Once more she lifted her bright eyes to the shivering vapours—vague, mysterious, veiling in solemn silence the barren, awful heights.
An extreme gravity had fallen upon her face.
'Did they live in thar lifetime up hyar in the Big Smoky, or in the valley kentry?' she asked, in a lowered voice.
'I ain't sure 'bout'n that,' he replied indifferently.
''Crost the line in the old North State?' she hazarded, exhausting her knowledge of the habitable globe.
'I hearn him read 'bout'n it wunst, but I furgits now.'
Still her reverent, beautiful eyes, full of the dreamy sunshine, were lifted to the peak. 'It must hev been in the Big Smoky Mountings they lived,' she said, with eager credulity, 'fur he tole me ez the word an' the prophets holped him when Satan kem a-huntin' of him like a pa'tridge on the mounting.'
The young fellow turned away, with a gesture of angry impatience.
'Ef he hed ever hed the State o' Tennessee a-huntin' of him he wouldn't be so feared o' Satan. Ef thar war a warrant fur him in the sher'ffs pocket, an' the gran' jury's true bill fur murder lyin' agin him yander at Shaftesville, an' the gov'nor's reward, two hunderd dollars blood-money, on him, he wouldn't be a-humpin' his bones round hyar so peart, a-shakin' in his shoes fur the fear o' Satan.' He laughed—a caustic, jeering laugh. 'Satan's mighty active, considerin' his age, but I'd be willin' ter pit the State o' Tennessee agin him when it kem ter huntin' of folks like a pa'tridge.'
The sunshine in the girl's eyes was clouded. They had filled with tears. Still leaning on the plough-handles, she looked at him, with suddenly crimson cheeks and quivering lips. 'I dunno how the State o' Tennessee kin git its own cornsent ter be so mean an' wicked ez it air,' she said, his helpless little partizan.