 Chapter 16 of the Eye of Dread. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Ted Nugent, the Eye of Dread, by Pei Nuskin. Chapter 16, a peculiar position. Well, young man, we find ourselves in what I call a peculiar position, a smile, that would have been sadonic, worried not for a few lines around the corners of his eyes, which valid any sinister suspicion spread grimly across the big man's face as he stood looking down on Harry King in the dusk of the Unlithed Shed. The younger man rose quickly from the folder where he had slept happily after the factics of the past day and night and stood respectfully looking into the big man's face. I realized the situation. I thought about it after I turned in here, before you came down or up to this bedroom. I can take myself off, sir, and if there were any way of relieving you of the whole embarrassment, I would do so. Everything's quiet down at the cabin. I've been there and looked about a bit. They had need of sleep. You go back to your bunk, and I'll take mine. I won't talk the thing over before we see them again, as for you are taking yourself off. That remains to be seen. I'm not crapped. That's not the secret of my life alone, though you might think it. I... The big man cleared his throat and stretched his spare frame full length on the folder where he had slept. With his elbow on the bed of corn stalks, he lifted his head on his hand and gazed at Harry King, not dreamily as when he first saw him, but with covered kindness. Lie down in your place, a bit lie down. We talk until we've arrived at the conclusion, and it may be a long talk, so we may as well be comfortable. Harry King went back to his own bunk and lay prone, his forehead resting on his folded arms, and his face hidden. Very well, sir. I'll do my best. We have to accept each other for the best there is in us. I take it. You saved my life and the life of those two women, and we all owe you our gratitude. Go to, go to. It's not of that I'm wishing to speak. Let's begin at the beginning, or as near the beginning as we can. I've been standing here looking at you while you were sleeping, and last night, I mean, early this morning, when I came up here, I, with a torch, I started your face well and long. A man betrayed this true nature when he is sleeping. The lines of what he has been thinking and feeling show them when he cannot disguise them by smiles or words. I'm old enough to be your father. Yes, so it might happen. And with your permission, I'll talk to you straight. Harry King lifted his head and looked at the other, then resumed his former position. Thank you was all he said. You feel well, Brad. You are in trouble. I ask you what is your true name and what you have done. The young man did not speak. He lay still as if he had heard nothing, but the other saw his hands clinging to knotted fists, and the muscles of his arms grow rigid. His heart beat healthily, and the blood wrought in his ears. At last, he lifted his head and looked back at the big man and spoke a nocturnal slaying. I gave you my name, all the name I have. His face was white in the dim light, and the lids drew close over his grey eyes. You prefer to lie to me? I ask in good faith. All the name I have is the one I gave you, Harry King, and you will hold to the lie. They looked steadily into each other's eyes. The young man nodded. And there was more, I asked of you. Then the young man turned away from the keen eyes that had held him, and set up in the folder and clasped his knees with his hands, and looked straight out before him, regarding nothing, nothing but his own thoughts. A strange expression crept over his face. Was his fear or was it an inward terror? Suddenly, he put out his hands with a frantic gesture toward the darkest corner of the place. It's there, he cried in a voice scarcely above a whisper, then hit his eyes and mourned. At the sight, the big man's face softened. Lad, lad, you're in trouble. I saved your body as it hung over the cliff, and the lord only knows how you were saved. I took you home and led you in my own bound. I looked on your face, and there, my heart cried on the lord for the first time in many years. I have foreseen the company of men, and of old women, and the faith of my fathers had died in me. But there, as I looked on your face, the lost years came back, and now, you're only hairy king, only hairy king. Thus all, the young man's lips said tightly, and the course of his neck stood out. Nothing was lost to the eyes that watched him so intently. I had a son, once. I hung him in my arms for an hour, and then left him forever. You have a face that reminds me of one, one I hated, and it reminds me of one I loved, of one I loved better than I loved life. Then hairy king turned and gazed in the big man's eyes, and as he gazed, the withdrawn inward look left his own. He still sat, grasping his knees. I can more easily tell you what I have done, than I can tell you my name. I have sworn never to utter it again. He was sweeping, but he hid his teeth for very shame of them. The older man shook his head. I've known sorrow, boy, but the lesson of it never. Men say there is a thing to be learned from sorrow, but to me it has brought only rebellion and bitterness. So I've missed the good of it, because it came upon me through arrogance and injustice, not my own. So now I say to you, if it was at the expense of your soul I saved your life, it would better I had let you go down. Let. You've brought me a softness. It's like what a man feels for a woman. I'm glad this comes back to me. It is good to feel. I'd make a sound of you, but for the truth's sake, tell me a bit more. I had a friend and I killed him. I was angry and I killed him. I have left my name in his grave. Harry King rose and walked away and stood shivering in the entrance of the shed. Then he came back and spoke humbly. Do with me what you will, but call me Harry King. I have nothing on earth but the clothes on my body, and they are in rags. If you have work for me to do, let me do it in mercy. If not, let me go back to the plains and die there. How long ago was this? More than two years ago. Yeah, three perhaps. And where have you been? Knocking about, hiding? For a while, I had worked on the road they are building. Road? What road? The new railroad across the continent. Where, young man? Where? From Chicago on, they got it as far as Cheyenne, but that was the very place of all others, where they would be off to hunt for me. I got news of a detective hanging about the camp, and I was sure he had come there to track me. I had my wedges in my clothes, and when I found they had traced me there. I spent all I had for my horse and took my pack, and struck out over the plains. He paused and ripped the cold drops from his forehead, then lifted his head with gathered courage. One day I found this people, now starving for both water and food, and without strength to go where they could be provided for. They too were refugees I learned, and so I cast my lot with theirs, and served them as best I could. And now they have fallen to the two of us to provide for. You say, give you work? I've lived here these 20 years, and found work for no man but myself. I've found plenty of that, just to keep alive, part of the time. It's bad here in the winter, if the stores give out. Tell me what you know of these women. Where is the man? Dad. I found him dad before I reached them. I left him lying where I found him, and pushed on, got there just in time. He wasn't three hours away from them as the man walks. I met them as comfortable as I could, and saw that no Indians were about, nor had been, they said. So I ventured back and made a grave for him as best I could, and told the daughter only, for the old lady seemed out of her head. I don't know what can we do with her if she gets worse. I don't know. As the big man talked, he noticed the younger one growing calmer and listening intently. Before I buried him, I searched him and found a few papers, just letters in a strange language. And from the feeling of his coat, I just doubted it was heat, so did it. So I fetched it back to her, the young one. You thought I was long gone, and there was where you met the blunder. How did you suppose I came by the peck mule and the other horse? When I saw them, I knew you must have gone to Hikjin's camp and back. But how could I know it before? You might have been in need of me and of food. We say no more of it. Those men are the camber beasts. I bought those animals and paid gold for them. They wanted to know where I got the gold. I told them where they'd never get it. They asked me ten prizes for those beasts and then tried to keep me there until they could clean me out and get hold of my knowledge. But I skipped away in the night when they were all drunk and asleep. Then I had to make a long detour to put them off the track if they should try to follow me. And all that took time. The big man paused to fill and light his pipe. And what next? Asked Harry King. Except for enough food and water to luster up the trail you came. I pegged nothing back to the wagon and so had room to bring a few of their things up here. And there may be some of your own among them. They said something about it. We hauled the wagon as far as the good place to hide it in the wash could be found and recovered it and our tracks. But there was nothing left in it but the few of their utensils. Unless the box they did not open contained something. It was left in the wagon. That was the best I could do with only the help of the young woman. And she was too weak to do much. It may lie there untouched for ten years unless the rain scoops it out. And that's not likely. I showed the young woman as we came along where her father lay. And as we came to a hold a bit further on she went back while her mother slept. And now they're praying for an hour. I doubt any good it did him but it comforted her heart. It's the good religion for a woman where