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diff --git a/old/cnven10.txt b/old/cnven10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9997c9c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cnven10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2867 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Cumberland Vendetta, by John Fox Jr. +#4 in our series by John Fox, Jr. + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + +Prepared by David Reed haradda@aol.com or davidr@inconnect.com + +A Cumberland Vendetta +by John Fox Jr. + +TO MINERVA AND ELIZABETH + +A Cumberland Vendetta + +I + +THE cave had been their hiding-place as children; it was a secret +refuge now against hunger or darkness when they were hunting in +the woods. The primitive meal was finished; ashes were raked +over the red coals; the slice of bacon and the little bag of meal +were hung high against the rock wall; and the two stepped from +the cavern into a thicket of rhododendrons. + +Parting the bushes toward the dim light, they stood on a massive +shoulder of the mountain, the river girding it far below, and the +afternoon shadows at their feet. Both carried guns-the tall +mountaineer, a Winchester; the boy, a squirrel rifle longer than +himself. Climbing about the rocky spur, they kept the same level +over log and bowlder and through bushy ravine to the north. In half +an hour, they ran into a path that led up home from the river, and +they stopped to rest on a cliff that sank in a solid black wall +straight under them. The sharp edge of a steep corn-field ran near, +and, stripped of blade and tassel, the stalks and hooded ears looked +in the coming dusk a little like monks at prayer. In the sunlight +across the river the corn stood thin and frail. Over there a drought +was on it; and when drifting thistle-plumes marked the noontide of +the year, each yellow stalk had withered blades and an empty +sheath. Every-where a look of vague trouble lay upon the face of +the mountains, and when the wind blew, the silver of the leaves +showed ashen. Autumn was at hand. + +There was no physical sign of kinship between the two, +half-brothers though they were. The tall one was dark; the boy, a +foundling, had flaxen hair, and was stunted and ~lender. He was a +dreamy~looking little fellow, and one may easily find his like +throughout the Cumberland -paler than his fellows, from staying +much indoors, with half-haunted face, and eyes that are deeply +pathetic when not cunning; ignorantly credited with idiocy and +uncanny powers; treated with much forbearance, some awe, and a +little contempt; and suffered to do his pleasure-nothing, or much +that is strange-without comment. + +"I tell ye, Rome," he said, taking up the thread of talk that was +broken at the cave, "when Uncle Gabe says he's afeard thar's +trouble comm', hit's a-comm'; 'n' I want you to git me a Winchester. +I'm a-gittin' big enough now. I kin shoot might' nigh as good as +you, 'n' whut am I fit fer with this hyeh old pawpaw pop-gun?" + +"I don't want you fightin', boy, I've told ye. Y'u air too little 'n' +puny, 'n' I want ye to stay home 'n' take keer o' mam 'n' the cattle-ef +fightin' does come, I reckon thar won't be triuch." + +Don't ye? " cried the boy, with sharp contempt-" with ole Jas +Lewallen a-devilin' Uncle Rufe, 'n' that blackheaded young Jas +a-climbin' on stumps over thar 'cross the river, n' crowin' n' sayin' +out open in Hazlan that ye air afeard o him? Yes; 'n' he called me a +idgit." The boy's voice broke into a whimper of rage. + +"Shet up, Isom! Don't you go gittin' mad now. You'll be sick ag'in. +I'll tend to him when the time comes." Rome spoke with rough +kindness, but ugly lines had gathered at his mouth and forehead. +The boy's tears came and went easily. He drew his sleeve across +his eyes, and looked up the river. Beyond the bend, three huge +birds rose into the sunlight and floated toward them. Close at +hand, they swerved side-wise. + +"They hain't buzzards," he said, standing up, his anger gone; "look +at them straight wings! + +Again the eagles swerved, and two shot across the river. The third +dropped with shut wings to the bare crest of a gaunt old poplar +under them. + +"Hit's a young un, Rome Y" said the boy, excitedly. "He's goin' to +wait thar tell the old uns come back. Gimme that gun! + +Catching up the Winchester, he slipped over the ledge; and Rome +leaned suddenly forward, looking down at the river. + +A group of horsemen had ridden around the bend, and were +coming at a walk down the