CENES IN THE CHAPTER IL Close to the gerried backbone of the Cumberland ridge through a sky of mountain clarity, the sun seemed hesi- tating before its descent to the hori- gon. The sugar-loaf cone that tow- ered above a creek called Misery was pointed and edged with emerald trac- ery where the loftiest timber thrust up its crest plumes into the sun. On the hillsides it would be light for more than an hour yet, but below, where the waters tossed themselves along in a chorus of tiny cascades, the light was already thickening into a cathedral gloom. Down there the “fur- course of the creek between moss velveted and shaded bowlders of titanic proportions. have recognized the country road in these tortuous twistings. A great block of sandstone, to whose summit a man standing in his saddle could scarcely reach his fingertips, towered above the stream, with a gnarled scrub oak clinging tenaciously to its apex. Loft- ily on both sides climbed the moun- tains cloaked in laure! and timber, Suddenly the leafage was thrust aside from above by a cautious hand, and a shy, half-wild girl appeared In the opening. For an instant she halt ed, with her browp fingers holding back the brushwood, and raised her face as though listening. As she stood with the toes of one bare twisting in the yol she laughed with tion of life on the table But there she halted startled Siclamatios and drew nsgtine tively back. What she saw might we have astonished at r, for it was she had never seen before which she had never heard sured by the sile icross the broad face for a distance of twen paused again to lister At the far edge | bags, such as equipment for Near them lay small and soft metal, rratefully o« moss the youth, ¢ sheer exhilara and st ated out the huge ienly srr elad Sua and top of rock and rea nce, she of the ty-five { 2 pair of prac tras ive § unfamil ooking tubes of all gr oteeq 1ely stained, and bes the box strangely Bane ‘Plaats of wood smeared with a dozen hues, That this plague was a painter's sketching pal ette was a thing whi could not know, since the ways of artists to do with a world remote her own ae the life of the stare. [It was one of those teries that made up the of “down below Why things been left here in sion? If there was a owned them he to claim and ears alert, and slipped around to the front of the queer tripod, with all her muscles in readiness flight A bhalf-rapturous was a ch she had as from moon or VAZUEe mys nderful life had the such confu man about who would doubtless return ge them. She crept over, eyes nolsed and utterly aston ished cry broke from her lips. She stared a moment, then dropped to the mose-covered rock, leaning back on her brown hands and gazing intently “Hit's purty!” she approved, in a low, musical murmur. “H plumb dead beautiful!” Of course it was not a finished pic ture—merely a study what lay be fore her—but the hand that ha“ placed these brush strokes the academy board the sure, def: hand of a master landscape, who bad caught the splendid spirit of the thing and fixed it immutably In true and glowing appreciation. Who he was; where he had gone; why his work stood there unfinished and aban doned, were details which for the mo ment this half-savage child-woman for got to question. She was conscious only of a sense of revelation and awe Then she saw other boards, like the one upon the easel, piled near the paint box. These were dry, and rep resented the work of other days: but they were all pictures of her own mountaits, and in each of them, as in this one, was something that made her heart leap, To her own people these steep hill sides and “coves” and valleys were a matter of course. In their stony soll they labored by day, and in their shad ows slept when work was done, Yet someone had discovered that they held & picturesque and rugged beauty; that they were not merely steep fields where the plow wae useless and the boe must be used. She must tell Sam gon—8Samaon, whom she held in an artless exaltation of hero warship; Samson, who was 80 “smart” that he thought about things beyond her un- derstanding; Samson, who could not only read and write, but speculate on problematical matters. Suddenly she came to her feet with a swift-darting impulse