Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-03-13
&0eHNDW 01 81 1oseS-nEteuL ca
Continued from last week
SYNOPSIS.

CHAPTER I-Johb Valiant, a rich So
ciety favorite, suddenly discovers that the
Valiant corporation, which his father
source OF his wealth. has failed.
over his private fortune to the receiver
Ror the corporation.
CHAPTER III-His entire remaining
possessions consist of an old motor car,
a white bull dog and Damory court. a
neglected estate In Virginia
CHAPTER Iv-He learns thai this es-
tate came into the family by royal grant
and has been in the possession of the
Valiants ever since.
CHAPTER Won the way to Damory
court he meets Shirley cambridge. an au-
b~urn-hatred beauty, and decides that he
Is going to like Virginia immensely.
ruI morning. holding a saddled horse
before the big pillared porch. It had
whispered itself then from every NOV
ing leaf. "Sassoon or Valiant?' If
she had loved Sassoon, of what use the
letter Valiant was SO long penning in
the library? Buff it were Valiant
h loved? The man who. having
sworn not to lift his hand against the
other, had broken his sacred word to
heri Who had stained the unwritten
code by facing an opponent maddened
with liquor! Yet, what was there a
woman might not condone in the one
man? Would she read, forgive and
send for him?
The major laughed out suddenly,
harshly, in the quiet room, and looked
down as if he expected to see that
letter still lying in his hand. But the
laugh could not still a regular pulsing
sound that was in his ears-elin like
the voices, but as distinct-the sound
of a horses hoofs going from Damory
Court.
He had heard those hoof-beats echo
in his brain for thirty years!
y y = =
Till the sun was high John Valiant
lay on his back in the fragrant grass,
m~editatiyely watching a b~ucaneering
c~hicken-hawk draw widening circles
against the blue and listening to the
vibrant tattoo of a "pecker-wood' on
a far-away tree, and the timorous wet
whistle of a bob-white. The whole
place was very quiet now. For just
one thrilling moment it had ~burgeoned
into sound and movement: when the
sweaty horses had stood snoring and
stamping in the yard with the hounds
scampering between their legs and the
riding-coats winking like rubies in the
early sunshine!
Had she recognized him as the
smudged tinkerer of the stalled car?
'She saw me drop that wretched brute
through the window" he chuckled. 81
could take oath to that. But she didn't
give me away, true little sport that
think of any reason, but I know. Was
she angry? I wonder!"
At length he rose and went back
to the house. With a bunch of keys
he had found he went to the stables,
after 81 me difficulty gained access,
and propped the crazy doors and win
dows open to the sun The building
was airy and well-lighted and IN
tanned a dozen roomy box-stalls, a
spacious loft and a carriage-house.
The straw bedding had been unre
moved, mice-gnawed sacking and
rotted hay lay in the hangers. and the
warped harness, hanging on its pegs,
was a smelly mass of mildew and
decay. He found a stick, moved away
the ~festooning cobwebs. and moved
the debris piece-meal.
"Therei" he said with satisfaction.
There's a place for the motor-if
Uncle Jefferson ever gets it here"
1t was noon when he returned, after
a wash-up in the lake, to the meal
with which Aunt Daphne, in a costume
dimly suggestive Of a bran-meal poul-
tice with a bingham apron on. RECALLED
him. Fried chicken, corn-bread SO
soft and fluffy that it had to be lifted
from the pan with a spoon, Drowned
potatoes, and to his surprise, fresh
milk. "Ah done druv ouah OF cow
ovah, suh," explained Aunt Daphne.
"'Case she gotter be MIXED, er she
run dry ez de Red Sea fo' de chillon
OBJ Izril.'
"Aunt Daphne" inquired Valiant
with his mouth full, what do you call
this green thing7"a
dat? OATS jes' turnip-tops, sub,
wild er hunk er bacon in de pot. Laws
er-me, ct cer'n'y do me good ter see
yo' git arter it dat. way, sub. Reck'n
yo' got er ~appertitei Hyuh, Hyuh!"
q have. l never guessed 1t before,
and it's a magnificent discovery. How
ever, it suggests unwelcome refec-
tions. Aunt Daphne, how long do you
estimate a man can dine like this on
well, say on a hundred dollars?"
Ter hun'sd dollahs, sub? OATS er
right smart heap o. money. deed ct isl
Well sub. pens on whut yo' raises.
Eff yo' raises yo' own gyarden-sass en-
chick'ns en- aigs, All reck'n yo' kin
live longah dan dat ar Methoosalum,
en- still hat mos Of it in de oil stock