Arizona republican., 1911-11-08

| Mld-Aprll should, according TO the
nountaineers calendar. see the enc
Of the borrowed days." but here il
was week past, and yet there were
no signs of satisfactory settlement
between March and April. Perhaps
the year, still in arrears for an I'M
usually splendid autumn pageant, had
borrowed the major portion of the
month. Certainly there fingered
round the ponds brim, frosts of a
wintry woollinesS.
To-day, however, had turned sud
denly warm. The fall of dusk had
brought with it an apparition of sim
| gular beauty-a perfectly pink moon,
blooming full like rose over the
smoky horizon, looking across the lew
fields, and changing as ii mounted to a
disk of copper-to an orange-to a
deep golden bowl; faery presence.
but soon overwhelmed by a rolling and
billowing Of heavy clouds. ..
Jensy watched it as she crooned her
baby TO sleep; she now lay beside him
with a guarding arm thrown clear of
| the pillow. A young mother, whose
ears are quickened with constant lis.
tening for the small cry, wakes more
readily than does the open-air toiler.
She was reused toward midnight by
the rafting crash of something fall
ing. Lying in the bewilderment OF
sudden arousing, she heard the wind
as il leapt upon their roof, shaking II
by the four corners, tearing like wild
beast at the stoutly mortised timbers
For moment she remained hearken
ing TO the rising gusts, then sum
moned Harvey to wakefulness.
Must be the whipporwill STORM"
he cried. sitting up in bed, listening
Il believe in my soul never did hear
such a racket"
Round the house the tempest roared
like battle; the loins of Chilhowee
shivered to an appalling resonance OF
thunders.
Looks like somethin' must CO." the
new householder debated. Reckon |
better try to get them shutters shut"
He was out of bed and at the win
dow when Jensy turned up the flame
in the little lamp. This was at once
blown out. Harvey could not hold the
thick oak shutter: it was wrenched
from his grasp and banged against the
house. A gust of rain dashed upon
the two. In the play of colored light
nings they saw dry leaves and tYigs,
whirled high, passing the window like
flights of arrows. The mother turned
from the sight and CROPPED toward
the bed where her child lay. They
heard a Gathering of kitchen things
as the back door gave way When
there was a momentary lull about
them, sound came up of the gusts rend-
inp hn haTA nd
then a crashing and splintering as
tree went down. From over the val
ley the wind swept in, fierce as from
open sea. With every fresh impulse
of the gale, a stupendous uproar ragged
on the sandstone bluffs above; its re-
verberations doomed as though the
whole mountain were hollow. beaten
like drum by wild fighting hands,.
Then as abruptly the shutter was
flung shut, cutting off the glare,
though not the roaring of the storm.
Painting, Harvey fastened the latch,
and cropping forward, found Jensy
with the babe in her arms covering
at his feet.
He knelt beside her and put his arm
around the two. The house rocked
and shook They could not hear each
other speak. The roof cracked and
snapped as nail after nail gave to the
terrific strain. They crouched on the
floor together, listening 10 the winds
trumpeting loud and louder on the
dreadful dark. The baby boy. reused
a bit, turned in his mothers arms and
slept on.
So tiny a cup of warmth and human
kindliness is the cabin home. nestled
On the floor of the haunted Vast, So
short way its windows let their light
into the Black, Our utmost achieve
ment weighs so little; our highest as
tensions but prick the lower strata OF
the air; our loudest cannonade rever-
berates scarcely higher. II men could
realize how alone they are. would they
not let go of old spites and vanities-
would they not make haste to clasp
each others hands? IL all
that earth contains of hate for man
were loosed at once-what then? e.
Below in the gulch, where the
stream widened to its pond, now
brimmed bank-full and churned to
foam against the barriers by the sud-
den down-rush of waters, the elder
cabin slept, black and silent. The old
folks slumbered within; resentment
like a coal at the core of the mothers
heart failed to disturb her repose; pa
tent sorrow seemed to smooth Aaron's |
pillow and lull him the faster asleep. |
1t was just as the creek-pond leaped |
its bank and came swirling down on |
the dooryard that the fiercest lunge |
of that nights storm pounced upon |
the cabin itself, the old house that had |
weathered so many wild nights, that |
had crouched to the beating Of so |
many mountain tempests. And at
last, the sleepers Weakened to world |
of chaos, to terrifying blows from un. |
seen sources and the lash OF the storm |
itself breaking through their habita' |
ton.
In that region the vagaries OF
the swift, boulder-checked mountain
streams make land boundaries uncer- |
tain. Sometimes a creek in spring |
flood will change its course. scour on |
a field and deposit 1t on some stretch
of barren land half mile away. To
night. Nameless Creek was to christen |
itself. and thereafter to be known as
Hurricane. namesake of the tempest
which set 1t wrecking Verona Bry-
mer's homestead and strewing the |
of logs and puncheons. hand
rived boards and shingles for miles |
along its course.
The old man was spared by log and
IL Il