of alarm, Her ear had caught a sound. She cast searching glances about her, but the tangle was empty of humanity, The water still murmured over the rocks undisturbed. There was no sign of buman presence, other than herself, that her eyes could discover--and yet to her ears came the soond again, and this time more distinctly, It was the sound of a man's volce, and it was moaning as If In pain. She ross and searched vainly through the bushes of the hilieide where the rock ran out it's of on was ol 95 4 COPAANY PLAY from the woods, She lifted her skirte and splashed her feet in the shallow creek water, wading persistently up and down. Her shyness was forgotten. The groan was a groan of a human creature in distress, and she must find and succor the person from whom it | came, Certain sounds are baffling as to di- rection. A voice from overhead or broken by echoing obstacles does not readily betray {ts source. Finally she stood up and listened once more in- tently—her attitude full of tense ear- nestness, “I'm shore a fool,” she announced, half aloud. “I'm shore a plumb fool.” Then she turned and disappeared in COPYRIGHT ting and another—small only by com- parison. There, ten’ feet down, in a narrow alley littered with ragged stones, lay the crumpled body of a man. It lay with the under it, and from a gash In the head trickled a thin stream of blood. Also, it was the body of such a man as she had not seen before. Although from the man came a groan mingled with his breathing, was not such a sound as comes fully conscious lips, but rather of a brain dulled into coma, Freed from her Zettering excess of shynese by his condition, the girl stepped surely from hold until she reached his side. She moment with one hand on i rock, looking while her hair fell about her Then, dropping to her knees, anifted the doubled b into a straightened the with efi. it g walls of drippl face. che ody posture, R, D began exploring fingers for broken bones had found left arm wrist her fingers But u from a bruise gash the limp had ncon the was the and *d a broken bone have where head, 1 ning, and a must came lood ted her skirt and tore a her plcked her bare-fo« the creek bed clot} wound eotton fr rom ingle petti ted swiftly enched the and had first man's dubl- ghe dr for bathing she of bandaging the When done what she could by aid she sat porting shoulders and shook her ously way the head the man's lids fluttered t and Then he op ened his Finally his lips moved eyes “Hello!” sald the ‘1 seem to have smiled ding smile, stranger, vaguely. He broke off, and it was a friendly, un and the girl, his lips derstar A Low Groan Mingled With His Breathing. ing hard the shy impulse to drop his shoulders and flee into the kind mask- ing of the bushes, was in 28 measure reassured. “You must hev fell offen the rock.” she enlightened. “l think I might have fallen into worse circumstances,” replied the un- known, “1 reckon you little.” “Yes, of course.” The man suddenly realized that although he was quite comfortable as he was he eould scarcely expect to remain permanently in the support of her bent arm. He attempted to prop himself on his hurt hand and relaxed with a twinge of ex. treme pain. The color, which had be. gun to creep back into his cheeks, loft them again, and his lips compressed themselves tightly to bite off an ex- clamation of suffering. “Thet alr left arm air busted,” an- nounced the young woman, quietly, “Ye've got ter be heedful"” Had one of her own men hurt him- self and behaved stolcally it would have been mere matter of course; but her eyes mirrored a pleased surprise at the stranger's good-natured nod and his quiet refusal to give expression to pain. It relieved her of the neces. sity for contempt. “I'm afraid,” apologized the painter, “that I've been a great deal of trouble to you." kin. set up after a Her lips and eyes were sober as she replied, “1 reckon thet's all right.” “And what's worse, I've got to be more trouble, Did you see anything of a brown mule?” She shook her head. “He must have wandered off. May I ask to whom I am indebted for thie firet ald to the injured?” “1 don't know what ye means.” She had propped him against the rocks and sat near by, looking into his face with