Produced by David Garcia, Pilar Somoza FernAindez and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) THE ROOF TREE [Illustration: "_She stood there a little shyly at first; as slender and as gracefully upright as a birch_"] THE ROOF TREE BY CHARLES NEVILLE BUCK ILLUSTRATED BY LEE F. CONREY GARDEN CITY, N. Y., AND TORONTO DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1921 BOOKS BY CHARLES NEVILLE BUCK BATTLE CRY, THE CALL OF THE CUMBERLANDS, THE CODE OF THE MOUNTAINS, THE DESTINY KEY TO YESTERDAY, THE LIGHTED MATCH, THE PAGAN OF THE HILLS, A PORTAL OF DREAMS, THE ROOF TREE, THE TEMPERING, THE TYRANNY OF WEAKNESS, THE WHEN BEAR CAT WENT DRY COPYRIGHT, 1920, 1921, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN _With the wish that it were a richer and worthier tribute, this book is lovingly and gratefully dedicated_ _TO MY WIFE_ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "She stood there a little shyly at first; as slender and as gracefully upright as a birch" _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE "'Hit almost seems like,' she whispered, 'that ther old tree's got a spell in hit--ter bewitch folks with'" 66 "Even Bas Rowlett, whose nerves were keyed for an ordeal, started and almost let the leaning bridegroom fall" 114 "Dorothy flashed past him ... and a few seconds later he heard the clean-lipped snap of the rifle in a double report" 186 THE ROOF TREE CHAPTER I Between the smoke-darkened walls of the mountain cabin still murmured the last echoes of the pistol's bellowing, and it seemed a voice of everlasting duration to the shock-sickened nerves of those within. First it had thundered with the deafening exaggeration of confined space, then its echo had beaten against the clay-chink wall timbers and rolled upward to the rafters. Now, dwindled to a ghostly whisper, it lingered and persisted. But the house stood isolated, and outside the laurelled forests and porous cliffs soaked up the dissonance as a blotter soaks ink.