other shore. Every man carried +something across his saddle-bow. There was a gray horse among +them - young Jasper's - and an evil shadow came into Rome's face, +and quickly passed. Near a strip of woods the gray turned up the +mountain from the party, and on its back he saw the red glint of a +woman's dress. With a half-smile he watched the scarlet figure ride +from the woods, and climb slowly up through the sunny corn. On +the spur above and full in the rich yellow light, she halted, half +turning in her saddle. He rose to his feet, to his full height, his +head bare, and thrown far back between his big shoulders, and, +still as statues, the man and the woman looked at each other across +the gulf of darkening air. A full minute the woman sat motionless, +then rode on. At the edge of the woods she stopped and turned +again. + +The eagle under Rome leaped one stroke in the air, and dropped +like a clod into the sea of leaves. The report of the gun and a faint +cry of triumph rose from below. It was good marksmanship, but +on the cliff Rome did not heed it. Something had fluttered in the +air above the girl's head, and he laughed aloud. She was waving +her bonnet at him. + +II + +JUST where young Stetson stood, the mountains racing along each +bank of the Cumberland had sent out against each other, by mutual +impulse, two great spurs. At the river's brink they stopped sheer, +with crests uplifted, as though some hand at the last moment had +hurled them apart, and had led the water through the breach to +keep them at peace. To-day the crags looked seamed by thwarted +passion; and, sullen with firs, they made fit symbols of the human +hate about the base of each. + +When the feud began, no one knew. Even the original cause was +forgotten. Both families had come as friends from Virginia long +ago, and had lived as enemies nearly half a century. There was +hostility before the war, but, until then, little bloodshed. Through +the hatred of change, characteristic of the mountaineer the world +over, the Lewallens were for the Union. The Stetsons owned a few +slaves, and they fought for them. Peace found both still neighbors +and worse foes. The war armed them, and brought back an +ancestral contempt for human life; it left them a heritage of +lawlessness that for mutual protection made necessary the very +means used by their feudal forefathers; personal hatred supplanted +its dead issues, and with them the war went on. The Stetsons had a +good strain of Anglo-Saxon blood, and owned valley-lands; the +Lewallens kept store and made "moonshine"; so kindred and +debtors and kindred and tenants were arrayed with one or the other +leader, and gradually the retainers of both settled on one or the +other side of the river. In time of hostility the Cumberland came +to be the boundary between life and death for the dwellers on each +shore. It was feudalism born again. + +Above one of the spurs each family had its home; the Stetsons, +under the seared face of Thunderstruck Knob; the Lewallens, just +beneath the wooded rim of Wolf's Head. The eaves and chimney +of each cabin were faintly visible from the porch of the other. The +first light touched the house of the Stetsons; the last, the Lewallen +cabin. So there were times when the one could not turn to the +sunrise nor the other to the sunset but with a curse in his heart, for +his eye must fall on the home of his enemy. + +For years there had been peace. The death of Rome Stetson's +father from ambush, and the fight in the court-house square, had +forced it. After that fight only four were left-old Jasper Lewallen +and young Jasper, the boy Rome and his uncle, Rufe Stetson. +Then Rufe fled to the West, and the Stetsons were helpless. For +three years no word was heard of him, but the hatred burned in the +heart of Rome's mother, and was traced deep in her grim old face +while she patiently waited the day of retribution. It smouldered, +too, in the hearts of the women of both clans who had lost +husbands or sons or lovers; and the friends and kin of each had +little to do with one another, and met and passed with watchful +eyes. Indeed, it would take so little to turn peace to war that the +wonder was that peace had lived so long. Now trouble was at hand. +Rufe Stetson had come back at last, a few months since, and had +quietly opened store at the county-seat, Hazlan-a little town five +miles up the river, where Troubled Fork runs seething into the +Cumberland-a point of neutrality for the factions, and +consequently a battIe-ground. Old Jasper's