The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-04-08
CHAPTER XII.
MY ADVENTURE AND scovEL's

| E1E dinner, and he persuaded me
RS@11SSa to go out upon the road.
/ 9ZsNsGJ 'You and / need a little
! general conversation he said. 1--WE
think too much about our own affairs.
! We're getting sentimental. Let's smoke
| strong tobacco this evening and discuss
| the business of the world. Trask and
| Scovel will help u.s."
| Personally 1 would have preferred to
go down to the lake, but l recognized
| the force of Derringer's remark. We
found Trask on the road. but his COM
panion was Mr.. Witherspoon, whom a
west wind had waited to the eastern
border of the estate.
"Scovel has been gone all day." said
| the artist. Pedestrian tour, | guess.
He took a f1eldglass with him, as if he
| intended to find some views"
slope he didn't go over to the hill"
remarked Mr.. Witherspoon. Its a
terrible place for snakes"
And he proceeded in his soft and
! apologize voice to tell us narrowing
tales of copperheads and black snakes
rattlers and "hooples." He was in the
midst of such a narration when l per
! ceived Scovel coming along the road.
Twilight still fingered. and there was
enough to reveal that the lawyer had
tramped hard and was very weary.
eve were just speaking of you, Mr..
Scovel," said Witherspoon. I'VE were
hoping that you hadn't been over on
the hill.' .~----Na>
He put his left hand upon the small
of his back, the palm being outward,
and seemed to straighten his spine by
slow pressure in that region, and then
he coughed gently, not because he had
any ailment requiring him to do SO,
but as a general expression of dissatis-
faction with his physical condition
Scovel waited for this characteristic
performance to be finished before he
spoke.
'.No," said he, ST haven't been near
the HILL
"WeII, you just came by the edge of
it." ventured Mr.. Witherspoon. Chow
ever, the snakes never come out into
the road. Most curious thing-can't be
duplicated in the state, I'll wager. The
hills full of them, but you might as
well look for snakes on an iceberg
floating in the middle of the ocean as
on this farm. I've lived here moren
half a century, boy and man. and
never saw one of 'em anywhere but
on the hill"
Scovel leaned against the fence and
I saw a shudder run through him.
Then he shook himself together.
Strengthened up and started for the
house.
1--WE walked long way" he said.
I'm hungry as wolf"
/ noticed as he walked away that he
looked uneasily behind him upon the
ground, to the right and to the left
No one else seemed to observe the pc
culiarity of his manner, and we did
not discuss him after he had gone.
Instead we encouraged Mr.. Wither-
spoon to tell more snake STORIES and
he ''obliged" with some that make my
blood run cold to this day whenever l
think Of them.
By and by my attention began to
wander. There was a suggestion of
music in the air; no more than that-I
could not say heard it. But l became
uneasy and glanced down toward the
lake shore to see if could detect the
glow of a fire. The moon had now be-
come bright. and if the fire burned
upon the TOChS II Threw no visible
CLEAN upward. So l fingered awhile
upon the road until the thought that
might be wasting my best delight of
those days impelled me to make sure.
AS 1 passed the house. | caught a
glimpse of Lucy AIMS gray gown and
bonnet in the main porch. The girl !
was leaning against a post of the trei-
lis, as If watching the moon which |
shone above the hill. Her face looked |
SO haggard, old and weary that l |
halted suddenly when first / saw it |
among the leaves. She had not no
ticed me till then, and she sprang back, t
startled. Perhaps she thought | could
not see that she put up both hands to
her face, but l could well perceive the
gesture despite the screen of foliage.
Upon the instant 1 spoke her name,
but she pretended not to hear and hur-
ried into the house
1t cut my heart to know that the
poor child suffered thus, and 1 felt
ashamed to have intruded upon Der