big, portly fellow, hardly more symmetrical than the barrel +upon which he was seated. He had an inexhaustible fund of good humour, +and was not even angry when Pete, in sheer contrariety, told him the +reason for his enticement to the still.</p> + +<p>He said he would be glad enough if Rick Tyler could swear out anything +that would benefit the parson, and declared that he believed only +Micajah Green's malice could have compassed his incarceration.</p> + +<p>''Cajah inquired o' me whar this place war, Pete,' he said, +'a-purtendin' like he hed been hyar wunst. But I jes' tole him 'twar ez +safe ez a unhatched deedie in a aig—an' I batted my eye, jes' so, an' +he shet up purty quick.'</p> + +<p>The gleam from the furnace door showed Pete's own light grey eyes +intently staring at the visitor, but he said nothing and the matter +passed.</p> + +<p>When the constable's heart was warmed by the brush whisky he understood +the sensation as happiness, and he translated happiness as a religious +excitement.</p> + +<p>He seemed maudlin as he talked about the parson, who, he declared, had +led him to grace, and he recited some wonderful stories of religious +experience, tending to illustrate his present righteousness and the +depths of iniquity from which he had been redeemed.</p> + +<p>Pete's perversity operated to curtail these.</p> + +<p>'That's a fac'!' he would heartily assent; 'ye useter be one o' the +meanes' men on these hyar mountings!' Or 'Grace hed a mighty wrastle +with Satan in yer soul. I dunno whether he air cast out <i>yit</i>!'</p> + +<p>The constable—his big owlish head askew—was embarrassed by these +manœuvres, and presently the talk drifted to the subject of the +parson's spiritual defection. This he considered a mental aberration.</p> + +<p>'Hi Kelsey,' he said, 'war always more or less teched in the head. I hev +noticed—an' ye may sot it down ez a true word—ez ev'y man es air much +smarter'n other men in some ways, in other ways air foolisher. He mought +prophesy one day, an' the nex' ye wouldn't trest him ter lead a blind +goose ter water. He air smarter'n enny man I ever see—Pa'son Kelsey +air. Thar's Brother Jake Tobin ain't got haffen his sense; an' yit +nobody can't say ez Brother Jake ain't sensible.'</p> + +<p>The philosopher upon the barrel, as he made this nice distinction, gazed +meditatively into the bed of live coals that flung its red glare on his +broad flushed countenance and wide blinking eyes.</p> + +<p>It revealed the others, too: the old man's hard, lined, wrinkled visage +and his stalwart supple frame; Pete, with his long tangled hair, his +pipe between his great exposed teeth; Ab, filling the furnace with wood, +his ragged beard moved by the hot breath of the fire; the big-boned, +callow Sol, with his petulant, important face; and Ben, in the dim +background tossing the sticks over to Ab from the gigantic wood pile.</p> + +<p>They fell with a sharp sound, and the cave was full of their multiplied +echoes. The men as they talked elevated their voices so as to be heard.</p> + +<p>Ab was rising from his kneeling posture. He closed the furnace door, and +as it clashed he thought for an instant he was dreaming. In that instant +he saw Pete start up suddenly with wild, distended eyes, and with a +levelled pistol in his hand.</p> + +<p>The next moment Ab knew what it meant. A sharp report—and a jet of red +light, projected from the muzzle of the weapon, revealed a group of +skulking, unfamiliar figures stealthily advancing upon them.</p> + +<p>The return fire was almost instantaneous, and was followed by +multitudinous echoes and a thunderous crash that thrilled every nerve. +The darkness was filled with the clamours of pandemonium, for the +concussion had dislodged from the roof a huge fragment of rock, weighing +doubtless many tons.</p> + +<p>The revenue raiders lagged for a moment, confused by the overwhelming +sound, the clouds of stifling dust, and the eerie aspect of the place. +They distinguished a sharp voice presently, crying out some imperative +command, and after that there was no more resistance from the +moonshiners. They had disappeared as if the earth had swallowed them.</p> + +<p>The intruders were at a loss. They could not pursue and capture the men +in the dark. If the furnace door were opened they would be targets in +the glare for the lurking moonshiners in the glooms beyond. It did not +occur to them that the cave had another outlet, until, as the echoes of +the fallen fragment grew faint, they heard far away a voice crying out, +'Don't leave me!' and the mocking rocks repeating it with their tireless +mimicry.</p> + +<p>It was the constable. He never forgot that agonized retreat down those +unknown black depths. He was hardly able to keep pace with his swifter +fellows, falling sometimes, and being clutched to his feet rudely +enough, as they pressed on in a close squad; feeling now and then the +sudden wing of a bat against his face and interpreting it as the touch +of a human pursuer; sometimes despairing, as they scrambled through a +long, low, narrow passage, scarcely wide enough for the constable's +comfortable fatness. Then it was that fear descended upon him with +redoubled force, and he would exclaim in pity of his plight, 'An' me a +off'cer o' the law!'</p> + +<p>He impeded their flight incalculably, but to their credit be it said the +lighter weights had never a thought of deserting their unfortunate guest +despite the danger of capture and the distress of mind induced by the +loss of their little 'all.' The poor constable fitted some of the +tube-like passages like the pith in the bark, and as he was at last +drawn, pallid, struggling, his garments in shreds, from an aperture of +the cave in a dense untrodden jungle of the laurel, he again piteously +exclaimed, 'An' me a off'cer o' the law!'</p> + +<p>There was little leisure, however, to meditate upon his degraded +dignity. He followed the example of the moonshiners, and ran off through +the laurel as fleetly as a fat man well could.