Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-27
THE BRONZE BELL
BY LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE
by Joseph Vance,
incl udn the Scar dnavia

'Tnets the Quain place. daown by tn
ba-ay." interpolated the youth from I'M
plumbed depths of mouraful abstraction.
1T is. wired yesterday y"
''Yeour names Amber. amt it,"
Yes T.
We'll. Quain didn't get yeour messas &c
with it 'baout 10 o'clock.
But why the-but | wired Yesterday
afternoon
II knaow We did" assented the youth.
YEARLY. 1T come through TaOund closin'
time and they want nobody baound that
way, so held it. over"
This craze for being characteristics.
observed Mr.. Amber, obscurely. lis the
on Y thing that really stands in the way
of Nokomis becoming a thriving metropo-
lis. Do YOU agree with me? No matter
He smiled engagingly: seasoned tray
eler this, who could recognize the futllty
Of pickering over the irreparab!e. More
over. he had to remind himself in all
fairness. the blame was. in part at least.
his own. for he had thoughtlessly worded
his telegram. "Will be with you tomor-
row afternoon. and it was wholly like
Quain that he should have accepted the
statement at its face value. regardless OF
the date line
Il can leave my things here for little
while. I presume"" Amber suggested after
a pause
The ticket agent stared stubbornly into
the infinite. making no sign till coin
TdfS OH the "iUuON TeuSt. "iie-ii 'It
started. eyed the Offering with fugitive
mistrust and gloomly possessed himself
of it. III look after them" he said
BE We thinkin' of walkin'?'
Yes said Amber. over his shoulder
He was already moving toward the door
"knaoW yeour wa-ay?
I've been here before. thank YOU
Fer another quarter. drawled the
agent with elaborate apathy. I'D leave
the Office long enough to find somebody
u,bn n rio for
cents"
But Amber was already out of ear
shot.
Crossing the tracks he addressed HIM
self to the southwark stretching highway.
Walking briskly at first. he soon left be-
hind the railway station with its few
parasitic cottages: dip in the land hid
them, and he had hereafter for all com
pany his thoughts. the desultory road. a
vast and looming sky and bare fields
hedged with impoverished forest.
A deep languor brooded over the laDd:
the still. warm enchantment of an Indian
summer which. prOtracted though II were
unseasonably into the ides of November
had yet lost nothing of it's witchery
There was no wind. but now and again
the air stirred softly. and when it stirred
was cool. as if the earth sighed in sheer
lassitude. Out of a cloudless sky, trans
lucent sapphire at its zenith fading into
hazy topaz yellow at the horizon, golden
sunlight slanted, casting shadows heavy
and colorful; on the edge of the wood
lands they chung like thin purple smoke,
but motionless. and against them, here
and there. clump of sumach blazed like
d bed of emberS, or some tree ioath to
shed its autumnal livery famed scarlet,
russell and mauve. The peace of the hour
was intense. and only emphasized by
dull. throbbing undertone-the muted
murnur of the distant sea.
Amber had prOfeSSed acquaintance with
his way; it seemed rather to be intimacy,
for when he chose to forsake the main
travelled road he did so boldly, striking
off upon a wagon track which. leading
across the fields. delved presently into the
heart of the forest. Here it ran snakily
and. carved by broad-tired wheels and
beaten out by slowly plodding hoofs in a
white rock salt where the drifting
leaves had left it naked.
Once in the semi-dusk made luminous
by sunlight. which touched and quivered
bare brown bough like splashes of molten
gold. the young man moved more Sc
dately. The hush of the forest world
bore heavily upon his senses: the slight
and stealthy rustlngs in the brush. the
clear dense ringing of some remote Az.
an atteuuated clamor of cawing from
some far crows congress. but served to
accentuate its influence. On that wind
less day the vital breath. of the sea might
not moderate the bitter-sweet aroma of
decay that swan beneath the unmOvins
branches: and this nlOurnful fragrance OF
dying autumn wrought upon Amber's
mood as might a Whit of some exquisite
rare perfume revive a poignant memory
in the bosom of Il berea we'd lover His
glance grew aimless, his temper pur-
poseless. lively anticipation giving way
to retrospection tinsed with indefinablc
sadness.
Then into the silence crept a sound to
rouse him from his foImleSs reVerie-at
first a mere pulsing in the stiffness. bare
ly to be distinguished from the song of
the surf; but presently a pounding, ever
louder and more insstent. He paused,
attentive and while he waited the drum
ming, minute by minute gaining in vol
ume. swept swiftly toward him-the
rhythmic hoofbeats of a single horse.
madly ridden. When it was close upon
him he stepped back into the tangled
underground. making room. for the track
was anything but wide.
simultaneously there burst into view at
the end of a brief aisle of trees the horse
"a vigorous black brute with white
socks and muzzle-running freely. APP
parently under corstraint neither of whip
nor of spur. In the saddle a girl leaned
low over the norma girl with eyes rap
turous, face brilliant, lips parted in the
least of smiles. A fold of her black
habit skirt whipping out. almost snapped
i'm Amber's face, SO close to him Sc rode:
yet she seemed not to see him. and very
likely did not. A splendid sketch in
black and white of youthful spirit ana
JOY of notion so she passed and was
gone.
Hardly, however. had the forest closed
upon the picture, ere cry, heaEy
crashing as of horse threShing about In
the underbrush and a WOmans scream or
terror. sent Amber. in one movement, out
into the road again and running at
pace which. had lie been conscious of It,
would have surprised him.
a short fifty yards separated him from
the bend in the way round which the
horse ard its rider had vanished. He had
no more than gained this point than he
was obliged to pull up sharply to avoid
running into the girl herself
Although dismounted she was on her
feet and apparently uninjured. She stood
with one hand against the trunk of il
tree, on the edge of a small clearing
wherein the axes of the local lumbermen
had but lately been busy. Her horse had
Disappeared: the rumble of his hoofs,
diminuendo told the way he had gone.
So much Amber cOmprehended in sin
gle glance: with "A second he sought the
cause of the accident, and Identified II
with "A figure SO outre and bizarre that ne
momenta rily and eXcuSably questioned
the testimony of his senses.
At little distance from the girl. IN the
act of addressing her. stood man. obese.
gross, abnormally distended with luNu-
rtous and sluggish living, as little common
to the scene as a statue OF PhoebuS Ap-
polio had beer-a bubu of Bengal. every
inch of him, from his dirty red and white
turban to his well Worn and cracked
patent leather SloeS. His body was en-
veloped in complete suit of emerald