e lingering light in the
landscape. Without its aid he might hardly have made shift to see her
face.

"They 'lowed they knowed so by the papers the traveler had on him,
though this Selwyn 'lowed _he_ couldn't identify the dead man," he
continued after a pause.

She gazed wonderingly at him, then absently down at the sudden
scintillating white glitter of the reflection of the evening star in
the dusky red water. It burned with a yet purer, calmer radiance in
the roseate skies. She felt the weight of the darkening gloom,
gathering beneath the trees around her, as if it hung palpably on her
shoulders.

"Waal," he resumed, "I b'lieve ef that thar traveler had been able ter
speak ter ye when ye fund him, like ye said he tried ter do, I
b'lieve he would hev tole ye suthin' 'bout that thar valley man.
_He_'s enough likelier ter hev bed suthin' ter do with the suddint
takin' off o' the feller than Con Hite."

Her face was suddenly aghast. "Who says Con Hite-- Why?" She paused,
her voice failing.

"Waal, ye know Con be a-moonshinin' again, an' some 'lows ez this
hyar traveler warn't a traveler at all, but a revenuer,--strayed off
somehows from the rest o' 'em."

"Oh, how I wish he'd stop moonshinin' an' sech!"

She moved so suddenly on the edge of the precipice, as she lifted her
hands and drew down her sunbonnet over her face, that Ben's glance was
full of terror.

"Move back a mite, Nar'sa; ye'll go over the bluff, fust thing ye
know! Yes, Con's mighty wrong ter be moonshinin'. The law is the right
thing. It purtects us. It holps us all. We-uns owe it obejiunce, like
I hearn a man say in a speech down yander in"--

"The law!" cried Narcissa, with scorn. "Con Hite kin tromp on the
revenue law from hyar ter the witch-face, fur all I keer. Purtects! I
pity a man ez waits fur the law ter purtect him; it's a heap apter ter
grind him ter pomace. _I_ mind moonshinin' 'kase it's dangersome fur
the moonshiners. The law--I don't count the fibble old law!"

She sat brooding for a time, her face downcast. Then she spoke in a
low voice:--

"Whyn't ye find out, Ben? What ails ye ter be so good-fur-nuthin'?
Thar be other folks beside Con ez air law-breakers." She edged nearer
to him, laying her hand on his arm. "Ye've got to find out, Ben," she
said insistently. "Keep an eye on that thar valley man, an' find out
all 'bout'n him. Else the killin' 'll be laid ter Con, who never done
nuthin' hurtful ter nobody in all his life."