she does not have to think things out for herself but take a priest's word for it all. And now they are here. And you are here. And my home is invaded and my peace is gone. And may the Lord help me. I can't. Harry King looked at him a moment in silence. Nor can I help but to take myself off. Take yourself off and leave me alone with two women. I who have forced on them forever. How do you know but that they may each be possessed by seven devils? But there it isn't too bad. As long as they stay you stay. It was through you they are here. And close on to winter. And if it was summer it would be as bad to send them away where they would have no place to stay and no way to live. Let the world's heart on women. I've seen much. Harry King went again and stood in the open entrance of the shed and waited. The big man saw that he had succeeded in taking the other's mind of himself and had led him to think of others. And now he followed up the advantage toward confidence that he had thus gained. He also came to the entrance and let his kindly hand on the younger man's shoulder. And there in the pale light of that cloudy full morning standing in the cool invigorating air with the sound of falling water in their ears the two men made a compact and the end was this. Harry King, if you'll be my son I'll be your father. My boy would be about your age if he lives. But if he does he has been taught to look down on me on the very thought of me. He cast the wistful glance on the young man's face as he spoke. From the time I held him in my arms a day old baby I've never seen him and it may be he has never heard of me. He was in good hands and was given over for good reasons to one who headed my name and my race and me. For love of his mother I did this. It was all I could do for her. I could have gone down into the grave for her. I too have been a wanderer over the face of the earth. At first I lived in India, in China, anywhere to be as far on the other side of the earth from her grave and my boy as I owed I would. But I've kept the memory of her sweet in my heart. You need not fear I'll ask again for your name. Until you choose to give it I will respect your wish and for the rest speak of it when you must but not before. I have no more to ask. You've been well bred as I said and that's enough for me. You are more than of age I can see that. But this my opinion you need a father. Will you take me? The young man drew his breath sharply through quivering lips and made answer with averted hip. Kane, Kane and the curse of Kane can I allow another to share it. Another shares it and you have no choice. I'll be more than a son. Sons hurt their fathers and accept all from them and give little. You lifted me out of the abyss and brought me back to life. You took on yourself the burden laid on me to save those who trusted me knowing nothing of my crime and now you drag my very soul from hell. I won't do more than be your son. I'll give you the life you saved. Who are you? Then the big man gave his name making no reciprocal demand. What matter the name? It was the man by whatever name he wanted. I'm a nirish by both and my name is Larry Kildon. If you go to a little county not far from Dublin but to the north, you'll find my people. He was looking away toward the top of the mountain as he spoke and was seeing his grandfather's house as he had seen it when a boy and so he did not see the countenance of the young man at his side. Had he done so, he would not have missed knowing what the young man from that moment knew and from that moment out of the love now awakened in his heart for the big man carefully concealed giving thanks that he had not told his name. For a long minute they stood thus looking away from each other while Harry King by a mighty effort gained control of his features and his voice. Then although wide to the lips he spoke quietly Harry King the murderer be the son of Larry Kildon, Larry Kildon I to sling away in the hills forever to hide. No more of that. I'll show you a new life. Give me your hand Harry King and the young man extended both hands in a silence through which no words could have been heard. End of chapter 16 Chapter 17 of The Eye of Dread This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Eye of Dread by Payne Erkston Chapter 17 Adopting a Family As the two men walked down toward the cabin they saw Amelia standing beside the door in the sunlight which now streaming through a rift in the clouds gazing up at the towering mountain and listening to the falling water. She spied them and came swiftly to them extending both hands in a sweet, gracious impulsiveness and began speaking rapidly even before she reached them. Ah so beautiful is your home! It is so much that I would say to you of gratitude in my heart which is like a river flowing swiftly to towering I cannot say it all and we come and intrude ourselves upon you thus that you have no place where to go for your own sleeping. Is not? Yes, I know it. So must we think quickly how we may unburden you of us, my mother and myself only that she yet is sleeping in that strange sleep that seems still not like sleep. Let me that I serve you, sir. Larry Kilding looked on up her glowing, uptoned face gathering his slower wits for some response to her swift speech. While she turned to the younger man grasping his hands in the same manner and not seizing the flow of her utterance and you at such severe labour and great danger have found this nobleman and have sent him to us. To you do we owe what never can we pay. It is thus while we live must we always thank you in our hearts and to this place so wonderful. Ah, beautiful like heaven. Is it not? Yes. And the sweet sound always in the air like heaven and the sound of winds to stop here even for this night is to make those sorrowful thoughts lie still and for a while speak nothing. As she turned from one to the other addressing each intern warm lights flashing her eyes through tears like stars in a deep pool her dark hair rolled back from her smooth oval forehead in heavy coils and over her head and knotted under her perfect chin outlining its curve was a silken peasant hand-to-tooth with a crimson border of the richest hue while about the neck of her colourless closely fitted gown was a piece of exquisite hand-bought lace. She stood before them a vision from the old world full of intimate ladyhood simple as a peasant at once appealing and dominating impulsive yet shy her beautiful inundation her inverted and currently turned English alive with poetry was typical of her whole personality a sweet and strange mix of the high-bred aristocrat and the simple filmmakers and strength of the peasant. The two men made stumbling and embarrassed replies that tender and beautiful quality of she relate toward women belonging by nature to undefiled manhood was awakened in them and as one being not two they would have laid there all at her feet this indeed they literally did a small one-room cabin which had so long served for Larry Kildine's palace was given over entirely to the two women and the men made their own abode in the shed where they had slept this they accomplished by creating a new room by extending the roof-covered space Larry had used for his stable and the storing of fodder far enough along under the great overhanging drop to allow of comfortable bunks a place to walk about and a fireplace also the labour involved in the making of this room was a boom to Harry King upon the old stone boat which Larry had used for a similar purpose he hauled stones gathered from the rock ledge and built their with a chimney and with the few tools in the big man's store he made seats out of hewn logs and a rude table this work was left to him by the older man purposely while he occupied himself with the gathering in of the garden stuff for themselves and for the animals a matter that troubled his good heart not a little was that of providing for the coming winter enough food supply for his suddenly acquired family of grain and fodder he thought he had enough for animals kept in idleness and stores gathered in previous years for his own horse but for these women he must not allow them to suffer the least privation it was not the question of food alone that disturbed him at last he laid his travels before Harry King you know lad it would be so long before the snow will be down on us and I'm thinking what shall we do with them long winter days set in he nodded his head toward the cabin it's already getting too cold for them to sit out of doors as they do I should have windows in my cabin if I could get the glass up here they can't live there in the darkness with the snow banked around them with nothing to use their fingers on as women like to do now if they had cloth or thread what use had I for such things they're not among my stores I did not lay out to make it a home for women the mother will get father and father astray with her dreams if she has nothing to do such as women like I think we should ask them or ask Emilia she is wise have you enough to keep them on of food of food yes such as it is no flour but plenty of good wheat and corn I always pound it up and bake it but it is of course fair for women there's plenty of game for the hunting and easy got but it's something to think about well need elsewhere or go looning you have lived long here alone and seemed sound of mind except for Harry King's smile except for a certain unworldiness that would pass for lunacy in the world below these heights let alone some I usually had my own way for these years and have formed the habit but I've had my times at the best it's a sort of lunacy that takes a man away from his fellows especially an Irishman maybe you'll discover for yourself before we part but it's not to the point now I'm asking you how we can keep the mother from brooding and the daughter happy she's asking to be sent away to earn money for her mother she thinks she can take her mother with her to the