There came a change in the weather. A vagueness fell upon the landscape.
The farthest mountains receded into invisibility, and the horizon was
marked by an outline of summits hitherto familiar in the middle
distance. The sunshine was languid, slumberous. A haze clothed the air
in a splendid garb of translucent, gold-tinted folds, and trailing
across the dim blue of the ranges invested them with many a dreamy
illusion. Athwart the sky were long sweeps of fibrous white clouds
presaging rain. Since dawn they were thickening; silent in the intense
stillness of the noontide, they gathered and overspread the heavens and
quenched the sun, and bereaved the vapours hanging in the ravines of all
the poetic glamours of reflection.
A rain-crow was huskily cawing on the trough by the roadside where he
had perched. Dorinda heard the guttural note, and went out to gather up
the fruit spread to dry on boards that were stretched from stone to
stone. Dark clouds were rolling up from the west. She paused to see them
submerge Chilhowee, its outline stark and hard beneath their turbulent
whirl; toward the south their heavy folds broke into sudden commotion,
and they were torn into fringes as the rain began to fall. The mist
followed and isolated the Great Smoky from all the rest of the world.
And now the little house was as lonely as the ark on Ararat. The mists
possessed the universe. They filled the forests and lay upon the corn
and hid the 'gyarden-spot,' and came skulking about the porch, peering
through the vines in a ghostly fashion. Presently they sifted through,
and whenever the door was opened it showed them lurking there as if
wistfully waiting or with some half-humanized curiosity.
Night stole on, and the ruddy flare of the fire had heightened
suggestions of good cheer and comfort, because of these waifs of the
rain and the air shivering in chilly guise about the door.
The men came to supper and all went again, except Pete. He was ailing,
he declared, and betook himself to bed betimes. The house grew quiet.
The grandmother nodded over her knitting, with a limp falling of the
lower jaw, occasional spasmodic gestures, and an absorbed, unfamiliar
expression of countenance.
Dorinda, in her low chair, sat in the glow of the fire. As it rose and
fell it cast a warm light or a dreamy shadow on her delicately rounded
cheek and her shining eyes. One dishevelled tress of her dense black
hair fell over the red kerchief twisted round her neck. Her blue
homespun dress lay in lustreless folds about her. The shadowy and rude
interior of the room--the dark brown of the logs of the wall and the
intervening yellow clay daubing; the great clumsy warping-bars; the
pendent peltry and pop-corn and strings of red pepper swaying from the
rafters; the puncheon floor gilded by the firelight; the deep yawning
chimney with its heaps of ashes and its pulsating coals--all formed in
the rich colours and soft blending of detail an harmonious setting for
her vivid, definite face, as she settled herself to work at her evening
'stent.' Her reel was before her; the spokes, worn smooth and dark and
glossy by age and use, reflected with polished lustre the glimmer of the
fire. She had a broche in her hand, just taken from the spindle. For the
lack of the more modern broche-holder she thrust a stick through the
tunnel of the shuck on which the yarn was wound, placing the end of it,
to hold it steady, in her low shoe; catching the thread between her deft
fingers she threw it with a fine free gesture over the periphery of the
reel. And then the whirling spokes were only a rayonnant suggestion, so
swiftly they sped round and round in the light of the fire, and a
musical low whirr broke forth. Now and then the reel ticked and told off
another cut, and she would bend forward to tie the thread with a
practised dextrous hand.
The downpour of the rain had a dreary, melancholy persistence, beating
upon the roof and splashing from the eaves into the puddles beneath. At
intervals a drop fell down the wide chimney and hissed upon the coals.
Suddenly there was another splash, differing in its abrupt energy; a
foot had slipped outside, and groping hands were laid upon the wall.
Dorinda sprang up with a white face and tense muscles. The old woman was
suddenly bolt upright in her corner, although not recognising the sound.
'Hurry 'long, D'rindy,' she said peremptorily, 'you-uns ain't goin' ter
reel a hank ef ye don't mosey. What ails the gal?' she broke off, her
attention attracted to her grand-daughter's changed expression.
'Thar's suthin' out o' doors,' said Dorinda, in a tremulous whisper. 'I
hearn 'em step whenst ye war asleep.'
'I ain't batted my eye this night,' said her grandmother, with the force
of conviction. 'I ain't slep' a wink. An' ye never hearn nuthin'.'
