Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1921-10-20

worrying again !"
lie dropped into a nearby chair.
leaned slowly forward and let one
hand fall gently on her thick and silky
/ chestnut-brOwn hair.
II WISH" he said as though to him
seelf. ''that had daughter like you
He took his hand from her head, lay
back YEARLY In his chair and closed
his eyes. Then he bent forward again.
"The Morelands. Elizabeth-they've
moved away from the settlement.
haven't they?"
ayes; Bill Dale has done wonderful
things for them!" the girl answered.
John X. Dale was silent for a mo
ment. after which he said suddenly: 81
want to see my son; there Is something
/ must tell him. VIII you so with me.
ElizabethT'
"Of course. I'll go with you"
She thought she knew what IL was
that stirred him. BY intuition. supple
nented by Bill DaIe's occasional cryp-
tic utterances, and pieced out by hill
tradition, Elizabeth Litleford gradu-
ally had come into possession of the
old coal mans grim secret.
Neither of them knew that John
Moreland was then visiting his beloved
old hills for the sake of some shooting.
The following day John X. Dale and
Elizabeth Littleford alighted from
northbOund passenger train at the
Halfway switch. The mountains were
covered with three inches of snow, aud
the hemlock and pines bore heavy bur
dens of the beautiful white stuff; but
the air was still, and it wasn't very
cold.
YOU'D get your clothing all black
on the coal train" Dale said TO his
Communion. $50 you'd rather walk over,
wouldn't you? Anyway, the train isn't
bere. I'm good for six miles, think"
"Yes," smiled Ben Littlefords
daughter, I'D rather waikiki you're
sure that six miles won't be too much
for YOU"
Together, with the girl leading the
wav. they set out across David More
lands mountain. The old trail showed
moi one footprint ahead of them; 1t
was not so much used now. They said
little. Each thought their own thoughts,
and neither cared to speak them to
the other.
lust before they reached the noun
tait,'s crest they passed n group of
! snow-laden pines that concealed a big.
brown-bearded man who had been
stealthily following the trai! of lone
wild turkey. He wore khaki hunting
clothes and high laced boots, and there
was a certain English fineness about
him. In his bare hands lie carried
| repeating rife, which marked him as
/ one born in the hills; a lowlander
| would hava had a choke.bored shotgun:
When he saw John X. Dale he
stopped suddenly. 1t might have been
! Intuition, or it might have been sheer
curiosity, the average hillman being
stranger to neither-he followed and
watched the two, unseen by them.
| On the pine-fringed CREST Elizabeth
Littleford halted to view that which
| lay around and below him. Old Dale
stopped close at her side, and he, too,
looked at that which lay around and
below them; and to his mind also there
| came memories crowding.
| The young woman brushed back a
hayward wisp Of brown hair ana
turned to the man beside her.
1.-THE Moreland part o the settle
ment looks lonesome, don't it?" she
said. "See. there's no smoke comm
from their cabin chimneys. :" She
went on absently, "But the Llttlefords
are there yet"
Old Dale caught the meaning. that
was in the latter sentence. 1t was not
a shallow meaning.
1--WE are going TO take care OF the
Littlefords, Elizabeth" he assured her.
"Pve thought much over 1t, and just
now I've decided. When | decide, It's
for all timeI you know that, don't
your
A great gladness filed Elizabeth's'
heart. It did not occur TO her to ask
how, in what manner, he was going TO
take care of her people; 1t was enough
to know that he was going to take care
of them. He put a fathers arm lightly
around her shoulders. She tried to
speak, choked. and couldn't utter
word. But 1t didn't matter. John X.
Dale understood perfectly.
Then he took his arm away. faced to
the right and drew his hat rim low
over his eyes. For two minutes he
stood there and looked for the little old
cabin down near the foot of the north
end of the mountain, and he failed to
find 1t. His mind had gone back once
more to that woeful night that had cut
hnlnl