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Show sfitik ' K ?n 4 I FROM OUT THE SHADOWS----McMman H 5 (Copyright. 3012. br tbt New Tori M ; "reSrirl HB Kshtnins flashed 9 (PS!3 viciously, tho thunder (I I rln T' fII rumbled -nd the rain I t& h3 PUTed, Poureu irom the m 2&gg$? clouds until the girl mak-M, mak-M, -v" Ing her way up the slip- lK pcry trail looked more jw like a drifting bunch ot seaweed than the 1H heroine of any tale at all. And yet she K was an unwitting heroine; not one of the H boisterous, blustery kind, but just as easy m and senile about it as it was her nature B to be about everything. Hk She was not a mountain girl, as one HE. would think seeing her on the trail all III alone. Nothing of the sort She was a H city girl, lost and scared almost to denth. HK Thnt doesn't seep- '-"a- Wn the sound HE of such terrific tlmnder would scare any- 8 body, and, besides, a thunderstorm in the B city, where you sit securely behind mas- B eivc brick walls, is one thing and a thun- B derstorm in the mountains, with huge BSf trees tossing all nbout you, b quite an- B ; other. It doesn't follow Met the girl was 3 I coward becnuse she was trembling so ; even a man would have trembled In that gale. 1 The girl struggled against the wind and rain until suddenly she camo upon a cabin which snuggled among tho storm swept trees in a perilous position on the mountain moun-tain side. Seemed as if at any moment the storm would blow it over the cliff into the depths of the yawning chasm below. t The timbers, though, were old and weather stained, and it had evidently stood there many years. "Who'n there?" called a squeaky voice i from within. "It's I what is left of me." the girl F called back. It took only the sound of a I ; human voice and the nssurancc of shelter J ; to bring her to herself again. x-ne mountain woman flung open the ffjk door and stood regarding the girl with a isl rather frightened look, and inBtead of in- OKft Tiling her In stepped outside, closed the door behind her and stood as if guarding H it Finally she spoke: MJl , "Youn's hed better go back the way Bjf youn's cuj, an' hurry 'bout it, fer Kjl t'wonlCn't do fer Po tcr com home an' find H a stranger here." Hji "You don't mean to say you will turn H tue away in such a storm?" pleaded the HR tfrl, all white and pitiful by this time. She was shivering all over from the wet t md cold, jf "Yes, I do," returned the woman, but :SSf DOt Vrithont a touch o Pathos in her "fS ira-w-Hng voice. "Yonn'B sec," Ebc-apolo- BH ;zcd, "Po is jest a little peculiar 'bout SM takin' in strangera." r! "I shouldn't think many came this M vay," looking about her at the dense USM jrowth of Bhrubhcry that almost entirely tr7H lW tlie noU8c- "Nothing short of a storm IjW could have driven me through .that gjk The woman was getting 'nervous. gR "Hurry up. child; please hurry. Your rTygK '"xJfcs'il be lookin' fer youn's, an' twouldn't Zjafti i fer 'em ter cum here. Thej 'd be killed -fr lhore." Her breath was coming quick. BBp R'QS tho girl's turn to be nervoiw 3jB ow. "You doa't mean to aay this is a flflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflBflflfli c Ilerild Oo. AH rlshts restrred ) place where they make what's called moonshine whiskey!" she exclaimed. "Hush!" commanded tho woman in a hoarse whisper, putting her hand on the girl's lips. But the girl was thinking thinking of th'e revenucTmcn at the hotel across the chasm. What wouldn't they give to be in her place, especially when tho gov- ernment was offering such a large reward for those who wore running this very still! And the woman how hard she was struggling against the desire to take her in and the fear of doing so! The girl was wise for her years, and she laid her hand coasingly on the woman's arm: "I already know whafs in there, so you might ns well let mo go u to get warm." she said. The woman hesitated, but only for a second, then she moved toward the door and held it open, saying: "Cum in, it's powerful risky, but whut else kin I do seeln' as how youn s is so wet an' mighty nigh got er chill on. Here, drop off them clothes an' wrop up in this shawl till they dries. Po won't be back noway till dark an' ther'll be plenty er time, I reckon." The girl obeyed, and was soon comfortably com-fortably toasting before tho log fire. Through au opening that led into the lean-to adjoining the cabin she could see a queer looking appnratus set up in one '& W9! v!wSBBxS!