Show PAT a E N 1 HARLAN HATCHER HATCHED copyright by the co A CHAPTER X continued 11 they both felt suddenly confused ne ile put down the pencil lie had find been playing with and arose from the smooth worn hickory chair its a fine day reuben said could we walk or sit somewhere it a while lets do slie site said they strolled across the yard to the path along julias garden fence julla julia was among tier her pens pulling OT olt the failed faded blooms you certainly hae have a fine garden mrs battern rat tern reuben said its not quite so good this year julia juila replied the soft part of the afternoon lay quiet over the valley were going to sit a little while up there on the rock by t the lie sycamore cynthia said well dont gra en far julla julia sald said following them with tier her eyes to hie be shaded spot by the lie creek in full view of the house and garden they felt strangely happy to be removed front from all places where they had been in company with other people and to he be alone together in a new place whose only associations were those they wore were now making we found some nice spots back in the woods reuben said 1 I like the way the hollows fork off on each side of wolfpen Wolf pen like ribs on a waho oleaf some parts of the place I 1 have never been to she said 1 I like best the pinnacle rind and Cran Crain esnest and the hollows here by the house I 1 dont know whether bem bel when the sp spicewood leewood begins to bit bud and the white logwood dogwood blooms or in september when the wild touch me nots bots are waist high with yellow and red spotted brigs bags and two red cars on each one and bumblebees crowding down into them and shouldering the yellow ellow lust dust that sounds the best reuben liei ihen said its right pretty when the creek freezes over and the bustle s are glazed with ice fee and the snow hangs filings on the pine trees I 1 guess it is always a good place to be the white limbs of tile sycamore tree caught in the light of the sun and the lie ground and the creel creek were in n movement with shadow splotches be getting the aurpy done soon now I 1 guess it wont he be so very much longer now before it Is finished im afraid then what will you do ill see it if it closes on the map and then ill take it back home and my father will or maybe I 1 will make the calculations cu and Is fix up the papers does that take it a ton long time not long like the geld work you dont hane hae to come blick back any more after youve finished running it that depends I 1 might have to come back about the piece cut off for shel lenberger there was a long pause then lie he added when do you go 0 to PIL eville in september jesses going too but he be told daddy yet lies iles to read law with tandy morgan 1 I think that will be fine are you going to follow surveying yes theries lots lota ot of work to do in this country and the towns ire are growing and the counties thinking about roads I 1 want to be the county surveyor some day oh ob that would be a fine job for a man inan As good as the law 1 I kind of hate to see a place like this go oer to a man like ger to cut into the elg big sandy slopes where here the timber Is cut off are awful looking things iva just lite part down the creel creek and you wont see it from here but bOme sometimes times at night I 1 can hear bear the trees talking about about to happen to them and it goes from one to another all over the hills bills and dies away lo in a sigh on our creek still I 1 reckon people need timber 1 I reckon they sat in silence listening to the life all about them all this cooking and boarding so many too hard on just you and your mother mot lierl it came so suddenly and without preparation that she was startled she lifted her hand from froin the moss mitts and dropped it into tier lap clasping the other why no reuben A body just dont think much about it your mother looks a little worn out dont you think so 1 I guess I 1 just thought of it its lifter after washing and ironing or something ive noticed and she he likes to be out in her garden alj she told daddy she need extra help are Su Sli ellenberger aud staying on here while they lumber 1 I dont know cynthia said 11 1 reckon so ue had bad surprised her a again aln by this kind of observation which aich off did d not make she turned and looked full at him youre different reuben lie ile smiled at her a singularly rare and engaging smile different how and from what 1 I dont know how bow to say JL it but you are well so then are you ue lie felt the thrill thrift of these advances which aich came unwilled into being and then as curiously retreated Is doug mason alason what alint you call different lie asked no why him oh I 1 lime liae seen him look nt at you and watched liim him when you are around do you are you old friends lies iles a rood good boy and runs tile place since ills daddy died iles hes a les just a good neighbor and his mothers not well 1 that brought another st alle leace ice keu ben wondering just why he said anything thin about dou doug alason who came caine sometimes in the evening to sit the patterns but said very little an I 1 looked often at reuben euben Il cynthia turned tile the nattle name over in tier her mind and wondered Non dered what thin tiling lay try so powerfully III a tier her heart tit that at she had said