There was a bolder demonstration outside; a footfall sounded on the
porch, and a hand tried the latch.
'Massy on us! Raiders!' shrieked the old woman, rising precipitately,
her knitting falling from her lap, the ball of yarn rolling away and the
kitten springing after it.
Dorinda ran to the door--perhaps to put up the bar. But with sudden
courage she lifted the latch. Outside were the ghostly vapours, white
and visible in the light from within.
She peered out doubtfully for a moment. A sudden rush of colour surged
into her face; she made a feint of closing the door and ran back to her
work, looking over her shoulder with radiant eyes; she caught up the
broche, sticking it deftly in her shoe, seated herself in her low chair,
and with her light free gesture led the thread over the reel.
'Massy on us!' shrilled the old woman aghast. 'D'rindy, shet the door!
Be ye a-lettin' the lawless ones in on us! raiders an' sech, scoutin'
'roun' in the fog--an' nobody hyar but Pete, ez couldn't be waked up
right handy with nuthin' more wholesome'n a bullet--a----'
There was a man's figure in the doorway--a slow, hesitating figure, and
Rick Tyler, his face grave and dubious, embarrassed by the complicated
effort to look at Dorinda and yet seem to ignore her, trod heavily in,
and with a soft and circumspect manner closed the door.
'I kem over hyar, Mis' Cayce,' he remarked, 'ez I 'lowed mebbe the boys
war at the still an' yer felt lonesome, bein' ez it air rainin' right
smart, an''--he hesitated.
'Howdy, Rick--howdy!' she exclaimed cordially. He had the benefit of her
relief in finding the visitor not a raider. 'Jes' sot yer bones down
hyar by the fire. Airish out o' doors, ain't it? I'm powerful glad to
see ye. D'rindy ain't much company when she air busy, an' the weavin'
ain't done yit.'
'I 'lowed ez I mought resk comin' up hyar wunst in a while now,' he
said, with a covert glance at Dorinda. 'I ain't keerin' much fur the new
sher'ff, 'kase he air a town man, an' don't know me; an' the new
constable, he 'lowed over yander ter the store ez he war a off'cer o'
the law, an' not a shootin' mark fur folks ez war minded ter hide out;
an' Gid Fletcher hev been told ez he'd hev others ter deal with ef he
ondertook ter fool along arrestin' me agin. So I hev got no call ter
stay ez close in the bresh ez I hev been, though I ain't a-goin' ter
furgit these hyar consarns, nuther.'
He glanced down at the glimmer of steel in his belt, where Dorinda
recognised her father's pistols.
'Bes' be on the safe side,' said the old woman approvingly, her nimble
needles quivering in the light. 'But law! I useter know a man over
yandar on Chilhowee Mounting, whar I lived afore I war married, an' he
hed killed fower men--though I b'lieve one o' 'em war a Injun--an' he
hed no call ter aggervate hisself with sher'ffs nor shootin'-irons,
nuther. He walked 'round ez favoured an' free ez my old tur-r-key
gobbler. Though some said he hed bad dreams. But ez he war a hearty
feeder they mought hev kem from the stummick stiddier the heart.'
The young man listened with a doubtful mien. He was thrown back at his
ease in the splint-bottomed chair. One stalwart leg, the boot reaching
over his trousers to the knee, was stretched out to the fire; from the
damp sole the steam was starting in the warm air. On his other knee one
of the shooting-irons in question rested; he held it lightly with one
hand. The other hand was thrust into the belt that girded his brown
jeans coat. His tawny yellow hair, the ends of a deeper tint, being wet,
hung to his coat collar.
His hat, from the broad brim of which raindrops were still trickling,
was deposited beneath the chair, and the kitten was investigating it
with a dainty, scornful white mitten. He bore the marks of his trials in
his sharpened features; his face took on readily a lowering expression,
and a touch of anger kindled the smouldering fire in his brown eyes.
'But I hev killed no man,' he said, with emphasis. 'I hev hurt nobody.
Ef I hed, 'twouldn't be no more'n I oughter do ter g'long with the
sher'ff an' leave it ter men. But I ain't done no harm. An' I don't want
ter stay in jail, an' be tried, an' kem ter jedgment, an' sech, an'
mebbe hev them buzzardy lawyers fix suthin' on me ennyways.'
All through this speech the old woman tried to interrupt.
