The Elk Mountain pilot., 1917-01-25

noiselessness with which a beaver
slips into the water.
Il reckon ye kin Jest lay thar a
SPELL" added the woman, whilst |
goes out an sees what victuals l kin
skeer up"
Left alone, the girl from Philadel-
phia ran over the events of the day
events which seemed to smother her
under a weight of squalor and fore
boding.
At length from the road came loud
shouts of drunken laughter, broken
by the evident remonstrances of a
companion who sought to enjoin quiet,
and by these tokens the ''furrin"
woman knew that the lord of the
squalid manor was returning, and that
he was coming under convoy. She
shrank from a meeting with Fletch
McNash; but if she went out by the
only door she knew she would have
to confront him, SO she lay still.
Fletch was deposited in one of the
split-bottom chairs by the doorstep.
! Il jest went over thar ter borry a
hoe" he proclaimed, AN l met up
with some fellers and thar was all
Dlanner of free Ticker. They had white
ticker an bottled-in-bond Ticker. an
none of hit didn't cost nothin'. Them
fellers Jest wouldn't hardly suffer me
ter come away"
| AN whilst ye war a-soakin' up thet
thar free Ticker them pertater sets was
a-dryin' up waitin' ter be sot out"
came the stern wifely reminder.
Between the strident voices came
every now and then the softly modu-
lated tones of the stranger whose
words Juanita lost. Yet, somehow,
whenever she heard them she felt
soothed. and after each Of these ut
terances the woman outside also
spoke in softer tones.
Whoever the stranger was. he car
ried in his voice a reassuring quality.
] so that without having seen him the
girl felt that in his presence there was
an element of strength and safeguard
| ing.
At last from one of the beds she
heard a scuffling sound, and a moment
later a childish form opened door at
the back of the cabin and slipped out
into the darkness.
That revealed an avenue of escape.
Juanita had not known that these win
dowless cabins are usually supplied
with two doors, and that the one into
which the wind does not drive the
weather. stands open for light on win
try days. Now she, too, rose noise
lessly and went out of the close and
musty room. 1t was quite dark out
there and she could feel. rather than
see the densely foliaged side of the
mountain that loonied upward at the
back
In her brooding she lost account of
time. At last she heard voice sing
out frosn the stile:
in"
A thick welcome from Fletch Nc
Nash followed. and then again silence
settled.
After a while, as she sat there on
the rock. with her chin disconsolately
in her hand and her elbows on her
knees. Juanita became conscious of
| footsteps and knew that someone was
coming toward her. Then she caught
the calm voice which had already i'm
pressed her-the voice Of the stranger
who had brought home the half-help-
less householder.
Il reckon we're out OF earshot now.
l reckon we kin hev speech here; but
heed your voice an talk low"
In the face of such preface the girl
shrank back in fresh panic. She had
no wish to overhear private conversa-
tions
f, She huddled back against the rock
and cast an anxious glance about her
for way to escape. Behind lay the
mountain wall with its junglelike
growth. where her feet would sound
an alarm of rustling branches and dis
turbed deadwood. But the men were
strolling near her, and to try to reach
the house would require crossing their
path.
Then the second shadow spoke. and
its voice carried beside the nasal
shrillness so common to the hills the
tenseness of suppressed excitement.
"Thar's liable ter be hell ternight"
The girl thought that the quiet
stranger laughed, though of that she
could not be certain.
Il reckon ye mean concernin' Cal
Douglas?"
"Thets hit; when | rid outen Peril
this afternoon ther jury he'd done took
ther case an everybody lowed they'd d
find verdict afore sundown."
Il reckon'-the taller of the two
men answered slowly, and into his
softly modulated voice crept some
thing of fiinty finality-"l reckon | can
tell ye what that verdict's goin' to
be. Cal will come clear"
Tibet hain't ther pint" urged the
messenger excitedly. Tibet hain't why
| I,ya rid over hYar Like hat ontor,