The Yale expositor., 1916-01-06
CHAPTER v.


The fall drew on apace. Sometimes
the austere gloom of the mighty coun.
try thrilled Sandry with a strange
compelling; oftener 1t held him at a
dripping window with a load of lead
on his heart. He had no companions
John Daily. easy. simple, suggesting
tried force, was his only comfort. In
him he found something vaguely fine.
as the plain little stone at the bottom
of clear waters takes on a certain
simple beauty. They spent an occa.
sional evening together in the little
, office, talking of the work. and the new
owner asked and learned many things,
I Into the ample heart of white-haired
Ma Daily Sandry had stepped that first
plight, wholly without intent
He speaks like a man" she opined
decisively. AN you mark my words
he'll prove himself so, If his hands ere
white"
or the girl Siletz he had scarcely
taken a moments notice. He did not
7 even know that when she served him
| silently at the oicloth covered table
the two long braids were tied togeth-
I er at the nape OF her neck so that by
no chance could they fall against his
hand. Neither did he know that the
dog Coosnah watched him always with
pale eyes OF these two he knew less
| than of any others in camp with whom
he had as much to do. AS for the girl
! herself, she kept away from his vicin.
I ity. Oftener they two. the girl and the
/ dog silent with a common consent
| like wild things of the woods. sought
! the wind-swept top of the great stump
on the western ridge. Here Siletz
! looked down on the dropping slope
and wondered of the cities and the
sea. He had come from them both
/ She had never seen a man like him.
/ His clothes we're different HIS speech
was unlike. So were his hands. white
and fine grained.
Also there was another OF his pos
| sessions that she knew in every line
and turn. Black Bolt. the splendid
horse that stamped and whinnied with
! Impotence in the lean-to behind the
/ fling shed. She could no more let him
alone than she could refrain from lying
down to drink from a mountain rill
/ He called to her blood with irresist-
ible force. Day after day she crept
shyly TO the lean-to and dreamed.
watching the slope and the logtral
oh you beautyl" she whispered
with a soft hand on the arching neck.
"Oh. you beauty of the world God
made you strong to serve and beauti-
full to be loved!"
And at that moment, on that par
ticular day. Walter Sandry stepped
into the doorway of the lean-to. At
his foot on the sill the girl whirled
upon him. her dark eyes wide with
fright and confusion.
II" she stammered like a child.
Sandry looked at her for the first
time keenly.
you are fond of the horsc?" he
asked
But her tongue Glove suddenly to
the roof Of her mouth and one of the
inherent silences that sometimes fell
upon her shut her lips.
one uIOpptu HtI tytSs NWtSltu uti
fingers I'm Black Bolts name. and then.
with a gliding motion. soft-tooted and
swift. went past aim, running toward
che cook-shack.
The incident was nothing in itself
but it set the man thinking of her
He had seen alteration in the eyes she
bent on the splendid animal. heard II
in the words, stilted Snd homogeneous
Queer youngster." said Sandry Ia
himself.
That night after supper he came out
contrary to his custom. from the little
south room with its patchwork quilts
its crocheted mat and its antique
Bible. into the big eating room.
He found Ma Daily rocking in the
little chair her tired old hands lyinl
comfortably on the Portland Wecsiy
spread out on her slanting LAP. Tbs
wall lamps In their tin rafaotors all