第8章 POTTER'S CLAY(4)

"It's as pretty as paradise,"he said,simply."There's nothing like our Kansas prairies.""You come from the plains out west,I hear.How long do you plan to stay here,Burleigh?"Dr.Fenneben asked.

"Four years if I can make it go.I've got a little schooling and I know how to herd cattle.I need more than this,if I am only a country boy.""Who pays for your schooling,yourself,or your father?"Fenneben queried.

"I have no father nor mother now."

"You are willing to work four years to get a diploma from Sunrise?It is hard work;all the harder if you have not had much schooling before it.""I'm willing to work,and I'd like to have the diploma for it,"Vic answered.

"Burleigh,did you notice the letter S carved in the stone above the door?""Yes,sir;I suppose it stands for Sunrise?""It does.But with the years it will take on new meanings for you.

When you have learned all these meanings you will be ready for your diploma--and more.You will be far on your way to the winning of a Master's Degree."Vic's eyes widened with a sort of child-like simplicity.

He forgot his hat and the chair arms,and Dr.Fenneben noted for the first time that his golden-brown eyes matching his auburn hair were shaded by long black lashes,the kind artists rave about,and arched over with black brows.

"His eyes and voice are all right,"was the Dean's mental comment.

"There's good blood in his veins,I'll wager."But before he could speak further the shrill scream of a frightened child came from the campus below the ridge.

At the cry Vic Burleigh sprang to his feet,upsetting his chair,and without stopping to pick it up,he rushed from the building.

As he tore down the long flight of steps,Lloyd Fenneben caught sight of a child on the level campus running toward him as fast as its fat little legs could toddle.Two minutes later Vic Burleigh was back in the study,panting and hot,with the little one clinging to his neck.

"Excuse me,please,"Vic said as he lifted the fallen chair.

"I forgot all about Bug down there,and the widow Bull"--he gave a half-smile--"was wriggling around trying to find her mate,and scared him.He's too little to be left alone,anyhow."Bug was a sturdy,stubby three-year-old,or less,dimpled and brown,with big dark eyes and a tangle of soft little red-brown ringlets.

As Vic seated himself,Bug perched on the arm of the chair inside of the big boy's encircling arm.

"Who is your friend?Is he your brother?"asked the Dean.

"No.He's no relation.I don't know anything about him,except that his name is Buler.Bug Buler,he says."Little Bug put up a chubby brown hand loving-wise to Vic Burleigh's brown cheek,and,looking straight at Dr.Fenneben with wide serious eyes,he asked,"Is you dood to Vic?""Yes,indeed,"replied the Dean.

"Nen,I like you fornever,"Bug declared,shutting his lips so tightly that his checks puffed.

"How do you happen to have this child here,Burleigh?"questioned Fenneben.

"Because he's got nobody else to look after him,"answered Vic.

"How about an orphan asylum?

Vic looked down at the little fellow cuddled against his arm,and every feature of his stern face softened.

"Will it make any difference about him if I get my lessons,sir?I can't let Bug go now.We are the limit for each other--neither of us got anybody else.

I take care of him,but he keeps me from getting too coarse and rough.

Every fellow needs something innocent and good about him sometimes.""Oh,no!Keep him if you want him.But would you mind telling me about him?""I'd rather not now,"Burleigh said,quietly,and Lloyd Fenneben knew when to drop a subject.

"Then I'm through with you for today,Burleigh.I must let Miss Saxon have my room now.Come here whenever you like,and bring Bug if you care to."Sunrise students always left Dr.Fenneben's study with a little more of self-respect than when they entered it;richer,not so much from the word as from the spirit of the head of Sunrise.Victor Burleigh with little Bug Buler's fat fist clasped in his big,hard hand walked out of the college door that afternoon with the unconscious baptism of the student upon him,the dim sense of a fellowship with a scholarly master of books and of men.

Back in his study Lloyd Fenneben sat looking out once more at the Empire that meant nothing but dreary distances to the scholarly professor of Greek,and seemed a paradise to the untrained young fellow from the prairies.

"I see my stint of cloth for the day,"he murmured.

"A college professor in the making who has much to unlearn;a crude young giant who is fond of killing things,and cares for helpless children;and a beautiful,wilful,characterless girl to be shown into her womanly heritage.

The clay is ready.It is the potter whose hands need skill.

Victor Burleigh!Victor Burleigh!There's my greatest problem of all three.He has the strength of a Titan in those arms,and the passion of a tiger behind those innocent yellow eyes.

God keep me on the hilltop nor let my feet once get into the dark and dangerous ways!"He looked long at the landscape radiant under the level rays of splendor streaming from the low afternoon sun.

"I wonder who built that fire,and what that pillar of smoke meant this afternoon.The mystery of our lives hangs some token in each day."The shadows were gathering in the Walnut Valley,the pigeons about the cottage up the river,were in their cotes now,the heat of the day was over,and with one more look at the far peaceful prairies Dr.Lloyd Fenneben closed his study door and passed out into the cool September air.