A Pagan of the Hills

ivid beauty. There had been a deliberate purpose in the clear carrying tones with which she had repulsed Jase Mallows. He had been the first man to make advances, because he was the boldest

ute had safeguarded her. Now she

nding off the cumbering drift and clearing the whirlpools where hidden reefs threatened destruction. There were sharp turns and angles too, where the yellow water r

ted into weird minors and lugubrious tunes, recitative, of sad love themes-and these were, of course, addressed to Alexander. She joined no group, but sat with her hands clasped about her updrawn knees and her gaze ranging off into distance. The carmine and orange illuminati

She was twenty-one and unawakened, but that the men about her should long allow her to remain so was as unlikely as that a pirate-crew would leave

helter that had been fashioned for her and wrapped herself in her blanket. But the pistol holster lay close to her hand. When she rose at day-break they had t

the girl carried an icy bucket into her shack and reinforced its forward wall with blanket and rubber coat, not as a prot

a boudoir where beauty-doctors have done their utmost. And that day too, save for the smouldering eyes

er put in at ther Coal City boom, hain't we?" And several heads nodded assent. Brent noticed that Jase Mallows' face wore a smile which did not

and gave back the churl's re

't have to answer me. I didn't suppose it w

he amended his attitude. Two days before Brent would have been more cautious of offending this man, whose exploits had run, sometimes, to vi

rt of place. Hit's a coal minin' town with only one tavern-an' things goes forward thar right sensibly similar ter hell on a hot night. With ther

exander couldn't speak civil ter me, but I war jest a s

, the broken levels of the town toward the tavern. It was, at best, a squalid village and a tawdry one. Now it was to boot a wholly demoralized town, cut off from the other world by inundated highways and t

ind the light of the lantern she carried and followed her in the shadows. When he had gone only a little way, he had the vague feeling that someone else was following him so he halted and wheeled suddenl

e pile which was the tavern, sounds of lewd and raucous voi

Mallows. Now he understood. Respectable folks had withdrawn to shelter behind barred doors and tightly shuttered windows until such time as the

y now, though it should have been full-he made out a figure hastening about him in a circuitous fashion at a dog trot as though bent on arriving at

and stood for a moment, evidently hesitating with disgust for the babel within, Brent drew bac

huge and unclean lout of a man and the establishment

ests. When his slatternly wife had complained: "Them miners an' loggers jest louzes up a body's house," he had wagged his head dejectedly and spread his great black-nailed hands. "

the river went down and fords were once more passable. That a reign of terror would prev

but since the beginning of this saturnalia they had not

individually provisioned and since even in these flood times a dollar left unwatched on a

been commandeered as a wassailing hall. Here the entering guest must run the gantlet of

ls and kept their mouths shut. From the ceiling downward hung the thick, stale cloud of smoke from many strong pipes and the rancid poison of air discharged from many lungs had bec

rowd sat a giant who seemed a shade rougher of guise than those about him. When he stood, this man topped six feet by as many inches. His shoulders had such a spread that one thought of them as of an eagle's wings-from tip to tip. His face, now bristling with dark stubble, was none the less clear-chiseled and arrestingl

with a certain unveiled contempt-but it was not the disgust that might have

t of tawdry finery that their sisters in western mining camps affect. There was he

r a moment or two as her amazed eyes took in the composition of the picture. Alexander had never seen such a spectacle before

on took no account of her coming but the city man was standing directly behind her and he saw the pliancy of h

that his posture was the electrically expectant one of a man poised for instant

etense. He might act as though she were a man bent on avenging a mortal injury. There was no leisure then to speculate on how Bud

led down on the dissonance, and everyone was staring at the girl who stood inside the

om the rear. "A gal in pa

voice that went through the place like the note of a xylophone. She stood out, a

d and bent upon her the full battery

imed one of th

no shame!" The second u

r ignored th

?" she repeated and a ch

whom Jase Mallows had previously spoken, came to

n trash nohow- They're jealous, but thar's some right upstandin' men-folks hyar fer ye te

e easy to decline. The crowd was drifting forward, and through the closing lane of humanity, Bud Sel

iet contempt on the girl's face, his manner changed to truculent bullying. "Folks says ye wants ter be tr

eed it. Then as he stood, still uncertain, he saw the giant who had until now looked on with detached emotionlessness come elbowin

d wrath. Her lips had tightened and her eyes taken on a qual

be guessed, with a heavy-calibered revolver outthrust into the face of the man whose pistol h

ness of voice, yet one no more unfalteringly firm than the hand which held the gun. "Hit won't never pl

ded itself upon Lute Brown's thoughts. Still since even such a situation called

wants him ter come towards me. Of

at him, "an' I'm comin' towards ye right now. Ef yore h

r casually laid hand upon him by one shoulder and flung him sidewise as casually as a terrier t

think I heered ye say ye wanted ther landlord. Ef ye'll come with me I'll

e beset feminine, and looking up into a face which was smiling with an engaging radi

k door, but when they had gone, Brent saw in astonishment that Bud Sellers wa

of deadly calm and absolute sobriety. "Because e

ed deliberately. "She don't tolerate no sweet-heartin', but whilst I w

ly back to his table as though nothing had occ

alloway?" asked the city man in

ces was again gathering volume he replied: "Oh, ye're right li

aned a little forward, then in lowered tones, from which ev

w thrill, in a world of threadbare ones-is worth a king's ranson

gh to overhear, and rising

nter up ter my room and lay down. I hopes ye git's took keer of y

u now," declared