His dreaming was interrupted as the supper bell rang, and, with the familiar sound, a multitude of other thoughts came crowding in; the father and mother—they were growing old. Would it do to leave them alone with the graves on the hill yonder, and the mystery of the Hollow? And there was the place to care for, and the mill. Who but Young Matt could get work from the old engine?
It was like the strong man that the fight did not last long. Young Matt’s fights never lasted very long. By the time he had unhitched old Kate from the cultivator, it was finished. The lad went down the hill, his bright castles in ruin—even as we all have gone, or must sometime go down the hill with our brightest castles in ruin.
CHAPTER XXXII.
PREPARATION.
That same night, Mr. Lane told his daughter that he would leave home early the next morning to be gone two days. Jim was cleaning his big forty-five when he made the announcement.
Sammy paused with one hand on the cupboard door to ask, “With Wash Gibbs, Daddy?”
“No, I ain’t goin’ with Wash; but I’ll likely meet up with him before I get back.” There was a hint of that metallic ring in the man’s voice.
The girl placed her armful of dishes carefully on the cupboard shelf; “You’re—you’re not going to forget your promise, are you, Daddy Jim?”
The mountaineer was carefully dropping a bit of oil into the lock of his big revolver. “No, girl, I ain’t forgettin’ nothin’. This here’s the last ride I aim to take with Wash. I’m goin’ to see him to,”—he paused and listened carefully to the click, click, click, as he tested the action of his weapon—“to keep my promise.”
“Oh, Daddy, Daddy, I’m so glad! I wanted this more than I ever wanted anything in all my life before. You’re such a good Daddy to me, I never could bear to see you with that bad, bad man.” She was behind his chair now, and, stooping, laid her fresh young cheek against the swarthy, furrowed face.
The man sat like a grim, stone image, his eyes fixed on the gun resting on his knees. Not until she lifted her head to stand erect behind his chair, with a hand on each shoulder, did he find words. “Girl, there’s just one thing I’ve got to know for sure before I go to-morrow. I reckon I’m right, but somehow a man can’t never tell about a woman in such things. Will you tell your Daddy, Sammy?”