Out into the still night the boy passed. On the way back he saw Mrs.
White, but he hid beneath a bush until she had gone by. He reached home,
found the door barred, and so painfully reached his room by the aid of
the friendly vine.




CHAPTER II

A STRANGER IN THE NIGHT


That was to be a night of experiences--the beginning, the real beginning
of Andy's life; all the rest had been preparation. After reaching his
room, he flung himself wearily upon the bed. How long he slept he could
not know, but he was suddenly aroused by a sharp knock on the outer door
below stairs. He sat up and listened. All was still except the trickling
of a near-by waterfall, which had outlived the dry weather.

For a moment Andy thought the knock was but part of a troubled dream; he
waited a moment, then, to make sure, limped over to the stairway and
peered down into the room below. A candle stood on the pine table, and,
at a chair near-by, knelt Janie McNeal, bowed in prayer. She had heard
the knock, but not until the lonely prayer was finished would she rise.
That was Janie's way.

A second knock, louder than the first, sounded, and with it the woman's
solemn "Amen."