reamily into the water. His mind was stunned by the present situation. Feverishly and against h

e of Hiram's mother had been appalling. One word stood for the tenor of her days from sun to sun-nothing. She had never s

manated from the father to his wife and child. Foster Hooker, too, had slaved his life away for nothing. The rocky land had claimed him and held him d

ned. It offered sustenance, and of the big progressing world beyond they had lived afraid. In the early days they had buried themselves in the big woods to m

other soul, save Uncle Sebastian's, perhaps, in all the valley? Hiram saw more in a redwood tree than the natives did; saw the beauty of contrast in the open spots in the forest, where the others saw only grazing ground for cattle; saw wonders in the rioting streams without a thoug

exultation seized him which beat throbbingly in his temples and fired his soul with recklessness. He was bound out into the Great Unknow

rried along the bark road which wound round the contour of the hills. An hour later he was trotting do

first time. All the way up the hill the exultation of impending departure had thrilled

it. Near the fireplace lay an unsightly pile of wood and chips. The doors of the cracked and rusty stove were gaping wide.

between the big bull pines on Wild-cat Hill. A slight sense of depression seized him. The bed unmade, brought a sparkle of anger to his eyes. He was di

ir was of such dark brown as to seem almost black, her eyes dark and large and lustrous. She was a queen among women, this girl of his dreams. Ab

at last to drop into fretful, torturing dr

s bacon and coffee and frying slices

ve to Uncle Sebastian. Everything else he left behind. He took a short cut over Wi

the air was the breath of the morning. Weirdly the early wind moaned through the needles of t

andeur of this untarnished land. Scalding tears burst from his eyes. Some monstrous ogre had arisen to crush him. They were driving him from his home, from the land of his birth, from the spots he loved! No bitterer period ever came in Hiram's life than when he st