A Pagan of the Hills

ping out all that end of the village. The age-seasoned frame houses there huddled close enough for the hot contagion to sweep them with typhoon speed and they we

st and the fire-tide rolled with it to the edge and not the core of th

de brittle by long freezing, went down. At his back, beyond the boom, sounded the dirge of the swollen waters running out. That was like the wail of a maniac exhausted by his ravings. The stage was dropping as rapidly as it had risen. Ahead, tossing a mane of smoke and a spume of spark, r

ere drunker than any moonshine guzzler back there at that tavern to-night. Drunk on t

one of the shacks, for a down-pour had come with the wind and in key

y when the lightning flashed with the spectral effect of beauty. It stood straight with back-flung shoulders and head upturned into the rain like some wild high-priest of storm worship. W

at the hardihood of such a shower-bath would have been more severely taxe

rom any eye, but likewise stripped to the flesh was one almost as heroic and far lovelier. Alexander too, was availing herself of that strong tonic which would have brought collaps

gray clouds that hung in trailing wisps along the upper slopes a steady rain sobbed down. After breakfast Bud Sellers who had afte

worship. Brent knew that he was trying to explain to Alexander his torture of

him a hearing, but with lips tight pressed and the unforgettable picture in her mind of the stricken man who might even now be

effort to save her from a similar fate, but that only irritated her. She had not called for help. She had not needed help and this rush of volunteers to her rescue was, afte

s said, for the two voices rose in inflection, u

me- Hit don't seem like no common thirst- Hit comes on me like a plague and hit masters me ther same as spells or fit

control. "Ef a man kain't holp goin' mad like a dog-an' seekin' ter slay folks, I reckon he--" It was on her tongue to say that he ought to pay th

ds. Ef I feels ther cravin' masterin' me ergin, I'll go ter town an' git ther police

beholden ter ye fer last night. None-the-less--" The color paled from her cheeks and she shook her head. "None-the-less until I gits back home-an' knows

s no different," he acknowledged as he turned away, but from that moment he had de

as if to shake away some cobwebbing thought from the brain. Then with an energetic step she came over and without preamble ann

inquired, with a mischievous glance at the giant whose eyes, save when they d

demanded. "I reckon we hain't got no nee

you measured up that timber back yon, didn't y

points. I have a

u an' me should measure up thet raft now an' figger out what's gone, so thet I kin tell paw--" She halted as abruptly as though a blow on the mouth had broken off the utterance and a paroxysm of pain crossed her

nquired: "Do you understand the terms of th

rded. "We've done

d pay for it at some point from which I could deliver it in the Bluegras

t-carry out the dam of her own hard-schooled repression on a flood of tears. Her eyes became suddenly misty and her lips trembled. She started to speak, then gulped and remained silent. But gradu

words were slowly, even tediously enunciated they seemed to come with difficulty. "But ef I could take thet money back thar-an' tell him hit war all settled up--" The fullness of what

ed with a small stove, a deal table and a few hickory-withed chairs. It is here that directors meet and hinterland financiers negotiate. Into t

he back of an envelope and submitted the results

things more. I shall now draw you a check for four thousand and

en in her hand, suddenly pushed back her chair and into her eyes came an amazed disappointment-a keen anxiety. For a moment she looked blankly at the man who was opening his check book. She suddenly felt that she had been confronted wi

ke gaze but to Brent who was smoothing

ssment and caught at the signer's wrist as spasmodically as thoug

h confusion she added, "I don't aim ter insult ye none-but I don't know much erb

out of character. Having assumed to be a mountain lumb

mighty spring had uncurled under him, and

im in perplexity. But Halloway's slip was brief and his recovery instant. Since Brent sat the

nly mounted into domineering vehemence. "Tote hit over wild an' la'relly mountings with this hyar country fu

stiffened instantly into hostility. The perplexity died from her face and her eyes blazed. For a moment she met the excited gaze of the man who towered over her and then in a coldly

, but first hear what we both have to say. He's right. With this gang of scoundrels in and about town it would be madness to carry t

obdurately insisted. "I wants ter show my paw cash money. Ef he

en afore ye," asserted Halloway with the deep boom of sul

e better part of an hour but she was as i

ecline to recognize her authority to act for her father but from a hip pocket of her trousers she produced a worn

lly, "because so many damn fool men 'lo

been done up in heavy paper, sealed by the cashier with wax, and identified with her own signature, she consented to permit it to lie in the safe overnight since the roads w

nk and asked the cashier to "back a letter" for him, since writing was not one of his own strong points. The cashier was obliging, and in as

ke no check. She was plum resolved to have her money in cash-and she aims t

and the cashier agreed: "Me an' you both. Why she wou

ssed a caucus attended by a half

and though a general accord of purpose preva

entious objector, who, however, fully endorsed the plan of lightening her financ

even have been scoffed into limbo had not Jase Mallows lea

wed that gal some day, an' afore I'd see her lay-wayed a

t up at that but Jas

arby she kin be robbed without hurtin' her an' wharby atter ye've done

the scowls of his listeners gave way t

anded one of those annoyingly exact persons who mar

'll be days afore any other route's fordable. She's got ter

l a short distance from the railroad station, which was also the telegrapher's office, he saw Lute Brown go into the place and fell to wonder

d opened his key and begun sending. Neither Brown nor the operato

t was versed in the Morse code, and Brent

nd dashes fell into letters and the letters into

ng with bundle by way of C

ide he cursed the need of slow walking as he made his way to the rafts. Alexander was not ther

m his story, first blackened into the thunder cl

she suspects us too-and has already set out to give us the slip? She hasn't a chance to get through befo

e got to go to the livery stabl

hat plan too-and set out on foot. It's a safe bet, though, that

ke a sort of dog-trot to hold th

as closed