</p> + +<p>The raiders showed excellent judgment. They offered no pursuit down +those dark and devious underground corridors. Acquiring a sense of +security from the echoes growing ever fainter and indicative of +lengthening distances, they presently opened the furnace door, and by +the aid of the flare cut the tubs and still to pieces, destroyed the +worm, demolished the furnace, and captured in triumph sundry kegs and +jugs of the illicit whisky. There was a perfunctory search for the +distillers at the log cabin on the mountain slope. But the officers made +haste to be off, for the possibility of rally and recapture is not +without parallel facts in the annals of moonshining.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the mountain wilds had never sheltered a fiercer spirit than old +Groundhog Cayce when he ventured back into his den and stood over the +ruins of his scanty fortunes—the remnants of the still; the furnace, a +pile of smoking stones and ashes and embers; the worm in spiral +sections; the tubs half burnt, riven in pieces, lying about the ground. +The smoke was still dense overhead and the hot stones were sending up +clouds of steam. It was as well, perhaps, since the place would never +again be free from inspection, that it could not be used as it once was. +The great fragment of rock, fallen from the roof, lay in the course of +the subterranean stream, and the water, thus dammed, was overflowing its +channel and widely spreading a shallow flood all along the familiar +ground. It was rising. He made haste to secure the few articles +overlooked by the raiders: a rifle, a powder-horn on one of the ledges +that served as shelf, a bag of corn, the jovial jug. And for the last +time he crept through the narrow portal and left the cavern to the dense +darkness, to the floating smoke, to the hissing embers, and the slow +rising of the subterranean springs.</p> + +<p>For days he nursed his wrath as he sat upon the cabin porch beneath the +yellow gourds and the purple blooms of the Jack-bean, and gazed with +unseeing eyes at the wide landscape before him. The sky was blue in +unparalleled intensity. The great 'balds' towered against it in sharp +outlines, in definite symmetry, in awful height. The forests were +aflame with scarlet boughs. The balsams shed upon the air their +perfumes, so pervasive, so tonic, that the lungs breathed health and all +the benignities of nature. The horizon seemed to expand, and the +exquisite lucidity of the atmosphere revealed vague lines of far-away +mountains unknown to the limitations of less favoured days.</p> + +<p>In the woods the acorns were dropping, dropping, all the long hours. The +yellow sunshine was like a genial enthusiasm, quickening the pulses and +firing the blood. The hickory trees seemed dyed in its golden +suffusions, and were a lustrous contrast to the sombre pine, or the +dappled maple, or the vivid crimson of the black-gum. But the future of +the year was a narrowing space; the prospects it had brought were +dwarfed in the fulfilment, or were like an empty clutch at the empty +air. And winter was afoot; ah, yes, the tenderest things were already +dead—the flowers and the hopes—and the splendid season cherished in +its crimson heart a woeful premonition. And thus the winds, blowing +where they listed, sounded with a melancholy cadence; and the burnished +yellow sheen was an evanescent light; and the purple haze, vaguely +dropping down, had its conclusive intimations in despite that it +loitered.</p> + +<p>Dorinda, with her hands folded too, sat much of the time in dreary +abstraction on the step of the porch, looking down at the yellowed +corn-field which she and Rick ploughed on that ecstatic June morning. +How long ago it seemed! Sometimes above it, among the brown tassels, +there hovered in the air a cluster of quivering points of light against +the blue mountain opposite, as some colony of gossamer-winged insects +disported themselves in the sunshine. And the crickets were shrilling +yet in the grass. She saw nothing, and it would be hard to say what she +thought. In the brilliancy of her youthful beauty—a matter of linear +accuracy and delicate chiselling and harmonious colouring, for Nature +had been generous to her—it might seem difficult to descry a likeness +to the wrinkled and weather-beaten features of her father's lowering +face, as he sat in his chair helplessly brooding upon his destroyed +opportunities. But there was a suggestion of inflexibility in both: she +had firm lines about her mouth that were hard in his; the unflinching +clearness of her eyes was a reflection of the unflinching boldness of +his. Her expression in these days was so set, so stern, so hopeless, +that one might have said she looked like him. He beheld his ruined +fortunes; she, her bereft heart.</p> + +<p>Amos James, one day, as he stood on the porch, saw this look on her +face. She was leaning on her folded arms in the window hard by. She had +spoken to him as absently and with as mechanical courtesy as the old +moonshiner at the other end of the porch. He came up close to her. It +was a wonderful contrast to the face she had worn when they talked, that +day at the spring, of Rick Tyler's escape. With the quickened intuition +of a lover's heart he divined the connection.</p> + +<p>'Ye hain't kep' yer promise, D'rindy,' he said in a low tone.</p> + +<p>'What promise?' she demanded, rousing herself and knitting her brows as +she looked at him.</p> + +<p>'Ye 'lowed ye'd let me know ef ever ye kem ter think less o' Rick +Tyler.'</p> + +<p>Her eyes, definitely angry, flashed upon him.</p> + +<p>'Ye shan't profit by it,' she declared.</p> + +<p>And so he left her, still leaning in the vine-framed window, the lilac +blossoms of the Jack-bean drooping until they touched her black hair.