Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1914-12-10
CHAPTER !.

AASeheoAA Sihrity, tuo bun poouCu hooA-
ffating before its descent to the hori-
tEon. The sugar-loaf cone that tow
aered above creek called Misery was
pointed and edged with emerald trac-
gerry where the Hottest timber thrust
|Iup its crest plumes into the sun. On
the hillsides It would be light for
fmore than an hour yet, but below.
where the waters tossed themselves
talong In chorus of tiny cascades. the
light was already thickening into a
cathedral gloom. Down there the fur
riner" would have seen only the rough
course Of the creek between moss
yelveted and shaded powders OF
titanic proportions. The native would
have recognized the country road in
these tortuous twistings. A great block
OF sandstone, to whose summit a man
standing In his saddle could scarcely
reach his flngertips, lowered above
the stream, with a gnarled scrub oak
clinging tenaciously to its apex. Loft
lily on both sides climbed the noun
tains cloaked in laurel and timber.
Suddenly the LEAKAGE was thrust
aside from above by a cautious hand.
and a shy, half-wild girl appeared in
the opening. For an instant she halt
ed. with her brown fingers holding
back the brushwood, and raised her
face as though listening. AS she
stood with the toes OF one bare foot
twisting in the gratefully cool moss
she laughed with the sheer exhilara-
tion of life and youth. and started out
on the table top of the huge rock.
But there she halted suddenly with a
lstartled exclamation and drew instinc
lively back. What she saw might we'll
have astonished her, for II was thing
she had never seen before and of
which she had never heard. Finally,
treasured by the silence. she slipped
across the broad face of the fat rock
for distance Of twenty-five feet and
paused again to listen.
At the far edge lay pair of saddle
bags. such as form the only practical
equipment for mountain travellers.
Near them lay a tin box, Uttered with
small and misunderstanding tubes of
soft metal, all grotesQuely twisted and
stained. and beside the box was q
strangely shaped plaque Of wood
|smeared with dozen hues. That this
plague was painters sketching pal
|ette was thing which she could not
know. since the ways of artists had
TO do with a world as remote from
Iher own as the life of the moon or
istars. II was one or those vague mys-
Iteries that made up the wonderful life
|of down below" Why had these
things been left here in such confu-
sion? II there was a man about who
owned them he would doubtless return
to claim them. She crept over, eyes
and ears alert, and slipped around to
the front Of the queer tripod, with all
her muscles poised In readiness for
Night.
A half-rapturous and utterly aston
5shed cry broke from her lips. She
stared moment. then dropped to the
undiscovered rock, leasing back on
her brown hands and gazing intently.
Hits purty!" she approved, in a
low, musical murmur. Hits plumb,
dead beautiful"
OF course 1t was not finished pic
lture-merely study of what lay be-
fore ber-but the hand that had
placed these brush strokes on the
academy board was the sure. deft
hand Of master Of landscape. who
had caught the splendid spirit of the
thing and fixed 1t immutably in true
and glowing appreciation. Who he
was; where he had gone; why his
work stood there unfinished and aban-
ldoned, we're details which for the mo-
ment this halfsavage child-woman for.
lgot to question. She was conscious
only of sense of revelation and awe
Then she saw other boards, like the
one upon the easel, piled near the
paint box. These were dry. and rep.
resented the work of other days; but
they were all pictures Of her own
mountains, and In each of them, as
in this one, was something that made
her heart leap.
To her own people these steep hill
sides and "coves" and valleys were Q
matter of course. In their stony soil
they labored by day. and in their shad
lows slept when work was done. Yet
someone had discovered that they held
II picturesque and rugged beauty; that
they were not merely steep fields
where the pillow was useless and the
hoe must be used. She must tell Sam
lson--Samson, whom she held in an
lartless exaltation of hero worship;
samson, who was 80 smart" that he
Thought about things beyond her un
|derstanding; Samson, who could moi
lonly read and write, but speculate or
lproblematical matters.
Suddenly she came to her feet will
10 swift-darting impulse Of alarm. Hel
lear had caught a sound. She cas-
searching glances about her, but thu
ltangle was empty OF humanity. Thu
water still murmured over the rock
lundisturbed- There was no sign o
human presence, other than herself
THAT her eyes could discover-and ye
ito her ears came the sound again. ant
this time more distinctly. It was tn
sound of a mans voice, and 1t wa
moaning as IL in pain. She rose an,
searched vainly through the bushes o
1.-THE hillside where the rock ran on
from the woods. She lifted her skirt
land splashed her feet In the shallow
icreek water, wading persistently VI
and down. Her shyness was forgotten
The groan was groan of a human
creature in distress, and she must fin,
and succor the person from whom I
came.
Certain sounds are baffiing as to di
Irection. A voice from overhead o.
broken by echoing obstacles does no