store was at the other +end of the town, and the old man had never been known to brook +competition. He had driven three men from Hazlan during the last +term of peace for this offence, and everybody knew that the fourth +must leave or fight. Already Rufe Stetson had been warned not to +appear outside his door after dusk. Once or twice his wife had seen +skulking shadows under the trees across the road, and a tremor of +anticipation ran along both banks of the Cumberland. + +III + +A FORTNIGHT later, court came. Rome was going to Hazlan, and +the feeble old Stetson mother limped across the porch from the +kitchen, trailing a Winchester behind her. Usually he went +unarmed, but he took the gun now, as she gave it, in silence. + +The boy Isom was not well, and Rome had told him to ride the +horse. But the lad had gone on afoot to his duties at old Gabe +Bunch's mill, and Rome himself rode down Thunderstruck Knob +through the mist and dew of the early morning. The sun was +coming up over Virginia, and through a dip in Black Mountain the +foot-hills beyond washed in blue waves against its white disk. A +little way down the mountain, the rays shot through the gap upon +him, and, lancing the mist into tatters, and lighting the dew-drops, +set the birds singing. Rome rode, heedless of it all, under primeval +oak and poplar, and along rain-clear brooks and happy waterfalls, +shut in by laurel and rhododendron, and singing past mossy stones +and lacelike ferns that brushed his stirrup. On the brow of every +cliff he would stop to look over the trees and the river to the other +shore, where the gray line of a path ran aslant Wolf's Head, and +was lost in woods above and below. + +At the river he rode up-stream, looking still across it. Old Gabe +Bunch halloed to him from the doorway of the mill, as he splashed +through the creek, and Isom's thin face peered through a breach in +the logs. At the ford beyond, he checked his horse with a short +oath of pleased surprise. Across the water, a scarlet dress was +moving slowly past a brown field of corn. The figure was +bonneted, but he knew the girl's walk and the poise of her head +that far away. Just who she was, however, he did not know, and he +sat irresolute. He had seen her first a month since, paddling along +the other shore, erect, and with bonnet off and hair down; she had +taken the Lewallen path up the mountain. Afterward, he saw her +going at a gallop on young Jasper's gray horse, bareheaded again, +and with her hair loose to the wind, and he knew she was one of +his enemies. He thought her the girl people said young Jasper was +going to marry, and he had watched her the more closely. From +the canoe she seemed never to notice him; but he guessed, from +the quickened sweep of her paddle, that she knew he was looking +at her, and once, when he halted on his way home up the +mountain, she half turned in her saddle and looked across at him. +This happened again, and then she waved her bonnet at him. It was +bad enough, any Stetson seeking any Lewallen for a wife, and for +him to court young Jasper's sweetheart-it was a thought to laugh at. +But the mischief was done. The gesture thrilled him, whether it +meant defiance or good-will, and the mere deviltry of such a +courtship made him long for it at every sight of her with the river +between them. At once he began to plan how he should get near +her, but, through some freak, she had paid no further heed to him. +He saw her less often-for a week, in-deed, he had not seen her at +all till this day-and the forces that hindrance generates in an +imperious nature had been at work within him. The chance now +was one of gold, and with his life in his hand he turned into the +stream. Across, he could see something white on her shoulder-an +empty bag. It was grinding~day, and she was going to the mill-the +Lewallen mill. She stopped as he galloped up, and turned, pushing +back her bonnet with one hand; and he drew rein. But the friendly, +expectant light in her face kindled to such a blaze of anger in her +eyes that he struck his horse violently, as though the beast had +stopped of its own accord, and, cursing himself, kept on. A little +farther, he halted again. Three horsemen, armed with +Winchesters, were jogging along toward town ahead of him, and +he wheeled about sharply. The girl, climbing rapidly toward Steve +Bray-ton's cabin, was out of the way, but he was too late to reach +the ford again. Down the road two more Lewallens with guns +were in sight, and he lashed his horse into the