American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1922-03-17

OOouucSo. huSHcu DdiS. lou re
dramatic, or vehement, or both. May
| walk home with you. Babe?"
Eyes. sir, promptly. "if you wan,
TO-"
They SET out across the snOw-cOv-
cred meadows. II neither spoke an
other word until they had reached
Ben Littleforil'S log house. The girl
looked at him queerly as they en-
tered. After he knew
Old Dale still sat before the fire.
and nea him sal silent John More
land. Old Dale motioned toward an
inside door.
please close it, Elizabeth he re-
quested. and she Obeyed. NOW sit
down. I've got something to tell the
three of you. And | fancy it will in
terest all Of you"
The two who had just come in took
chairs AZ the ireside. After a mo-
ment, John K. Dale began:
You've often wondered, Bill, about
that savage streak-as you choose TO
call lt-rhat is in you. You inherited
il. Much of that which we are, il is
claimed. is inherited. and it must be
correct like begets like. Of course.
But there is no savage streak in you,
Bill. You are hot-headed, that's all.
Your virtues Overbalance that, by far.
| have never seen another man who
had a greater love for honesty and
fair play, or a greater hatred for all
that is hollow and false. or more cour-
age TO stick up for rhar which seems
10 be right, than You. Now I'll tell
you how you came ny those fine quail
tiles and the hot-headednesS-"
Elizabeth LittletDrd sat wide-eyed,
tense, half breathless. If he meant to
tie. it, why didn't lie tell il! Why did
he beat about the bush like that?
"Bill, this is hard for me. 1t brings
back a terrible thing. You know about
David MOreland. When | awOke
that morning and found him lying
dead al my crazed, drunken hands, l
wished that |, too. were dead. . .
That great and silent wilderness
smothered me. | imagined that | could
hear voices calling to me, saying
"tCaln! Cain!'
"They came from the laurel thickets.
from the trees overhead, from the
ground, from everywhere. You see, |
wasn't all bad, even in my wildcats
days, Then | thought of the law, and
| ran. ,
"But the cry of a child from the
cabin | was leaving halted me before
| had gone thirty yards. David More
land's wife had left him with a baby
only a few weeks old, which l didn't
pay any particular attention to until
that morning, that black morning. AT
that time there was no other house
for miles around. l couldn't leave the
child there to die of starvation, after
killing it's father. So l went back and
got the baby, and all it's clothing, and
took 1t away with me. l left 1t at a
farmhouse down in the lowland, and
went to another city, and started life
afresh.
But later l married, and shortly
after thar l went to the farmer and
persuaded him to let me adopt the
child. l brought it up as my own, and
educated 1t, as a sort of compensation,
And | came to love it. But 1t was
years before my wife loved 1t. She
didn't like children then. But she does
now. She is paying now, and l am
paying, Don't you understand, Bill
don't you understand"
There was a choke In his voice to-
ward the last. Bill Dale went to his
feet. His eyes were wide, but he did
not seem unhappy and for that Eliza
beth was grateful. John Moreland sat
as still, with his bearded, viking face
as expressiOnless as though he had
known it all along.
And so l really am in my own
country |" cried Bill Dale. 81 am a
Moreland, and the Morelands really
are my own peOple!"
yes, you are in your own country
and you are a Newfoundland YOU
baby name was David" said John X
Dale.
1t was then that John MorelanC
spoke.
bill, when l fust seed you, yOl
made me think O. my brother the da,
he was married. / amt never Togo
that. / sartainly amt surprised non,
at all. We didn't know about tn,
baby. Cherokee Joe told me the bah,
had died."
"And now, son." pleaded old Dale
his voice breaking, SAY that you for
give me-"
Bill Dale, David Moreland's boy
knelt beside the old sheepskin-linet
rocker, took the old coal kings hanC
in both his own and bent his heaC
over 1t.
TITS all right" he said thickly. "It'l
all right"
Elizabeth LittlefOrd arose and stole
blindly out of the house. Her foot
steps led her, quite without her real
izing where she was going, across tn,
meadow and to the river above tn,
blown-down sycamore. And there OIL
that sacred spot, where she had frs
felt her heart leap at the sound O
Bill Dale's voice, she sank down il