Judy was climbing the steep trail.
Curiously, Brian watched the deformed mountain girl as she made her way
up the narrow, stairlike path, and her cutting words came back to him:
"God-A'mighty and my drunken pap made me like I am. But you,--damn
you!--you made yourself what you be." And Auntie Sue had said that
the all-important thing in life was not to DO something, but to BE
something.
The girl, who had gained a point halfway to the top of the bluff, paused
to look searchingly about, and Brian, who was half-hidden by the bushes,
started to call to her, thinking she might be looking for him; but some
impulse checked him and he remained silently watching her. Climbing
hurriedly a little higher up the path Judy again stopped to look
carefully around, as if searching the vicinity for some one. Then, once
more, she went on until she stood on top of the cliff; and now, as she
looked about over the surrounding country, she called: "Mr. Burns! Oh,
Mr. Burns! Who-o-e-e! Mr. Burns!"
Brian's lips were parted to answer the call when something happened on
top of the bluff which held him for the moment speechless.
From beyond where Judy stood on the brink of the cliff, a man's head
and shoulders appeared. Brian saw the girl start and turn to face the
newcomer as if in sudden fear. Then she whirled about to run. Before she
could gain the point where the path starts down from the top, the man
caught her and dragged her roughly back, so that the two disappeared
from Brian's sight.
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