Evening star., 1923-07-29

Later, men began to come in with
stories of the great rain: how such a
dam was flooding already, such a val
ley under water and a washout on the
line One said, "There'n be landslips
on the mountain after the fire.
Ewes brother-in-law said: That's
why Macy quit You goin' to warn
the new feller?"
No one, it seemed. knew Lehman we'll
enough to warn him.
Those days Eve went silent about
the house. She was hardly conscious
what her own thoughts were. but
sometimes she said 1t can't last this
way. 1t can't"
Then one night she woke and knew
the rain had stopped. She left her bed
and went to the window. The forest
was black under the stars. Only the
mountain behind MaceyS was covered
with a clinging cloud. 1t was the one
white thing in the dark night, the one
mystery where the stars saw everything
clear. 1t seemed there for a purpose.
a concealment of some hushed business
of the night and the HILL In a moment,
in the beat Of a pulse. Eve was afraid.
She struck a match and looked at
the little clock on the homemade bu-
reau. 1t was two o'clock Through
the thin partition where the others
slept a child stirred and cried drows-
lily. Eve instantly blew out the match
and dressed herself in the dark. 1t
never occurred to her to waken her
sister. Lonely all her life. she must
be lonely in it's supreme hour. She
left without Weakening any one.
She turned up the trail to Macey's
place, almost running. She felt con-
fusedly that she had very little
time. She was not thinking
clearly; she was past that-perhaps
above it. If she could have expressed
herself, she would have prayed that
her flesh might break into wings, so
that she might be in time.
The silence was unbroken. 1t was
as If that white cloud smothered all
the normal noises of forest night. 1t
rose in a glimhering mound at the
head of the trail. The trees were
spiked against it as If it were a moon.
1t drew all the light there was. 1t
ore" Eve, dS IL d WlIlu DlcW IOWdIQ II
and she were leaf on the wind.
She was so high now that the sea
breathed on her across the forest and
the stars were near; climbing, climb
ing to Macey's place; climbing to
Lehman. Then she heard a stir.
She listened. There was silence on the
mountain, in the cloud. But a stone
slid near her. something coughed in
the sea-damp, a hoof rang on rock.
The deer were going past her, going
down to the shore. The deer were
leaving the mountain.
She struck her hands on her heart,
and climbed and climbed
Here was Macey's old clearing. Here
the field. There the great log fence Of
the bulls, corral. a darkness in the
dark, The anchored cloud lowered
over her. Therein the shadow of
the cloud, under the hill-was the
house Dark. She flung out her
hands and began to run.
A rotted rose struck her in the face
like ball Of paper. broke, and dashed
rain into her eyes. There was the
door, shut. She beat on 1t with her
hands and shouted. There was no. an
swer. She flung 1t open and ran in.
She knew instantly that the house
was empty. that Lehman was not there.
But she went from wall to wall, CROP
ing. by the glimmer Of the cloud.
He was not there. He was at the
shingle-mill. She turned irresolutely
and faltered toward the door.
A faint shudder' crawled through
the timbers Of the house. Ewes eyes
stared, her hands were over her ears.
For that shudder was a sound, only 1t
was too large for the hearing. 1t be-
came a wave that broke on her and
rocked the house like ship. 1t be-
came a weight that crushed her to the
floor. She lay there, dszed. She
thought 1t was the cloud had fallen.
white.
4 WHILE later she lifted her head.
"A She knew what had happened.
She was not afraid any more. She felt
that she would never again be afraid Of
anything in the world: 80 had her
spirit grown.
She went to the door. surprised TO
find herself staggering with nervous
weakness. The house was not touch
ed. The edge Of the landslip had
swept past 1t. The clearing was
heaped with wreckage n II tide
had been there. The sharp black
angle Of the corral was q huddle Of
sticks and rocks. Eve struggled to-
ward the corral through shallow mud