stream where the +water was deep. Old Gabe, looking from the door of his mill, quit +laughing to himself; and under cover of the woods, the girl +watched man and horse fighting the tide. Twice young Stetson +turned his head. But his enemies apparently had not seen him, and +horse and rider scrambled up the steep bank and under shelter of +the trees. The girl had evidently learned who he was. Her sudden +anger was significant, as was the sight of the Lewallens going +armed to court, and Rome rode on, uneasy. + +When he reached Troubled Fork, in sight of Hazlan, he threw a +cartridge into place and shifted the slide to see that it was ready for +use. Passing old Jasper's store on the edge of the town, he saw the +old man's bushy head through the open door, and Lewallens and +Braytons crowded out on the steps and looked after him. All were +armed. Twenty paces farther he met young Jasper on his gray, and +the look on his enemy's face made him grip his rifle. With a +flashing cross-fire from eye to eye, the two passed, each with his +thumb on the hammer of his Winchester. The groups on the +court-house steps stopped talking as he rode by, and turned to look +at him. He saw none of his own friends, and he went on at a gallop +to Rufe Stetson's store. His uncle was not in sight. Steve Marcum +and old Sam Day stood in the porch, and inside a woman was +crying. Several Stetsons were near, and all with grave faces +gathered about him. + +He knew what the matter was before Steve spoke. His uncle had +been driven from town. A last warning had come to him on the day +before. The hand of a friend was in the caution, and Rufe rode +away at dusk. That night his house was searched by men masked +and armed. The Lewallens were in town, and were ready to fight. +The crisis had come. + +IV + + +BACK at the mill old Gabe was troubled. Usually he sat in a +cane-bottomed chair near the hopper, whittling, while the lad +tended the mill, and took pay in an oaken toll-dish smooth with the +use of half a century. But the incident across the river that morning +had made the old man uneasy, and he moved restlessly from his +chair to the door, and back again, while the boy watched him, +wondering what the matter was, but asking no questions. At noon +an old mountaineer rode by, and the miller hailed him. + +"Any news in town?" he asked. + +"Hain't been to town. Reckon fightin' 's goin' on thar from whut I +heerd." The careless, high-pitched answer brought the boy with +wide eyes to the door. + +Whut d'ye hear? " asked Gabe. Jes heerd fightin' 's goin' on! + +Then every man who came for his meal brought a wild rumor from +town, and the old miller moved his chair to the door, and sat there +whittling fast, and looking anxiously toward Hazlan. The boy was +in a fever of unrest, and old Gabe could hardly keep him in the +mill. In the middle of the afternoon the report of a rifle came +down the river, breaking into echoes against the cliffs below, and +Isom ran out the door, and stood listening for another, with an odd +contradiction of fear and delight on his eager face. In a few +moments Rome Stetson galloped into sight, and, with a shrill cry +of relief, the boy ran down the road to meet him, and ran back, +holding by a stirrup. Young Stetson's face was black with passion, +and his eyes were heavy with drink. At the door of the mill he +swung from his horse, and for a moment was hardly able to speak +from rage. There had been no fight. The Stetsons were few and +unprepared. They had neither the guns nor, without Rufe, the +means to open the war, and they believed Rufe had gone for arms. +So they had chafed in the store all day, and all day Lewallens on +horseback and on foot were in sight; and each was a taunt to every +Stetson, and, few as they were, the young and hot-headed wanted +to go out and fight. In the afternoon a tale-bearer had brought some +of Jasper's boasts to Rome, and, made reckless by moonshine and +much brooding, he sprang up to lead them. Steve Marcum, too, +caught up his gun, but old Sam's counsel checked him, and the two +by force held Rome back. A little later the Lewallens left town. +The Stetsons, too, disbanded, and on the way home a last drop of +gall ran Rome's cup of bitterness over. Opposite Steve Brayton's +cabin a jet of smoke puffed from the bushes across the river, and a +bullet furrowed the road in front of him. That was the shot they +had heard at the mill. Somebody was drawing a dead-line," and +Rome wheeled his horse at the brink of it. A mocking yell came +over the