A Chilhowee Lily | Page 4

her grandad's wagin, an' send it ter him by
express. He hed tole her once whar he hed placed it--an' ter mark the
spot mo' percisely he hed noticed one Chilhowee lily bulb right beside
it. An' then says the letter, 'Good bye, Chilhowee Lily!' An' all them
fellers stood staring."
A light wind was under way from the west Delicate flakes of red and
glistening white were detached from the clouds. Sails--sails were
unfurling in the vast floods of the skies. With flaunting banners and
swelling canvas a splendid fleet reached half way to the zenith. But a
more multitudinous shipping still swung at anchor low in the west,
though the promise of a fair night as yet held fast.
"An' now," said Ozias Crann in conclusion, "all them fellers is
a-diggin'."
"Whut's in the box!" demanded Swof-ford, his big baby-face all in a
pucker of doubt.
"The gold an' silver he ought ter hev paid the miners, of course. They
always 'lowed they never tuk a dollar off him; they jes' got a long range
shot at him! How I wish," Ozias Crann broke off fervently, "how I wish
I could jes' git my hands on that money once!" He held out his hands,
long and sinewy, and opened and shut them very fast.
"Why, that would be stealin'!" exclaimed Kinnicutt with repulsion.
"How so? 't ain't his'n now, sure--he war jes' the agent ter pay it out,"
argued Crann, volubly.
"It belongs ter the mine owners, then--the company." There was a
suggestion of inquiry in the younger man's tone.
"'Pears not--they sent it hyar fur the percise purpose ter be paid out!"
the specious Crann replied.

"Then it belongs ter the miners."
"They hedn't yearned it--an' ef some o' them hed they warn't thar ter
receive it, bein' out on a strike. They hed burnt down the company's
office over yander at the mine in Tanglefoot Cove, with all the books
an' accounts, an' now nobody knows what's owin' ter who."
Kinnicutt's moral protests were silenced, not satisfied. He looked up
moodily at the moon now alone in the sky, for only a vanishing
segment of the great vermilion sphere of the sun was visible above the
western mountains, when suddenly he felt one of those long grasping
claws on his arm. "Now, Rufe, bubby," a most insinuating tone, Crann
had summoned, "all them fool fellers air diggin' up the face of the
yearth, wharever they kin find a Chilhowee lily--like sarchin' fur a
needle in a haystack. But we uns will do a better thing than that. I
drawed the idee ez soon ez I seen you an' Pete hyar this evenin' so
onexpected. 'Them's my pardners,' I sez ter myself. 'Pete ter holp dig
an' tote ef the box be heavy. An' you ter find out edzac'ly whar it be
hid.' You uns an' Loralindy hev been keepin' company right smart, an'
ye kin toll Loralindy along till she lets slip jes' whar that lily air growin'.
I'll be bound ez she likes ye a sight better 'n that Renfrow--leastwise ef
't warn't fur his letter, honeyin' her up with complimints, an' she hevin'
the chance o' tollin' him on through doin' him sech faviors, savin' his
life, an' now his money--shucks it's mo' our money 'n his'n; 't ain 't his
'n! Gol-darn the insurance o' this Renfrow! His idee is ter keep the
money his own self, an' make her sen' it ter him. Then 'Good-bye,
Chilhowee Lily!'"
The night had come at last, albeit almost as bright as day, but with so
ethereal, so chastened a splendor that naught of day seemed real. A
world of dreams it was, of gracious illusions, of far vague distances that
lured with fair promises that the eye might not seek to measure. The
gorgeous tints were gone, and in their stead were soft grays and
indefinite blurring browns, and every suggestion of silver that metal
can show flashed in variant glitter in the moon. The mountains were
majestically sombre, with a mysterious sense of awe in their great
height There were few stars; only here and there the intense lustre of a

still planet might withstand the annihilating magnificence of the moon.
Its glamour did not disdain the embellishment of humbler objects. As
Rufe Kinnicutt approached a little log cabin nestling in a sheltered cove
he realized that a year had gone by since Renfrow had seen it first, and
that thus it must have appeared when he beheld it. The dew was bright
on the slanting roof, and the shadow of oak trees wavered over it. The
mountain loomed above. The zigzag lines of the rail fence, the
bee-gums all awry ranged against it, the rickety barn and fowl-house,
the gourd vines draping the porch of