The Call of the Cumberlands

"But, Drennie," he said, gently, "suppose the young eagle is the only

one that knows how to fly--and suppose he could teach the others? Don't

you see? I've only seen it myself for a little while."

"What is it that--that you see now?"

"I must go back, not to relapse, but to come to be a constructive

force. I must carry some of the outside world to Misery. I must take to

them, because I am one of them, gifts that they would reject from other

hands."

"Will they accept them even from you?"

"Drennie, you once said that, if I grew ashamed of my people, ashamed

even of their boorish manners, their ignorance, their crudity, you

would have no use for me."

"I still say that," she answered.

"Well, I'm not ashamed of them. I went through that, but it's over."

She sat silent for a while, then cried suddenly: "I don't want you to go!" The moment she had said it, she caught

herself with a nervous little laugh, and added a postscript of

whimsical nonsense to disarm her utterance of its telltale feeling.

"Why, I'm just getting you civilized, yourself. It took years to get

your hair cut."

He ran his palm over his smoothly trimmed head, and laughed.

"Delilah, Oh, Delilah!" he said. "I was resolute, but you have shorn

me."

"Don't!" she exclaimed. "Don't call me that!"

"Then, Drennie, dear," he answered, lightly, "don't dissuade me from

the most decent resolve I have lately made."

From the house came the strains of an alluring waltz. For a little

time, they listened without speech, then the girl said very gravely: "You won't--you won't still feel bound to kill your enemies, will you,

Samson?"

The man's face hardened.

"I believe I'd rather not talk about that. I shall have to win back

the confidence I have lost. I shall have to take a place at the head of

my clan by proving myself a man--and a man by their own standards. It

is only at their head that I can lead them. If the lives of a few

assassins have to be forfeited, I sha'n't hesitate at that. I shall

stake my own against them fairly. The end is worth it."

The girl breathed deeply, then she heard Samson's voice again: "Drennie, I want you to understand, that if I succeed it is your

success. You took me raw and unfashioned, and you have made me. There

is no way of thanking you."