river, and a gray horse flashed past an open space in the +bushes. Rome knew the horse and knew the yell; young Jasper +was "bantering" him. Nothing maddens the mountaineer like this +childish method of insult; and telling of it, Rome sat in a corner, +and loosed a torrent of curses against young Lewallen and his clan. + +Old Gabe had listened without a word, and the strain in his face +was eased. Always the old man had stood for peace. He believed +it had come after the court-house fight, and he had hoped against +hope, even when Rufe came back to trade against old Jasper; for +Rufe was big and good-natured, and unsuspected of resolute +purpose, and the Lewallens' power had weakened. So, now that +Rufe was gone again, the old miller half believed he was gone for +good. Nobody was hurt; there was a chance yet for peace, and with +a rebuke on his tongue and relief in his face, the old man sat back +in his chair and went on whittling. The boy turned eagerly to a +crevice in the logs and, trembling with excitement, searched the +other bank for Jasper's gray horse, going home. + +He called me a idgit," he said to himself, with a threatening shake +of his head. "Jes wouldn't I like to hev a chance at him! Rome ull +git him! Rome ull git him!" + +There was no moving point of white on the broad face of the +mountains nor along the river road. Jasper was yet to come and, +with ears alert to every word behind him, the lad fixed his eyes +where he should see him first. + +"Oh, he didn't mean to hit me. Not that he ain't mean enough to +shoot from the bresh," Rome broke out savagely. "That's jes whut +I'm afeard he will do. Thar was too much daylight fer him. Ef he +jes don't come a-sneakin' over hyeh, 'n' waitin' in the lorrel atter +dark fer me, it's all I axe." + +Waitin' in the lorrel! " Old Gabe could hold back no longer. "Hit's +a shame, a burn-in' shame! I don' know whut things air comm' to! +'Pears like all you young folks think about is killin' somebody. +Folks usen to talk about how fer they could kill a deer; now it's +how fer they kin kill a man. I hev knowed the time when a man +would 'a' been druv out o' the county fer drawin' a knife ur a pistol; +'n' ef a feller was ever killed, it was kinder accidental, by a Barlow. +I reckon folks got use' to weepons 'n' killin' 'n' bushwhackin' in the +war. Looks like it's been gittin' wuss ever sence, 'n' now hit's dirk 'n' +Winchester, 'n' shootin' from the bushes all the time. Hit's wuss 'n +stealin' money to take a feller-creetur' s life that way! + +The old miller's indignation sprang from memories of a better +youth. For the courtesies of the code went on to the Blue Grass, +and before the war the mountaineer fought with English fairness +and his fists. It was a disgrace to use a deadly weapon in those +days; it was a disgrace now not to use it. + +Oh, I know all the excuses folks make," he went on: " hit's fa'r fer +one as 'tis fer t'other; y'u can't fight a man fa'r 'n' squar' who'll shoot +you in the back; a pore man can't fight money in the couhts; 'n' thar +hain't no witnesses in the lorrel but leaves; 'n' dead men don't hev +much to say. I know it all. Hit's cur'us, but it act'-ally looks like +lots o' decent young folks hev got usen to the idee-thar's so much +of it goin' on, 'n' thar's so much talk 'bout killin' 'n' layin' out in the +lorrel. Reckon folks 'll git to pesterm' women n' strangers bimeby, +'n' robbin' 'n' thievin'. Hit's bad enough thar's so leetle law thet +folks hev to take it in their own hands oncet in a while, but this +shootin' from the bresh-hit's p'int'ly a sin 'n' shame! Why," he +concluded, pointing his remonstrance as he always did, "I seed +your grandad and young Jas's fight up thar in Hazlan full two hours +'fore the war-fist and skull-'n' your grandad was whooped. They +got up and shuk hands. I don't see why folks can't fight that way +now. I wish Rufe 'n' old Jas 'n' you 'n' young Jas could have it out +fist and skull, 'n' stop this killin' o' people like hogs. Thar's nobody +left but you four. But thar's no chance o' that, I reckon." + +"I'll fight him anyway, 'n' I reckon ef he don't die till I lay out in the +lorrel fer him, he'll live a long time. Ef a Stetson ever done sech +meanness as that I never heerd it." + +Nother hev I," said the old man, with quick justice. " You air a +over-bearin' race, all o' ye, but I never knowed ye to be that mean. +Hit's all the wus fer ye thet ye air in sech doin's. I tell ye, Rome-- + +A faint cry rose above the drone of the millstones, and old Gabe +stopped