nearest place on that new railroad you tell me of and so on to the town I tell her no and if she goes and asks you what would we do with her why the woman would go yonder and jump over the cliff oh it would never do to listen to her it would never do for her to try living in a city earning her bread not run Harry King paused and turned a while drawn a face towards the mountain Larry watched him I can do nothing with a hand with a sudden downward movement I a criminal in hiding my manhood is of no avail my god remember lad the women have need of you right here I'm keeping you on this mountain at my valuation not yours I have need of you and your past is not intrude in this place and when you go out in the world again, as you will when the right time comes you'll know how to meet and face your life or death as a man should hold yourself with a firm hand and do the work of the days as they come it is all the Lord gives us to do at any time if I only had books now they would help us but where to get them or how we'll even go and ask the women as you advise they all ate together in the little cabin as was their habit a meal prepared by Amalia and carefully set out with all of the dishes the cabin afforded so few that they were not enough to serve all at once but eeked out by wooden blocks and small lace surveyets taken from Amalia's store of linen at noon one day Larry Kildine spoke his anxieties for their welfare and cleverly managed to make the theme a gay one whereas the use in adopting a family if you don't get society out of them the question I ask is when the winter shuts us in what are we going to do for sport work, what, you will it's indoor sport I'm meaning for Harry and I have the hunting and providing in the daytime no, never you ask me what I was doing before you came I was my own master then and now you're ours that is good Sir Kildine you have to say what to do and me I accept to do what you advise is not Amalia turned to Larry and smiled and whenever Amalia smiled her mother would smile also and nod her head as if to approve although she usually sat in silence yours to command said Larry Bowie who's master of us all but it's yours to direct Lady Amalia oh me, Mr. Harry it's better for me I make for you both sufficient to eat so it all goes well I think I have heard men are always pleased of much that is excellent to eat and drink now listen we have only a short time before the heavy snows will come down on us and then there will be no chance whatever to get supplies of any sort before spring how far is the road completed now Harry it should be well past shiny by now they must be working toward Laramie rapidly if if you think best I will go down and get supplies whatever can be found there I have a plan there's enough for one man to do here finishing the jobs I have laid out but one of us can very well be spared and as you have awakened me for my long sleep and stirred my old bones to life and as I know best how to travel in this region I'll take the mule along and go myself I have a fancy for traveling by rail again you ladies make out a list of all you need and I'll fill the order in so far as the stations have the articles if I can't find the right things at one station I may at another even if I go back east for them ah but Sir Kildine it is that we have no money but if we could get it from the wagon the great box there have we enough of things to give us labour for all the winter it is the lovely lace I make a little of the third I have here but not sufficient for long so too there is my father's violin it made me much heart pain to leave it for me I play a little and there is also of cloth such as men wear not of great quantity but enough that I can make for you something a little Mr. Ari you like well some good shirt of war as we make for our peasant is not Harry looked down on his warm grey shirt sleeves then into her eyes and on the instant his own fell she took it for simple embarrassment and spoke on yes to go with us and help us so long and terrible away it has made very torn your carol it makes that we improve him could we obtain the box said the mother speak him for the first time that day her voice was so deep and full that it was almost masculine but her modulations were refined and most agreeable Amelia laughed for very gladness that her mother at last showed enough interest in what was being said to speak to improve it is to make better the heart but of this has Mr. Ari no need is not so killedy I call you always sir as title to nobleness of character we had in our country to inherit title but here to make it of such character it is well I think so poor Larry could deal with had his own moment embarrassment but with her swift appreciation of their moods she talked rapidly on leaving the compliment to fall as it would and turning their thoughts to the subject in hand but the box mama it is heavy and it is far down on the terrible plane if that you should try to obtain it Sir Claudine I cannot even to think of the peril is a hurt in my heart must even lie there and the men's road yes of the med men those Indian of them I have great fear the danger from them has passed now if the road is beyond Chalene it must have reached Laramie or nearly so and they would hang around the stations picking up what they can but the government has them in hand of never before to fear with white men anywhere near the road I've dreamed of a railroad to connect the two oceans but never expect to see it in my lifetime I've taken the notion to go and see it just to look at it to try to be reconciled to it reconciled it is to like it you mean Sir Claudine is it not wonderful the achievement yes the achievement as you say but other things will follow and the planes will no longer keep men at bay the money grabbers will pour in and all the scum of creation will flock toward the setting sun then too I shall hate to see the wild animals that have their own rights killed in unsportsmanlike manner and annihilated as they are where ever men can easily reach them men are wasteful and bad I've seen things in the wild places of the earth and in the places where men flock together in hordes and where they think they are most civilized and the result has been what you see here a man living alone with a horse for companionship and the voice of the winds and the falling water to fill his soul go to go to rose and stood a moment in the cabin door then sauntered out in the sun and off toward the fall he had needed think a while alone his companions knew this necessity was on him and said nothing only looked at each other and took up the question of their needs for winter Mr. Ali is it possible to reach with safety a station I mean is time yet to go there must be time or you would not propose it I don't know about the snows here I have seen that Sir Claudine drinks with the most pleasure the coffee but is little left or not enough for all to drink it my mother and I we drink with more pleasure the tea and of tea we ourselves have a little and of tea we ourselves have a little which is possible also I make all things more palatable if I have the sugar but is very little here I have searched well the foods placed here is it that Sir Claudine has other places where are such articles all he has is the bins against the wall longer here is the tea he gave me and I have looked well but is not enough to last but for one through all the months of winter our poor man we have come and eat his food like the wolves of the world country at home is not I have made each day of the coffee for him yes a good drink and for you not so, forgive but for me and my mother only to pretend that it might last for him it is right so more than to have no coffee and this is not probation to have too much is bad for the soul Emilia's mother seemed to have withdrawn himself from them and sat gazing into the smoking logs apparently not hearing their conversation Harry King for the second time that day looked in Emilia's eyes it was a moment of forgetfulness he had forbidden himself this privilege except when could she demanded you forgive that I put little coffee in your drink forgive forgive he murmured questionily as if he hardly comprehended her meaning as indeed he did not his mind was growing over the days since first he saw her tolling to gather enough sagebrush to cook a drop of tea for her father and striving to conceal from him that she herself was taking none and barely tasting her hard biscuit but there might be enough to keep life in her parents as she sat before him now in her worn, mended, dark dress with the wonderful lace at the throat and her thin hands lying on the prism-colded handkerchief in her lap her fingers playing with the fringe he still looked in her eyes and murmured forgive ah, Mr. Ari your mind is sleeping and has gone to dream listen to me, if one goes to the plane quickly he must go I make with haste this naming of things to eat which is sad we must always eat, eat in heaven maybe is not so she wandered a moment about the cabin then laughed for the second time is no paper on which to write there is no need of paper he'll remember just mention them over coffee is there any tea beside that you have? no, but no need I name it not tea is light and easily brought what else? and paper, I ask for that but for me to write my little romance of all this forgive, what is for occupation in the long winter you must write of your experiences perhaps of your history of you like it not right Mr. Ari it is to make work for the mind the mind must work work or die the hands, well I may lace with the hands but for the mind is music or the books but here are no books good we make them so paper I ask alas, it is in the box what to do listen, we'll have that box and bring it here on the mountain I'll get it ah no, no will you prick my heart she seized his arm and looked in his eyes her own bringing with tears then she flung up her arms in the dramatic way and covered her