The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1914-05-21

his hands together and laughed aloud.
Back to the soill" he said. John
Valiant, farmeri The miracle of II is
that 1t sounds good to me. want to
raise my own grub and till my own
soil. want to be my own mani And
I'm beginning to see my way. Crops
will have to wait for another season,
but there's water and pasture for cat
tie now. There's timber-lots OF IT.
on that hillside. too. must look into
that"
He filled his pipe and climbed the
! staircase to the upper floor. There
were many bedrooms with great four.
posted, canopied beds and old-fash.
ioned carved furniture of mahogany
and curly maple. end in one he found
great cedar-lined chest filled with
bed-linen and napery In these rooms
were more evidences of decay. The
bedroom he mentally chose for his
own was the plainest of all, and was
above the library, fronting the vaga-
bond garden. 1t had a great black
desk with many glass-knobbed draw
ers and a book-rack.
He fingered longest in a room
whose door was painted The Hilarium.
II had evidently been a nursery and
schoolroom. Here on the walls were
many shelves wound over with net
works Of cobwebs, and piled with the
oldest assemblage OF toys. There
were schoolbooks. too. thumbed and
dog-eared. from First Reader to
Caesars Gallo Wars, with names OF
small Valiants scrawled on their fly
leaves. He carefully relocked the door
OF this ROOM he wanted to dust those
toys and books with his own hands.
In the upper hall again he leaned
from the window, smiling the far
flung. scent OF orchards and peach
blown fence-rows. The soft whirring
sound OF birds wing went past, al
most brushing his startled face, and
the old oaks seemed to stretch their
bent limbs with q faithful brute-like
yawn OF pleasure. In the room below
he could hear the vigorous sound of
Aunt Daphne's hard-driven broom and
the sound flooded the echoing space
with a comfortable commotion.
He went to his trunk and fished out
a soft shirt on which he knotted a
loose tie. exchanged his Panama for
slouch hat, and wbistling the bar
carole from Tales of Hoffman,, went
gaily out. II feel tremendously alive
today" he confided to the dog. as he
tramped through the lush grass. IF
you see me ladle the muck out OF
that fountain with my own fair hands,
don't have q At. I'm liable to do any
thing"
His eye swept up and down the
slope. There probably isn't a finer
site for house In the whole South" ["
he told himself. 'arhe living-rooms
front south and west. Well get
scrumptious sunsets from that back
porch. And ON the other side there's
the view clear to the Blue Ridge"
He skirted the lake. "Only to grub
out some OF the lilies-there's too
many OF them-and straighten the
rim-and weed the pebble margin to
give those green rocks a show. I'll
build little wharf below them to dive
from. and-yes. I'll stock It with
spotted trout"
He was but q few hundred yards
from the house. yet the silence was SO
deep that there might have been no
habitation within fifty miles. All at
once he stopped short; there was q
sudden movement In the thicket be-
yond-the sound OF light fast footballs.
as OF some one running away.
/ IL DO Inn o.
with a growl Chum tore himself from
the restraining grasp and dashed into
the bushes. "A child. no doubt" he
thought as he plunged In pursuit, "and
that lubberly brute will scare It hall
to DEATH"
He pulled up with an exclamation
In a narrow wood-path a little way
from him, partly hidden by a wind
fall. stood a girl, her skirt transfi.ed
with wickedly jagged sapling. He
saw instantly how 1t had happened
the windfall had blocked the way. and
she had sprung clear over 1t. not
noting the screened spear, which now
held her ,s eifectually as any railroad
spike.
In another moment Valiant had
reached her and met her face, flushed
half defiant, her eyes a blue CLEAN oi
smoldering anger as she desperately
almost savagely, thrust wild tendrils
of flame-colored hair beneath the
broad curved brim of her straw hat
At her feet lay great armful OF cape
jessamlnes.
A little thrill, light and warm ant
joyous, ran through him. Until thai
Instant he had not recognized her.