ge mound of stone
was a prophecy. Through the ages, it had maintained its ward
steadfastly. So it would remain. A gush of confidence washed away the
last of the watcher's depression. He could go on his way undismayed.
These things here that were so dear to him would abide his return. The
old mother and Plutina would rest secure against his homecoming. The
time, after all, would not be long. Meantime, there was the great
adventure. Zeke whirled, and trudged blithely onward.

Opportunity had come to Zeke Higgins, and he had not hesitated to
seize it. His desire for a larger life than that of the tiny, scrabbly
mountain farm had been early excited; it had persisted; it had
increased steadily, though the possibility of its realization had
seemed remote. Stark poverty demanded that he remain to coax a scant
living from the soil for his mother. Yet, his determination was fixed.
He got some smattering of education, along with Plutina, from a kindly
Quaker who came among the "Boomers" of the Blue Ridge as a missionary
school-teacher. Thus, Zeke learned surprisingly much. His thirsty
brain took up knowledge as a sponge takes up water. So great was his
gratitude to this instructor that, when the stranger was revealed as a
revenue officer questing illicit stills, Zeke, despite inherited
prejudice, guided the hunted man by secret trails over the mountains
into Virginia, and thereby undoubtedly saved a life. Indeed, the
disappearance of the officer was so well contrived that the
mountaineers themselves for a time did not suspect the fact of the
escape. There is a great basin in the rock on the north side of Stone
Mountain. It has been hollowed out through centuries by the little
stream that comes leaping madly down the ledges. The cauldron has a
sinister repute. It is deemed the sepulchre of more than one spy, cast
down into the abyss from the mountain's brim. It was generally
believed that the false school-teacher was of the number.

Somehow, long afterward, report had it that the man was alive. Rumor
implicated Zeke as having had a share in the fellow's escape. Old
Dick Siddon, Plutina's grandfather, heard. He had hated the
"revenuers" always. Since the death of his only son at their hands,
his hatred had become a mania. He was a strong man, fierce in anger.
When he bade his grandchild dismiss her favored suitor, she feigned
obedience. She, and Zeke as well, knew the futility of fighting the
old man's prejudices. But, with the o