eyes I consider it all so terrible if you should go there and the Indians strike you dead or the snow come too soon and kill you with the cold in the great drift lying right all the terrible hours never to see you again oh no in that instant his heart leaked toward her and the blood rolled in his ears he would have clasped her to him but he only stood rigidly still hands off murderer the word seems shouted at him by his own conscience I would rather die than that you should not have your box was all he said and left the cabin he too had needed things out alone end of section 17 recording by Elaine Webb Bristol, England chapter 18 of the eye of dread this is a Librivox recording all Librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librivox.org The Eye of Dread by Payne Erkskin chapter 18 Larry Kildine's Story man but this is none so bad none so bad Larry Kildine sat on a bench before a roaring fire in the room added onto the fodder shed the chimney which Harry King had built although not quite completed to its full height was being tried for the first time as the night was too cold for comfort in the long low shed without fire and the men had come down early this evening to talk over their plans before Larry should start down the mountain in the morning they had heaped logs on the women's fire and seen that all was right for them and his cheerful good nights had left them to themselves now as they sat by their own fire Harry could see Amalia by hers seated on a low bench of stone close to the blazing torch of pine so placed that its smoke would be drawn up the large chimney it was all the light they had for their work in the evenings other than the firelight he could see her fingers moving rapidly and mechanically at some pretty open work pattern and now and then grasping deathly at the ball of fine white thread that seemed to be ever taking little leaps and trying to roll into the fire or out over the cabin floor she used a fine slender needle and seemed to be performing some delicate magic with her fingers was she one of the three fates continually drawing out the thread of his life and weaving therewith a charmed web and if so, when would she seize it's a good job and draws well the chimney yes, it seems to Harry roused himself and tried to close his mind against the warm glowing picture yes, yes, it draws well I'm inclined to be a bit bold although I never could have done it if you had not given me the lessons it is art, my boy to build a good fireplace is just that did you ever think that the whole world and the welfare of it fantasised just around that the fireplace and the hearth or what stands for it in these days may be a little hole in the wall with as much of coal in it as they have in the towns but it's the hearth and the cradle beside it and the mother Larry's voice died almost to a whisper as his chin dropped on his breast and his eyes gazed on the burning logs and Harry, sitting beside him gazed also at the same logs but the pictures wrought in the alchemy of their souls were very different to Harry it was a sweet oval face a flush from the heat of the fire more on the smooth cheek that was toward it than on the other and to warm flame flashes in their large eyes that looked up at him from time to time while the slender figure bent a little forward to see the better as the wonderful hands tipped up the never-ceasing motion a white linen cloth spread over her lap cast a clearer more rosy light under her chin and brought out the strength of it and the delicate curves of it which Harry longed even to dare to look upon in the rarest stolen intervals without the clamour and outright in his heart it was always the same the cry of king in the wilderness would God it might someday cease what to him might be the hearth fire and the cradle and the mother that the big man should dwell on them thus what had they meant in Larry Cadone's life he who had lived for 20 years the life of a hermit and had forsworn woman forever as he said I tell you lads there's a thing I would say to you before I leave but it's a soul to touch upon Harry made a depreciating gesture no first I tell you I'll come back never fear it's my plan to come back but in this life you may count on nothing for assuredly I've learned that and to prove it look at me I made sure never would I open my heart again to think on my fellow beings but as aliens to my life and I've lived it out for 20 years I'm thought to hold out to the end I've held the Indians at bay through their superstitions and they would no more dare to cross my path with hostile intent than they would dare to take their chances over that fall above there where did I put my pipe I can't seem to find things as I did in the cabin here it is sir I placed that stone further out at the end of the chimney on purpose for it and in this side I've left a hole for your tobacco I thought I was very clever doing that and we'd been fine and cosy here in the winter if it weren't for the women oh now I'm blundering I'd never turn them out if they lived there the rest of their days but to have a lad beside me as I might have had if you'd said here it is Farrah but now it would have been music to me you see Harry I never swore the women harder than I did the men and it's the longing for the son I held in my arms an hour and then gave up that has lived in me all of these years the mother gone the son I might have had I can't say that to you I'll have a curse on me and it will stay until I have paid for my crime but I'll be more to you than sons are after their fathers I'll be faithful to you as a dog to his master and love you more I'll live for you even with the curse on me and if need be I'll die for you it's enough I'll ask no more have you no curiosity to hear what I have to tell you I have indeed I have but it seems I can't ask it unless I am able to return your confidence to talk of my sorrow only deepens it it drives me wild you'll have it yet to learn that nothing helps a sorrow that can't be helped like bearing it I don't mean to lie down under it like a dumb beast but just take it up and bear it that's what you're doing now and sometime you'll be able to carry it and still laugh now and again when it's right to laugh and even just on occasion it's been done and done well it's good for a man to do it the last down there at the cabin is doing it and the mother is not she's living in the past maybe she can't help it when I first came on them out there in the desert she seemed brave and strong he was a poor crippled man with enormous vitality and a leaner in hedge the two women adored him and lived only for him and he never knew it he lived for an ideal and would have died for it he did not speak English as well as they I used to wish I could understand him for he had a poet's soul and eyes like his daughters he seemed to carry some secret with him and no doubt was followed about the world as he thought he was fleeing myself I could not know but from things the mother has dropped they must have seen terrible times together she and her husband a wonderful deal of poetry and romance always clung to the names of Poland and Hungary for me when I was young I was part of the world thrilled at the name of Kozikun and Kosov I'd give a good deal to know what this man's secret was all those old tales of mystery like the man with the iron mask and stories of neighbourhood spirited away to Siberia of men locked up for many years in dungeons like the prisoner of Ceylon which fired the fancy and genius of Bryon and sent him to fight for the oppressed used to fill my dreams Larry talked on as if to himself it seemed as if it were a habit formed when he had only himself with whom to visit and Harry was interested now to almost come upon a man of real ideas and a secret and just miss it I ought to have been out in the world during some work worthwhile with my miserable broken life boy I knew that man looked bright I knew him for sure we were in college together he lived Oxford to go to Russia wild with the spirit of adventure and something more he was a dreamer with a practical term too there's no doubt he met these people I judged this manavaskar and must have been in the diplomatic service of Poland from what Amalia told us have you any idea whether that woman sitting there all day long wrapped in her own thoughts knows her husband's secret is it a thing anyone now living could care to know indeed yes they lived in terror of the parents who handed him over the world the mother trusted no one but Amalia told me enough all she knows herself I don't know if the mother has the secret or not but at least she guesses it the poor man was trying to live until he could impart his knowledge to the right ones to bring about an upheaval that would astonish the world it meant revolution whatever it was Amalia imagines it was to place a Polish king on the throne of Russia but she does not know she told me of stolen records of a Polish descendant of Catherine II of Russia she thinks they were brought to her father after he came to this country she had such knowledge or even thought he had it was enough to set them on his track or his life the wonder is that he was left to live at all the mother never mentioned it but Amalia told me we talked more freely out in the desert that remarkable woman walked at her husband's side over all the terrible miles to Siberia and through her he escaped in those years she never would speak even to her daughter it's not to be wondered at that her mind is astray it's only a wonder that she is for the most part so calm well the grave holds many a mystery and what a fascination a mystery has for humanity savage or civilized I've kept the Indians at bay all this time by that means they know not what and the mystery holds them now for ourselves I leave you for a little while in charge of the women and all my possessions Larry Gazing into the blazing logs smiled you may not think so much of them but it's not