as none of that somber shyness which shadows the
faces of many mountain children. Turner put his hand on the boy's head.
"Thank you, son," he said slowly. "Haven't I seen you before somewhar?"

The boy laughed. "I remembers _you_" he asserted. "I seed ye when my
paw was fotchin' me an' my brother an' sister over hyar. I'm Matthew
Blakey's boy."

"You had right-sore eyes then, didn't you?"

The child laughed. "I did then--but I hain't now." After a moment's
pause he added with a note of pride: "See thet flag? Hit's ther
American flag an' hit's my job ter put hit up every day at sun-up an'
take hit down at sun-set. I aims ter show ye right now how I does hit."

Bear Cat met young women from Eastern colleges who had come here to aid
in the work. In their presence he felt very uncouth and ignorant, but
they did not suspect that inner admission. They saw a young man who
reminded them of a bronze athlete, with clear and fearless eyes,
touched with a dreamer's zeal, and in his manner they recognized a
simple dignity and an inherent chivalry.

CHAPTER XXVIII

On the porch of Miss Pendleton's house that night, guitars were
tinkling. From inside came the glow of shaded lamps softly amber--and
outside along the hillsides where the whippoorwills called plaintively,
slept a silver wash of moonlight.

The stars were large and low-hanging and a pale mist tempered the
slopes that rose in a nocturne of majesty and peace.

Bear Cat Stacy sat there immersed in reverie. He was seeing such a
school grow up on the spot where he had hoped to build a house for
Blossom and himself--then that vision faded and his face grew set
because the other and more personal picture had intervened--the picture
of the dwelling-house to which he had looked forward.

He did not notice that the guitars and the singing voices had come to
silence, and that the white patches of the women's dresses had vanished
from the shaded porch--he was looking out into the summer mists--and
thinking his own thoughts.

Then he heard Miss Pendleton's voice, and came out of his abstraction
with a start, looking about to realize for the first time that the two
of them stood alone out there.

"Now you must talk business," smiled the lady. "I haven't introduced
you yet to the person who is best of all fitted to discuss the details.
She knows just what we seek to do here and how we do it. She knows the
needs of mountain children, too--because she is a mountain gir