The vidette., 1915-11-11

They would prefer to believe that he
had invaded the store and killed PurTy
and that Hollis had fallen in his mas
ter's defense at the threshold. Sam
son went out, still meeting no one, and
continued his iourpey.
Dusk was falling when he hitched
his horse in clump OF timber, and,
lifting his saddlebags, began climbing
to cabin that sat back in a thicketed
cove. He was now we'll within South
territory and the need of masquerade
had ended
The cabin had not for years been oc-
cupied. Its rooftree was leaning
askew under rotting shingles. The
doorstep was UNCOVERED. and the
stones of the hearth were broken But
It lay we'll hidden and would serve his
purposes.
Shortly, a candle hickered inside,
before a small hand mirror. Scissors
and safety razor were for a while
busy. The man who entered in i'm
peccable clothes emerged fifteen min
utes later-transformed. There ap-
peared under the rising June crescent
smooth-faced native, clad in stained
store clothes, with rough wooden socks
showing at his brogan tops, and
battered felt hat drawn over his face.
No one who had known the Samson
South of four years ago would fail to
recognize him now. And the strang-
est part, he told himself, was that he
felt the old Samson. He o longer
doubted his courage. He had come
home, and his conscience was once
more clear.
The mountain roads and the noun
tain sides themselves were sweetly
silent Moon mist engulfed the flats
In lake of dreams, and as the livery
stable horse halted to pant at the top
of the final ridge, he could see below
him his destination.
The smaller knobs rose like little
islands out of the Yapor, and yonder,
catching the moonlight like scraps of
gray paper. were two roofs-that OF
his uncle's house and that OF the
Widow Miller.
At a point where a hand bridge
crossed the skirting creek, the boy
dismounted. Ahead of him lay the
stile where he had said good-by to
Sally. The place was dark, and the
chimney smokeless, but, as he came
nearer, holding the shadows of the
trees, he saw one silver of light at the
bottom of solid shutter; the shutter
of Sallys room. Yet, for a while, Sam
son stopped there, looking and max
Ing no sound. He stood at his Rubl-
con-and behind him lay all the gilt
ter and culture of that other world,
world that had been good to him.
That was to Samson South one of
those pregnant and portentous mo-
ments with which life sometimes
punctuates it's turning points. At such
times all the set and solidified strata
that go into the building of a mans
nature may be uptossed and rear
ranged. So the layers of a mountain
chain and continent that have for
centuries remained steadfast may
break and alter under the stirring of
earthquake or volcano, dropping
heights under water and throwing
new ranges above the sea.
There was psssssag Sefore his eyes
as he stood there, pausing, a pano-
rama much vaster than any he had
been able to conceive when last he
stood there. He was seeing in review
the old life and the new, lurid with
contrasts, and, as the pictures of
things thousands of miles away rose
before his eyes as clearly as the SER
ried backbone of the ridges, he was
comparing and settling for all time
the actual values and proportions of
the things in his life.
He saw the streets of Paris and
New York, brilliant under their
4 strings of opalescent lights; the
! Champs Elysees ran its smooth, tree
trimmed parquetry from the Place de
/ Concorde to the Arc de T'riomphe, and
the chatter and music of it's cafes rang
in his ears. The ivory spaces of Rome,
from the Pincian hill, where his fancy
saw almond trees in bloom, to the
Piazza Venezia, spread their eternal
story before his imagination. He saw
buses and hansoms string through
the mud and fog of London and the
endless pot-pourri of Manhattan. All
the things that the outside world had
to offer; all that had ever stirred his
/ pulses to a worship of the beautiful,
the harmonious, the excellent, rose in
exact value. Then he saw again the
sunrise as it would be tomorrow morn
ing over these ragged hills. He saw
the mists rise and grow wisp-like and
the disk of the sun gain color, and all
the miracles of cannoning tempest
and caressing palm-and, though he
had come back to fight, wonderful
peace settled over him, for he knew
that, if he must choose these, his ma.
tive hills, or all the rest, he would
forego all the rest And Sally
Would she be changed? His heart
was hammering wildly now. Sally
had remained loyal. 1t was mir.
acle, but it was the one thing that
counted. He was going to her, and
nothing else mattered.
He lifted his head and sent out a
long, clear whippoorwill call, which
quavered on the night much like the
other calls in the black hills around
him. After moment he went nearer
in the shadow of poplar. and re.
peated the call.