</p> + +<p>Rick Tyler was dismayed by the result of his jealousy and the strange +'lesson' that Dorinda had learned. He found her inflexible. She reminded +him sternly of the conditions of her promise and that he had failed. And +when he protested that he was jealous because he loved her so, she said +she valued no love that for her sake grudged a word, not in generosity, +but in simple justice, to liberate an innocent man in the rigours of a +terrible doom. And when at this man's very name he was seized with his +accustomed impetuous anger, she looked at him with a cool aloof +scrutiny that might have expressed a sheer curiosity. It bewildered and +tamed him. He had never heard of a Spartan. He only thought of her as +immovable, and as infinitely remote from his plane as the great dome of +the mountain. He remembered that she had always softened to his +misfortunes, and he talked of how he had suffered. But she said that was +all over now, and he had been 'mighty lucky.' He sought to appeal to her +in her own behalf, and reminded her how she had loved him through it +all, how she would have married him, despite the fierce pursuit of the +law. She had loved him; he would not forget that.</p> + +<p>'No,' she said drearily. 'I never loved ye. I loved what I thunk ye war. +But ye warn't that—nuthin' like it! Ye war suthin' else. I war jes' in +love with my own foolishness.'</p> + +<p>Poor Dorinda! Alas, for the fair ideals! these things are transient.</p> + +<p>He went away at last, indignant and amazed. Once he thought of offering +to make the affidavit, not cognizant of its fatal defect, and then the +conviction took hold upon him that this melancholy was her deep +disappointment because she loved the man she sought to aid. And +sometimes he could not believe he had lost her heart. And yet when he +would go back, her dull indifference to his presence would convince him +alike that he was naught to her now and that he had been supplanted.</p> + +<p>His contradictions of feeling began to crystallize into a persistent +perversity. He took pleasure in denying the story she had told of his +escape, and many people hardly knew which version to believe. He +congratulated Brother Jake Tobin one evening at the cabin on having +turned Hi Kelsey out of the church, and called him a wolf in sheep's +clothing.</p> + +<p>And then for his pains he was obliged to listen to her defence of the +absent man; she declared the parson was like one of the prophets—like +some man in the Bible. As to that confession he had made in the church, +'twar plain he war out'n his head.'</p> + +<p>Meantime Brother Jake Tobin discreetly bent his attention upon the honey +and fried chicken on the supper table, and Rick Tyler fumed in silence.</p> + +<p>After the news of the nolle prosequi, Rick went about the mountain with +his former large liberty. His step-brothers were desirous of +obliterating his recollection of their avoidance, and made him a present +of several head of cattle and some hogs. He lived at home among them, +and began to have prospects for the future.</p> + +<p>He was planning with the younger Cayces to start a new still, for a +region is particularly safe for that enterprise immediately after a +visit from the revenue officers, their early return being improbable. +And he talked about a house-raising while the weather held fine, and +before snow.</p> + +<p>'I'm a-thinkin' 'bout gittin' married, Pete, ter a gal over yander ter +the Settlemint,' he said, looking for the effect on Dorinda.</p> + +<p>She was as silent, as stern, as listless as ever. And but for the sheer +futility of it, he might have fallen to upbraiding her and protesting +and complaining as of yore, and repudiated the mythical 'gal at the +Settlemint.'</p> + +<p>All the leaves were falling. Crisp and sere they carpeted the earth and +fled before the wind. They seemed in some wise to illumine the slopes as +they lay in long yellow vistas under the overhanging black boughs. Many +a nest was revealed—empty, swinging on the bare limb.</p> + +<p>The mountains near at hand were sad and sombre, the stark denuded +forests showing the brown ground among the trees, and great jutting +crags, and sterile stretches of out-cropping rocks, and fearful abysmal +depths of chasms—and streams, too, madly plunging. All the scene was +stripped of the garb of foliage, and the illusion of colour, and the +poetry of the song birds and the flowers.</p> + +<p>More distant ranges were of a neutral vagueness, and farther still they +seemed a nebulous grey under a grey sky. When the sun shone they were +blue—a faint, unreal blue, a summer souvenir clinging to the wintry +landscape like some youthful trait continued in a joyless age.</p> + +<p>For it was November, and the days were drear.</p> + +<p>About this time an excited rumour suddenly prevailed that Parson Kelsey +had returned to the Great Smoky Mountains.</p> + +<p>It was widely discredited at first, but proved to be authorized by Gid +Fletcher, who was himself just back from Shaftesville, where he had been +to testify in the trial for the rescue of Rick Tyler. A story of +discomfiture he retailed, and he seemed ill at ease and prone to lay +much blame on Rick, whose perverse circulation of diverse accounts of +the escape had greatly unnerved him before his journey, and prevented +the prosecution from summoning Rick as a witness, if indeed he would +have permitted himself to be served with the subpœna.</p> + +<p>The judge was testy during the trial, and charged the jury in favour of +the prisoner; after the verdict of acquittal, he stated indignantly that +there had been practically no evidence against the defendant, and that +it was a marked instance of the indifference or ignorance of the +committing magistrate and the grand jury that such a case of flagrant +malice could get beyond them and into the jurisdiction of the court.</p> + +<p>Gid Fletcher solaced himself by telling how Green played the fool on the +stand when the judge snarled at him, and contradicted himself and cut a +'mighty pore figger.'