almost disconcerting steadi ness; her golemn-pupiled eyes were unblinking, unsmiling. “Why, I mean who laughed. “I hain't nobody much, over yon." “But,” insisted the man, have a name.” She nodded. “Hit's Sally.” “Then, Miss Sally, you” Once more she nodded, first time, let her eyes drop, while she sat nursing her knees. Finally she glanced up and asked with plucked-up courage: “Stranger, be?" “Lescott—CGeorge Lescott.” “How'd ye git hurt?” He shook his head. “lI was palnting-—up there,” he sald; “and I guess I got too absorbed in the work. the canvas and forgot where the edge was. [| stepped too far.” The man rose to his feet, but he tot tered and reeled against the wall ragged stone, The blow had left him faint and dizzy. | down again, | “I'm afraid” are you?" he I jest lives “surely you I want to thank what mout yore name he ruefully admitted, from your hospital.” “You jest set where ver at.” | girl rose and pointed up the mountain- i side. “I'l light out across the hill and fotch Samson an’ his mule.” “Who and .where i8 Samson?’ he inquired He realized that the bot { tom of the en into darkness, out, unguided, sible. “It { Strong man “1 means Hghtened, tion of one dundant quarters.” "Threeq She quarters “How asked, She at the become 1§ the and th would way mpos Hke name of a Samson South” though further #0 celebrated wi she ep as “He's over thar "bou i1 How miie iarters of a nodded. mean? long will ft What else could three take you he m's hoeln’ He'll hev molit tek a eliberat d corn in the fur hill fol ter cotch his mule Hit half-hour “You can’t you? I'l take an’ light out.” fr nod was gone. At last she NE it in a half An hour, can jest my She foot in my turned, hand, and with ; came to a point where a clearing rose on the mountainside above her The forest blanket was | stripped off to make way for a fenced {in and crazily tilting field of young icorn. High up and beyond, close to the bald shoulders of sandstone which { threw themselves against the sky, was the figure of a man. As the girl halted at the foot of the field, at, last, panting from her exertions, he was the rail fence, looking absently down on the outstretched panorama below him Samson South was not, speaking, a man His age haps twenty. He sat looss indolent on the top rail of the fence, his hands hanging over his Zuees, his hoe forgotten Near by. propped against the rails, rested a repeating rifle, though the people would have told you that the truce in the “South Hollman war” had been unbroken for two years, strictly Was per CHAPTER II, Sally clamberad lightly over fence and started on the last stage of her journey, the climb across the FOUnNg corn rows ton end, and the hoed ground was un leven; but with no seeming of wear: ness her red dress flashed steadfastly was raised to shout: “Hello, Samson!” a languid greeting rest, and Sally, who expected no such attention, came smilingly on. was her hero. Slow of utterance and came fast and fluently as she told her story of the man who lay hurt at the foot of the rock. she urged. yore mple. promise ter fotch ye back.” Samson took off his hat, and tossed the heavy lock upward from his fore right straight While Sally sketched a description, the young man's doubt grew graver. “This hain't no fit time ter be takin’ in folks what we hain't acquainted with,” he objected. In the mountains any time is the time to take in strang- ers unless there are secrets 0 be guarded from outside eyes. “Why hain’t it?” demanded the girl “He's hurt. We kain't leave him layin’ thar, kin we?” Suddenly her eyes caught sight of the rifle leaning near by, and straight- way they filled with apprehension. Her militant love would have turned to hate for Samson, should he have proved recreant to the mission of re prisal In which he was biding his time, yet the coming of the day when the truce must end haunted her thoughts. She came close, and her voice sank with ber sinking heart, “What alr hit?” she tensely demand- ed. “What air hit, Samson? What fer hev ye fotched yer gun ter the field 7” The boy laughed. “Oh, hit ain't nothin’ pertic'ler,” he reassured. “Hit hain't nothin’ fer a gal ter fret herself erbout, only 1 kinder suspicions strangers jest now." “Alr the truce busted?” question in a tense, whisper, and the boy replied casually, almost indifferently, “No, Sally, hit hain’t busted, but ’'pears like smart cracked. 