but her eyes spoke with the fierce authority of the Turner clan, and its
dominant power for half a century, and Nancy Dillon shrank, though she turned
and made a spiteful face, when Melissa walked toward the school-house alone.

That afternoon was the longest of Chad's life--it seemed as though it would
never come to an end; for Chad had never sat so still for so long. His throat
got dry repeating the dreary round of letters over and over and his head ached
and he fidgeted in his chair while the slow hours passed and the sun went down
behind the mountain and left the school-house in rapidly cooling shadow. His
heart leaped when the last class was heard and the signal was given that meant
freedom for the little prisoners; but Melissa sat pouting in her seat-- she
had missed her lesson and must be kept in for a while. So Chad, too, kept his
seat and the master heard him say his letters, without the book, and nodded
his head as though to say to himself that such quickness was exactly what he
had looked for. By the time Chad had learned down to the letter 0, Melissa was
ready, for she was quick, too, and it was her anger that made her miss--and
the two started home, Chad stalking ahead once more. To save him, he could not
say a word of thanks, but how he wished that a bear or a wild-cat would spring
into the road! He would fight it with teeth and naked hands to show her how he
felt and to save her from harm.

The sunlight still lay warm and yellow far under the crest of Pine Mountain,
and they had not gone far when Caleb Hazel overtook them and with long strides
forged ahead. The school-master "boarded around" and it was his week with the
Turners, and Chad was glad, for he already loved the tall, gaunt, awkward man
who asked him question after question so kindly--loved him as much as he
revered and feared him--and the boy's artless, sturdy answers in turn pleased
Caleb Hazel. And when Chad told who had given him Jack, the master began to
talk about the faraway, curious country of which the cattle-dealer had told
Chad so much: where the land was level and there were no mountains at all;