Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 11, 1925 — page 91: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Re ~~ eet Sa arg “a ales FLIGHT TO strangers. Harrison had patiently sought the opportunity for five minutes alone with the girl, but she had always evaded him, and the duel that they were waging with such deadly earnestness had never betrayed - itself by any outward ripple on the tranquil cet is i= surface of appearances. That perhaps was the coy method of city folk. Neither Wade nor his mother questioned it, although it puzzled them. Once a stranger is accepted in the hills he is wholly accepted and no bars of reserve are kept standing against him. For a new- comer it is wholeheartedly one thing or the other: Welcome, or Begone! “T hain’t usin’ nuther ther mule critter ner yit ther pacin’ mare terday, Cynthy,” suggested Wade slowly. “I “lowed mebby you an’ Mr. Carroll might love ter tide up ter ther summit of Old Shaggy. Ye kin git a right far-flung look out from up thar—an’ nuther one of ye hain’t seed hit yit. On a cl’ar day ye kin gaze plumb acrost ter Cyarliny.”’ Carroll nodded his head receptively. “Tf Miss Stokes will go with me,” he declared, “ I’ll be delighted. I’m sure you’re anxious for a view as distant as North Carolina, aren’t you, Miss Stokes?” “‘ T’yve seen North Carolina,” she answered. . briefly. «So have I,” he smiled, “ and doubtless we shall both see it again, yet to see it from a mountain top is a different thing. For my part, I shall prefer the long view to the close up.” He turned toward Aunt Erie and added in casual explanation: “I spent some weeks in a hospital in Asheville, and it wasn’t pleasant. One who has been sick or imprisoned in a town thinks in terms of hospitals or prisons.” His eyes came back banteringly to the girl. ‘‘ But from the top of Old Shaggy, Miss Stokes, we shall see only the violet mists of enchantment.” “Thank you,” Cynthia declined with quiet decisiveness, “I don’t think I'll go. Ym finishing a ‘ kiverlet’ and I’d rather spend the morning by the loom.” “At the loom.” The man raised his eyes and a repressed merriment seemed to possess him. ‘“‘ Pardon me, Miss Stokes, but isn’t there an element of humor in that? | Unless you are vastly unlike most city girls => in <" ee = ATs, a — —— Saehe eg oe THE HILLS, of to-day, I'll dare say you never saw a loom until you came here—except, perhaps, those tricky little affairs that one encounters in the arts and crafts places about Green- wich Village.” “No, I never did,” she said listlessly. “ But I like it. It’s good stuff.” ‘An’, la! but she jest natch’rally tuck ter hit like a gosling takes ter ther creek,” announced Aunt Erie admiringly. ‘‘ She’s makin’ a Star of Bethlehem kiverlit an’ hit’s plum purty.” “ Fine,” commended Carroll. “ Star of Bethlehem! The Virgin and the Child! That’s beautiful symbolism, but I was thinking of how easily we all change when we change our environment—and of how little we change in anything except outward color. We’re so many chameleons.” “ T don’t know what they be,” announced Aunt Erie; and the man turned deferen- tially toward her. “They are those little lizards,” he ex- plained, “that are gray when they stretch out for a snooze on a gray twig—but they SS ae eaf.” “Land sake, yes, I knows them things as well as I do hoptoads!” the old woman said. ‘‘ But I didn’t nuver hear ther long name fer ’em afore now. I reckon hit’s — jest a high-soundin’ book word.” “ There’s another long name that ex- plains why they do it,” said the man. “ It’s called protective coloration, and it means a method of hiding. But under all the changes of color, the lizard itself doesn’t change; it’s still a lizard—and some of them are poisonous.” “T’ve hheered tell some was pizen—ther leetle hatefuls! ” Cynthia wanted to rise up and fling her tin coffee cup into the face of this man who _ which he appeared to delight i in ee = the device of talking in a fashion manent one thing for them and @ was like the infamy of letting water fe drop by drop, upon the head of a chaine victim until it wore away the skull and bit ' fatally into the reason. Yet she sat so tranquil of outward meet that —— one ae yy 900k ees a ‘ \ TPR RS ACS WET te SAU OM EE IN ri MPL oa a OTR eee CORE MARY SoA hice eon Re Say iat elbedeks I, 7 ? 4 AAA ‘ ‘ Hig a it |