第15章 IX(1)

ALL were smoking and silent.Several spoke from the shadows as Rome stepped on the porch,and Rufe Stetson faced him a moment in the doorway,and laughed.

Seem kinder s'prised?"he said,with a searching look."Wasn't lookin'for me?I reckon I'll s'prise sev'ral ef I hev good-luck."The subtlety of this sent a chuckle of appreciation through the porch,but Rome passed in without answer.

Isom lay on his bed within the circle of light,and his face in the brilliant glow was white,and his eyes shone feverishly."Rome,"he said,excitedly,"Uncle Rufe's hyeh,'n'they laywayed him,'n'____"He paused abruptly.His mother came in,and at her call the mountaineers trooped through the covered porch,and sat down to supper in the kitchen.They ate hastily and in silence,the mother attending their wants,and Rome helping her.The meal finished,they drew their chairs about the fire.Pipes were lighted,and Rufe Stetson rose and closed the door.

Thar's no use harryin'the boy,"he said;"I reckon he'll be too puny to take a hand."The mother stopped clearing the table,and sat on the rock hearth close to the fire,her withered lips shut tight about a lighted pipe,and her sunken eyes glowing like the coal of fire in its black bowl.

Now and then she would stretch her knotted hands nervously into the flames,or knit them about her knees,looking closely at the heavy faces about her,which had lightened a little with expectancy.Rufe Stetson stood before the blaze,his hands clasped behind him,and his huge figure bent in reflection.At intervals he would look with half-shut eyes at Rome,who Sat with troubled face outside the firelight.Across the knees of Steve Marcum,the best marksman in the mountains,lay the barrel of a new Winchester.Old Sam Day,Rufe's father-in-law and counsellor to the Stetsons for a score of years,sat as if asleep on the opposite side of the fireplace from the old mother,with his big square head pressed down between his misshapen shoulders.

"The time hev come,Rome."Rufe spoke between the puffs of his pipe,and Rome's heart quickened,for every eye was upon him.

Thar's goin'to be trouble now.I hear as how young Jasper hev been talkin'purty tall about ye-'lowin'as how ye air afeard O'him."Rome felt his mother's burning look.He did not turn toward her nor Rufe,but his face grew sullen,and his voice was low and harsh."I reckon he'll find out about that when the time comes,"he said,quietly-too quietly,for the old mother stirred uneasily,and significant glances went from eye to eye.Rufe did not look up from the floor.He had been told about Rome's peculiar conduct,and,while the reason for it was beyond guessing,he knew the temper of the boy and how to kindle it.He had thrust a thorn in a tender spot,and he let it rankle.How sorely it did rankle he little knew.The voice of the woman across the river was still in Rome 5ears.Nothing cuts the mountaineer to the quick like the name of coward.It stung him like the lash of an ox-whip then;it smarted all the way across the river and up the mountain.Young Jasper had been charging him broadcast with cowardice,and Jasper's people no doubt believed it.Perhaps his own did -his uncle,his mother.The bare chance of such a humiliation set up an inward rage.He wondered how he could ever have been such a fool as to think of peace.The woman's gossip had swept kindly impulses from his heart with a fresh tide of bitterness,and,helpless now against its current,he sullenly gave way,and let his passions loose to drift with it.

"Whar d'ye git the guns,Rufe?"Steve was testing the action of the Winchester with a kindling look,as the click of the locks struck softly through the silence.

"Jackson;'way up in Breathitt,at the eend of the new road.""No wonder y'u've been gone so long.""I had to wait thar fer the guns,'n'I had to travel atter dark comm'back,'n'lay out'n the bresh by day.Hit's full eighty mile up thar.""Air ye shore nobody seed ye?"The question was from a Marcum,who had come in late,and several laughed.Rufe threw back his dusty coat,which was ripped through the lapel by a bullet.

They seed me well 'nough fer that,"he said,grimly,and then he looked toward Rome,who thought of old Jasper,and gave back a gleam of fierce sympathy.There were several nods of approval along with the laugh that followed.It was a surprise-so little consideration of an escape so narrow-from Rufe;for,as old Gabe said,Rufe was big and good-natured,and was not thought fit for leadership.But there was a change in him when he came back from the West.He was quieter;he laughed less No one spoke of the difference;it was too vague;but every one felt it,and it had an effect.His flight had made many uneasy,but his return,for that reason,brought a stancher fealty from these;and this was evident now.All eyes were upon him,and all tongues,even old Sam's,waited now for his to speak.