It was to a campaign of persuasion, rather than abrupt coercion, that the preacher had sought to guide his convert, and at this announcement of audacious purpose he shook his head, and the hopefulness faded from his pupils. "The system hes hits roots set deep in ancient toleration, an' hooked under ther rocks themselves. Afore ye alters hit by fo'ce, ye've got ter shake, ter the bottom-most ledges, hills thet hain't never been shuck afore." But Bear Cat Stacy had within the hour become the crusader in spirit, hot with a new-born purpose, and it would have been as possible to send molten lava traveling uphill to go tamely back again into its bursted crater, as to shake his purpose. He was in eruption. "I knows thet, but I aims ter blast out the bed-rock hitself an' build hit up anew. "Hit seems ter me right now es ef I kin see ther picture of this land in y'ars ter come. I kin see men walkin' with thar heads high an' thar gaze cl'ar--'stid of reelin' in thar saddles an' scowlin' hate outen drunken eyes. I kin see sich schools es Jerry Henderson named ter me in other valleys an' coves. "Ye says hit hain't a-goin' ter be easy, but I tells ye more then thet--hit's goin' ter be jest one mite short of impossible--an' none-the-less I'm a-goin' ter do hit. I'm a-goin' ter lay ther foundations fer a peace thet kin endure. I reckon folks'll laugh at 'em fust, an' then mark me down fer death, but I means ter prevail afore I quits--an' I'm beholden ter ye fer p'intin' me ther way." The preacher clasped his hands in a nervous uncertainty. The transition from night to the twilight of the day's beginning had passed through its most ghostly vagueness to a fog-wrapped morning. A dour veil of gray and sodden mists trailed along the slopes with that chill that strikes at the heart and quenches the spirit in depression. Joel Fulkerson stood, gray, too, and colorless. "I don't hardly know how ter counsel ye, son," he said, and his voice was that of a man whose burden of weariness was crushing him. "Ye aims ter do a thing thet hain't nuver been successfully undertook afore. Ef ye seeks ter fo'ce men 'stid of persuadin' 'em--ye're mighty liable ter fail--and cause ther valleys ter run red." Bear Cat's lips twisted themselves into a smile ironically mirthless. "Brother Fulkerson," he said, "in thar--ye kin almost hear her moanin' now--is ther gal thet I've always loved. Ter me ther ground she walks on is holy--ther air she breathes is ther only air I kin breathe without tormint ... ter-night I fotched hyar ther man thet my heart was clamorin' ter kill: fotched him hyar ter wed with her." As he paused Turner's face twitched painfully. "Ye says I mustn't undertake this job in no spirit of vengeance. Thar hain't no other fashion I _kin_ undertake hit. I must needs throw myself inter this warfare with all ther hate--an' all ther love thet's in my blood. I hain't a-goin' ter try ter gentle iniquity--I'm goin' ter strive ter tromp hit underfoot."