The Harrows of Spring Read Online Free PDF

found the first proofs of specimen layouts that Daniel had run off on various odd scraps of paper with the Albion press.
    â€œLooks like you’re getting the hang of this,” he said.
    â€œThanks. I’ve had some help,” Daniel said. “But before I can really get started, I need to get a supply of proper newsprint paper.”
    â€œYou might have to go to Albany to find that,” Loren said.
    The small talk ceased.
    â€œCome on over and set down, son,” Brother Jobe said.
    Daniel could not fail to notice the grave demeanor of the three men. He ran a little turpentine on a rag over his fingertips to get the ink off and joined them over by the stove with the candle. Brother Jobe drew his flask out of his coat and put it on the wooden crate that served as a table in front of the sofa.
    â€œTry some,” he said.
    Daniel hesitated, then went for it. Loren took a turn. Robert pulled a packet of paper out of his inside coat pocket, unfolded it to a single sheet, and passed it to his son. It was an edition of the Kingston Pilot , dated March 28. An item in the lower right column was circled and some words underlined. The headline read, REWARD FOR FOXFIRE ASSASSIN . The story named Daniel Earle in the second paragraph.
    Daniel took it all in and then looked up at the men without speaking. His face seemed red in the candlelight.
    â€œInteresting,” he said at length.
    â€œInneresting?” Brother Jobe said. “That all? It don’t concern you?”
    Daniel shrugged his shoulders and tried to look away but Brother Jobe captured him in his gaze. Brother Jobe was not just an adept hypnotist. He had an aptitude for preternatural empathy that allowed him to enter the interior lives of others, like an explorer crossing the frontier into an uncharted territory. It was not an ability he could account for, or even explain to himself. But he had learned to be comfortable with his gift. Daniel’s mind was as transparent to him now as a glass of spring water.
    â€œI’m advising you to take more’n a passing interest in this,” Brother Jobe said.
    â€œMaybe it’s some kind of coincidence,” Daniel said. “Or a mistake.”
    Brother Jobe noticed how Daniel’s leg was jiggling.
    â€œYoung man, I’m amongst your thoughts even as we speak,” he said.
    â€œWhat’s that mean?” Daniel glanced at his father and then at Loren.
    Robert, too, had some prior acquaintence with Brother Jobe’s strange talents.
    â€œYou can trust him,” Robert said.
    Loren just raised his eyebrows.
    â€œDo you read minds, sir?” Daniel asked.
    â€œI have a sympathetic susceptibility,” Brother Jobe said. “It don’t really matter what you call it.”
    â€œWhat did you tell them?” Daniel asked his father.
    â€œThat you were in Tennessee,” Robert said. “That something happened down there.”
    â€œSon, your name’s in the papers now,” Brother Jobe said. “Probably in papers all around the states.”
    Daniel left his seat, stalked across the room, and stood by his composing table in a pool of darkness with his arms crossed.
    â€œA hundred ounces. That’s a hell of a lot of gold these days,” Loren said. “Why the hell did you use your real name down there?”
    Daniel sighed. It pained him almost physically to talk about what he had done, but he found that he could not resist.
    â€œThey figured I’d be less likely to slip up if anyone asked who I was, my name, my background,” he said. “But I had a cover story too, a legend , they called it in the service.”
    â€œDid it occur to you that something like this might happen?” Loren said.
    â€œI wasn’t thinking so clearly at the time.”
    â€œMaybe they didn’t expect you to get out of there alive,” Robert said.
    â€œGetting out was a big part of the training.”
    â€œAnyway, for all these