Sometimes it spans the Gap with a
rainbow.
Strange people and strange tales
come through this Gap from the Kentucky
hills. Through it came these
two, late one day--a man and a woman--
afoot. I met them at the foot-
bridge over Roaring Fork.
``Is thar a preacher anywhar aroun'
hyeh?'' he asked. I pointed to the
cottage under Imboden Hill. The girl
flushed slightly and turned her head
away with a rather unhappy smile.
Without a word, the mountaineer led
the way towards town. A moment
more and a half-breed Malungian passed
me on the bridge and followed
them.
At dusk the next day I saw the
mountaineer chopping wood at a shanty
under a clump of rhododendron on
the river-bank. The girl was cooking
supper inside. The day following he
was at work on the railroad, and on
Sunday, after church, I saw the parson.
The two had not been to him. Only
that afternoon the mountaineer was
on the bridge with another woman,
hideously rouged and with scarlet ribbons
fluttering from her bonnet. Passing
on by the shanty, I saw the Malungian
talking to the girl.
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