'Laws-a-massy, Rick,' she said at length, 'ye hev got mighty tetchy
sence ye hev been hid out. I ain't sayin' nuthin' agin you-uns, ez I
knows on--nor agin that man that lived on Chilhowee Mounting, nuther. I
can't sot myself ter jedge o' him. He war a perfessin' member, an' he
hed a powerful gift in 'quirin'; useter raise the chune reg'lar at all
the meetin's ez fur back ez I kin remember.'
Her interest in the visit was impaired to some degree by this collision;
she would have rejoiced to express her mental estimate of Rick as the
'headin'est critter in the kentry,' but the hospitable instincts
constrained her, and she nobly swallowed her vexation. His presence,
however, 'hectored' her, and she seized an excuse to absent herself
presently, saying that she had to get her clean plaid coat to mend,
'bein' ez when it last hung on the clothes-line that thar fresky young
hound named Bose stood on his hind legs ter gnaw it, an' actially
chawed a piece out'n it, and I hev ter put a wedge in it afore I kin
wear it.'
She creaked away into the next room, and as the door shut he turned his
eyes for the first time on Dorinda. The firelight played on the reel,
whirling in a lustrous circle before her, on the broche stuck in the
rough little shoe, on her arm, uplifted in a graceful curve as she held
the thread. Her brilliant eyes were grave and intent; her dense black
hair and her dark blue dress heightened the fairness of her face, and
the crimson kerchief about her throat was hardly more vivid than the
flush on her cheeks.
The knowledge that her embarrassment was greater than his own made him
bolder. They sat, however, some time in silence. Then, his heart waxing
soft in the coveted domestic atmosphere and the contemplation of the
picture before him, he said gently:
'They air all agin me, D'rindy.'
She forgot herself instantly. She looked full at him with soft
melancholy deprecation.
'They don't hender ye none,' she said.
'Ye don't sot no store by me nuther, these days, D'rindy,' he went on,
with a thrill of elation in his heart belying the doubt and despair in
his speech.
The reel ticked and told off another cut. She leaned forward to tie the
thread. She could not lift her eyelids now; still he saw the vivid
sapphire iris, half eclipsed by the long black lash.
He patted the pistol on his knee.
'Would ye be afeared, D'rindy, ter marry a man ez would hev ter keep his
life, and yourn, mebbe, with this pistol? Would ye be afeard ter live in
his house along o' him, a hunted critter--an' set an' sing in his door,
when the muzzle of a rifle or the sher'ff's revolver mought peek through
the rails of the fence? Would ye be afeared?'
He put the weapon slowly into his belt.
'Would ye be afeared?' he reiterated.
The reel stopped. She turned her eyes, dilated with a splendid boldness,
full upon him. How they flouted fear!
Such audacity of courage seemed to him gallant in a man; in a woman,
expressing faith in his valiance, it was enchanting. He lost his slow
decorum. He caught the hand that held the thread. She could not withdraw
it from that strong, ecstatic clutch, and as she started, protesting, to
her feet, he rose too, overturning the reel; and the kittens made merry
confusion in the methodical cuts.
'D'rindy,' he exclaimed, catching her in his arms, 'thar ain't no need
ter be afeard! Word kem up the mounting--I got it from Steve Byers--ez
when Abednego Tynes war tried he plead guilty, an' axed ter go on the
stand an' make a statement. An' he told the truth at last--at last! An'
he war sentenced, an' the case war nolle prosequied agin me! An' ye
warn't afeared! Ye would hev married me an' resked it. Ye warn't
afeard!'
She was tall, and her agitated, upturned face was close to his shoulder.
He knew it was simply unpardonable, according to the rigid decorums of
their code of manners, but the impetuosity of his joy overbore him, and
he bent down and kissed her lips.
Dorinda's courage!--it was gone. She looked so frightened and amazed
that he relaxed his clasp.
'Ye know, D'rindy,' he said apologetically, 'I'm fairly out'n my head
with joy.'
She stood trembling, her hand pressed to her beating heart, her head
whirling. And then, he never forgot it, of her own accord she laid her
other hand on his breast.
'I always believed ye war _good--good--good_!'
And the wild winds whirled around the Great Smoky, and the world was
given over to the clouds and the night, and the rain fell, and the drops
splashed with a dreary sound down from the eaves of the house.
They did not hear. How little they heeded. Within, all the atmosphere
was suffused by that wonderful irradiation of love, and happiness, and
hope that was confidence. The fire might flare if it listed. The shadows
might flicker if they would. It seemed to them at the moment each would
never see aught, care for aught, save what was expressed in the other's
eyes.
