The Holly chieftain., 1914-09-11

sss1s:' ss's sn the .,1saay nan's Ay
strained to the
breaking point by weeks of enervating
dry heat.
He had looked across the table with
q look In his eyes hers could not
bear
"Wfll-you-shut-u
She had sat stunned for moment,
and then. choking down a dry sob
said:
I'm sorry, Dick. You've been so
worried. It's been terrible-this
year"
His face did not soften. and he
laughed harshly
Yes, this year and last, ana the
year before that, and all the rest OF
the years to come probably" He
stood up abruptly. I'm going to
town"
She noticed the slight stoop of the
boyish shoulders and the listless drag
Of his feet, and then she turned and
looked out across the baking fields,
where the crowdng rows of gray
green corn dropped as If the heat
were heavy and bearing them down.
The child that lay on the bed tossed
and walled fretfully. After she had
soothed 1t back into an uneasy slum.
Der, she commenced to clear the
table, working swiftly to ease the con.
striction in her breast.
When her fingers touched the fine
ly-chiseled edges of the cut-glass sugar
bowl that stood so anonymously amid
their homely ware, she paused and
whispered aloud the thought that this
bare touch had awakened
He travels the fastest who travels
alone"
His mother had said 1.-THE same
who had given them the sugar-bowl-
said 1t in her presence when she and
Dick had gone to tell her their re.
solve. that they we're going to be mar.
ried. ..
Placing the ironing-boar across the
backs Of two chairs, she lifted the
iron from the stove and tested it with
a moistened finger. The light breeze
that stirred the curtains felt cool on
her damp brow, but she did not look
up to see the green haze.
Neither did she note the far-off hum,
like the hum Of bees when they gath.
er at the home hive at nightfall-a
mum that grew louder, and swelled in
volume till 1t sounded like the rumble
of a thousand busy looms-louder,
louder.
An eery note sang through it; loud.
er and higher, and louder and higher
like the increasing roar of advancing
war.
The shrieks of the child seemed fee
Die and impotent in the face of the
roar. as she seized it up and plunged
mead down into the swirling dust o',t.
side.
FOR moment she was but a play.
thing of the storm that whirled he,
skirts above her head and blinded her.
She was hurtled along until she STUN.
bled and fell to her knees on mound
OF earth. which with a heart-leap of
Joy she recognized as the storm-house.
Then the door yielded. crashed down
over their heads. and from pande.
monium she stepped into peace.
Long she sat with wide-stretchcd
eyes staring into the darkness of their
refuge. until things began to take on
dim, ghostly shape, and even the
dirt wall opposite came into view.
The mutter was dying lower and
lower and the whine was stilled,
when suddenly there came a clear,
sharp tap on the tin door Of their
re1uge. She caught her breath and
stralned to hear. Yes, there was an.
other, and two, three, four, until it
sounded like the preliminary rattle
ana then the full rolling Of drum.
Ihe woman breathed in deeply, au.
olply, and then she screamed:
bapy!-the rain.-the rain!"
o"l1tiy she rushed up the four steps
ana pushed back the trap-door, hal;
sooolng, half laughing crafty. She
h1ted her arms and let the water
s.ream down her upturned face, as II
sne were drinking it In along with
the thirsty earth.
IL was salvation to her life that had
oeen SO near ruin that very day, for
IL was salvation to the corn wherein
lay their hopes, and with glad heart
she turned to watch the torrents pour.
Ing on their fields.
1t crept into her face, into her eyes,
1hti' she could no longer bear to look,
ana turned. There lay the house in
'uo1crous mass. one beam erect, like
J. man lying on his side. his foo. In