lie he was just a good neighbor ile he has a big sang sen patch lies hes golna to make a lot of money on there was no way nay for reuben to know that she was offering olT ering liim him lie secief which doug had laid with demotion before tier she glanced at him her hei eyes turned down they hid had been led far deeper than the surface of their talk since the half confused moment by the drawing table cynthia began to realize that they had buth both dressed dou doue in a word and set him before them as a symbol of their new relationship nothing else seemed to exist except this ent entranced danced moment of 0 creating it 11 new experience with another human being her open liand hand lay along the delicate green muss covering of tile the stone dividing it into cool points with ith tier her fingers reuben dropped ills his long brown arid and briar scarred hank hand gently upon it it was warm and lilli ache e anion among the moss fronds 1 I noer even dreamed anted of findan finding g anybody like you when I 1 started u up P here kind and I 1 nearly ome come only another job crime came along that my dad had to look after himself would you have minded that so much cynthia asked yes tes lie answered there seemed to be nothing n more to say aloud site she withdrew tier her liand hand and let it lie in her lap it seemed different from the other one arid and in communion with mth all tile the rest of tier her being julia was now at tile gate ot of tier her garden she stood looking at cynthia and reuben euben ri wed better go back now cow cynthia said the cows heavy with the alie long ton lay day were coming slowly in file around the hill toward the barn everything was stirring again into life for feeding time 1 I like to come down tills this vally valley this time of day reuben finally said rig as they neared the yard it seems like everything Is doing just what it was intended to do it if you look close you can see saul climbing back to Cran CraD esnest shelf cynthia said 1 I see him reuben answer answered ell abdal was already in the yard ile he smiled boyishly and when cynthia had zone gone into the house he said to reuben oil oh youve been surveying reuben smiled at abdal ile he liked his big spirit and his big energy yes abdal theres a lot to be stir preyed on tills this place CHAPTER XI near the end of 0 an afternoon some lays days later into july reuben warren drone droe the iron spike of lie jacobs staff into the ground below the mill find and brought to a close the uncertain line around the pattern attorn lands da daiy diy v arter after day from dawn dan to dusk they had pushed it the ax cleared dav through gli the timber limiter climbing over ever the ridges that lay lifeless in the noonday heat and down into cool damp hot hoi jows where the birds gathered in tit the afternoons then they had marked off the for Sh ellenberger cutting across the place front from the jutting g point on the lie big sandy wat watershed ersheal overlooking ool the river where the long lone ridges rolled into form out of blue and indistinct space to the rich earth at tilt HIP root foot or of tile lie pinnacle on cannon bannon creek in view of Cran esnest reuben peeped through the slit silt in 1 tile lie lai sights to the alie yellow point still catching the sun above the shadows in wolfpen Wolf Volf pen thence north eighty three degrees thirty minutes enst cast to the beginning lie said to spairrel and tile the others and anal entered it in the notebook note book boob 1 I gue guess a that finishes it it was nag like saving good by to one or of tile family tomorrow reuben would be leaving this place where tie he had lived through the days of spring and early summer lie he would ride in silence behind spar rel to Pi keville and then by boat down the big sandy sitting on tile prow to watch the pattern lands lie had surveyed come into view and recede and pass into the hands of Sh ellenberger it was the first time lie had ever been sorry to complete a job in the hills lillesand and return home lie he had had enough experience in the changing world to foresee that tile the loveliness of wolfpen could not survive the wave of development which would one lay day swep over it lie he was sorry ue he stood by the kitchen window smelling the scent of poplars and pine trees on OD the light breece from the hollow cynthia found lilio filin there for a minute alone the notebooks note looks and the deeds were tied in it i 1 b indie on the th table by the compass ready for the journey in the lie corner were the lite pins the chaan and tile lie staff 1 I 1 guess its all lie he smiled 1 I hate anite to see noll go she sald im sorry I 1 call cant t make tilt job list last any longer imager it just seemed to get done july seemed a long fly ay off in april cynthia said anil and september seems a long ions way off from froll it will be different tomorrow when you ou are gone slip sit said its been a good hagood place to be in anti anil it be a good place to collie back baals to lie ile said but bill I 1 suppose soon be busy at tile institute 1 I 1 reckon so will yuu you tite time any more to do 10 here ere nt at out our place it look like it now then you ou wont bo be coming back slie she said ill be corning coming bik lie answered ansi ered it may be september arid and it may inny be skiing air