The kitten had waxed riotous in the unprecedented opportunities of the
reel, still lying with all its tangled yellow yarn upon the floor. As it
sprang tigerishly in the air and fell, fixing its predatory claws in
another cut, Dorinda looked down with a startled air.
'Granny'll be axin' mighty p'inted how that thar spun-truck kem ter be
twisted so,' she said, crestfallen and prescient. 'It looks like a
hurrah's nest.'
'Tell her ez how 'twar the cat,' said Rick.
Dorinda shook her head dubiously.
'The cat couldn't hev got it ef the reel hedn't been flunged on the
floor.'
'Let's wind it inter balls, then,' suggested Rick, quick at expedients.
'She'll never know it war tangled. I'll hold it fur ye.'
It was no great hardship for Rick. She lightly slipped the skeins over
the wrists that had known sterner shackles. The task required her to sit
near him; her face and head were bent toward him as she absorbed
herself in the effort to find the end of the thread; sometimes she
lifted her eyes and looked radiantly at him.
He had not known how beautiful she was--because he saw her face more
closely, he thought, not averted, nor coy, as always before--or was it
embellished by that ineffable joy that filled her heart? Well for them
both, perhaps, that those few moments were so happy--or is it well to
remember a supreme felicity, for this is fleeting. Yellow yarn! she was
winding threads of gold. How his pulses thrilled at the lightest flying
touch of her fleet hands!
He looked at her--into her eyes if he might--at her round crimson cheek,
at her clearly cut chin, at the long lashes, at the black hair drawn
back from her brow, where a curling tendril drooped over the temple. And
he held the yarn all awry.
It was no first-class job, for this reason and her haste.
'What ails ye ter hustle 'long so, D'rindy?' he asked at last. 'Ye ain't
so mighty afeared o' yer granny.'
'Naw,' Dorinda admitted; 'but brother Pete, he be at home ter-night, an'
he air toler'ble fractious ef he sees his chance, an' I don't want him
a-laffin' at we-uns; kase I hev hearn him say ez when young folks gits
ter windin' yarn tergether 'tain't fur love o' the spun-truck, but jes'
fur one another.'
Rick laughed a little, slowly. Then, growing grave:
'Ef ye'll b'lieve me, Pete told the word yander ter the still ez Amos
Jeemes--a mis'able addled aig he be!--'lowed ter the men at the mill ez
he b'lieved ez 'twar the Cayces ez rescued me, the day o' the
gaynder-pullin', from the sher'ff.'
She paused, the bright thread in her motionless hand, her fire-lit face
bent upon him.
'Amos Jeemes hed better be keerful how he tries ter fix it on we-uns!'
she cried, with the tense vibration of anger, 'tellin' the mill an'
sech! I hev hearn the boys 'low ez 'twar ten year in the pen'tiary fur
rescuing a man from the sher'ff, ef it got fund out.'
'Pete say ez how he jes' laffed at him an' named him a fool.'
'Pete air ekal ter that,' she returned with some sarcasm.
She was deftly winding the yarn once more, the fire showing a deeper
thoughtfulness upon her face. Its flicker gave the room a sense of
motion; the festoons of scarlet pepper-pods, the long yellow and red
strings of pop-corn, the peltry hanging from the rafters, apparently
swayed as the light rose and fell; and the warping-bars, with their
rainbow of spun-truck stretched from peg to peg, seemed to be dancing a
clumsy measure in the corner. The rocking-chair where granny was wont to
sit was occupied now by a shadow, and now was visibly vacant.
She looked up into his face with an absorbed un-noting eye. He was
pierced by the knowledge that though she saw him, she was thinking of
something else.
'Won't the Court let the pa'son go free now, sence they know ye done no
crime?' she asked.
'Naw. The pa'son air accused of a rescue, an' whether the man he rescued
air convicted or no it air jes' the same ter the law ez agin him. The
_rescue_ air the thing he hev got ter answer fur.'
She dropped her hands in her lap and threw herself back in her chair.
'Ten year in prison!' she exclaimed.
Her face was all the tenderest pity; her voice was full of yearning
sympathy; she cast her eyes upward with a look that was reverence
itself.
