Here, a year after, we^e skulk and
widening bones, sorbe,, in'%ea|^^Bome
scattered through, tfre-V ssfefeSruSh
-where the wolves had left thebj Jdany
BT
njur
iCal
Ev®n.5"?re terrify^gJ:han
for Joel Rae it became a ride down
the valley of lost illusions. Some sav
ing grace of faith was gone from the
people. He passed through sturdy lit
tie settlements, bowered in gardens child's shoe, the tattered sleeve of a
and orchards, and girded about by
won?an's
these were
ceftain traces caught here and there
oh the low scrub oaks alojig the way,
—children's sunbonnets shreds of
coarse lace, muslin, and calico a
dress—iall faded, dead, whip-
the
wind.
He pressed through it all with set
jaws, trying to keep his eyes fixed
upon the ground beyond his horse's
head but his ears were at the mercy
of the cries that rang from every
thicket.
I 4 1 1 a
gave the word to let b.er go. She ran
quickly into the other room of the
cabin from
"You're Not My Papa—Not My Real
Papal"
sat before the blaze in the big fire
place, on the hearth cleanly swept
with its turkey-wing and buffalo-tail.
There was to be one more night of his
reprieve from solitude. The three
women of the house and the man
were sleeping around the room in
bunks. The child's bed had been
placed near him on the floor after She
slept, as he had asked it to be. He
had no thought of sleep for himself.
He was too intensely awake with ap
prehension. On the floor beside his
chair was a little bundle the woman
h&d brought him,—the bundle he had
found loosened by her side, that day,
where it had fallen.
