Mountain advocate., 1915-10-22

wall, now" drawied the mission
AIRY. Il haint skeerceiy as well ac-
1uainted hysrabouts as further up
rribulation. What manner o. lookin'
man air her
HE don't look like nothin' much"
replied his wife morosely Hes Jest
an ornery.lookin' old man"
Whittier did he sot out ter go when
he left hyar?"
The woman shook her head, then
a grim fash of latent wrath broke in
her eyes.
| "1m Jest let we hev the truth,
y stranger. Some trifin' fellers done
santered past hyar with a jug Of
ticker, an tibet fool Fetch hes jest
| done follered EN- Off Thets all thar
/ is to hit, an he haint got no license
| ter ack thetaway nuther | reckon
| by now he's a.layin' drunk some
whars."
! For a moment there was silence,
through which drifted the distant
tinkle Of cowbells down the creek.
Beyond the crests fingered only a
| lemon afterglow as relict of the dead
day The brown, colorless man astride
his mule sat stupidity looking down at
the brown. colorless woman across the
stile. The waiting girl heard the
preacher inquiring which way the
master of the house had gone and
surmising that "mebby he'd better yet
out In search OF him." the words
seemed to come from a great dis
lance. and her head swan giddily.
Then. overcome with disgust ana
WEAKNESS, Juanita Holland saw the
afterglow turn slowly to pale gray
and then to black shot through with
orange spots. Then she grew sud
denly Indifferent to the situation,
swayed in her saddle, and slipped
Imply to the ground.
The young woman who had come to
conquer the mountains and carry
torch of enlightenment ~ their hit.
eracy had tainted from discourage.
ment and WEAKNESS at the end OF the
first days march.
The WEAKNESS which caused the
fainting spell must have heightened
its duration, for when Juanita's lashe5
fickered upward again and her brain
came gropingly back to consciousness
she was no longer by the stile
She was lying in the smothering
softness of a feather bed. On her pal
ate and tongue fingered an unfamiliar,
sweetish taste. while through her
veins she felt the coursing of a warm
glow.
over her stood the woman who had
been across the stile when she tainted,
her attitude anxiously watchful In
one hand she held stone jug, and in
the other gourd dipper. So that
accounted for the taste and the glow,
and as Juanita took in the circum.
stance she heard the high, nasal voice
pitched none the less in a tone OF
kindly reinsurance.
Yen be spry as a squirrel in leetle
spell. honey. Don't fret yoreself none
Ye war Jest plumb tuckeref- ci,t ~
we swooned. I've been a rubin your
hands an a.polrin' a little white
ticker down yOre throat. Don't worrit
yoreself none. We're pore folks an
we haint got much. but ! reckon we
kin make out ter enjoy ye somehow.
The four walls OF the cabin might
have been the rocky confines OF
mountain cavern, so formlessly die
they merge into the imnslpable and
sooty murk that hung between them,
obliterating all remoter outline Only
things in a narrow circle grew visible
and at the center of this lighted area
was the slender figure of a girl hold
ing up lard taper, its radius Of light
yellow and Pickering.
As the mountain girl felt the eyes
of the strange and, to her, wonderful
woman from the great, unknown
world on her, her own dark lashes
fell timidly and the hand that held
the taper trembled, while into her
checks crept carmine sell-cOrsciOus.
ness. Juanita, for her part, sensod I'm
her veins a new and suEtler glow than
that which the moonshine whisky had
quickenei. The men ana women OF
the hills had made her heartsick with
their stolid and animallike cOarseIess.
Now she saw a slender figure in which
the lines were yet transitOry tetween
, the straightness OF the child and the
, budding curves OF womaIhooi
IL was to such children OF the hills
as this that Juanita Holland was to
. bring the new teachings. But even as
, she smiled the child-f0r she seemed
10 be only fifteen OF sixteen -surren-
dered 10 her shyness and thIustlug
the taper into her mothers hand,
. shrank out OF sight in some shai-
owed corner OF the place.
Then Juanita's eyes occupied them
selves with what fragmeutary details
the faint light revealed. The barrel
of a rife caught the weak flare and
glitterei The unexpected floor OF
rude puncheon slabs lay a thing OF
gaping cracks. and overhead there was
| a Nann.a fn. ling nf low nm frurh