'How good he war! I s'pose he knowed ye never done no harm, an' he war
willin' ter suffer stiddier you-uns. I never hearn o' sech a man! 'Pears
ter me them old prophets don't tech him! I never hearn o' _them_ showin'
sech love o' God an' thar feller man. He rescued ye jes' fur that!'
Rick Tyler looked at her for a moment with a kindling eye. He sprang to
his feet, throwing the golden skein--it was only yarn after all, a
coarse yellow yarn--upon the floor. He strode across the rude hearth and
leaned against the mantelpiece, which was as high as his head. The light
fell upon his changed face, the weapons in his belt, his long tawny
hair, the flashing fire in his eye. He raised his right hand with an
importunate gesture.
'D'rindy Cayce, ye air in love with that man!' he said, in a low
passionate voice and between his set teeth. 'I hev seen it afore--long
ago; but sence ye hev promised ter marry me, ef ye say his name agin,
I'll kill him--I'll shoot him through the heart--dead--dead--do ye hear
me--_dead_!'
She was shaken by the spectacle of his sudden anger, and she was angered
in turn by his jealous rage. There was a dull aching in her heart in the
voids left by the ebbing of her ecstatic happiness.
This was too precious to lightly let go. She walked over to him and took
hold of his right arm, although his hand was toying nervously with his
pistol.
'Ye don't b'lieve no sech word, Rick,' she said, 'deep down in yer
heart, ye don't b'lieve it. An' how kin ye grudge me from thinkin' well
o' the man, an' feelin' frien'ly--oh, mighty frien'ly--when he will hev
ter take ten year in the pen'tiary fur givin' ye yer freedom? He rescued
ye! An' I'll thank him an' praise him fur it ev'y day I live. My love,
ef ye call it love, will foller him fur that all through the prison, an'
the bolts an' bars, an' gyards. An' yer pistols can't holp it.'
He put her from him with a mechanical gesture and a perplexed brow. He
sat down in the chair he had occupied at first; his hat was still under
it, one leg was stretched out to the fire, on the other knee his hand
rested; he looked exactly as when he first came into the room, but she
had a vague idea, as she stood opposite on the hearth, that it was long
ago, so much had happened since.
'D'rindy,' he said, 'he never done it. The pa'son never rescued me.'
She stood staring at him in wide-eyed amaze.
He was silent for a moment, and then he broke into a bitter laugh.
'I do declar,' he said, 'it fairy tickles me ter hear o' one man bein'
arrested fur rescuin' me, an' another set bein' s'pected fur rescuin'
me, an another set bein' s'pected o' the same thing, when not one of 'em
in all the Big Smoky, not one, lifted a hand ter holp me. Whether the
gallus or a life sentence 'twar all the same ter them. Accusing' yer dad
an' the boys at the still--shucks! Old Groundhog loant me a rifle, an'
ter hear him talk saaft sawder 'bout'n it ter Amos Jeemes ye'd hev thunk
he war the author o' my salvation! An' arrest the pa'son! he war a
likely one ter rescue a body!--too 'feared o' Satan! An' ef all they say
air true 'bout'n the word he spoke yander at the meetin' 'fore they tuk
him off, he hev got cornsider'ble call ter be afeard o' Satan. Naw, sir!
he never rescued nuthin' but the gaynder! Nobody holped me! Nobody on
the Big Smoky held out a hand! I ain't goin' ter furgit it, nuther!'
She stood looking intently at his face, with its caustic laugh upon it
and his eyes full of bitterness. She knew that he secretly upbraided her
as well as her people that they had made no move to save him from the
clutches of the sheriff. She involuntarily turned her eyes to the
gun-rack where the barrel of 'Old Betsy' gleamed, and she remembered the
mark it bore to commemorate the foregone conclusion of Micajah Green's
death. For this she had held her hand. She felt humble and guilty, since
she had acted in the interests of peace. And yet that shrewd sense, that
true conscience, which coexisted with the idealistic tendencies of her
nature, demanded how could she justify herself in asking the sacrifice
of ten years of other men's liberty that her lover might escape the
consequences of his own act; how could she dare to precipitate a
collision with the sheriff, while their grievance was still fresh in
their minds? Fortunately she did not lay this train of thought bare
before Rick Tyler. Natures like his foster craft in the most pellucid
candour.
'How'd ye git away, Rick?' she said instead.
'I won't tell ye,' he replied rudely; 'it don't consarn ye ter know.'