</p> + +<p>'Though ez ter that, the pa'son riz up an' reviled both me an' 'Cajah in +open court,' said Fletcher. ''Pears like he hed read the Bible so +constant jes' ter l'arn ev'y creepy soundin' curse ez could be called +down on the heads o' men. An' somebody said ter the jedge arterward ez +he oughter fine pa'son fur contempt o' court. An' the jedge 'lowed he +warn't a statute; he hed some human natur in him, an' he wanted me an' +'Cajah ter hear the truth spoke one time.'</p> + +<p>The blacksmith declared, too, that he was 'fairly afeard o' pa'son' and +his fierce threats of revenge, and was glad enough that they were not +obliged to make the journey together, for he, having a horse, had +ridden, while the parson had been constrained to walk.</p> + +<p>'I reckon he's hyar by this time,' Fletcher said to Nathan Hoodendin, +'but I ain't a-hankerin' ter meet up with him agin. He's more like a +wild beastis 'na man; ter see him cut his blazin' eye aroun' at ye, +ye'd 'low ez he'd never hearn o' grace!'</p> + +<p>The snow came with Kelsey.</p> + +<p>One day, when the dull dawn broke, the white flakes were softly +falling—silent, mysterious, ghostly invasion of the wild wintry air and +the woods. All adown chasms and ravines, unexplored and unknown, the +weird palpitating motion animated the wide and desert spaces. The ground +was deeply covered; the drifts filled the hollows; they burdened the +crests of the jutting crags and found a lodgment in all the fissures of +their dark and rugged faces. The white lines on the bare black boughs +served to discriminate their sylvan symmetry. Vague solemnities pervaded +the silent marshalling of these forces of Nature.</p> + +<p>The wind held its breath. An austere hush lay upon the chilled world. +The perspective had its close limitations and the liberties of vision +were annulled. Only the wild things were abroad; but the footprints of +the rabbit or the deer were freshly filled, and the falling snow seemed +to possess the world. When it ceased at last, it lay long on the ground, +for the cold continued. And the wilderness was sheeted and still.</p> + +<p>There were presently visible occasional ruts winding in and out among +the trees, marking the course of the road and the progress of some +adventurous waggon and ox-team—sometimes, too, the hoof-prints of a +saddle-horse. One might easily judge how few of the mountaineers had +ventured out since the beginning of the 'cold snap.' These marks were +most numerous in front of the log-house where Hiram Kelsey and his uncle +and the two old men sat around the fire. There was a prevalent curiosity +as to how the parson had endured the double humiliation of imprisonment +and being cast out of the church. They were hardly prepared for the +tempestuous fury which animated him upon the mention of the prosecution +and the witnesses' names. But when hesitating inquiries were propounded +by those of his visitors disposed to controversy—seeking to handle his +heresies and gauge his infidelity—he would fall from the ecstasies of +rage to a dull despondency.</p> + +<p>'I dunno,' he would say, looking into the heart of the red fire. 'I +can't sati'fy my mind. Some things in the Bible air surely set +contrariwise. I can't argyfy on 'em. But thar's one thing I kin +<i>feel</i>—Christ the Lord liveth. An' sometimes that seems doctrine +enough. An' mebbe some day I'll find Him.'</p> + +<p>A thaw came on, checked by a sudden freeze. He thought it as cold as +ever one afternoon about sunset as he trudged along the road. He saw a +tiny owl, perched in a cedar-tree hard by the rail-fence. The creature's +feathers were ruffled, and it looked chill. The atmosphere was of a +crystalline clearness. The mountains in the east had dropped the snow +from the darkling pines, but above, the towering balds rose in unbroken +whiteness, imposed in onyx-like distinctness upon the azure sky. There +were vague suggestions of blue and violet and rose on the undulations of +the steep, snow-covered slopes close at hand. The crags were begirt with +icicles, reaching down many feet and brilliant with elusive prismatic +glimmers. He heard a sudden crash: a huge scintillating pendant had +fallen by its own weight. Chilhowee stood massive and richly purple +beyond the snowy valley; above was a long stretch of saffron sky, and in +its midst the red sun was going down. He stood to watch its fiery disc +slip behind the mountains, and then he turned and pursued his way +through the neutral-tinted twilight of the wintry evening.</p> + +<p>Old Cayce's log-cabin rose up presently, dark and drear against the high +and snowy slopes behind it. The drifts still lay thatch-like on the +roof; the eaves were fringed with icicles. The overhanging trees were +cased in glittering icy mail. The blackened corn-stalks, left standing +in the field as is the habit until next spring's ploughing should +begin, were writhen and bent, and bore gaunt witness to the devastation +of the winter wind. The smoke was curling briskly from the chimney, and +as the door opened to his knock, the great fire of hickory and ash, +sending up yellow and blue flames all tipped with vivid scarlet, cast a +genial flare upon the snowy landscape, slowly darkening without. He +experienced a sudden surprise as his eye fell upon old man Cayce, the +central figure of the group, having heard stories of the moonshiner's +deep depression, consequent upon the disastrous raid, and of the apathy +into which he had fallen. They hardly seemed true. He sat erect in his +chair, his supple frame alert, his eye intent, every fibre charged with +energy, his face deeply flushed. He looked expectant, eager. His +stalwart sons sat with him in a semicircle about the wide, warm hearth. +All their pipes were freshly alight, for the evening meal was just +concluded. They, too, wore an aspect of repressed excitement.