“Waal, Purdee, ef ye hedn't axed me, I warn't layin' off ter say nuthin 'bout'n it. 'Tain't no con-sarn o' mine ez I knows on. But sence ye _hev_ axed me, I hold my jaw fur the fear o' no man. The words ain't writ ez I be feared ter pernounce. An' ez all the kentry hev hearn 'bout'n it 'ceptin' you-uns, I dunno ez I hev enny call ter hold my jaw. The Lord 'ain't set no seal on my lips ez I knows on.” “Naw, sir!” said Purdee, his great eyes glooming through the dusk and flashing with impatience. “He 'ain't set no seal on yer lips, ter jedge by the way ye wallop yer tongue about inside o' 'em with fool words. Whyn't ye bite off what ye air tryin' ter chaw?” “Waal, then,” said the admonished orator, bluntly, “Grinnell 'lows ye don't own that thar lan' around them rocks on the bald, no more'n ye read enny writin' on 'em.” “Not them rocks!” cried Purdee, standing suddenly erect--“the tables o' the Law, writ with the finger o' the Lord--an' Moses flung 'em down thar an' bruk 'em. All the kentry knows they air Moses' tables. An' the groun' whar they lie air mine.” “'Tain't, Grinnell say 'tain't.” “Naw, sir,” chimed in the young musician, his violin silent. “Job Grinnell declars he owns it hisself, an' ef he war willin' ter stan' the expense he'd set up his rights, but the lan' ain't wuth it. He 'lows his line runs spang over them rocks, an' a heap furder.” Purdee was silent; one or two of the gossips laughed jeeringly; he had been proved a liar once. It was well that he did not deny; he was put to open shame among them. “An' Grinnell say,” continued Blinks, “ez ye hev gone an' tole big tales 'mongst the brethren fur ownin' sech ez ain't yourn, an' readin' of s'prisin' sayin's on the rocks.” He bent his head to a series of laughing harmonics, and when he raised it, hearing no retort, the silvery gray square of the door was empty. He saw the moon glimmer on the clumps of grass outside where the Christmas flower bloomed. The group sat staring in amaze; the blacksmith strode to the door and looked out, himself a massive, dark silhouette upon the shimmering neutrality of the background. There was no figure in sight; no faint foot-fall was audible, no rustle of the sere leaves; only the voice of the mountain torrent, far below, challenged the stillness with its insistent cry. He looked back for a moment, with a vague, strange doubt if he had seen aught, heard aught, in the scene just past. “Hain't Purdee been hyar?” he asked, passing his hand across his eyes. The sense of having dreamed was so strong upon him that he stretched his arms and yawned. The gleaming teeth of the grouped shadows demonstrated the merriment evoked by the query. The chuckle was arrested midway. “Ye 'pear ter 'low ez suthin' hev happened ter Purdee, an' that thar war his harnt,” suggested one.