$ "Seems so kind er good tcr have a woman fer company," she said, taking a scat near by. "I h'aint seed one in a powerful pow-erful long time. Jest slay hare day alter day an' year attcr year with Po an the boys, an' sometimes I think it's kind er strange fer me ter set so tired, scein' as how I h'aint never knowed nothin' else." The girl's checks were glowing from the warmth of the fire, her hair had beromc fluffy about her face and her eyes fairly beamed with interest. "Aren't you dreadfully afraid of tho revenue men?" she asked. The woman clinched her hands and bit her lips nervously. "Well, it kinder shadows over us," she answered. "But ther' ain't nothin' else tcr do. The rcvenoo men bez caught many er moonshiuer in the Gcorgie mountains, but somehow they ain't bothered us yet. Thoy don't cum this way. Youn's Is the only stranger that hez ever crossed that threshold, an' if yo' licdn't been a woman an' so wet an' helpless like yo couldn't or got in neither. No man could, that's shore." "But why do your men make the whiskey, whis-key, knowing it to be against the law? Don't they realize that some day they will have to answer for it?" lHWv &H M irL ll8sr ypp "You Don't Mean, to Say This Is tne Place Where They Make Moonshine Whiskey?" corner, and knew at once that it must be the whiskey machine in full operation. The atmosphere was heavy with the odor of the liquor. The woman caught her eyes as they wandered toward the WL Cautiously she went over to close the door. She hesitated, with her hand on tho knob. "Kin I fix youn's a drink er hot corn?" she asked. The girl refused, smiliug. "Then I'll make a drink er sassafras, it's powerful good for chills, an' I like it better myself. Seein' so much er the corn 'bout I git sick at the sight er it." She filled the iron kettle hanging in the wide fireplace and busied herself making the ten. "When it was done she poured it in a cup, sweetened it and handed it to the girl. "Taint against the mountain law. Them rovenoo men don't b'loug here. Betides hain't I told yo' ther' niu't no other way tor make out? Youn's seed the mountain out ibsJsV dtda't '?- Wali- a ,.- crjnch er ground on it that kin be cultivated. culti-vated. It's mine, an' them falls down ther', in the chasm is mine, too. We've tried time an' again to sell this mountain, uobody'll buy it though, but ther' is a city man Po met over tcr the store, whut hez offered us a hundred dollars fer the falls, an' Po an' fKc boys "hez srono over to-day tcr take him up on it cf he 4 fl v. ain't already backed out. A hundred dollars is a mighty big pile er monej." And right there the girl proved herself to be a heroine. She, knew all about the man over at the hotclp'ho was buying up the water powers for a large company. She knew the falls down thero in the chasm would be wortx a fortune to them, and these poor ignorant mountaineers were rushing over tie mountains at a breakneck speed to accept their offer of a hundred dollars. 1 big lump rose in her throat as she tritd lo speak to the woman. I "The fulls are yours!" she asked! "Have you given your fntler the right, the written authority to tinposc of them?" "No, I hain't, I j told him to hurry over ter git the hunjred 2ore the man backed clean out" The girl reached a pocket for a pencil. Tearing a pieip'ofi paper from the mantel shelf she bastjy filled out a form. "I, the unden,ignej J PPolnt Miss Dorothy Dorsey guatlian and adminls' trator of my estate, J'lh the so,c fight to sell all or part of saId'ropcrty, tho money to bo turned over to tie on acceptance." She read it alond to tho bewildered woman, adding, "SignR and I'll sec that you get much more thro a hundred dollnrs for it" With the same enfidence that had prompted he to onenjtho door to tho girl f T MyA rcwwo m. ,. "Sign Thcsa Papers and I'll Turn You Over to the Revenue Men and Get the Reward." name in a big, scrawling, barely legible hand across the paper. The girl grabbed her partly dried clothes and slipped them on quickly. The woman went out with her to guide her through the shrubbery to the trail. The sun had come out and waa shining high In the heavens. When she came In sight of Potts' store sho ran faster and was almost out of breath when she reached it Po was leaning over the counter, pen In hand, getting ready to Bign a paper tho water power man had given him. Three revenue officers were looking on. The girl walked straight up to Po, jerked the pen out of his hand and said: "You'll not sign that paper. I havo the sole ri?ht to make a trade with this man," pointing to tho power man and flourishing