Then suddenly softening, 'I take that back, D'rindy. I ain't goin' ter
furgit ez ye owned up ye war willin' ter marry me an' live all yer life
along with a hunted man in a house that mought be fired over yer head
enny time, or a rifle-ball whiz in at the winder. I ain't goin' ter
furgit that.'
Alas! he could not divine how he should remember it!
He fixed his eyes on the fire, as if moodily recalling the scene. She
noted that desperate, hunted look in his face which it had not worn
to-night.
'I war a-settin' thar,' he began abruptly, 'my feet tied with ropes, and
with handcuffs on'--he held his hands together as if manacled; she
shuddered a little--'an' I hearn the hurrahin' an' fuss outside whilst
they was all a-rowin' over the gaynder. An' then I hearn a powerful
commotion 'mongst the dogs, ez ef they hed started some sorter game or
suthin'. An' the fust I knowed thar war a powerful scuttlin' 'round the
back o' the blacksmith's shop, an' a rabbit squez in a hole 'twixt the
lowes' log an' the groun'--'twarn't bigger 'n a gopher's hole. An' I
never thunk nuthin' 'ceptin' them boys outside would be mighty mad ef
they knowed thar hounds hed run a rabbit same ez a deer.'
Dorinda had sunk into her chair; her hands trembled, her face was pale.
'An' the cur'ous part of it,' he continued, now in the full swing of
narrative, 'war that the hounds wouldn't gin it up. They jes' kep'
a-nosin' an' yappin' roun' that thar little hole. Thar sot the
rabbit--she 'minded me o' myself, got in an' couldn't git out. Thar war
nowhar else fur her ter sneak through. She sot thar ez upright an'
trembly ez me; jes' ez skeered, an' jes' about ez little chance. The
only diff'ence 'twixt us war I hed a soul, an' that didn't do me enny
good, an' the lack o' it didn't do her enny harm; both o' we-uns war
more pertic'lar 'bout keepin' a skin full o' whole bones 'n ennything
else. An' then them nosin' hounds began ter scratch an' claw up dirt.
Bless yer soul, D'rindy, they hed a hole ez big ez that thar piggin,
afore I thunk ennything 'bout'n it. It makes me feel the cold shakes
when I 'members ez I mought not hev thunk 'bout'n it till 'twar too
late. Lord! how slow them hounds seemed! though the rabbit she fund 'em
fast enough, I reckon. Ev'y now an' then she'd hop along this way an'
that, an' the hounds would git her scent agin--an' the way they'd yap!
The critter would hop along an' look up at me--I never will furgit the
look in the critter's eyes ez she sot thar an' waited fur the dogs. They
war in a hurry an' toler'ble lively, I reckon, but they 'peared ter me
ez slow ez ef ev'y one war weighted with a block an' chain. Waal, the
hole got bigger an' they yapped louder, an' I got so weak waitin', an'
fearin' somebody would hear 'em, an' kem ter see 'bout what they hed got
up fur game, an' find that hole, I didn't know how I could bide it. The
hole got big enough fur the hounds ter squeeze through, an' hyar they
kem bouncin' in. They lept round the shop, an' flopped up agin the door,
so that ef thar hedn't been all that fuss outside 'bout takin' the
gaynder down, somebody would hev been boun' ter notice it. I hed ter
wait fur the dogs ter ketch the rabbit an' shake the life out'n her
'fore I darst move a paig, they kep' up sech a commotion. An' when they
hed dragged the critter's little carcass outside an' begun fightin' over
it, I got up. I jes' could sheffle along a leetle bit; that eternally
cussed scoundrel, Gid Fletcher----'
He paused.
It was beyond the power of language to express the deep damnation he
desired for the blacksmith. His face grew scarlet, the tears started to
his angry eyes. How he pitied himself, remembering his hard straits, and
his cruel indignities! And how she pitied him!
He caught his breath, and went on:
'That black-hearted devil hed tied my feet so close I could sca'cely
hobble, an' my hands an' wrists hed all puffed an' swelled up, whar the
cords had been--'twar the sher'ff ez gin me the handcuffs. Waal, I tuk
steps 'bout two inches long till I got 'crost the shop ter the hole.
