The She Boss

anated from the white, pale-yellow, and pink fungi that flourished on the soaked and ancient logs along the way. He heard the voice of it in the soft murmuring of the South Fork of the Eel, which wen

dwoods which towered three hundred feet above him, and whose girth was over sixty feet. A half mile more the old man trudged on sturdily, mutte

er forest was left behind in the lowlands. A grass-grown bark road, which he eventually found, followed the creek, asce

ar water roared in a dozen tiny cataracts. Beyond the drift Uncle Sebastian had caught a glimpse of some living, moving object. He wiped his watery

, where lay a fine young specimen of the genus homo idly tossing pebbles into the crystal water

es and stiffness. He wore no coat. A faded blue shirt covered his barrel of a body, and his slouch hat was off, exposing long, light, wiry hair and a freckled neck. His lean jaws wer

Sebastian Burris

laughed back at Sebastian. The good-naturedly twisted mouth that grinned at him was suggestive of a sluggi

which bore true welcome. "What're you doin' 'way u

mbered stiffly down the bank. He sat down by the side of Hiram Hooker and gla

in I dunno when, Hiram," he remarked, surveyi

lat piece of slat

mail, Uncle Sebas

don't go to Bixler's

there," and there was just a shade of bitterne

He took out a slick-handled jackknife, blew a clot of pocket lint from the springs, opened a whetted

e down there, Hiram. Put me in mind to come up an' see ye.

o," promptly

' agin' ye?" Uncle Sebastian

ow as I'm

ell yerself ye don't keer, Hiram, but ye're lyin' to yerself. It ain't in human natu

and I reckon I know you're aimin' at somethin'. You came 'way u

rst place, then, they're sayin' ye'r

new in that, Uncle Sebastian. They've said t

ye're playin' insincere, Hiram. Down in yer heart ye know as well as anythin' it makes ye hot to be talke

't I? Yer paw an' me was thicker ner molasses. Yer paw would 'a' made a brilli

to use them ideas on that ye jest naturally had to turn to meanness. Ye wasn't really bad; ye was jest alive. All yer life ye been hankerin' fer sumpin that Bear Valley couldn't give, but ye didn't even know what 'twas ye was hankerin' fer. How could ye?

e continued. "They called ye queer. Then when yer paw died they droppe

tin' ye decent ye'd likely come out all right o' yer own hook. Hiram, pride's put a heap o' men in th' penitentiary. Pride's stubborn, Hiram. But layin' aside th' root o' th' trouble, an' lookin' at th' matter through their eyes, it's really a shame th' way yer paw's place has gone to ruin-th' way you've

I been watchin' an' waitin' fer ye to right yerself an' get at sumpin; but this

Uncle Sebastian resum

with wide-opened ey

ey's anything in ye. At first ye'll probably go to th' bad an' get a heap worse ern ye was in Bear Valley. That's neither here ner there. Th' point is, if they's a gait in ye ye'll eventually strike it. If not-well, then,

the red creep down his columnar neck as the last sentence came out. One great toe

e?" The words came slowl

raight and hard. "Unless ye'll

reetops and Ripley Creek went gurgling and suckin

when I gave the mort

ram. I told ye, ye needn't worry-that I wouldn't foreclose-that I wasn't speculati

e first shock past, Hiram seemed now to be tu

've talked the matter over too many times for me to misconstrue your motiv

iram." Uncle Sebastian voi

closin' on me to

I'm proud that ye i

astian. There was a time when I'd 'a' looked forward to leavin' Mendocino. I've had hankerin's, and I've got 'em yet-b

much out o' here as ye

ad more books to read I'd be pretty near content. There was a time, as I said, when it was different;

t an' th' other-ye've wanted to be pretty near everythin' ye read about last. When ye git in touch with these things, Hiram, ye may be able to choose-tho

asize this ultimatum. Now, standi

ss me or curse me

reply-he did n

ye that far, an' ye c'n deed me th' prop'ty before a notary, so's I won't be obliged to foreclose. Then I'll come back an' pay

then a s

ed his throat, and for the first time lost

I hope ye ain't holdin' anything agin' me. So help me, boy

s pleading voice. "Le'me think it over all to-nig

tian climbed up the bank and stro