moment and no longer, or she may have read swiftly no unkindness in the
mountaineer's steady look; for the uplifted oar was stayed in the air,
as though at least she would hear him.
"I've got nothin' ag'in' you," he said, slowly, "Jas Lewallen hev been
threatenin' me, 'n' I thought it was him, 'n' I was ready fer him, when
you come into the mill. I wouldn't hurt you nur no other woman. Y'u
ought to know it, 'n' ye do know it."
The words were masterful, but said in a way that vaguely soothed the
girl's pride, and the oar was let slowly into the water.
"I reckon y'u air a friend o' his," he added, still quietly. "I've seed
ye goin' up thar, but I've got nothin' ag'in' ye, whoever ye be."
She turned on him a sharp look of suspicion. "I reckon I do be a friend
o' hisn," she said, deliberately; and then she saw that he was in
earnest. A queer little smile went like a ray of light from her eyes
to her lips, and she gave a quick stroke with her paddle. The boat shot
into the current, and was carried swiftly toward the Cumberland. The
girl stood erect, swaying through light and shadow like a great scarlet
flower blowing in the wind; and Rome watched her till she touched the
other bank. Swinging the sack out, she stepped lightly after it, and,
without looking behind her, disappeared in the bushes.
The boy Isom was riding away when Rome, turned, and old Gabe was
watching from the door of the mill.
"Who is that gal?" he asked, slowly. It seemed somehow that he had known
her a long while ago. A puzzled frown overlay his face, and the old
miller laughed.
"You a-axin' who she be, 'n' she a-axin who you be, 'n' both o' ye
a-knowin' one 'nother sence ye was knee-high. Why, boy, hit's old
Jasper's gal--Marthy!"
VI
IN a flash of memory Rome saw the girl as vividly as when he last saw
her years ago. They had met at the mill, he with his father, she with
hers. There was a quarrel, and the two men were held apart. But the old
sore as usual was opened, and a week later Rome's father was killed
from the brush. He remembered his mother's rage and grief, her calls for
vengeance, the uprising, the fights, plots, and ambushes. He remembered
the look the girl had given him that long ago, and her look that day was
little changed.
When fighting began, she had been sent for safety to the sister of her
dead mother in another county. When peace came, old Jasper married again
and the girl refused to come home. Lately the ste
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