with open lips to listen. The boy's face was pressed close +to the logs. A wet paddle had flashed into the sunlight from out +the bushes across the river. He could just see a canoe in the +shadows under them, and with quick suspicion his brain pictured +Jasper's horse hitched in the bushes, and Jasper stealing across the +river to waylay Rome. But the canoe moved slowly out of sight +downstream and toward the deep water, the paddler unseen, and +the boy looked around with a weak smile. Neither seemed to have +heard him. Rome was brooding, with his sullen face in his hands; +the old miller was busy with his own thoughts; and the boy turned +again to his watch. + +Jasper did not come. Isom's eyes began to ache from the steady +gaze, and now and then he would drop them to the water swirling +beneath. A slow wind swayed the overhanging branches at the +mouth of the stream, and under them was an eddy. Escaping this, +the froth and bubbles raced out to the gleams beating the air from +the sunlit river. He saw one tiny fleet caught; a mass of yellow +scum bore down and, sweeping through bubbles and eddy, was +itself struck into fragments by something afloat. A tremulous +shadow shot through a space of sunlight into the gloom cast by a +thicket of rhododendrons, and the boy caught his breath sharply. A +moment more, and the shape of a boat and a human figure +quivered on the water running under him. The stern of a Lewallen +canoe swung into the basin, and he sprang to his feet. + +"Rome!" The cry cut sharply through the drowsy air. " Thar he is! +Hit's Jas" + +The old miller rose to his feet. The boy threw himself behind the +sacks of grain. Rome wheeled for his rifle, and stood rigid before +the door. There was a light step without, the click of a gun-lock +within; a shadow fell across the doorway, and a girl stood at the +threshold with an empty bag in her hand. + +V + +WITH a little cry she shrank back a step. Her face paled and her +lips trembled, and for a moment she could not speak. But her eyes +swept the group, and were fixed in two points of fire on Rome. + +"Why don't ye shoot! "she asked, scornfully. + +"I hev heerd that the Stetsons have got to makin war on +women-folks, but I never believed it afore." Then she turned to +the miller. + +Kin I git some more meal hyeh? " she asked. " Or have ye stopped +sellin' to folks on t'other side? " she added, in a tone that sought no +favor. + +"You kin have all ye want," said old Gabe, quietly. + +"The mill on Dead Crick is broke ag'in," she continued, " 'n' co'n is +skeerce on our side. We'll have to begin buyin' purty soon, so I +thought I'd save totin' the co'n down hyeh." She handed old Gabe +the empty bag. + +Well,'' said he, '' as it air gittin' late, 'n' ye have to climb the +mountain ag'in, I'll let ye have that comm' out o' the hopper now. +Take a cheer." + +The girl sat down in the low chair, and, loos ening the strings of +her bonnet, pushed it back from her head. An old-fashioned horn +comb dropped to the floor, and when she stooped to pick it up she +let her hair fall in a head about her shoulders. Thrusting one hand +under it, she calmly tossed the whole mass of chestnut and gold +over the back of the chair, where it fell rippling like water through +a bar of sunlight. With head thrown back and throat bared, she +shook it from side to side, and, slowly coiling it, pierced it with the +coarse comb. Then passing her hands across her forehead and +temples, as women do, she folded them in her lap, and sat +motionless. The boy, crouched near, held upon her the mesmeric +look of a serpent. Old Gabe was peering covertly from under the +brim of his hat, with a chuckle at his lips. Rome had fallen back to +a corner of the mill, sobered, speechless, his rifle in a nerveless +hand. The passion that fired him at the boy's warning had as +swiftly gone down at sight of the girl, and her cutting rebuke made +him hot again with shame. He was angry, too-more than +angry-because he felt so helpless, a sensation that was new and +stifling. The scorn of her face, as he remembered it that morning, +hurt him again while he looked at her. A spirit of contempt was +still in her eyes, and quivering about her thin lips and nostrils. She +had put him beneath further notice, and yet every toss of her head, +every movement of her hands, seemed meant for him, to irritate +him. And once, while she combed her hair, his brain whirled with +an impulse to catch the shining stuff in one hand and to pinion +both her wrists with the other, Just to show her