1 reckon, added in half-disgust, “nothin’ come of hit.” Somewhat reassured, she bethought herself agajn of her mission, “This here furriner hain't got ne harm in him, Samson,” she pleaded. “He 'pears ter be more like a gal than a man, He's real puny. He's got white skin and a bow of ribbon on neck—an' he paints pletchers.” The boy's face had been with contempt as the description ad- vanced, but at the last words a glow came to his eyes, and he demanded almost breathlessly: “Paints plcetchers? that?" “1 seen She put the jest ter say hit's though,” won't How do ye know ‘em. He was paintin’ one i i arm. It's shore vs beautiful es den peal of laughter—"es er plete The the rif reached for fle tood where it nag,” he and left the fence, hoe he “I'll git toward the that marked mile below his bare feet swung a gray mule and his across the moun stra parley curling spiral a cabin Ten tf 1 a quis minutes the la ¥ ainst rifle unsaddied tain fashion behind to the side ight n; creek bal- anced withers sul him, fachhg So they and into still sat rock. As Sally i the the } f the man propi ad the Lescott looked up cane against watch and iad en through the ation Lb a sudden harde ning affirmatis YOice, and, when awered, his « niracted earchi 3 it the “Where'd ye put up ted Bi an's mouth of Meeting House f« the Samson He Was iY ans yea of bored and stranger's face 1s ip ast night use, at the re Hollm ho do know place ?™ ‘s reply ‘lI knows hit all right.’ There was a mu an awkward pau sind began plecing ment nvers was curt nent’'s pause Lescott's together frag he had heard. a sort of Ri of 0 81i0°1 he had a cmbled jigsaw zle uzz th-Hollman feud by the and notabie night, WAS tal The Sou ned Lis informers, by others host of last had been taikative of mentio more carefully among It now that he crossing and coming as the late a He Hman to ask the hos South I didn’t know ned to shied and were very kind them before abouts.” Samson only nodded tion fatled to satisfy seemed to do so lI re tabooed his them the boun of Euesat whose house it explain, “until 1 nsked for lodging to me. I'd never I'm a strangbr was. he hast« was beni They here. If the explana him. it at least me he “hit's a<comin’ on ter be night.” With the mountalneer's aid, clambered astride the mount, turned dublously “I'm sorry to trouble vou” then he some materials up there If youll} bring them down here, I'll show you | how to pack the easel, and, way,” be anxiously added, “please to handle that fresh canvas carefully-- He had anticipated impatient con- for his artist's impedimenta, climbed the rock and halted before admiration. Finally he took up the square of academy board with a ten would have seemed incapable and stood stock still, presenting an anoma- lous figure in his rough clothes as his eyes grew almost idolatrous. Then he brought the landscape over to its creator, and, though no word was spoken, there flashed between the eyes of the artist, whose signature gave to a canvas the value of a precious stone, and the jeans<lad boy whose destiny was that of the vendetta, a subtle, wordless message. It was the coun tersign of brothersdn-blood who rec ognize in each other the bond of a mutual passion, The boy and the girl, under Lescott’s direction, packed the outfit and stored the canvas in the protecting top of the box. Then, while Sally turned and strode down creek In search of Les scott's lost mount, the two men rode upstream in silence, Finally Samson spoke slowly and diffidently. “Stranger,” he ventured, hain’t askin’ too much, Will ye let me see ye paint one of them things?” “Gladly,” was the prompt reply Then the boy added covertly: “Don't say nothin’ erbout hit ter folks, They'd devil me.” The dusk was falling now, and the hollows choking with murk, “We're nigh home now,” son at the end of some plodding. “Hit's right thar bend.” Then they rounded a point of tim- ber and came upon a small party whose attitudes even in the dim ming light conveyed a subtle sugges: tion of portent, “Thet you, Sams man's voice, which and powerful, “Hello, Une’ boy. Then followed a the mule reached