</p> + +<p>Kelsey detected it in their abstraction during the formal greetings, and +when he was seated among them, ever and anon they shifted uneasily in +their chairs, which grated harshly on the puncheon floor. Sometimes +there sounded a faint jingling of spurs when they moved their feet on +the ill-adjusted stones of the hearth. They had their pistols in their +belts and perchance their lives in their hands. His admission was in +some sort a confidence, but although he marvelled, he said nothing.</p> + +<p>The bare and humble furnishing of the room was very distinct in the rich +glow—the few chairs, the shelves with the cooking utensils, the churn, +a chest, the warping-bars, the spinning-wheel; and their simple domestic +significance seemed at variance with the stern and silent armed men +grouped about the fire.</p> + +<p>A vibrant sound—one of the timbers had sprung in the cold. Soloman rose +precipitately.</p> + +<p>'Nuthin', Sol, nuthin',' said the old man testily. 'Tain't nigh time +yit.'</p> + +<p>Nevertheless Sol opened the door. The chill air rushed in. The yellow +flames bowed and bent fantastically before it. Outside the gibbous moon +hung in the sky, and the light, solemn, ghostly, pervaded with pallid +mysteries the snowy vistas of the dense, still woods. The shadow of the +black boughs lay in distinct tracery upon the white surface; there was a +vague multiplication of effect, and the casual glance could ill +distinguish the tree from its semblance. Vacant of illusions was the +winding road—silent, and empty, and white, its curve visible from the +fireplace through the black rails of the zigzag fence. Hiram Kelsey +caught a glimpse, too, of the frosty dilations of a splendid star; then +the door closed and Sol came back with jingling spurs to his seat by the +fireside.</p> + +<p>'Be you-uns satisfied?' demanded Pete with a sneer.</p> + +<p>Sol, abashed, said nothing, and once more the ominous silence descended, +all moodily watching the broad and leaping flames and the pulsating +coals beneath.</p> + +<p>Somehow the geniality of the fire suggested another bright and dominant +presence that was wont in some sort to illumine the room.</p> + +<p>'Whar be D'rindy?' asked Kelsey suddenly.</p> + +<p>'Waal—D'rindy,' said Ab, the eldest of the sons, evidently withdrawing +his mind with an effort, 'she hev gone ter Tuckaleechee Cove, ter holp +nuss Aunt Jerushy's baby. It's ailin', an' bein' ez it air named arter +D'rindy, she sets store by it, an' war powerful tormented ter hear how +the critter war tuk in its stummick. She kerried Jacob along, too, 'kase +she 'lows she hankers arter him when she's away, an' she makes out ez +we-uns cross him in his temper, 'thout she air by ter pertect him. I war +willin' 'kase it air peacefuller hyar without Jacob 'n with him—though +he air my own son, sech ez he be. An' D'rindy hev pompered him till he +air ez prideful ez a tur-r-key gobbler, an' jes' about ez +cornsiderate.'</p> + +<p>'She lef' Mirandy Jane an' me,' said Pete, facetiously showing his great +teeth.</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said the old man, speaking with his grave excited eyes still on +the fire. 'I be toler'ble glad ez D'rindy tuk this time ter leave home +fur a few days, 'kase she hev been toler'ble ailin' an' droopy. An' +t'other day some o' the boys got ter talkin' 'bout'n how sure they be ez +'twar 'Cajah Green—dad-burn the critter!—ez gin the revenue hounds the +word whar our still war hid. An' D'rindy, she jes' tuk a screamin' fit, +an' performed an' kerried on like she war bereft o' reason. An' she got +down old Betsy thar'—pointing to a rifle on the rack—'ez Pete hed made +her draw a mark on it ter remember 'Cajah Green by, an' his word ez he'd +jail her some day, an' she wanted me and the boys ter swear on it ez +we-uns would never shoot him.'</p> + +<p>'An' did you-uns swear sech?' asked Hiram Kelsey, in fierce reprobation.</p> + +<p>Beneath the broad brim of his hat his eyes were blazing; their large +dilated pupils cancelled the iris and the idea of colour; they were +coals of fire. His shadowed face was set and hard; it bore a presage of +disappointment—and yet he was doubtful.</p> + +<p>Pete turned and looked keenly at him.</p> + +<p>'Waal,' said the old man, embarrassed, and in some sort mortified, +'D'rindy, ye see, war ailin', an', an'—I never hed but that one darter +an' sech a pack o' sons, an' it 'pears like she <i>oughter</i> be +humoured—an'——'</p> + +<p>'Ye w-wants him shot, hey, pa'son?' Pete interrupted his critical study +of the unconscious subject.</p> + +<p>Kelsey's eyes flashed.</p> + +<p>'I pray that the Lord may cut him off,' he said.</p> + +<p>'Waal, the Lord ain't obleeged ter use a rifle,' said Pete pertinently. +'Even we-uns kin find more ways than that.'</p> + +<p>'The pa'son mought ez well go along an' holp,' said Groundhog Cayce.</p> + +<p>Kelsey turned his eyes in blank inquiry from the old man to Pete by his +side.</p> + +<p>'We air a-layin' fur him now,' Pete explained.</p> + +<p>'He hain't been so delivered over by the Lord ez ter kem agin, arter +informin' the raiders, inter the Big Smoky?' Kelsey asked, forgetting +himself for the moment, and aghast at the doomed man's peril.</p> + +<p>Pete tapped his head triumphantly.</p> + +<p>'Tain't stuffed with cotton wool,' he declared. 'We let on ter the +mounting ez we never knowed who done it. An' we jes' laid low, an' held +our tongues betwixt our teeth, when we hearn 'bout'n his 'quirin' round +'bout'n the still, from this'n an' that'n, d'rectly arter the 'lection. +We got him beat fur that, jes' 'count o' what he said ter D'rindy, +'kase she wouldn't g-g-gin her cornsent ter shootin' him, an' got dad +set so catawampus, he obeyed her like Jacob wouldn't fur nuthin'. +An''—with rising emphasis—'th-th-the blamed critter 'lows he lef' no +tracks an' ain't been found out yit! An' hyar he be on the Big Smoky +agin, a-finishin' up some onsettled business with his old office. I seen +him yander ter the Settlemint, an' talked with him frien'ly an' +familiar, along o' Gid Fletcher, an' fund out when he war ter start down +ter Eskaqua Cove, ter bide all night at Tobe Grimes's house.'