Down the Ravine

in Birt's astonishment to learn that she understood all the d

owadays thar ain't no talk 'bout'n it sca'cely, 'kase the best an' most o' the land in the State hev all been tuk up

ouse later than was his wont, bringing in the store of wood for her work during the day, and "packing" the

ung. He was presently brushing them off in showers, for he had begun to run. It occurred to him that this was no time to seem even a trifle remiss in his work at the tanyard. Since he had lost

ter vittle ez we-uns hev go

instantly that it did not wear its usual simple, industrial aspect. A group of e

iggs, panting and white-faced, and excl

me to go an' fetch ye. Fur massy's sake, gimme Nate's grant. I'm fairly afeared

med Birt aghast. "I ha

e could not say that

He noticed the hesitation. "Ye hev hed it," he cried wildly.

put the blame off on me, Birt," he p

coat - whar ye left it hangin' on a

ant, an' he sent me arter it. An' I fund the coat a-hangin' thar on the peg, whar I hed lef' it, bein' ez I furgot it whe

e the grant. Nate 'lows 'twar you-uns

I'll say a word ter Nat

mbling Tim, and took his w

d threateningly. His hat, thrust far back on his sandy hair, left in bold relief his long, thin face with its sm

ad met since Birt's ill-starred c

hev got yer grant, Nate Griggs?" Birt

paired for the moment

yin' ter purtend ez ye fund the mine fust,

n sudden elation. "Who w

is breath with a gasp.

the discovery of the mine! Confess,

evenin' at the tanyard. Didn't he, Tim?" And he whirled around to his yo

g, nodded to admit it. "Gimme the grant, Birt," he f

h a solemnity which the boy did not alto

eplied Birt, badgere

hen, ye neve

rd. But he had seen enough of fals

"but I hain't got it. I put it

he said with the sharp cadence of dismay. "Gin the grant back ter Nate, an' mebbe

the fear, the humiliation. And he was helpless. For no one would believe him! His head was in a whirl. He could

an," remarked one of the gro

was laughin

that any one could feel so bitterly toward him as to laugh

t he did not care for the loss of the grant - the paper was nothing to him! - for it was on record in the land office, and he could get a certified copy from the register in no time at all. But his rights were his rights!

Nate strode out of the tanyard, with

ers during the days that ensued. And when he had finished they w

iend him, and urged him to confess. "The tr

truth," poor Bi

ybody ter b'lieve ye when ye say Tennessee purvented ye from

ter, who was perched upon the wo

r he was untaught, and clumsy of speech, and could not translate his feelings. A

ie "kem along unbeknown an' purvented" him, Jube Perki

sed, for he had known for some little time

in the fifties, but Birt has never forgotten how staunchly she upheld him in every thought when all the circumstances belied him. Now that misfortune had touched him, every trace of her caustic moods had disappeared; she was a

eristic forbearance. Perhaps Nate was afraid that Birt's story, told from the

rance of the grant. There it was in the pocket of the

in order to accuse him and prejudice public opinion against him, so that he mig

ears for his sake tortured her silent hours when he was away. When he came back from his work, there always awaited him a bright fire, a good supper, and cheer

better able to go, and work, and hold up his head among the men who s

tious, so queerly and quaintly bad as he was on his visits to the tanyard, which were peculiarly frequent just now. If Birt had had the heart for it, he might have enjoyed some of R

or a moment, and had forgotten it the next. He had never a word or glance for Birt, who marveled at his conduct. He seemed perpetually brooding upon some perplexity. Occasionally in the midst of

inactivity, one day. "Hev ye

lectively, "but I hev been troubled in my mind some, lat

n horse, he added, "I hev got so ez I can't relish my vittles sca'cely, bein' so tormented in my min

harnt lately?" Rufe asked suddenly

gaze upon Rufe, unmindful that the knife slipped