the paper with the mo'untain woman's signature. Tho power man's face had grown dark and ugly looking, and the revenue men were alive with interest but the sight of had completely turned Po'a head. He pushed the girl aside, saying, "I hain't never seed youn's 'fore, an youn's can' stop me from algnlug this paper." The power man laughed and pushed another an-other pen into his hand, urging, "Sign it quick and the money is yours." The girl, already weak from the day's ordeal, wasn't quito equal to Po's un locked for opposition. She fell into a chair and, womanlike, resorted to tears, but wiped her eyes quickly and sat staring in front of hor at a card which had been tacked on a post: "The United States government offers one thousand dollars reward to the person who will unearth the moonshine still supposed sup-posed to be In operation in this county." She jumped to her feet, ran over to Po and whispered cloac in his car, so close that notone of them could catch an inkling ink-ling of what she said: "Sign those papors and I'll turn you over to the revenue men and get the reward." Po stepped back as if he was shot. "I can't sign it, man," he said, huskily. "The gal ther' hex tho right an' ther' aiu't no use in disputln' it. Yous Ml have ter settle with her." And the girl's eyebrows went up in a funny little way, as she gave one disdainful dis-dainful look at the power man, turned an her heels and left the store. It waa herself up the steep hill to the Grand B View Hotel, and upon reaching there sho ' H!H I'll into the first chair. I HH The proprietor hurried up to her. "VYe were just getting ready to send Rf a searching party for you," he said. K She hardly heard the remark. She was ' lfH .going over in her mind all that had hap- i U pened since sho left. Involuntarily the ' H (words passed her lips; j "Do you know that a power company H is trying to buy those falls down there?" i H pointing to them away down in the ! The hotel man's face had'grown white. Ki "It would ruin me to have those falls Ri harnessed op," he exclaimed. "I might i as well close up the hotel; it's the main at- H traction that draws the crowd." , H li "Do you know who owns them?" asked Vi the girl, indifferently. Hl "Some mountain people about here," he IjH informed her, then added, "I wonder how much they arc offered for it?" ijH "Not quite ten thousand," replied the ft "Why, I'd give ton quick I" he cried. jH So when the power man approached her a little later with an offer of five thou- l sand she laughingly told him of the H other bid. She had the two bidding against I H each other until at the end of tho week jH the hotel man declared he had reached his jH limit, which was forty-eight thousand, I VH the power man having already raised his H bid to fifty. IH The girl made a second trip to the fft mountain woman's home, and told her , lft about the offers. The poor woman's eyes , jH grew large when she heard how much H money was coming to her. Po and the j H boys held back, gazing with &wo at the ' ft girl. Po had never quite got over his fear M of her. The woman found her voice. H "Youn's mean tcr say," she asked, M "that the power man'll give fifty thou- M sand dollars fer the falls an' spile ther' M beauty fer good an' all, nn' the hotel M folks'U give mighty nigh that much an' M leave 'cm bo jest like they b for abvays?" jJ "Yes," the girl answered, "for nhvays." M "Well, I reckon we kin git along with- M out that two thousand, an I e'pose the H hotel man kin her' 'em because Pro allni told Po that when I am dying an' feel M my spirit floating t'wards the great for M ever, I wants ter hear tho roar, oo eooth- H in' like, er those falls." She turned to the J man: "What youn's say ter It, Po?" ' JH "Why shore, Mbl, youn's is right. I H never had no idea that man was aimin' jH ter destroy em." ' jjH But he couldn't seem quite to get over j H the amount, and they could hear him H mumbling to himself : "Jest think, so H much money, an' ther' won't never be nj ( H more need tcr make liquor an' Mol won't jl hcv ter worry no more." ) 'H And true it was. Mol never orried i iH much after that. A whole world of peac fj and happiness had come into her humblt j M life"; a great shadow had been lifted, and fH nil because she had opened her door, like H one of God's own kind, to a wet snd H bedraggled slip of a city girl who had H been blown to her on the storm. M And down in the chaam the falls roll on H in all theic wonjlrou grandeur as if Bomt J jH ! -,., rM 9RIHH0PPJHPv j |