Show the old settler continued from last issue my dear san Jua ners dont D ont be afraid little girl he cloaked in a voice that had gro grown wolfish with the wilderness but when he approached her she seemed somehow to move away i yet she waited when lie he stopped stopp and she listened while he spoke though she made no answer and stood hesitating cr while evening even shadows grew long and dim when she became calm enough to tell her story he invited her into his strange abode but julia jane aly looked at it in a fea fearful erful sort of way vay and in a still more fearful sort of way at him and then with a kind of shudder at the gathering darkness of the mountain behind her where dreadful things would soon be coming out of their dens driven at last by fear of the night she ventured through the rude doorway of the cabin and y I 1 henry stirred the open fire into a bright blaze revealing her shiny eyes which followed him h with dread and apprehension thru every move he be made he f ried fried a pan of venison and put that with some toasted corn bread on the improvised table before her but she could only pretend to eat glancing often at the dim walls the sooty ceiling and the ax hewn door which had been closed he talked about the most interesting things he knew in his solitary world and tried to engage her in conversation but her answers seemed to choke in her throat as she watched him with eyes that plead and heart that throbbed throbs e d in anguish of suspense he changed the subject youre I oure all petered out little girl ye orl to get some seme rest rest her glance swept even to the corners of the dingy den the split wood furniture and shelves and in the corner a bunk devised from some kind of hide stretched from the wall she looked at the heavy door as if speculating whether she could open it quickly and dash out into the darkness listen little girl purred old henry trying to simulate the tones he remembered to have heard years before for he felt that somehow he had failed in all his efforts so far and must do some things different at once you must have this here house tonight ye kin bolt the door from the inside I 1 have a place to sleep out in the trees jest near enough to see that bothin comes to hurt ye then to nail his purpose before anything could happen to hinder he lifted the ponderous latch now ye jest sleep and rest dont be afeard of bothin and when ye wake up in the mornin ill show ye the way back to yer people be huntin for ye he went out closing the door continued on oil page ten the old settler mcd nar naff 1 behind him and heard her adjust I 1 the wooden lock lo 10 sk what he had said al about bat having a place to sleep was just a whole cloth lie devised on the spur of the moment so he built a fire and sat down by it to listen to the music or of the night wind somehow more musical now than ahey they had bad ever been be before forein in the years of his seclusion new fancies and emotions had been deeply stirred within him he saw the fair fain face of the frightened girl airl heard her choked voice diz dis ce earned d her innocence like the i me white film of an angelic cloak around her and she was r right i h t there in his cabin sleeping on his buckskin couch he wanted to see her fa fase face se again and to dispel the fear with which she was pained he wanted to hear her voice her natural voice free from its fetters of anxiety in the coining mo Imo ining she would not be afraid ab she would follow him without fear back to bior people and would bless him for having been her friend ffriend in need continued in next issue ALBERT R LYMAN LYMAM I 1 |