"
Laurella had said to Pap Himes that she wanted to sleep, and indeed her
eyes, were closed when Johnnie entered the room; but beneath the shadow
of the sweeping lashes burned such spots of crimson that her nurse
was alarmed.
"What was Pap Himes saying to you to get you so excited?" she asked
anxiously.
"Johnnie, come here. Sit down on the edge of the bed and listen to me,"
demanded Laurella feverishly. She laid hold of her daughter's arm, and
half pulled herself up by it, staring into Johnnie's face as she talked;
and out tumbled the whole story of Gray Stoddard's disappearance.
As full understanding of what her mother said came home to Johnnie, her
eyes dilated in her pale face. She sank to her knees beside the bed.
"Lost!" she echoed. "Lost--gone! Hasn't been seen since Friday
morning--Friday morning before sunup! Friday, Saturday, Sunday. My God,
Mother--it's three days and three nights!"
"Yes, honey, it's three days and three nights," assented Laurella
fearfully. "Gid says he's going up in the mountains with a lot of others
to search. He says some thinks the moonshiners have taken him in mistake
for a revenuer; and some believe it was robbery--for his watch and
money; and Mr. Hardwick is blaming it on the Groner crowd that raised up
such a fuss when Lura Dawson died in the hospital here. Gid says they've
searched every ridge and valley this side of Big Unaka.
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