The Spectator. (Ozark, Ark.) 1911-1916, 1915-10-01

| ObedtenCe--anu uudily 40 tuo coiA7
declared advocate of peace
He was standing, as she entered,
| little back from the hearth, with the
detached air of one who drops into the
background or comes to the fore with
| equal readiness. She found that in
appearance as in voice he bore rough
sort of fmpressiveness about him. In
the brighter light stood the messen'
ger, a gaunt youth, In whose wiio'
sharp features lurked cunning, cruelty
and endurance. But the other man.
who stood q head taller. fell into
pose of indolent ease which might
wake instantly into power.
1t was a face strongly and ruggediy
chiseled, but so dominated by unfai-
tering gray eyes that one was apt to
forget all else and carry away only
memory of dark hair--and those eyes.
Then, as they sat at table and the
girl struggled with her discontinue
over each unclean detail of the food.
she raised her eyes from time to time,
always to encounter upon her the
steady. appraising gaze of the dark
stranger.
When they rose from the table the
stranger drew Fletch, now somewhat
sobered by his meal, aside, and the
other men retired to the chairs in the
dooryard Then the girl from the East
slipped away and took up her solitary
place on top of the stile. where she
sat thinking.
At last she was conscious OF pres
ence besides her own, as OF someone
standing silently at her back.
Rather nervously she turned her
lead, and there, with one foot on the
lower step of the stile, stood the
young stranger himself. Once more
their eyes met, and with little start
she dropped her own.
Il kinder hate to bother We, ma am"
said the even voice, but can't hardly
get acrost that stile whilst yere settin'
on it,
There was no note of badinage or
levity in his tone, and his clear, drawn
features under the moonlight were en-
tirely serious.
Juanita rose. Il beg your pardon"
she said hastily, as she went down the
Stlle ON the lar SIDE.
That's all right. ma'am.' replied
the man easily, still with a serious
dignity as he. too. crossed the road.
While he was untying the knot in
his bridle-rein the girl stood watch
ing him. In the easy Incidence of his
movements was the ripping some
thing that suggested the leopard's
frictionless strength.
The very quality that gave this
young stranger his picturesqueness
and stamped him as vital and dynamic
in his manhood sprang from that wild
roughness which he shared with his
eagles and Dawn shared with her
weedlike flowers. And yet It was
somehow as though this man, whose
voice was so calm, whose movements
were so quiet. hose gaze was so un-
arrogant, was crying out ir clarion
challenge with every breath: ! am
a mani"
Suddenly she wondered II in him
she might not ind an ally. SGe felt
very lonely. To have counsel with
someone in these hills less stupidity
phlecmatic than Good Anse Talbot
would bring comfort and reinsurance
) to her heart. She muei cope With tho
) powerful resourcefDness OF Bad Anss
: Havey. he of the untamed fcrooity
and implacaba cruelty and shrewd In
? telligence. II Some native son could
share even a little OF her Viewpoint
she would find in him tower OF
t strength.
!. Perhaps he had yielded to ths I'M
A spoken appeal OF the deep, rangefui
eyes that were always gray, yet never
, twice the same gray, and the sweetiy
: sensitive lips so tantalizingly charm
Y ing, because they were fashioned for
l smiles and were now drooring instead.
Il reckon" he said. you find it right
, different, don't you?"
Y She nodded.
, but it's very beautiful" she added
/, as she swept her hand about in O ges-
! ture of admiration.
1t was he who nodded at that. very
gravely, and almost reverently. though
at the next moment his laugh was
, short and almost ironical
} Il reckon God never fashioned any
, thing better-nor worse" he told her.
t when you've breathed it an seen 1t
{ an lived it, no other place is fit to
. dwell in, an yet sometimes l low that
God didn't mean it to be the habita.
. ton of men an women. It's cut out
D for eagles an hawks an wild things
;. 1t belongs to the winds an storms an
. bear an deer. II puts fire into veins
t meant for blood an the only crop It
| raises much is hell"
; "You-you've been out in the other
:. world-down below?" she questioned.
:. Yes: but couldn't stay down there.
t couldn't breathe, hardly. l sick
ened-an' | came back"
l She turned to him impllsively.
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