so little now talk about lunacy man I understand it I've been a lunatic for ever since I made a find here in this mountain he paused and used a wild and Harry's thoughts dwelt for the time on his own find in the wing of the cabin where the firewood was stored the ring and the chest he had not forgotten them but by no means would he mention them you may wonder why I should tell you this but when I'm through you'll know it all came about because of a woman Lannica Dean cast a side long glance at Harry and the glance was keen and saw more than the younger man dreamed it's more often so than any other way almost always because of a woman her name may be anything Mary Elizabeth but her woman this one's name was Catherine it's not like the Catherine of Shakespeare but the sweetest the tenderest mother woman the Lord ever gave to man I see her there in the fire I've seen her there these many years while she was twin sister to the man who hated me he hated me for why I don't know perhaps because he could never influence me he would make all you cared for him bow before his will when I first saw her she lived in his home he was a banker of means not wholly of his own getting but partly so his father was a man of fifth and saying anyway he came to set too much store by money sometimes I think he might have been jealous of me because I had the Oxford training and wished me to feel that wealth was a great thing to have Scotchman thinks more of education than we of Ireland it's a good thing of course but I never have looked down on him because he went lacking it but for some in disrection maybe I would have had money too it was spent too lavishly on me in my youth but no I had none only the experience and the knowledge of what it might bring well it came about that I came to America to gain the money I left and having learnt a bit in spite of Oxford and the scores of practical nature I took a position in his bank all was very well until I met her now there were the rosy cheeks and the dark hair for you she looked more like an Irish lass than a Scotch one but they're not so different only that the Irish are for the most part comnia now this banker had a very sweet wife and she was kind to the Irish lad I went to him to her house I'm thinking she liked me a bit I liked her at all events she welcomed me to her house until she was forbidden it was after they forbidden me the house that I took to walk in with Catherine when all thought she was at Sunday school or visiting a neighbour or even at the least when no other time could be stolen when they fought her in bed we walked there by the river that flows by the town of Rewrite again Larika Dean paused and shot a swift glance at the young man at his side and noted the drawn lids and blanched face but he kept on in the moonlight we walked lad the ground there is holy now because she walked upon it we used to go to a high bluff that made a sheer fall to the river below and there we used to stand and tell each other things we dreamed of the life we should live together oh that life she has spent it in heaven I I have spent the most of it here he did not look at Harry King again his voice shook but he continued after a time her brother got to know about it and he turned me from the bank and sent her to live with his father's sisters in Scotland kind old ladies but unmarried and too old for such a lass how could they know the heart of a girl who loved a man it was I who knew that what did her brother know her own twin brother nothing because he could see only his own thoughts never hers and thought his thoughts were enough for a wife or girl I tell you lad men are greatly in that and right there many of the troubles of life step in the old man her father had left all his money to his son but with the injunction that she was to be provided for all her days of his bounty it's a mean way to treat a woman because see she has no right to her thoughts and her heart is his where he wills not as she wills and then comes the trouble I ask you lad if you loved a girl as fine as silk and as tender as a flower you could crush in your hand with a touch un-gentle and you saw one holding her with that sort of a touch even if it was meant in love I'll not be unjust he loved her as few loved their sisters but he could not grasp her thus I ask you what would you do if I were a true man and had a right to my manhood I would take her I'd follow her to the ends of the earth right my son I did that I took the little money I had from my labour at the bank all I had saved and I went bravely to those two old women her aunts and they turned me from their door to what they had been enjoined to do they said I was after the money and without conscience or thrift with the scotch often the confusion is natural between thrift and conscience ah, don't I know if a man is prosperous he may hold out his hand to a maid and say come and all her relatives will cry go and the marriage bells will ring if he is a happy Irishman if a shrunken purse let his heart be loving and true and open as the day they will sprung him forth for food and raiment they will sell a soul and for household deal they will clip the wings of the little god and set him out in the cold but the arrow had entered Catherine's heart and I knew and bided my time they saw no more of me but I knew all her goons and Cummins I found her one day on the moor with her collie and her cheeks had lost their colour and her grey eyes looked in my face with their tears held back like twin lakes under a cloud before a storm falls I took her in my arms and re-kissed the collie looked on and ragged his tail it was all the approval we ever got from the family but he was a knowing dog well then we walked hand in hand to a village and it was near nightfall and we went straight to a magistrate and were married I had a little coin with me and we stayed all night at an inn there was a great hurrying and scurrying all night over the moors for her but we knew not of it for we lay sleeping in each other's arms as carefree and happy as birds if she wept a little we comforted her in the morning we went to the great house where the ants lived in the town and there with a hand in mine I told them and the storm broke it was the disgrace of having been married cladlisty by a magistrate that cut them most of the heart and yet what did they think her man would do and they cried upon her we trusted you, we trusted you and the reply she made was you thought I'd never dare but I love him, yes love makes a woman's heart strong well then nothing would do but they must have in the minister and see us properly married after that we stayed never a night in their house but I took her to Ireland and to my grandfather's home it was a terrible year in Ireland where the poverty was great and while my grandfather could do as far as that news in Ireland it was very little they had that year for helping the poor Larry could dill glance no more at Harry King but looked only in the fire where the logs had fallen in a glowing heat his pipe was out but he still held it in his hand it was little I could do I had my education and could repeat poems and read Latin I went out on the land and laboured with the men and gave of my little pet runny to keep the old folks but it was too small for them all so at last I yielded to Catherine's importunities and she wrote to her brother for help not for her and me mind you it was for the poor in Ireland she wrote and she let me read it it was a sweet letter asking forgiveness for her wealthiness yet saying she must even do the same thing again if it were to do over again she pleaded only for the starving in the name of Christ she asked only if a little of that portion which should be hers might be sent her and that because she was her only brother and twin and like part of her very self she turned it so lovingly I could never tell you with what skill but she had the way yes but what did it bring he was a canny canny scott although brought up in America only for the times when his mother would take him back to Aberdeen with my Catherine for long visits he never saw Scotland but what's in the blood holds fast through life he was a canny scott it takes a time for letters to go and come and in those days it was longer than now when in two weeks one may reach the other side the reply came as speedily as those days would admit and it was carefully considered our Peter was a clever man to bring about his own way never a word did he say about forgiveness it was as if no breach had ever been but one thing I noticed that she thought must be only an omission that crowded it out it was that never once did he mention me any more than if I had ever existed he said he would send her a certain sum of money and it was a generous one that is, but just to admit if when she received it she would take another sum which he would also send and return to them he said his home was hers forever if she wished he loved her and had never had other feeling for her than love upon this letter came a long time of pleading with me and I was ever soft with her she won her way we will both go Larry dear she said I know he forgot to say you might come too if he loves me as he says he would not break my heart by leaving you out he sent only enough for one for you I said but he thinks you have enough to come by yourself he thinks you would not accept it and would not insult you by sending more he insults me by sending me enough for you dear if I have it for me I have it for you most of all for you for I am no true man if I have none for you then we have none Larry for love of me let me go I will be past until I go to him and this was true enough I will make them love you Hester loves you now she will help me Hester was the sweet wife of her brother so she clung to me and her hands touched me and caressed me lad I feel them now I put her on the boat and the money she sent relieved the suffering around me and I gave thanks with a sore