y. If he had
chanced to be observed, his little farce, that had yet an element of
tragedy in its presentation, must soon have reached its close. But
the fog hung about him like a cloak, and when the moon cast aside the
vapors, it was in a distant silver sheen illumining the far reaches of
the valley. Only when its light summoned forth a brilliant and glancing
reflection on a lower level, as if a thousand sabers were unsheathed at
a word, he recognized the proximity of the river and came to a sudden
halt.

"Whar is this fool goin'?" he demanded angrily of space. "To the
graveyard, I declar', ez ef I war a harnt fur true, an' buried sure
enough. An' I wish I war. I wish I war."

He realized, after a moment's consideration, that he had been
unconsciously actuated by the chance of meeting the wagon, returning by
this route from the cross-roads' store. He was tired, disheartened; his
spirit was spent; he would be glad of the lift. He reflected,
however, that he must needs wait some time, for this was the date of a
revival-meeting at the little church, and the distillers' wagon would
lag, that its belated night journey might not be subjected to the
scrutiny and comment of the church-goers. Indeed, even now Walter Wyatt
saw in the distance the glimmer of a lantern, intimating homeward-bound
worshipers not yet out of sight.

"The saints kep' it up late ter-night," he commented.

He resolved to wait till the roll of wheels should tell of the return of
the moonshiners' empty wagon.

He crossed the river on the little footbridge and took his way languidly
along the road toward the deserted church. He was close to the hedge
that grew thick and rank about the little inclosure when he suddenly
heard the sound of lamentation from within. He drew back precipitately,
with a sense of sacrilege, but the branches of the unpruned growth had
caught in his sleeve, and he sought to disengage the cloth without such
rustling stir as might disturb or alarm the mourner, who had evidently
lingered here, after the dispersal of the congregation, for a moment's
indulgence of grief and despair. He had a glimpse through the shaking
boughs and the flickering mist of a woman's figure kneeling on the
crude red clods of a new-made grave. A vague, anxious wonder as to the
deceased visited him, for in the sparsely settled districts a strong
community sense prevails. Suddenly in a choking gust of sobs and burst
of tears he recognized his own name in a vo