Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/38

 her as a friend. Even then she could not find peace. For the War had come taking away all the young men of Galvey, killing Rad Graham and blinding Scobee, sending him home a poor broken soldier with a hurt in his heart that could not heal. He had lost his eyesight and his greatest pal. Could Roma ever be happy again?

It seemed to her that night as she sat before the blazing embers that the clouds of war would never lift from over their home. And now Jethro was passing through a period of anguish which was infinite.

Once more she sighed. As she did so old Hung Long Tom crept slowly down the stairs. He had been sitting by Scobee's bedside. The two had always been inseparable companions.

"Old fellow," Scobee often said, "you must never leave me now. I see everything through the eyes of Hung Long Tom. Perhaps I see things even more beautifully than I ever did in my life. You are a mighty comfortable sort of person to have about."