und it may not be to survey lint but ill be coming nick back tile the spirit of the place changed chi ngod abruptly after reuben went away re lie leased front the suncy jasper jesse jcsse anti and abrill abril were deep in the inc neglected corn and tile ill III tended crops heretofore unknown on Voir pen Us athla i found tile lie day city very ton inn in I 1 the hie work irksome when it was done for shellen berger und and malleus Mul leus those two seem to fill up tile lie chuie hole alley and take possession of tile place now that reuben Is gone arid and when I 1 try to remember what we tie said before A I 1 P I 1 IM zia tj 1 a 1 J i is M 4 agot V I 1 I 1 to I 1 11 le i it W 1 I never even dreamed of finding anyone like you when I 1 started up here lie be went it seems like we say anything at all but it appear that way then it may not bp be to sur ney cy but ill be coming back ill be so glad when mien september Rep conics comes only if it for mother she dues ties seem a little tired and peaked like reubell said six weeks yet it is a right long ion lime Sh ellenberger filled up tit the valley calley with ills presence and ills lumbering operations the old gristmill was con arted into a sawmill one change in it generation was nall ell established by precedent but two and not only in a generation but in a single year threatened tile stability of if it mans cus customs sparrel was vias too eng engrossed rosed in lite lie mechanical ch details of bogging up tip tile saw iv and ripping out boards for tile camp to lie sc nIthe illie to it I 1 but nt to cynthia it was via all new and tint sometimes she watched tile the smoke boll up tit h the laurel hushes bushes on the pin nacle tint anil the hie bil bright ait whirling birling saw bite into file lie body of a yellow log which land liick li it these hills lwills longer than limn all her people slie site would listen tensely to tile lie saw cloaking its first noisy attack and then settling into a steady mucous scream ns it on off 9 piece from its side A eshher won would pass through tier lier spine the alie tree trunk became a living thin thing suffering sul suf Tpring foring lation anil an slie she wondered von dered whether the screaming came front from tile exultation of f the file furious saw teeth or from tile hurt tree in its cry of pain at tile the beginning of this benr par she would liaro have spoken tier thoughts to sparrel Sp arrol now slie site was silent about them while the operations went on at tile mill and in dry creek slie she followed the progress of the hie by com plating in tier tile hie frag ments of talk let fall by the flat nt at the table on the porch lind and by the glimpses she had find of it as lilie went about Alt the flip place lattice the mountain men were coming to Volf pen lien and dry cheek with ll ii s on for their shoulders looking for work they came from the cabins in the squeezed li allows where farming as already gr growing precarious hearing the hie that there was cash to be fail luid for chopping timber on oil sparrel s they cleared away flat thil at lite hip of dry creel cicek anal emeled scowls for fair tin ill men and sheds for the mules find and a blacksmith shop 1 I lie ann ars it mill saws gnawed nl al tile lie liola i oi ilir ill liets through tit lie awilow bostl is 11 lilt ilir hill sides sp spreading rending n lj like at grim disease A few sharp slaps of no an ax the thin swish swash of a saw then a shout from the men a slow groan rising to nn an explosion in the final crash and rising awny away to a ills his per in the limbs waving through the nir air to the ground over rind mer cr through tile the weeks the attack the cry of surrender the crash and sigh 0 of f the fall fail spreading up tip tile ahe hollow the heavily timbered spot where I 1 alir r ton ila had caught possums possum 3 which always lay so silent ind black in tile mornings under tile lie Phin pinnacle nele a thick group croup of men in a settlement sell lement to themselves and yet not to them aches for these aliens seemed to press in upon wolfpen itself arid ami to swarm in a multitude beyond their tip appointed poInted place even though they kept to their heir hollow anil and flip lie sound or of their axes could not lie ile heard over the back of the between lila could sec them sometimes about everywhere and tin eiery rustle of the leaves in the trees fees lay by flip he howe house became n cry of panic spread through all tile the limber cr then there was aldays gholson berger biting ing buck back the lie disturbance from pry dry creek for lie still tile at 1 llie lie house and slept between his two sheets and made no mention of the money for ills keep whirl cynthia carefully careful recorded on a piece of paper there was span el losing imperceptibly ills his first pleasure in the steam meant MITI mill the lie survey suney of ills his lands hinds anti and the new saw lie ile gme gie mote time to the lie blacksmith shop fashioning shop shoes for tile lie mules and half slices shoes for the oxen oven sharpening tools anal and welding chains chain neglecting ills medicines and ili ids hooks cynthia missed lit ills till tall figure from llie lite hollows speaking in low tones to his mule anil and greeting her alien hen she came to ine 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