Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-06-17
CHAPTER TX.

CHAPTER TX.
For the first few vacation days Tom
rose with the sun and lived with the
industries, marking all the later expan-
s1ve strides and sorrowing keenly that
he had not been present to see them
taken in detail.
One morning he ran plump into
the Major. stalking grandly along the
ttle-paved walk and smoking a war
time cheroot of preposterous length.
The despot Of Paradise, despot now
only by the courtesy Of the triumphant
genius Of modernity, put on his eye
glasses and stared Thomas into re-
spectful rigidity.
why. bless my soull-if 1t isn't Cap
tain Gordon's boy! Well, we'll, you
young limb! If you didn't faveh youth
good fatheh in eve'y line and lineament
Of youth face, I should neveh have
known you-you've grown so. Shake
hands, subj"
Tom did it awkwardly. It Is a gift
to be able to shake hands easily; a
gift withheld from most girls and all
boys up to the soulful age. But there
was worse to follow. Ardea was some
where on the peopled verandas, and the
Major, more terrible in his hospitality
than he had ever appeared in the old
time rage-f1ts. dragged his hapless vic
tim up and down and around and about
in search of her. Not say 'Howdy' to
Ardea? Why. you young cub, where
are youh mannehs, subj" Thus the
Major, when the victim would have
broken away.
It was a fiery trial for Tom-a way
picking among red-hot plowshares Of
embarrassment. How the well-bred
folk smiled. and the grand ladies drew
their immaculate skirts aside to make
passing-room for his dusty feet! How
one Of them wondered, quite audibly,
where in the world Major Dabney had
unearthed that young native! Tom
was conscious of every f1eck Of dust Oh
his clothes and shoes; of the skiIless
knot in his necktie; Of the school desk
droop in his shoulders; Of the utter
| superf1uousness of his big hands.
And when, at the long last, Ardea
was discovered sitting beside a gor-
geously attired Queen Of Sheba, who
also smiled and examined him minute
| ly through a pair Of eyeglasses fas-
tened on the end of a goId-mounted
| stick, the place of torment, wherever
! and whatever it might be, held no
deeper pit for him. What he had
| climbed the mountain to find was
little girl in a school frock, who had
sat on the following grass with one
arm around the neck of q great dog
| looking fearlessly up at him and tell
| ing him she was sorry he was going
| away. What he had found was a very
staturesque little lady, clad in fluffy
SUNNI er white, with the other Ardea's
slate blue eyes and soft voice, to be
sure but with no other reminder of the
| lost aVatar.
From first to last from the moment
she made room for him, dusty clothes
and all, on the settee between herself
and the Queen of Sheba, Tom was con-
scious of but one clearly defined
thought-an overmastering desire to
get away-to be free at any cost 6ut
the way Of escape would not disclose
itself, so he sat in stammering misery,
answering Ardea's questions about the
sectarian school in bluntest monosyl-
tables, and hearing with his other ear
a terrible Major tell the Queen of She
ba all about the railroad invasion, and
how he-Tom Gordon-had run to find
a punk match to fire a cannon in this
Dabney cause.
He escaped nnAlly from the entan-
clements Of Major Dabney's hospital
ity. On the way down the cliff path
the fire burned and the revival zeal was
kindled anew. There had been times,
In the last year. especially, when he
had thought coldly of the disciples
calling and was minded to break away
and be q skilled craftsman like his
father. Now he was aghast to think
that he had ever been so near the brink
of apostasy. With the river of the
Water of Life springing crystal clear
at his feet should he turn away and
drink from the bitter pools in the will
derness of this world? With prophet
ic eye he saw himself as another Boan-
erges, lifting, with all the inspiring
Baptist's soul shaking cry, Repent We:
for the kingdom OF heaven is at hand!
The thought thrilled him, and the
fierce glow of enthusiasm became an
Intoxicating ecstasy. The tinkling drip
of falling water broke into the MONDAY
silence of the forest like the low-voiced
call of a sacred bell. For the first time
since leaving the mountain top he took
note of his surroundings. He was
standing beside the great, cubical boul-
der under the cedars-the high altar in
natures mountain tabernacle.
Thomas Jefferson had the deep peace
of the fully committed when he rose
from his knees and went to drink at
the spouting rock lip. 1t was decided
now, this thing he had been holding