At last he paused. He looked round
at the hills-down at the river, up at the sky-humanity was shut away from
his sight. He was alone. A long hot breath broke from his pressed lips,
stirring his big red beard. Then he gave a call, a long call that echoed
through the hills weirdly and solemnly.
It reached the ears of those above like a greeting from an outside world.
They answered, "Right, Macavoy!"
Years afterwards these men told how then there came in reply one word,
ringing roundly through the hills--the note and symbol of a crisis, the
fantastic cipher of a soul:
"M'Guire!"
There was a loud booming sound, the dyke was loosed, the ravine split
into the swollen stream its choking mouthful of earth and rock; and a
minute afterwards the path was clear to the top of Champak Hill. To it
came the unharmed children and their mother, who, from the warm peak sent
the wild duck "to the rose o' the valley," which, till the message came,
was trembling on the stem of life. But Joy, that marvellous healer, kept
it blooming with a little Eden bird nestling near, whose happy tongue was
taught in after years to tell of the gift of the Simple King; who had
redeemed, on demand, the promissory note for ever.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
A human life he held to be a trifle in the big sum of time
Fear of one's own wife is the worst fear in the world
He never saw an insult unless he intended to avenge it
Liars all men may be, but that's wid wimmin or landlords
Men are like dogs--they worship him who beats them
She valued what others found useless
Women are half saints, half fools
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMANY OF THE SNOWS, V1, BY PARKER ***
*********** This file should be named gp08w10.
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