Evening star., 1924-09-14

blows, bestfality, hard wodk and hard
weather, hand to mouth all the way.
| Ortho was no glutton for punishment;
he would return to the warm Owls
House ere long. curl up gracefully
before the fire, cured of his wander
| lust. All was for the best doubtless,
Teresa considered, but she packed Eli
off to school in his place; the zest for
duty was still strong in her-and, fur
thermore, she must have somebody
| who could keep accounts.
CHAPTER XII.
Eli went to school prepared for a
bad time. Ortho had not run away
for nothing; he was no bulldog for
| Improbable endurance-lessons had
been irksome, no doubt-but he
should have been in his element
among a horde of boys. He liked hav-
ing plenty of his own kind about him
and naturally dominated them. He
nad won over the surly Gwithian farm
boys with ease; the turbulent Monks
Cove fisher lads looked to him as
chief, and even those wild hawks. the
young Hernes, followed him unques-
tioning into all sorts of mischief
Yet Ortho had fed school as from
torment.
If the brilliant and popular brother
had come to grief how much more
trouble was in store for him, the
dullard? Eli set his jaw. Come what
might, he would see it through; he
would stick at school, willy-nilly, un-
til he got what he wanted out of it,
namely the three Rs. 1t had been
suddenly borne in on Eli that educa-
tion had it's uses.
Chance had taken him to the neigh
boring farm of Roswarva, which
bounded Polmenna moors on the
west. There was a new farmer in
possession, a widower by the name
of Penaluna, come from the north
of the Duchy with a thirteen-year
daughter, an inarticulate child, leggy
as foal.
Eli, scrambling about the Luddra
Head, had discovered an etter's hole,
and then and there lit a smoke fire
to test if the tenant were at home
or not. The otter was al home and
came out with a rush. Eli attempted
TO tail it. but his foot slipped on the
dry thrift and he spraWled on top of
the beast, which bit him in three
places. He managed to drop stone
on it as it slid away over the rocks,
but he could hardly walk. Penaluna
met him limping across a field drag
ging his victim by the tail, and took
him to Roswrva to have his wounds
tied up.
Eli had not been to Roswarva since
the days of its previous owners, a
beach combing, shiftless crew, and he
barely recognized the place. The
kitchen was creamy with whitewash;
the cupboards freshly painted; the
table scrubbed spot1ess; the ranked
pans CLEANED like copper moons; all
along the mantelshelf were china
dogs with gilt collars and ladies and
gentlemen on prancing horses, hawks
perched a-wrist. In the corner was
an oak grandfather clock with a
bright brass face engraved with the
signs of the zodiac and the caution
ary words:
Il mark We Hours but cannot stay
their Race;
Nor Priest nor King may buy a
moments Grace;
Prepare to meet thy Maker face to
face"
Sunlight poured into the white
kitchen through the south window,
setting everything a-shine and a.
twink1e-a contrast to unkempt Bos-
ula, redolent of cooking and stale
food, buzzing with flies, necessarily
invaded by pigs and poultry. Out
side Roswarva all was in the same
good shape; the erst-littered yard
cleared up, the tumbledown sheds
rebuilt and matched. Eli limped
home over trim hedges. field culti-
waited up to the last inch and pien-
tifully manured and came upon his
own land-crumbling banks broken
down by cattle and grown to three
times their proper breadth with
thorn and brambles: field thick with
weeds; windfalls lying where they
had dropped; bracken encroaching
from every point.
He had never before remarked
anything amiss with Bosula, but,
coming straight from Roswarva, the
contrast struck him in the face. He
thought about it for two days, and
then marched over to Roswarva. He
found Simeon Penaluna on the cliff
side roofing out slabs of granite with
croWbar and piling them into a
wall. A vain pursuit, Eli thought.
clearing a cliff only fit for donkeys
and goats.
What are you doing that for?" he
asked.
Potatoes" said Simeon.
Why here. when you got proper
fields?"
open to sun all day, and seall
keep 'em warm at night. No frost
I'll get taties here two weeks earlier
than up-along."
How do you know"
Read it. Growers in Jersey has
been doin' it these years.
Eli digested this information and
leaned against the wall, watching
Penaluna at work.
Eli liked the mans air Of patient
power, also his economy of speech.
He decided he was to be trusted.
You're a good farmer, aren't you?'
Yes" said Penaluna truthfully.
Whats wrong with our place,
Bosula?" Eli inquired.
"Undermanned," said Penaluna.
Your father had two men besides
himself and he worked like bullock
and was clever, I've heard tell. Now
you've got but two, and not head
between 'em. Place is going back.
Come three years the trash'll strangle
e in your beds"
Eli took the warning calmly.
We'll stop that" he announced.
scrutiny, spat on his palms, worked
the crowbar into a crevice. and tried
his weight on it
Hum! Maybe-but you'd best start
soon"
Eli nodded and considered again.
"Are you clever?
Penaluna swung his bar from left
to right; the rock stirred in its bed.
mo; but 1 can read"
ELS eyes opened. That was the
second time reading had been men
toned. What had that school
business to do with real
work like farming?
Went to free school at Truro"
Simeon explained. There's clever
ones that writes off books and 1
reads 'em. There's smart notions in
1 got six books
on farming-six brains"