Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/121

SCOUTING SERVICE In some way that peaceful scene came to me as a rebuke. I felt that war with its many miseries and terrors was no longer to be unknown to these quiet dwellers outside the beaten path of the armies. Already trouble was hovering near, and I was destined to be the first to bring sorrow and destruction into this peaceful valley. I stood there for some time, field glasses at my eyes, striving to fix details in my mind, and thinking not only of Jean Denslow but also of the bitter feud of which it seemed to me this old plantation house was the centre. I understood little of it all,-merely those glimpses of savage memory given me by Daniels, yet these were sufficient to make me comprehend something of that legacy of hate which for a hundred years or more had descended from father to son, and left all this mountain region bloodstained. And my duty as a soldier was now involving me in the controversy; ay, not only that, but also my peculiar relations with Jean Denslow might make me a partisan. I turned to glance toward Daniels, standing grim and silent beside me, his cold gray eyes narrowed into mere slits as he stared out also toward Fairview.

"It looks peaceful enough down there," I said finally

He turned his eyes on my face, all the disappointment of the nights useless search exhibited in his sallow countenance.

"Ther damn ol' fox will git what he deserves yet," he returned gruffly, handling his rifle, and turning his gaze back upon the house. "I reckon if they knew I was yere they would n't feel so peaceful."

"Daniels," I asked curiously, "what have you got [ 111 ]