ad become a religion with him. He had lain down at
night with that single purpose before him. He had risen with it in the
morning. It had been his companion throughout the day. From one season to
another he had cherished it when he should have been filled with the
happy, healthy play impulses natural to his age.

The boy told the story of that man-hunt without a suspicion that there
was anything in it to outrage the feelings of the girl.

"If it hadn't been for old Nance Cunningham, I reckon Devil Dave an' his
brothers would have fixed up some cock an' bull story about how 'Lindy
was drowned by accident. But folks heard Nance an' then wouldn't believe
a word they said. Dad swore us Clantons to wipe out the whole clan of
'em. Every last man in the hills that was decent got to cussin' the Roush
outfit. Their own friends turned their backs on all three. Then the
sheriff come up from the settlemint an' they jest naturally lit out.

"I heerd tell they were in Arizona an' after dad died I took after 'em.
But seemed like I had no luck. When I struck their trail they had always
just gone. To-day I got Ranse--leastways I would'a' got him if yore
brother hadn't interfered. I'll meet up with the others one o' these
times. I'll git 'em too."

He spoke with quiet conviction, as if it were a business matter that had
to be looked after.

"Did you ever hear this: 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the
Lord'?"

He nodded. "Dad used to read that to me. There's a heap in the Bible
about killin' yore enemies. Dad said that vengeance verse meant that
we-all was the Lord's deputies, like a sheriff has folks to help him, an'
we was certainly to repay the Roushes an' not to forgit interest
neither."

The girl shook her head vigorously. "I don't think that's what it means
at all. If you'll read the verses above and below, you'll see it doesn't.
We're to feed our enemies when they are hungry. We're to do them good for
evil."

"That's all right for common, every-day enemies, but the Roush clan ain't
that kind," explained the boy stubbornly. "It shore is laid on me to
destroy 'em root an' branch, like the Bible says."

By the way he wagged his head he might have been a wise little old man.
The savage philosophy of the boy had been drawn in with his mother's
milk. It had been talked by his elders while as a child he drowsed before
the big fireplace on winter nights. After his sister's tragic death it
had been driven home by Bible te