Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-01-14

the man whose words gained prompt
obedience-and finally as the self.
declared advocate OF peace.
He was standing. as she entered, a
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 a rough
sort of impressiveness about him. In
the brighter light stood the messen-
ger, a gaunt youth, in whose wild.
sharp features lurked cunning. cruelty
and endurance. But the other man.
who stood a head taller, fell into a
pose of indolent ease which might
wake instantly into power,
1t was a face strongly and ruggedly
chiseled, but so dominated by unfal-
tering gray eyes that ore was apt to
forget all else and carry away only a
memory OF dark halr-and those eyes.
Then, as they sat ut 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 F1etch, 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 a conscious of n pres
ence besides her own, rs Of someone
standing silently at her back.
Rather nervously she turned her
head. and there, with one foot on the
lower step of the stile, stood the
young stranger himself. Once more
their eyes met, and with n little start
she dropped her own.
Il kinder hate to bother We. ma'am."
said the even voice. but | cant hardly
get acrost that stile whilst ye're 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, az she went down the
stile on the far side.
That's all right, ma'am," replied
the man easily. still with a serious
dignity as he, too. crossed the road.
While he vas untying the knot in
his b~ridle-rein the girl stood watch
ing him, In the easy Incidence OF his
movements was tho ripping m
thing that suggested the loopard's
f%rictionless 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 1t was
somehow as though this man. whose
voice was 80 calm. whose movements
were 80 quiet. whose gaze was Sc un-
arrogant, was crying out in q clarion
challenge with every breath $" ain
a mani"
Suddenly she wondered II in him
she might not find an ally. She felt
very lonely. TO have counsel with
someone in these hills less stupidity
phlegmatic than Good Anse Talbot
would bring comfort and reinsurance
to her heart. She must cope with the
powerful resourcefulness OF Bad Anse
Havey, he OF the untamed ferocity
and implacable cruelty and shrewd In.
!, t~elligence. II some native son could
/ share even q little Of her viewpoint
she would find In him q tower OF
! strength.
. Perhaps he had yielded to the I'm.
| spoken appeal of the deep. rangeful
eyes that were always gray, yet never
twice the same gray. and the sweetly
sensitive lips 80 tantalizingly charm
, Ing, because they were fashioned for
smiles and were now dropping instead.
81 reckon" he said. you find 1t right
, different, don't your"
She nodded.
But it's very beautiful" she added
/, as she swept her hand about in a ges.
q ture OF admiration.
It a he who nodded at that. very
gravely, and almost reverently, though
at the next moment his laugh was
, short and almost ironical.
a 81 reckon God never fashioned any
, thing better-nor worse" he told her
I when you've breathed It an seen II
I an lived It, no other place is fit to
q dwell in, an yet sometimes | low that
God didn't mean It to be the habita'
? ton OF men an m It's cut out
n for eagles an hawks an wild things
It belongs to the winds an storms an
bear an deer. 1t puts fire into veins
t meant for blood. an the only crop II
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. sick
ened-an' | came back"
q She turned to him impulsively.
I 81 don't know who you are" she
began hurriedly, but | know that you