Down the Ravine

long in the woods, hardly seein

did not now want the holiday which would once have so rejoiced him, and he said as much. And then the tanner, ma

raps of leather. The animal seemed to understand that something was amiss, and now and then turned his head interrogatively. Somehow Birt was glad to feel tha

rying to nerve himself to witness his mother's distress. And at

rembled so that she carefully put down upon the table a dish which she had been wiping. But she said quite calmly, "Waal, sonny, I dunno but ye hed better take a day off from work, sure

m work, and they would all starve; that the tanner believed he

e truth," said his mother philosophicall

er as he struggled through the tang

he truth! How he blessed the little sister that her love for him and his

uttered with glistening e

e; but he did not take it. Th

ring the ground, muffled his tread. Once he paused - was that the bleat of a fawn, away down on the mountain's slope? He heard no more, and he walked on, looking about

ins, and the furthest reaches of the azure sky, and the sombre depths of the wooded valley, and the sheeny splendors of the afternoon sun, and every incident of crag or chasm - all appeared through a soft purple haze that possessed the air, and added an ideal embellishment to the scene. Down the ravine the

at hand. He crouched down noiselessly amongst the low growth and lifted his rifle, his eyes fixed on the poin

n attired in black, a hammer in his hand, and a pair of gleaming spectacles poised placidly upon the bridge of an int

s still quivering on the trigger as he trembled from head to foot. He hardly dared to try to move the gun. For a moment he could not speak.

d-stuffin'?" suddenly yelled o

m the ground as the expected deer could have done. He was, it is true, a learned man; but science has no specific for sudden fright, and he

. "Now, ain't ye lackin' fur head-stuffin'," he faltered, "a-steppin' along a d

s equilibrium, mental and phys

otioned to Birt to come neare

eman had expected to meet him here, whereas Birt had just had the b

wn the ravine, an eccentric old man whom he was disposed to identify as Satan. As the stranger stood there in the deer-path, he looked precis

ves, was not so superstitious as Rufe, and he shouldered his gun, and,

an, "to hire a boy for a f

ood. Birt wished he could see the expression of the stranger's eyes,

fifty cents a day?"

rice of the victim. The price suggested seemed a great deal to Birt, for in this region t

man eyed him quizzicall

" said Bir

le, and the tan-pit, and the wood-pi

day - eh?" sa

e familiar with the eccentricity of his companion, that he oug

mother?" he

ur mother," replied

this was not Satan in disguise. When did th

s of his garb, manner, speech, even the hammer i

question. "Do you-uns

e "valley towns," and that he was sojourning, for his health's sake, at a little watering-place some twelve miles distant o

you to do is to

" falte

rated the prof

pectacles

d think of "bones." Presently the professor, seeing that

gave Birt the extremely long name of these animals, and descanted upon such conditions of their existence as is known, much of which Birt did not understand. Although this fact was very apparent,

h indeed he had heard a vague tradition of a "big bone" discovery, such as is common to similar localities in this region, - and for this p

ging the matter had an incongruous suggestion of the giddiness of youth. He said that he would go home with Birt to

the deer-path, while Birt, with h

t struck Birt.

that thar lick Nate Griggs'

objections with airy efficiency; "I shall firs

ig ennywhar down the ravine, ef it air inside o' his lines," he said confidently, "'kase I

stopped shor

ejaculate

ation of incredu

in his pocket. They showed lustrous, metallic, yellow gleams as he placed them carefully in the old man's outstretched hand, telling how he came by the

ountin' on goin' pardners with a man in Spar

, vaguely expecting to discover his opinion by its expression, bu

peremptory "Come - come! We must go for the spade. But when we reach your mother's

ion was not altogether surprise as Birt had expected. Her chief absorption was a

day, same ez common, the rubbish would have b

stranger felt as polite as he looked, while he ta

mself with great alacrity in preparing for it under the professor's directions. He suffered a qualm, it is true, as he pounded t

ed intrepidly with a nonchalant air and a wagging tail, for he and Rufe, having failed to find Birt, had just returned home. The smal

see the familiar countenances of Pete and Joe, and was still more reassured to note that his mother was quietly standing beside the table, as she stirred the batter for bread in a wooden bowl. Tennessee had pressed close to B

e old man, "a moderate h

stirred Tennessee's flaxen hair. And Birt's dilated eyes saw the yellow particles s