ly reached Lum and sent him after the daredevil. But Jake
had fled and Lum followed him almost to the edge of the bluegrass
country, to find that Jake had a wife and child. He had meant to
bring Jake back to his duty, but he merely beat him up, kicked him
to one side of the road like a dog, and came back to his shop.

Old Jeb Mullins came by thereafter with the old nag and the sack of
corn, and Lum went on doing little jobs for him for nothing, for Jeb
was a skinflint, a moonshiner, and a mean old man. He did not turn
Martha out of his hut, because he was callous and because he needed
her to cook and to save him work in the garden and corn-field. Martha
stayed closely at home, but she was treated so kindly by some of the
neighbors that once she ventured to go to church. Then she knew from
the glances, whispers, and gigglings of the other girls just where she
stood, and she was not seen again very far from her own door. It was a
long time before Lum saw her again, so long, indeed, that when at last
he saw her coming down Wolf Run on a sack of corn she carried a baby
in her arms. She did not look up as she approached, and when she passed
she turned her head and did not speak to him. So Lum sat where he was
and waited for her to come back, and she knew he had been waiting as
soon as she saw him. She felt him staring at her even when she turned
her head, and she did not look up until the old nag stopped. Lum was
barring the way.

"Yo' hoss needs shoein'," he said gravely, and from her lap he
took the baby unafraid. Indeed, the child dimpled and smiled at
him, and the little arm around his neck gave him a curious shiver
that ran up the back of his head and down his spine. The shoeing
was quickly done, and in absolute silence, but when they started
up Wolf Run Lum went with them.

"Come by my shack a minit," he said.

The girl said nothing; that in itself would be another scandal, of
course, but what was the difference what folks might say? At his
cabin he reached up and lifted mother and child from the old nag,
and the girl's hair brushed his cheek.

[Illustration]

"You stay hyeh with the baby," he said quietly, "an' I'll take yo' meal
home." She looked at him with mingled trust and despair. What was the
difference?

It was near sundown when Lum got back. Smoke was coming out of his rickety
chimney, and the wail of an old ballad reached his ears. Singing, the girl
did not hear him coming, and through the open door