Then I jes' flopped down an' croped through. I didn't stan' up outside,
though 'twar at the back o' the shop an' nobody could see me. Ye know
the aidge o' the bluff ain't five feet from the shop; the cliff's ez
sheer ez a wall, but thar's a ledge 'bout twenty feet down. It looked
mighty narrer, an' thar warn't no vines ter swing by; but I jes' hed ter
think o' them devils on t'other side the shop ter make me willin' ter
resk it. Waal, thar war a clump o' sass'fras--ye know the bark's
tough--near the aidge. I jes' bruk one o' the shoots ter the root an'
turned it down over the aidge o' the bluff an' swung on ter the e-end
o' it. Waal, it tore off in my hands, but I didn't fall more'n a few
feet, an' lighted on the ledge. An' I tossed the saplin' away, an' then
I walked--steps 'bout'n two inches long, ef that--ez fur ez the ledge
went, cornsider'ble way from the Settlemint, an' 'twar two or three
hundred feet ter the bottom, whar I stopped. An' thar war a niche thar
whar I could sit an' lay down, sorter. Thar I bided all night. I hearn
'em huntin', an' it made me laff. I knowed they warn't a-goin' ter find
me, but I didn't know how I war a-going' ter git away from thar with
them handcuffs on, an' ropes 'roun' my legs; they war knotted so ez I
couldn't reach 'em fur the irons. I waited all nex' day, though I never
hed nuthin' ter eat but some jew-berries ez growed 'mongst the rocks
thar. An' the nex' morn'n','--his eye dilated with triumph--'the
swellin' o' my wrists hed gone down, an' I could draw my hands out'n the
handcuffs ez easy ez lyin'.'
He held up his hands; they were small for his size, and bore little
token of hard work; the wrists were supple.
'An' then,' he said, with brisk conclusiveness, 'I jes' ontied the ropes
'roun' my feet an' clumb up ter the top o' the mounting by vines an'
sech, an' struck inter the laurel, an' never stopped a-travellin' till I
got ter Cayce's still.'
He drew a long sigh not unmixed with pleasure. He had a sense of
achievement. It gave, perhaps, a certain value to his harsh experience
to recount his triumph to so fair an audience. He was looking at her
with a dawning smile in his eyes, and she was silently looking at him.
Suddenly she burst into sobs.
'Shucks, D'rindy, it's all over an' done now,' he said, appropriating
the soft sympathy of her tears.
'An' I'm so glad, Rick; so glad fur that. I'd hev bartered my hope o'
heaven fur it,' she sobbed. 'But I war thinkin' that minit o' the
pa'son. They 'rested him in his pulpit, an' they wouldn't gin him bail,
an' they kerried him 'way from the mountings, an' jailed him, an' he'll
go ter the pen'tiary, ten year mebbe, fur a crime ez he never done. Ye
wouldn't let him do that ef ye could holp it, would ye, Rick?'
She looked up tearfully at him. His eyes gleamed; his nostrils were
quivering; every fibre in him responded to his anger.
'Ef I could, D'rindy Cayce, I'd hev that man chained in the lowest pits
o' hell fur all time, so ye mought never see his face agin. An' ef I
could, I'd wipe his mem'ry off'n the face o' the yearth, so ye mought
never speak his name.'
'Law, Rick Tyler, don't!' protested the girl, aghast. 'I've seen ye ez
jealous o' Amos Jeemes----'
'I don't keer _that_ fur Amos Jeemes!' he exclaimed, snapping his
fingers. 'I hevn't seen ye sit an' cry over Amos Jeemes, an' sech
cattle, an' say he war like a prophet. I thought ye war thinkin' 'bout
_me_, an'--an'----'
He paused in mortification.
'D'rindy,' he said, suddenly calm, though his eye was excited and
quickly glancing, 'did ye ax him ef he would do ennything fur me when I
war in cust'dy?'
'Naw,' said Dorinda, 'nobody could do nuthin' fur you-uns, 'kase they'd
hev ter resk tharselfs an' run agin the law. But what I want ye ter do
fur pa'son air fur jestice. He never done what he war accused of. An' ye
_war_ along o' Abednego Tynes, though innercent. Law, Rick, ef the
murderer would say the word ter set ye free, can't ye do ez much fur the
pa'son, ez hev seen so much trouble a'ready?'
'In the name o' Gawd, D'rindy, what air you-uns a-wantin' me ter do?' he
asked, in sheer amazement.
She mistook the question for relenting. She caressed his coat sleeve as
she stood beside him. All her beauty was overcast; her face was stained
with weeping; tears dimmed her eyes, and her pathetic gesture of
insistence seemed forlorn. He looked down dubiously at her.
