The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-07
Chapter xXIV-Sally Weeps

clad tops of the Little Brothers, gray also in the light of the evening. And the trees whose branches interwoven above the grave gray also with moss. The trees, the mountains, the old headstone, the man they blended into whole.
 "Anthonyp' said the man. "I have wait ed half my life for thisp
 "And l." said Bard, ''have waited few weeks that seem longer than all my life for thisv'
 His own eager panting stopped him, but he stumbled on: q have you here in reach at last, Grew, and Pm going to tear your heart cut, as you tore the heart out of John Bard."
 "Ah, Anthony" said the other, "my heart . was torn out when you were born; it was torn out and buried here"
 And to the wild eyes of Anthony it seemed as if the great body of Drew, so feared through the mountain-desert, was now enveioped with weakness, humbled by some incredible burden.
 After that mist obseured his eyes; he could not see more than an outline of the great shape before him; his throat con tracted as if a hand gripped him there. and an odd tingling came at the tips of his fin gers. He moved forward
 'It is more than I dreamed" he said hoarsely, as his foot planted firmly the top of the grave, and he poised himself an instant before flinging himself or the gray giant. Ut is more than dreamed for-to face you-alonep
 And solemn even voice answered him: ''We are not alone"
 Mot alone, but the others are too far off to stop me-"
 "Not alone, Anthony, for your mother ID here between us. 4
 Like a fog under a wind, the m.st swept from the eyes of Anthony; he looked out and saw that the face of the gray man was was infinitely sad, and there was hungry tenderness that reached out, enNeloped, weakened him. -,.,.... ..o;,od him. The wind puffed against hls race, ana he went staggering back, his haho eaosh' up to his eyes. ..fa ~
 Joan he repeated, your "'Ae-'s mother?" e h.n- piness, and knew that the blue eyes of sally Fortune looked out to nm from 1iie uo0i way of the house.
 fhe low voice, hurried now, broke in on
 "When I married Joan, John Bard fled from the range; he could not pear 10 iooh upon our happiness. You see, had won her by chance, and he hated me for 1t. II you had ever seen her, Anthony, you would understand l crossed the mountains ana came here and built this house, for your mother was like wild blrd, An'noh!' anu I did not dare to let men near her; then a son was born, and she died g1vlng nm birth. Afterward lived on here; close to the place which she had chosen for her self for rest. And was happy because the boy grew every day into a more perfect image of his dead mother.
 .'One day when he was almost three rode off through the hills and when came back the boy was gone. rode with posse everywhere, hunting him; aye, Anthony the trail which 1 started then l have kept at ever since, year after year, and here 1t ends where it began-at the grave of Joan
 "Finaliy I came on news that man much like John Bard in appearance had been seen near my house that day. Then knew it was Bard in fact He had seen the image of the woman we both loved ill the boy He was all that was left of her on earth. After these years l can read his heart clearly; I know why he took the boy
 "Then I left this place. l could not bear the sight of the grave; for she slept in peace, and l lived in hell waiting for the return of my son.
 At last I went East; was at Madison Square Garden and saw you ride. 1t was the face of Joan that looked a. me; and l knew that I was close to the end of the trail
 "The next night 1 called out John Bard. He had been in hell all those years like me, for he had waited for my coming. He begged me to let him have you; said that you loved him as a father; only laughed. So we fought, and he fell; and then l saw