</p> + +<p>'But—but—ef they never tole him—surely none o' 'em told him'—argued +Kelsey breathlessly.</p> + +<p>Pete showed his long teeth.</p> + +<p>'Somebody tole him,' he said, with a fierce smile. 'H-h-he couldn't git +the mounting ter t-t-turn agin we-uns; they war <i>afeard</i>!' cynically +discriminating the motive. 'So he kem nosin' roun' 'mongst our +c-c-chillen—the little chillen, ez didn't know what they war a-tellin' +an' Jacob tole him whar the cave war, an' 'bout haulin' the apples fur +pomace. Jacob war the man, fur Mirandy Jane hearn him say it. She hed +seen 'Cajah Green afore, when he war sher'ff.'</p> + +<p>It was a palpable instance of bad faith and imposition, and it tallied +well with Hiram Kelsey's own wrongs. He sat brooding upon them, and +looking at the fire with dulled meditative eyes. One of the logs, burnt +in twain, broke with a crash under the burden of the others, and the +fire, quickening about them, sent up myriads of sparks attendant upon +the freshening flames; among the pulsating red coals there were dazzling +straw-tinted gleams, and a vista of white heat that repelled the eye.</p> + +<p>Outside the wind was rising—its voice hollow, keen, and shrill as it +swept over the icy chasms; the trees were crashing their bare boughs +together. It was a dreary sound. From far away came the piercing howl of +some prowling hungry wolf, familiar enough to the ears that heard it, +but its ravening intimations curdled the blood. A cock's crow presently +smote the air, clear and resonant as a bugle, and with a curse on +tardiness the impatient Sol once more rose and opened the door to look +out.</p> + +<p>A change was impending. Clouds had come with the wind, from the west to +meet the moon. Though tipped with the glint of silver, the black portent +was not disguised. Rain or snow, it mattered not which. The young +mountaineer held the door open to show the darkening sky and the +glittering earth, and looked over his shoulder with a triumphant +glance.</p> + +<p>'That will settle the footprints,' he said.</p> + +<p>There was something so cruel in his face, so deadly in his eyes, a +ferocious satisfaction in the promised security so like the savage joy +of a skulking beast, that it roused a normal impulse in the breast of +the man who read the thoughts of his fellow-men like an open book. +Kelsey was himself again.</p> + +<p>He raised his hand suddenly, with an imperative gesture.</p> + +<p>'Listen ter me!' he said, with that enthusiasm kindling in his eyes +which they honoured sometimes as the light of religion, and sometimes +reviled as frenzy. 'Ye'll repent o' yer deeds this night! An' the +jedgmint o' the Lord will foller ye! Yer father's grey hairs will go +down in sorrow ter the grave, but his mind will die before his body. An' +some of you-uns will languish in jail, an' know the despair o' the bars. +An' he that is bravest 'mongst ye will mark how his shadder dogs him. +An' ye will strike yer hands tergether, an' say, "That the day hed never +dawned, that the night hed never kem fur we-uns!" An' ye'll wisht ye hed +died afore! An' but for the coward in the blood, ye would take yer own +life then! An' ye'll look at the grave before ye, an' hope ez it all +ends thar!'</p> + +<p>His eyes blazed. He had risen to his feet in the intensity of his +fervour. And whether it was religion or whether it was lunacy it +transfigured him.</p> + +<p>They had all quailed before him, half overborne by the strength of his +emotion, and half in deprecation, because of their faith in his +mysterious foreknowledge. But as he turned, pushed back his chair, and +hastily started toward the door, they lost the impression. Pete first +recovered himself.</p> + +<p>'Wh-wh-whar be you-uns a-goin'?' he demanded roughly.</p> + +<p>The parson turned fiercely. He thrust out his hand with a gesture of +repudiation, and once more he lifted the latch.</p> + +<p>'Naw, ye ain't g-g-goin',' said Pete, with cool decision, throwing +himself against the door. 'Ye hev sot 'mongst we-uns an' h-hearn our +plans. Ye 'peared ter gin yer cornsent w-when dad said ye could go +'long. Dad thought ye'd like ter hev a s-sheer in payin' yer own grudge. +We hev tole ye what we hev tole no other livin' man. An' now ye hev got +ter hev our reason ter h-h-hold yer yaw. I don't like ter s-shoot a man +down under our own roof ez kem hyar frien'ly, but ef ye fools with that +thar latch agin, I reckon I'll be obleeged ter do it.'</p> + +<p>If Pete Cayce had possessed an acute discrimination in the reading of +faces, he might have interpreted Kelsey's look as a pondering dismay; +the choice offered him was to do murder or to die! As it was, Pete only +noted the relinquishment of the parson's design when he sat down silent +and abstracted before the fire.</p> + +<p>But for his deep grudge, it might have seemed that Kelsey had intended +to forewarn Micajah Green of the danger in the path, and to turn him +back. Pete did not feel entirely reassured until after he had said:</p> + +<p>'I 'lowed ez ye s-s-swore ye fairly <i>de</i>-spise 'Cajah G-G-Green, an' +r-raged ter git even with him.'</p> + +<p>'I furgits it sometimes,' rejoined Kelsey.</p> + +<p>And Pete did not apprehend the full meaning of the words.</p> + +<p>'An' don't do no more o' yer prophesyin' ter-night, Hiram,' said the old +man irritably. 'It fairly gins me the ager to hear sech talk.'</p> + +<p>The night wore on. The fire roared; the men, intently listening, sat +around the hearth.</p> + +<p>Now and then a furtive glance was cast at Hiram Kelsey. He seemed lost +in thought, but his eye glittered with that uninterpreted, inscrutable +light, and they were vaguely sorry that he had come among them.</p> + +<p>They took scant heed of his reproach. It has been so long the unwritten +law of moonshiners that the informer shall perish as the consequence of +his malice and his rashness, that whatever normal moral sense they +possess is in subjection to their arbitrary code of justice and the +savage custom of the region.