heart it was for them and for her I parted with her then but as soon as I could I sold my little holding near my grandfather's house to an Englishman who had long wanted it and when it was parted with I took the money and delayed not a day to follow her I wrote to her telling her when and where to meet me in the little tank of Levite and it was on the bluff over the river I went to a home I knew there where they fought well of me I think in the evening I walked up the long path and there under the oak trees at the top where we had been used to sit I waited she came to me walking in the garden light it was spring the whip poor wheels called and replied to each other from the woods and Mauling Duff spoke to its mate among the thick trees low and sad but it is only the way I was glad and so were they I held her in my arms and the river sang to us she told me all over again the love in her heart for me as she used to tell it lad there is only one theme in the world that is worth telling there is only one song in a universe that is worth singing and when your heart as one sung it a right you will never sing another sweet around us and we stayed until a 10 o'clock struck 12 then I took her back and as she was not strong part of the way I carried her in my arms I left her at her brother's door and she went into the shadows there and I was left outside all but my heart she had been home so short a time her brother was not yet reconciled but she said she knew he would be for me I vowed I would make money enough to give her a home that would shame him for the poverty of his own his which he fought the finest in the town for a long time there was silence and Larry Cadine sat with his head drooped on his breast at last he took up the thread where he had left it two days later I stood in the heavy parlour of that house I stood there with their old portrait looking down on me and my heart was filled with ice, ice and fire I took what they placed in my arms and it was my little son but it might have been a stone it weighed like lead in my arms but ached with its weight might I see her no, was she gone yes I laid the weight on the pillow head out to me for it and turned away when Hester came and laid her hand on my arm but my flesh was numb I could not feel her touch give him to me Larry she was saying I will love him like my own and he will be a brother to my little son and I gave him into her arms although I knew even then that he would be brought up to know nothing of his father as if I had never lived I gave him into her arms because he had no mother and his father's heart had gone out with him I gave him into her arms because I felt it was all I could do to let his mother have the comfort of knowing that he was not a drift with me if they do know where she is for her sake most of all and for the lad's sake I left him there then I knocked about the world a while and back in Ireland I could not stay for the haunting thought of her I could hide nowhere then the thought took me that I would get money and take my boy back a longing for him grew in my heart and it was all the thought I had but until I had money I would not return I went to find a mine of gold meant with flying west to become rich with a finding of mines of gold and I joined them I tried to reach a spot that has since been named Higgins camp from there it was rumoured that gold was to be found in plenty and missed it I came here and here I stayed now the big man rose to his feet and looked down on the younger one he looked kindly then as if seized and shaken by a torrent of impulses which he was trying to hold in check he spoke treminously and in suppressed tames I longed for my son but I tell you this because there is a strange thing which grasps a man's soul when he finds gold as I found it I came to love it for its own sake I lived here and stored the cup until I am rich you may not find many men so rich I would be back and buy that bank that was Peter Cragnail's pride his voice raised but he again suppressed it I could buy that but for little bank a hundred times over and she is gone I tried to keep her and the remembrance of her in my mind above the gold but it was like a lunacy upon me at the last until I found you there on the verge of death the gold was always first in my mind and the triumph of having it I came to glory in it and I worked day after day and often in the night my torches and all I gathered I hid and when I was too weary to work I sat and handled it and felt it fall through my fingers a woman in England Mrs. Evans by name only she writes under the name of a man George Elliot the power of a poor weaver who came to love his little hoard of gold as if it were a light and human it's a strong tell that a good one well I came to understand what the poor little weaver felt summer and winter, day and night weekdays and Sundays and I was brought up to keep a Sunday like a Christian should all were the same to me just one long period for the getting together of gold after a time I even forgot what I wanted the gold for in the first place I thought only of getting it more and more and more this is a confession lad I tremble to think what would have been on my soul had I done what I first thought of doing when that horse of yours called me he was calling for you no doubt but the calling came from heaven itself for me and a temptation came it was to stay where I was and know nothing I might have done that too if it were not for the selfish reasons that flashed through my mind even as the temptation seized it it was that there might be those below who were climbing to my home to find me out and take from me my gold I knew there were prospectors all over seeking for what I had found and how could I dare stay in my cabin and be traced by a stray horse wandering to my door three cold-blooded selfish murderers would now be wrestling on my soul it's no useful amount to shut his eyes and say I don't know, it's business to know when you speak of the curse of Cain think what I might be bearing now and remember if a man repents of his act there's mercy for him so I was taught and so I believe when I looked in your face lying there in my bunk then I knew that mercy had been shown me and for this here is the thing I mean to do it is to show my gold and the mine from which it came to you no, no I can't bear it, I must not know Harry came full of his hands as if in fright and rose trembling in every name man, what ails you don't, don't put temptation in my way that I may not be strong enough to resist I say, what ails you it's a good thing rightly used it may help you to weigh out of your trouble if I never return I won't mind you, but we never know if not my life will surely not have been spent for naught you now are all I have on earth besides the gold it was to have been my sons and it is yours it might as well have been left in the heart of the mountain else better, the longer I think on it, the more I see that there is no hope for me no true repentance again, an expression on Harry King's face killed Larry's heart with deep pity and inward terror seemed to convulse his features and throw a pallor as of age and years off sorrow into his visage then he continued after a moment of self mastery no true repentance for me but to go back and take the punishment for this winter I will live here in peace and do for Madame Manoska and her daughter what I can and anything I can do for you then I must return and give myself up the gold in me holds out a worldly hope to me and makes what I must do seem harder and I'm afraid of it I'll make you a promise that if I return I'll not let you have it but that it shall be turned to some good work if I do not return it will rest on your conscience that before you make your confession you shall see it well placed for a charity you'll have to find the charity I can't say what it should be often now but come with me I must tell some living man my secret only one besides I trust you surely I do End of Chapter 18 Recording by Elaine Webb Bristol, England Chapter 19 of The Eye of Dread This is a LibriBox recording all LibriBox recordings are in the public domain for more information to volunteer please visit LibriBox.org The Eye of Dread by Payne Urksky Chapter 19 Mine and their departure Larry Claudine went around behind the stall where he kept his own horse and returned with a hollow tube of bone to take about a foot long into this he thrust a pine knot heavy with pitch and carrying a bunch of matches in his hand he led the way back off the fodder I made these clay handles for my torches myself they are my invention and I am quite proud of them you can hold this burning knot until it is quite consumed and that's a convenience he stopped and crept under the fodder and then Harry King saw why he kept more there than his horse could eat and never let the stall run low it was to conceal the opening of a long low passage that might at first be taken for a natural cave under the projecting mass of rock above them which formed one side and part of the roof of the shed quivering with excitement although sad at heart Harry King followed his guide who went rapidly forward talking and explaining as he went under his feet the way was rough and he made frequent turns and for the most part seemed to climb upward there you see it I discovered a bane of ore back there at the place we entered and assayed it and found it rich and see how I worked it out here it seemed to end and then I was still sane enough to think I had enough gold for my life I left the digging for a while and went to find my boy I learned that he was living and had gone into the army with his cousin and I knew we would be of little use to each other then but reasoned that the time was to come when the war should be over and then he would have to find a place for himself and his father's gold would help however it was I saw I must wait sit here a bit on this ledge I want to tell you but not his self