vealing that besides the man strange man their number, “Evenin’, stranger,” they him, gravely: then again silent, and in thelr silence dent constraint. “This hyar man's a furriner,” nounced Samson, briefly “He “of hit sald Sam- minutes’ silent beyond thet called an old was still very deep . on Spencer!” replied the unbroken group, re boy another had silence the and a joined greeted they fell was evi an- fell ne told hit from the n't died vit rider d« ot five shoots PFurvey hal Some rent OB as how his Lexington fer KEYS fer reckon ( In't git shot none goon.” “Samson!” The old man’s voice had the ring of determined authority ‘When 1 dies ye'll be the head of the Souths, but so long i'm arunnin’ ar fam’ly 1 keeps my word an’ reckon Jesse kno pap, but now bain't never too es alike i got uth foe Purvs wh up till wR yore no S¢ The boy's voice dropped ite softness rescendo of ex- flashed out his retort citement as he | the truce this time? Old Spicer South gazed searchingly CONTINUED) (TO BE Queerest Dance in the World. The Godavari dance of the malay- | popular function when the native farmers are taking their ease after the hard work of harvest. The principal character is a weird figure supposed to represent the sacred cow of the gods, Kamachenu. A small boy car ries this about while the other per formers, decked out in primitive fash. fon with painted bodies and hideous masks, go through a weird dance, ac companied by much drum beating and singing. Wherever it goes the cow is supposed to shower blessings and prosperity, and go, ostensibly to please the animal, but in reality to satisfy the dancers, presents of money, paddy or rice are given to the performers. This custom has been in existence from time immemorial and is likely to continue as long as agriculture en- dures among the Hindus of Malabar — Wide World Magazine. What Attracted Mim, A mother took her fouryearold son to a restaurant for his first luncheon outside of the nursery at home He behaved with perfect propriety, and watched the elaborate service with keen interest. When the finger bowls were placed on the table, he noticed the square white mint on the plate at the side of the bowl, and ex claimed: “Oh mother, look at the cunning little cakes of soap he brought na!"—Harper's Magazine A “tl TORNEYS, SVORNETY APA MOLLEPOETE 08 Ghee Devt of Over Bouse uw. BRARRISON WALFEDR ATTORNEY AT4AW BRLLErONTR BB Po BW. Digs went AH professions) busines prem pty soeedet J LD came we. |. Bbowmn (3 5TTIA. BOWER 4 SERBY ATTORNEYS aT LAY Baers Bragn BELLEFONTR Be Donenitation tn Buglad sod German " ———e 8 B. SPANGLER ATTORNEY -AT-LAW BELLEFONTE Prastioss tn all the eourin Osnsuliation # Boglish sad German Ofos, Ovider's Bushang Buiiding wo SHERRY Pail ATIORFEY AT-LAW EELILEFONTSA Pu Ofios ¥. WW. corner Dismend Swe ¢osm Suw first Matonal Bank, ' - Penns Valley Banking Company Pa. DAVID R. KELLER, Cashiow Receives Deposits . ,. . Centre Hall, & Discounts Notes . B . 80 YEAR® EXPERIENCE Desrans CorymicrTs &6 ng & sheteh and deseription our opinion free w [hice me Hably patentable Comme nfdeniian). Handbook on rp 3 ngency for pocuring peta gh Munn & € pri 8 nroane sent WIT war . pr #uirielive tL free (HE Paienis ‘aken Lkrou opechal not koe, without char wa. io the Scientific American, & handsomely ostrated weakly ation if ¥ scleblisg journal Barun * tha, $i Fold by all mewsd MUKN : Co. 30 Brats » New ew fot Too R. Se & Son (ETR Hobv Control Sixteen of the Largest Fire aad Like ADCe to the World . ... THE BEST IS THB CHEAPEST . . . . Ne Munab Ne Amcument Before imewring Ey the comtrsct of Fie HOME which is eee of death Detwesh the tenth a9 ey twentieth tarps all paid in 3 dition to the i lace pulps or > to Loam om Tieer Morigage Oise oi Crider's Bites Duning Momer H. 0. STROHNEIER, Manufacturer of and Dealer in MONUMENTAL Wow) in all kinds of Marble am (lranite Pet Pow te eR ee BET | pn te a— pus unm HATES mos TOUR FRbFituven re asin J ime ary attached OLD PORT MOTEL SPRARD RUTHER nee be Losation One mie death of Onnove Ball SEER DR. SOL. M. NISSLEY, Se ————— VETERINARY SUROBON A groduats of the Univerwity of Poems Choe » Palace Livery Stable Bulle tome Both ‘phones a
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