</p> + +<p>The mysterious disappearance of a horse-thief or a revenue spy, +dramatically chronicled, with a wink and a significant grin, as 'never +hearn on no more,' or 'fund dead in the road one mornin',' affects the +mountaineers much as the hangman's summary in the Friday evening papers +impresses more law-abiding communities—shocking, but necessary.</p> + +<p>The great fire was burnt to a mass of coals. The wind filled the ravines +with a tumult of sound. The bare woods were in wild commotion. The gusts +dashed upon the roof snow, perhaps, or sleet, or vague drizzling rain; +now discontinued, now coming again with redoubled force.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, a growl from the dogs under the house; then the sound of a +crunching hoof in the snow.</p> + +<p>The men sallied forth, swift and silent as shadows. There was a frantic +struggle in the road; a wild cry for help; a pistol fired wide of the +mark, the report echoing in the silence from crag to crag, from chasm to +chasm, with clamorous iteration, as if it would alarm the world. The +horses were ready. The men hastily threw themselves into the saddle.</p> + +<p>It had been arranged that Kelsey, who had no horse, should ride before +the prisoner.</p> + +<p>He mounted, drew about his own waist the girth which bound the doomed +man, buckling it securely, and the great grey horse was in the centre of +the squad.</p> + +<p>Micajah Green begged as they went—begged as only a man can for his +life. He denied, he explained, he promised.</p> + +<p>'Ye cotton ter puttin' folks in jail, 'Cajah! Yer turn now! We'll put ye +whar the dogs won't bite ye,' said the old man savagely.</p> + +<p>And the rest said never a word.</p> + +<p>The skies were dark, the mountain wilds awful in their immensity, in +their deep obscurities, in the multitudinous sounds of creaking boughs +and shrilling winds.</p> + +<p>They were in the dense laurel at last. The branches, barbed with ice, +and the evergreen leaves, burdened with snow, struck sharply in their +faces as they forced their way through.</p> + +<p>The swift motion had chilled them; icicles clung to their hair and +beard; each could hardly see the dark figures of the others in the dense +umbrageous undergrowth as they recognised the spot they sought and +called a halt.</p> + +<p>It was the mouth of the cave; they could hear the sound of the dark cold +water as it rippled in the vaulted place where the dammed current rose +now half way to the roof.</p> + +<p>Their wretched prisoner, understanding this fact and the savage +substitute for the rifle, made a despairing struggle.</p> + +<p>'Lemme git a holt of him, Hi,' said Pete, his teeth chattering, his +numbed arms stretched up in the darkness to lay hold on his victim.</p> + +<p>'Hyar he be,' gasped the parson.</p> + +<p>There was another frantic struggle as they tore the doomed man from the +horse; a splash, a muffled cry—he was cast headlong into the black +water. A push upon a great boulder hard by—it fell upon the cavity with +a crash, and all hope of egress was barred.</p> + +<p>Then, terrorized themselves, the men mounted their horses; each, fleeing +as if from pursuit, found his way as best he might out of the dark +wilderness.</p> + +<p>One might not know what they felt that night when the rain came down on +the roof. One might not dare to think what they dreamed.</p> + +<p>The morning broke, drear and clouded, and full of rain, and hardly less +gloomy than the night. The snow, tarnished and honeycombed with dark +cellular perforations, was melting and slipping down the ravines. The +gigantic icicles encircling the crags fell now and then with a +resounding crash. The drops from the eaves dripped monotonously into the +puddles below. The roof leaked. Sol's bridle-hand had been frozen the +night before in the long swift ride.</p> + +<p>But the sun came out again; the far mountains smiled in a blue vagueness +that was almost a summer garb. The relics of the snow exhaled a silvery +haze that hung airily about the landscape. Only the immaculate whiteness +of those lofty regions of the balds withstood the thaw, and coldly +glittered in wintry guise.</p> + +<p>A strange sensation thrilled through the fireside group one of these +mornings when Amos James came up from the mill, and as he smoked with +them asked suddenly, all unaware of the tragedy, 'What ailed 'Cajah +Green ter leave the Big Smoky in sech a hurry?'</p> + +<p>'Wh-wh-at d'ye mean?' growled Pete in startled amaze.</p> + +<p>And then Amos James, still unconscious of the significance of the +recital, proceeded to tell that shortly after daybreak on last Wednesday +morning he heard a 'powerful jouncin' of huffs,' and looking out of the +window he saw Micajah Green on his big grey horse, flying along the +valley road at a tremendous rate of speed. Before he could open the +window to hail him, man and horse were out of sight.</p> + +<p>It was a silent group that Amos left, all meditating upon that swift +equestrian figure, pictured against the dreariness of the rainy dawn, +and the grey mist, and the shadowing mountains.</p> + +<p>'Amos seen a ghost,' said Pete presently. He looked dubiously over his +shoulder, though the morning sunshine came flickering through the door, +widely ajar.</p> + +<p>'That ain't nuthin' oncommon,' said the old man sturdily. Then he told a +ghastly story of a legal execution—that the criminal was seen afterward +sitting in the moonlight under the gallows on his coffin-lid; and other +fearful fantasies of the rural mind, which, morbidly excited, will not +accept the end of the rope as a finality.