'What I want ye ter do, Rick, fur him, air right, an' law, an' jestice.
Nobody could hev done that fur ye, 'cept Abednego Tynes. I want yer ter
go ter pa'son's trial fur the rescue, an' gin yer testimony, an' tell
the jedge an' jury the tale ye hev tole me--the truth--an' they'll be
obleeged ter acquit.'
He flung away in a tumult of rage. It was exhausting to witness how his
frequent gusts of passion shook him.
'D'rindy,' he thundered, 'ye want me ter gin myself up fur the pa'son;
ye don't keer nuthin' fur me, so he gits back ter the Big Smoky an'
you-uns. I mought be arrested yit on the same indictment; the nolle
prosequi don't hender--it jes' don't set no day fur me ter be tried. An'
mebbe Steve Byers hev been foolin' me some. Ye jes' want ter trade me
off ter the State fur the pa'son.'
'Ye shan't go!' cried the girl. 'I didn't know that about the nolle
prosequi. Ye shan't go!'
He was mollified for a moment. He noticed again how pale she was.
'Law, D'rindy,' he said, 'ye fairly wear yerself out with yer tantrums.
Whyn't ye do like other folks; the pa'son never holped me none, an' I
ain't got no call ter holp him.'
'Ef ye war ter go afore the Squair an' swear 'bout'n the rescue an'
sech, an' git him ter write it ter the Court fur the pa'son----'
'The constable o' the deestric' ez hangs 'roun' thar at the jestice's
house mought be thar an' arrest me,' he said speciously. 'The gov'nor
hain't withdrawn that reward yit, ez I knows on.'
'Naw,' she said quickly, 'I'll make the boys toll the constable down ter
the still till ye git through. The jestice air lame, an' ain't able ter
arrest ye, an' I'd be thar an' gin ye the wink, ef thar war ennything
oncommon ennywhar, or enny men aroun'.'
He could hardly refuse. He could not affect fear. He hesitated.
'Ez long ez I thunk he hed rescued ye, I didn't hev no call ter move.
But now I know how 'twar, I'd fairly die ef he war lef' ter suffer in
jail, knowin' he hev done nuthin' agin the law.'
Her lip quivered. The tears started to her eyes. The sight of them, shed
for another man's sake, excited again the vigilant jealousy in his
breast.
'I'll do nuthin' fur Hi Kelsey,' he declared. 'Ef ye ain't in love with
him, ye would be ef he war ter git back ter the Big Smoky. He done
nuthin' fur me, an' I hev no call ter do nuthin' fur him.'
He looked furiously at her, holding her at arm's length.
'Ye hev tole me ye love _me_, an' I expec' ye ter live up ter it. Ye hev
promised ter marry me, an' I claim ye fur my wife. Say that man's name
another time, an' I'll kill him, ef ever he gits in rifle range agin.
I'll kill him! I'll kill him!' his right hand was once more mechanically
toying with the pistol, while he held her arm with the other, 'an' I'll
kill ye, too!'
He had gone too far; he had touched the dominant impulse of her nature.
Her cheeks were flaring. Her courage blazed in her eyes.
'An' I tell ye, Rick Tyler, that I am not afeard o' ye! An' if ye let a
man suffer fur a word ez ye can say in safety, an' an act ez ye kin do
in ease, ye ain't the Rick Tyler I knowed--ye air suthin' else. I 'lowed
ye war good, but mebbe I hev been cheated in ye, an' ef I hev, I'll gin
ye up. I ain't a-goin' ter marry no man ez I can't look up ter, an' say
"he air _good_!" An' ef ye'll meet me a hour 'fore sundown, at the
Squair's house, ter-morrow evenin', I'll b'lieve in ye, an' I'll marry
ye. An' ef ye don't, I won't.'
She caught up his hat and gave it to him. Then she opened the door. The
white mists stood shivering in the little porch.
He turned and looked in angry dismay at her resolute face. But he did
not say a word, though he knew her heart yearned for it beneath her
inflexible mask.
He walked slowly out, and the door closed upon him, and upon the
shivering white mists. He paused for a moment, hesitating.
He heard nothing within--not even her retreating step. He knew as well
as if he had seen her that she was leaning against the door, silently
sobbing her heart out.
'D'rindy needs a lesson,' he said sternly. And so he went out into the
night.