The Call of the Cumberlands

She nodded her head, in prompt and full corroboration.

"I reckon Samson'll be the biggest man in the mountings some day."

"He ought to be more than that."

Suspicion at once cast a cloud across the violet serenity of her eyes.

"What does ye mean?" she demanded.

"I mean"--the painter paused a moment, and then said bluntly--"I mean

that I want to take him back with me to New York."

The girl sprang to her feet with her chin defiantly high and her brown

hands clenched into tight little fists. Her bosom heaved convulsively,

and her eyes blazed through tears of anger. Her face was pale.

"Ye hain't!" she cried, in a paroxysm of fear and wrath. "Ye hain't a-

goin' ter do no sich--no sich of a damn thing!" She stamped her foot,

and her whole girlish body, drawn into rigid uprightness, was a-quiver

with the incarnate spirit of the woman defending her home and

institutions. For a moment after that, she could not speak, but her

determined eyes blazed a declaration of war. It was as though he had

posed her as the Spirit of the Cumberlands.

He waited until she should be calmer. It was useless to attempt

stemming her momentary torrent of rage. It was like one of the sudden

and magnificent tempests that often swept these hills, a brief visit of

the furies. One must seek shelter and wait. It would end as suddenly as

it had come. At last, he spoke, very softly.

"You don't understand me, Miss Sally. I'm not trying to take Samson

away from you. If a man should lose a girl like you, he couldn't gain

enough in the world to make up for it. All I want is that he shall have

the chance to make the best of his life."

"I reckon Samson don't need no fotched-on help ter make folks

acknowledge him."

"Every man needs his chance. He can be a great painter--but that's the

least part of it. He can come back equipped for anything that life

offers. Here, he is wasted."

"Ye mean"--she put the question with a hurt quaver in her voice--"ye

mean we all hain't good enough fer Samson?"

"No. I only mean that Samson wants to grow--and he needs space and new

scenes in which to grow. I want to take him where he can see more of

the world--not only a little section of the world. Surely, you are not

distrustful of Samson's loyalty? I want him to go with me for a while,

and see life."