</p> + +<p>It was only when Obediah Scruggs came to their house searching for his +nephew, saying that Hiram had not been seen nor heard of since he had +set out one evening to visit them, that a terrible premonition fell upon +Groundhog Cayce. His iron will guarded it for a time, till some one +journeying from Shaftesville reported having seen there Micajah Green, +who was full of a terrible story of a midnight attack upon him by the +Cayce tribe, from whom he had miraculously escaped in the midst of the +struggle and darkness, he declared, and more dead than alive. Then +mysteriously and with heavy presage Pete and his father made a +pilgrimage to the cave. They pried up the boulder over the cavity. They +heard the deep water held in the subterranean reservoir still sighing +and echoing with the bubbling of the mountain spring. On the surface +there floated a hat—Hi Kelsey's limp and worn old hat.</p> + +<p>They never told their secret. They replaced the boulder, and sealed +their lips.</p> + +<p>The old man began to age rapidly. His conscience was heavier than his +years. But it was a backwoods conscience, and had the distortions of his +primitive philosophy. One day he said piteously:</p> + +<p>'It air a dreadful thing, Pete, ter kill a man by accident.'</p> + +<p>And Pete replied meditatively, 'I dunno but what it air.'</p> + +<p>By degrees, as they reflected upon the incredible idea that a mistake +could have been made between the two men, the truth percolated through +their minds. It was a voluntary sacrifice.</p> + +<p>'He war always preachin' agin killin',' said the old man, 'an' callin' +folks,' his voice fell to a whisper—'Cain!'</p> + +<p>It was well for him, perhaps, when he presently fell into mental +decrepitude, and in vacancy was spared the anguish of remorse.</p> + +<p>And Pete fearfully noted the fulfilment of the prophecy.</p> + +<p>No one could account for the change in Pete Cayce. He patched up old +feuds, and forgave old debts, and forgot his contentious moods, and was +meek and very melancholy. And although the parson preached no more, who +shall say his sermons were ended? As to him, surely his doubts were +solved in knowing all, and perhaps in the exaltations of that +sacrificial moment he found Christ.</p> + +<p>The mystery of his fate remained unexplained. The search for him flagged +after a time, and failed. There were many conjectures, all wide of the +truth.</p> + +<p>Dorinda believed that, like the prophet of old, he had not been suffered +to taste death, but was caught up into the clouds. And with a chastened +solemnity she cherishes the last of her illusions.</p> + + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BY_THE_SAME_AUTHOR" id="BY_THE_SAME_AUTHOR"></a>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</h2> + + +<h3>HIS VANISHED STAR</h3> + +<p>'"His Vanished Star," in all its well-defined, well-described human +interests, and its graphic account of grand and lovely scenery, is an +excellent novel.... The story is both charming and original.'—<i>Glasgow +Herald.</i></p> + +<p>'A thrilling and pathetic tale, and one full of quiet humour and +intimate observation of human nature.'—<i>Morning Leader.</i></p> + +<p>'There is not a page in it which will not cause a reader to respect the +writer for her good work.'—<i>Bookman.</i></p> + +<p>'C. E. Craddock has given in "His Vanished Star" fresh evidence of +strong imaginative power and a faculty of vivid description, bold, +definite, and picturesque.... Its excellencies are undeniable, and not +of a common sort.'—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + +<p>'A remarkable study of nature as well as of character.... Rich in the +rather grim humour of a peculiar class, picturesque and in its way +powerful, "His Vanished Star" will recommend itself to the lover of +American fiction.'—<i>Morning Post.</i></p> + +<p>'There is a good deal of interesting character-drawing, and the +spiritual impressions are strong and high. There is humour +too.'—<i>Athenĉum.</i></p> + +<p>'As a vivid sketch of American life in its most primitive aspect, "His +Vanished Star" is undoubtedly a noteworthy book.'—<i>Speaker.</i></p> + + +<h3>OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE PROPHET OF THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS</h3> + +<p>'The name of George Eliot rises to our lips once again as we read "The +Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains." ... The author is honoured in her +own country as Miss Mary N. Murfree. She is indeed worthy of honour. +This book gives her an indisputable place in the first rank of American +novelists. Yet it is scarcely accurate to say that she stands in the +rank; her station is abreast, yet apart. Amid all the charms of the +American school of fiction, we look for one in vain—to wit, robustness. +This quality Miss Murfree possesses. Her work may be called the most +virile of recent American writing. The heroine is a really exquisite +creation, full of health, grace, and womanly loyalty.'—<i>Pall Mall +Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>'The tale is really good, and gives graphic pictures of ways and manners +far removed from any that are within our ken.... A story which shows +appreciation of the beauties of nature, and much knowledge of the human +heart. The heroine is earnest and charming—a gem.'—<i>Morning Post.</i></p> + +<p>'A remarkable story.... We have seldom, if ever, read a book with +greater delight, or one more rich in the quaint and grim humour, the +rare pathos, the touching simplicity, and the picturesque descriptions +which are only to be found in stories of this kind.'—<i>Society.</i></p> + +<p>'Unquestionably the most remarkable story that has been received +from America for a very long time indeed.... The whole picture, +as a study both of nature and of human nature, is wonderfully +impressive.'—<i>Graphic.</i></p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prophet of the Great Smoky +Mountains, by Charles Egbert Craddock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROPHET *** + +***** This file should be named 35619-h.htm or 35619-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/6/1/35619/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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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