justification mind you not that I had been in India and had had my fill of wars and fighting I have no mind to it I went off doors and seed and thought I would make more of my garden and not show myself again in the right until my boy was back it was in my thought if the lad survived the army to send for him and give him gold to hold his head above well to start him a life and let him know his father but when I returned the great madness came on me I had built the shed and stabled my horse there and purposely located my cabin below the child up here from the plane is a blind one because of the wash from the hills at times and I didn't fear much from white men still I concealed my tracks like this gold often turned men into devils he was silent for a time and Harry king wondered much why he had made no further effort to find his son before making to himself the offer he had but he dared not question him and preferred to let Larry take his own way of telling what he would as if defining his thought Larry said quietly something hug me back from going down again to find my son the way is long and in the old way of travelling over the planes it would take a year or more to make the journey and return here a superstition sees me that my boy would set out some time to find me and I would make the way easy for him to do it and here on the mountain the years slip by like a long sleep he begun moving the torch about to show the walls of the cave in which they sat and as he did so he threw the light strongly on the young man's face and scrutinised it sharply he saw again that terrible look of sadness as if his son were dying with him he saw great drops of sweat on his brow and his eyes narrowed and fixed and he hurried on with the narrative he could not bear the sight now here look how this hole widens out here was where I perspective about to find the vein again and there is where I took it up all this overhead is full of gold think what it would mean if a man had the right apparatus for getting it out I mean separating it I only took what was free that is what could easily freed from the corpse sometimes I found it in fine nuggets and then I would go wild and work until I was so weak I could hardly call back to the entrance I often laid down here and slept with fatigue before I could get back and cook my supper as they went on a strange roaring seemed gradually to fill the passage and Harry spoke for the first time since they had entered he feared the sound of his own voice as though if he began to speak he might scream out or revel something he was determined to hide he thought the roaring sound might be in his own ears from the surgeon of blood in his veins and a tumultuous beating off his heart what is it I hear is my head right the roaring yes you're all right I thought when I was working here and slowly burrowing further and further that it might be the lack of air and try to contrive some way of getting it from the outside I thought all of the time that I was working further into the mountain I thought I would have to stop or die here like a rat in a hole but you just wait you'll be surprised in a minute then Harry laughed and the laugh unexpected to himself woke him from the trance-like feeling that possessed him and he walked more steadily I've been being more surprised each minute am I in Aladdin's cave or whose is it only mine and then it was not in the night I came here and it was not all at once as you are coming hold on let me go in front of you the hole was made gradually until one morning about 10 o'clock a great mass of rock gold bearing I tell you rich in nuggets I was praised to lose it fell out into space and there I stood on the very verge of eternity they rounded the turn as he talked and Larry Cadine stood forward under the stairs and waved the torch over his head and held Harry back from the edge with his other hand the air over their heads was sweet and pure and cold and full of the roar of falling water they could see it in a long vast libyum of luminous brightness against the black abyss moving and waving coming out from nothingness far above them and reaching down to the nethermost depths in that weird bloom of night into nothingness again Harry stepped back and back into the hole from which they had emerged and watched his companions stand holding the torch which lit his features with a deep red light until he looked as if he might be the very alchemist of gold red gold and turning all he looked upon into the metal which closes around men's hearts the red light flashed on the white libyum of water and this way and that as he waved it around on the sides of the passage behind him turning each point of projecting rock into gold do you know where we are? no we're right under the form right behind it no one can ever see this hole outside it is as completely hidden as if the hand of the almighty was stretched over it the rush of this body of water always in front of it keeps the air in the passage always pure it's wonderful wonderful he turned to look at Harry and saw a wild man crouched in the darkness of the passage glaring and preparing to leap he seized and shook him what else you man hold on hold on keep your head I say there I've got you turn about now it's over now that's enough it won't come again Harry moaned oh let me go let me get away from it the big man still bricked him and held him with his face toward the darkness tell me what you see he commanded Harry still moaned and sank loose upon his knees lord forgive forgive tell me what you see Larry still commanded he would try to break up this vision seeing god it is the eye it follows me it is gone he heaved a great sigh of relief that still remained upon his knees quivering and weak did you see it you must have seen it I saw nothing and you saw nothing it's in your brain and your brain is sick you must heal it you must stop it stand now and conquer it Harry stuck shivering I wanted to end it it would have been so easy and all over so soon he murmured and you would die a coward and so odd one more crying to the first you'd shirk a duty and desert those who need you you'd leave me here in the lurch and those women depended on me wake up I'm awake let's go away Harry put his hand to his forehead and wiped away the cold drops that stood out like glittering beads of blood in the red light of the torch Larry grieved for him in spite of the harshness of his words and tone and taken him by the elbow he led him kindly back into the passage don't trouble about me now Harry said at last you've given me a fort to clutch to if you really do need me I could believe it well you may didn't you say you'd do for me more than sons do for their fathers I ask you to do just that for me live for me it's a hard thing to ask of you for as you say the other would be easier but it's a coward's way don't let it tempt you like a man and if the time comes and you can't see things clearly go back and make your confession and die the death as a brave man should meantime live to some purpose and do it cheerfully Larry paused his words sank in as he meant they should he guided Harry slowly back to the place from which they had diverged his arm across the younger man's shoulder now I've more to show you when I saw what I had done I set myself to find another vein and see this large room I groveled all about here this way and that a year of this see it took patience and in the meantime I went out into the world as far as San Francisco and wasted a year or more then I came back I tell you there is a lure in the gold and the mountains are powers of peace to a man it seemed there was no other place where I could rest in peace of mind the longing for my son was on me but the war still raged and I had no mind for that yet I was glad my boy was taking his part in the world out of which I had dropped for one thing it seemed as if he were more my own than if he lived in the late on the bankers bounty I would not go back there and meet the contempt of Peter Cragnil for he never could forget that I had taken his sister out of hand and she gone man it was all too sad how did I know how my son had been taught to think on me I could not go back when I would his name was Richard my boys if he came alive from the army I do not know see here is where I found another vein and I have followed it on there to the end of this other branch of the passage I do not exhaust it yet here is maybe another 20 years work for some man now wasn't it a great work for one man alone to tunnel through that lock to the floor no one man needs all that wealth I've often fought up Ireland and the poverty we left there if I had my boys a heart in me I could do something for them now we'll go back and sleep for it's the trial for me tomorrow and to go and come quickly before the snow falls come they returned in silence to the shed the torch had burned well down into the clay handle and Larry Cardin extinguished the last sparks before they crept through the fodder the fire of logs was almost out and the place growing cold you'll find the gold in a strong box made of human logs buried in the ground underneath the wood in the addition to the cabin there's no need to go to it yet not until you need money I'll show you how I prepare it for use in the morning I do it in the room I made there near the fall it's the most secret place a man ever had for such work Larry stretched himself in his bunk and was soon sleeping soundly not so the younger man he could not compose himself after the excitement of the evening he tossed and turned until morning found him weary and warm but with his troubled mind more at rest than it had been for many months he had fought out his battle at least for the time being and peace Harry King rose and went out into the cold morning air and was refreshed he brought in a large handful of pinecombs and made a roaring fire in the chimney he had built before Larry roused himself then he too went out and surveyed the sky with