shadow shot through a space of sunlight into the gloom cast by a
thicket of rhododendrons, and the boy caught his breath sharply. A
moment more, and the shape of a boat and a human figure
quivered on the water running under him. The stern of a Lewallen
canoe swung into the basin, and he sprang to his feet.

"Rome!" The cry cut sharply through the drowsy air. " Thar he is!
Hit's Jas"

The old miller rose to his feet. The boy threw himself behind the
sacks of grain. Rome wheeled for his rifle, and stood rigid before
the door. There was a light step without, the click of a gun-lock
within; a shadow fell across the doorway, and a girl stood at the
threshold with an empty bag in her hand.

V

WITH a little cry she shrank back a step. Her face paled and her
lips trembled, and for a moment she could not speak. But her eyes
swept the group, and were fixed in two points of fire on Rome.

"Why don't ye shoot! "she asked, scornfully.

"I hev heerd that the Stetsons have got to makin war on
women-folks, but I never believed it afore." Then she turned to
the miller.

Kin I git some more meal hyeh? " she asked. " Or have ye stopped
sellin' to folks on t'other side? " she added, in a tone that sought no
favor.