Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-03-14
CHAPTER I.
Mother and Son.

@ WOMAN, tall, somewhat angu-
lar, dark Of hair and eye, strong
IA of features-a woman now ap-
= y preaching middle age-sat look
ing out over the long tree clad slopes
that ran down from the gallery front
Of the mansion house to the gate at the
distant roadway. She had sat thus for
s0meS moments-many moments her
gaze i4tently fixed. as II she were wait
ing for something-s0mething or some
one that she did not now see. but ex-
pected soon to see.
It was late afternoon of day so
beautiful that not even old Albemarle.
beauty spot Of Virginia, ever produced
one more beautiful, not in the hundred
years preceding that day nor In the
century since then. for this was more
than hundred years ago, and what is
now an ancient land was then half
opened region, settled only here and
there by the great plantations Of the
well to do. The house that lay at the
summit of the long and gentle slope,
flanked by its wide galleries, its flung
doors opening it from front to rear to
the gaze as one approached, had all
the rude comfort and assuredness usual
with the gentry Of that time and
place.
It was the privilege and the habit Of
the Widow Lewis to sit idly when she
liked, but her attitude now was not
that Of idleness. Intentness-repOseful
acceptance of life. rather showed in
her motionless, long sustained position
She was patient, as women are, but her
strong pose. its freedom from material
support, her restrained power to do or
to endure, gave her the look of owning
something more than resignation, some.
thing more than patience. A strong
figure Of woman one would have said
had one seen her sitting on the gallery
Of her old home 124 years ago.
The Widow Lewis stared straight
down at the gate, a quarter Of a mile
away, with yearning in her gaze. But.
as so often happens, what she awaited
did not appear at the time and place
she herself had set. There fell at the
western end Of the gallery shadow.
a tall shadow, but she did not see 1t.
She did not hear the football, not
stealthy. but quite silent. with which
the tall owner of the shadow came to-
ward her from the gallery end.
It was a young man, or, rather, boy.
no more than eighteen years Of age.
who stood now and gazed at her after
his silent approach, so like that Of an
Indian savage. Half savage himself
he seemed now as he stood. clad in the
buckskin garments Of the chase, then
not unusual in the virginian border
lands among settlers and hunters and
not held outre among a people SO often
called to the chase or to war.
His tunic was Of dressed deer hide.
his we'll fitting leggings also Of that
material His feet were covered with
moccasins. although his hat and the
neat scarf at his neck were those of 0
gentleman. He was practical youth,
one would have said, for no ornament
of any sort was to be seen upon his
garb. In his hand he carried long
rifle of the sort then used tliereabout
At his belt swung the hide of a rae.
coon. the bodies of a few squirrels.
Had you been a close observer you
would have found each squirrel shot
fair through the head. Indeed. a look
into, the gray eye of the silent paced
youth would have assured you In adj
vance of his skill with his weapons
you would have known that to be nat
ural with him.
You would not soon have found his
like. even in that land Of tall hunting
men. He was grand young being as
he stood there, straight and clean
limbed; hard bitted Of muscle, albeit
SO young powerful and graceful in bis