DESTINY



Chagrined tears welled into his deep eyes, and a flush
spread over his thin cheeks.
  "I just-just got to thinkin'," he exculpated lamely,
"an' I fogot to hurry. Listen at that water singin',
Ham !" His voice took on a rapt eagerness. "An'
them leaves rustlin'. It's all like some kind of music
that nobody's ever played an' nobody ever can play."
  Ham's face, looking down from the commanding
height of his sixteen years, hardened.
  "Do you figure that Pap sends you to school to
set out here and listen at the leaves rattlin'" was the
dry inquiry. "To hear you talk a feller'd think there
ain't anything in the world but funny noises. What
do they get you"
  "Noises!" the slight lad's voice filled and thrilled
with  remonstrance.  "Can't you   ever understand
music, Ham There's all the world of difference be-
tween music an' noise. Music's what the Bible says the
angels love more'n anything."
  Ham's lips set themselves sternly. He was not one
to be turned aside with quibbles.
  "Look here, Paul," he accused, "you didn't come
out here to get water and you didn't come to listen
to the fishes singin' songs either. You sneaked out
to run away because you're scared of Jimmy Mar-
quess an' because you know he's goin' to punch your
face after school."
  The younger lad flushed crimson and he began an
unconvincing denial. "I ain't-I ain't afraid of him,
neither," he protested. "That ain't the truth, Ham."
  "All right then." The elder boy filled the bucket and
straightened up with business-like alacrity. "If you
ain't scared of him we might as well go on back there
an' tell him so. He thinks you are."



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