practiced eye clear and cold that argued well for me if it were warm now I'd hardly like to start sometimes the snow holds off for weeks in this weather they stood in the pallid light of the early morning an hour before the sun and the wind lifted Larry's hair and flapped his shirt sleeves about his arms it was a tingling sharp breeze and when they returned to the cave where they went for Harry's lesson in snouting the old man's cheeks were rotting the sun had barely risen when the lessons were over and they descended for breakfast Emilia had already for them and greeted Larry from the doorway good morning Sir Caudine you start soon I have many good things to eat all prepared to put in your bag and when you sit to your dinner on the long way it is that you must think of Emilia and know that she says a prayer to the sweet Christ that he sends his good angels to follow you all the way you go a prayer to follow you all the way is good is not Emilia's frank and untrammeled way of referring to divinity always precipitated a shyness on Larry a shyness that showed itself in smiles and stammering good good yes good maybe so Harry had turned back to bring down Larry's horse and pack your all while we eat Harry will be down soon and we won't wait for him while we eat let me go over the things I'm to find for you down below I must learn the list well by heart or you may send me back full of things I've missed bringing as they talked Emilia took from her wrist a heavy bracelet of gold and from a small leather bag hidden in her clothing a breach of emeralds reset and very precious her mother sat in one of her trance-like moods apparently seeing nothing around her and Emilia took Larry to one side and spoke in low tones Sir Kildane I have fought much and at last it seems to me right to part with these it is little that we have and no money only these what they are worth I have no knowledge mother may know to her I see nothing they are a memory of the days when my father was noble and lived at the court if you can sell them it is that this road should bring much money my father has told me it was saved for my dowry with a few other jewels of less worth I have no need of dowry it is that I never will marry until my mother is gone I can well care for her with the lace I make yes I can't take these I have no knowledge of their worth or he knew he was saying what was not true for he knew well with the value of what she laid so trustingly in his palm and his hand quivered under the shining jewels he cleared his throat and began again I say I can't take jewels so valuable over the trail and run the risk of losing them I never put them by as before but how can I ask of you the things I wish I have no money to return for them and none for all you have done for my mother and me please so Claudine take off this then only enough to buy for our need it is little to take don't be hard with me she pleaded sweetly placing one hand under his great one and the other over the jewels holding them pressed to his palm will you go away and leave my heart heavy look here now again he cleared his throat you put them by and so I come back and then but she would not and tying them in her handkerchief she thrust them into the pocket of his flannel shirt there it is not safe in such a place be sure you take care Claudine I have many faults in my mind it is not all the money of these you will need now and of the rest I may take my mother to a large city where are people who understand the fine lace there I may sell enough to keep us well but of money will I need first a little to get us there it is well for me you take these see is not no it is not well he spoke roughly in his effort to overcome his emotion where under heaven can I sell these you go not to the great city she asked sadly how must we then so long intrude us upon you which is very sad she clasped her hands and looked in his eyes her own bringing with tears then he turned away tears in a woman's eyes stand it see here I'll tell you what I'll do if that railroad is through anywhere so sorrow can reach San Francisco he thought he knew that to be an impossibility and that she would be satisfied I say if it were I can reach San Francisco I'll see what can be done he cleared his throat a great many times and stood awkwardly hardly to move with the precious jaws in his pocket see here go job all out of here can't you she turned on him radially you may have my bag of leather in that they will be safe she removed the string from her neck and by it called the small embossed case from her bosom shut out the few rings and unset stones left in it she returned the larger jaws to it and gave it into his hand still warm from its soft resting place at the same moment Harry arrived leading the animals he lifted his head courageously and his eyes shone as with an inspiration will you let me accompany you a bit of the way sir I'd like to go Larry accepted loudly he knew then what he would do with Amalia's gallery then I'll bring Goldbug to Amalia yes I'll drink my coffee now and eat as I ride he ran back for his horse and soon returned and then drank his coffee and snatched a bite while Amalia and Larry slugged the bags of food and the water on the mule and made all ready for the start as he ate he tried to arouse and encourage the mother but she remained stolid until they were in the saddle when she rose and followed them a few steps and said in her deep voice yes I asked her thing you will find cool my eyes burned tell him to come to me it is best no more I cannot in English then turning to her daughter she spoke volubri in her own tongue and waved her hand imperiously toward the men don't tell all you say Amalia took a step away from the door and her mother returned to her seat by the fire it is so sad my mother thinks my father is returned to our own country and that you go there she thinks you are our friend so McBride in disguise and that you go to help my father she fears you will be taken and sent to Siberia and says to my father that is enough he must no more try to save our fatherland but our nobleman are full of ingratitude and that he must return to her and live hereafter in peace let be so it is saving hallucination tell her if I find your father I will surely deliver the message and the two men rode away up the trail conversing earnestly explain to Harry about the drawers and turned them over to this keepin I had to take them you see you hide them in that chamber I showed you along with the gold bars hang it round your neck man until you get back it has rested on her bosom and if I were a young man like you that factor alone would make it safer to me it's her dowry she said I'd soon apart with my right hand so would I Harry took the case tenderly and hid it as directed and went on to ask the favor he had accompanied Larry to ask it was that he might go down and bring the box from the wagon early this morning before I woke you I led the brown horse who brought the mother up the mountain on out toward the trail we'll find him over the ridge all packed ready and when I ran back from my horse I left a letter written in charcoal on the hook there in the shed and Milo will be sure to go there and find it if I don't return now telling her what I'm after and that I'll only be gone a few days she's brave and can get along without us Larry did not reply at once and Harry continued it will only take us a day and a half to reach it and with your help her sling will be made of the canvas top of the wagon and the two animals can tote it as the darkies themselves say I can walk back up the trail or even ride one of the horses we'll take the tongue and can reach from the wagon and make a sort of affair to hang to the beasts I know how it can be done there may not be much of value in the box but then there may be and that's enough for us thus it came that the two women were alone for five days Madame Menoska did not seem to heed the absence of the two men at first and waited in a content mode she had not shown before it would seem that, as Larry had said there was saving in her hallucination but Milo was troubled by it mother is so sure that they will bring my father back but she tried to stall any such catastrophe as she feared by explaining that they might not find her father or he might not return even if he got her message not surely for he had always done what he fought his duty before anything else and he might think it his duty to stay where he could find something to do when Harry King did not return that night Milo did as he had laughingly suggested to her when he left you'll find a letter out in the shed was all he said so she went up to the shed and there she lighted a torch and kneeling on the stones of the ride her she read what he had written for her to the lady of Milo Menoska Mr. Kildine will help me get your box it will not be hard for the two of us and after it is drawn out and loaded I can get up with it myself and he can go on I will soon be with you again never fear do not be afraid of Indians if there were any danger I would not leave you there is no way by which they would be likely to reach you except by the trail on which we go and you will know if they are about before they can possibly get up the trail I have seen you brave on the plains and you will be as brave as you are on the top goodbye for a few days yours to serve Harry King the tears ran fast down her cheeks as she read oh why did I speak of it why he may be killed he may die of this attempt she threw the torch from her into the fireplace and clasped in her hands began to pray first in English her own words then the prayers for those in peril which she had learned in the convent then lying on her face she prayed frantically in her own tongue for Harry's safety at last comforted a little she took up the torch and flushed and tearful walked down in the darkness to the cabin and crept into bed end of chapter 19 recording by Elaine Webb, Bristol, England