that he was master, +and still would harm her not at all. But he shut his teeth, and +watched her. Among mountain women the girl was more than +pretty; elsewhere only her hair, perhaps, would have caught the +casual eye. She wore red homespun and coarse shoes; her hands +were brown and hardened. Her arms and shoulders looked +muscular, her waist was rather large-being as nature meant it-and +her face in repose had a heavy look. But the poise of her head +suggested native pride and dignity; her eyes were deep, and full of +changing lights; the scarlet dress, loose as it was, showed rich +curves in her figure, and her movements had a certain childlike +grace. Her brow was low, and her mouth had character; the chin +was firm, the upper lip short, and the teeth were even and white. + +"I reckon thar's enough to fill the sack, Isom," said the old miller, +breaking the strained silence of the group. The girl rose and +handed him a few pieces of silver. + +I reckon I'd better pay fer it all," she said. I s'pose I won't be over +hyeh ag'in." + +Old Gabe gave some of the coins back. + +"Y'u know whut my price al'ays is," he said. + +I'm obleeged," answered the girl, flushing. + +"Co'n hev riz on our side. I thought mebbe you charged folks over +thar more, anyways." + +"I sells fer the same, ef co'n is high ur low," was the answer. "This +side or t'other makes no diff'unce to me. I hev frien's on both +sides, 'n' I take no part in sech doin's as air a shame to the +mountains." + +There was a quick light of protest in the girl's dark eyes; but the +old miller was honored by both factions, and without a word she +turned to the boy, who was tying the sack. + +The boat's loose! " he called out, with. the string between his teeth; +and she turned again and ran out. Rome stood still. + +Kerry the sack out, boy, 'n' holp the gal." Old Gabe's voice was +stern, and the young mountaineer doggedly swung the bag to his +shoulders. The girl had caught the rope, and drawn the rude +dugout along the shore. + +"Who axed ye to do that?" she asked, angrily. + +Rome dropped the bag into the boat, and merely looked her in the +face. + +"Look hyeh, Rome Stetson"-the sound of his name from her lips +almost startled him-"I'll hev ye understan' that I don't want to be +bounden to you, nor none o' yer kin." + +Turning, she gave an impatient sweep with her paddle. The prow +of the canoe dipped and was motionless. Rome had caught the +stern, and the girl wheeled in hot anger. Her impulse to strike may +have been for the moment and no longer, or she may have read +swiftly no unkindness in the mountaineer's steady look; for the +uplifted oar was stayed in the air, as though at least she would hear +him. + +"I've got nothin' ag'in' you," he said, slowly, Jas Lewallen hev been +threatenin' me, 'n' I thought it was him, 'n' I was ready fer him, +when you come into the mill. I wouldn't hurt you nur no other +woman. Y'u ought to know it, 'n' ye do know it." + +The words were masterful, but said in a way that vaguely soothed +the girl's pride, and the oar was let slowly into the water. + +"I reckon y'u air a friend o' his," he added, still quietly. "I've seed +ye goin' up thar, but I've got nothin' ag'in' ye, whoever ye be." + +She turned on him a sharp look of suspicion. "I reckon I do be a +friend o' hisn," she said, deliberately; and then she saw that he was +in earnest. A queer little smile went like a ray of light from her +eyes to her lips, and she gave a quick stroke with her paddle. The +boat shot into the current, and was carried swiftly toward the +Cumberland. The girl stood erect, swaying through light and +shadow like a great scarlet flower blowing in the wind; and Rome +watched her till she touched the other bank. Swinging the sack out, +she stepped lightly after it, and, without looking behind her, +disappeared in the bushes. + +The boy Isom was riding away when Rome, turned, and old Gabe +was watching from the door of the mill. + +Who is that gal? " he asked, slowly. It seemed somehow that he +had known her a long while ago. A puzzled frown overlay his +face, and the old miller laughed. + +"You a-axin' who she be, 'n' she a-axin who you be, 'n' both o' ye +a-knowin' one 'nother sence ye was knee-high. Why, boy, hit's old +Jasper's gal-Marthy! + +VI + +IN a flash of memory Rome saw the girl as vividly as when he last +saw her years ago. +They had met at the mill, he with his father, she with hers. There +was a quarrel, and the two men were held apart. But the old sore +as usual was opened, and a week later Rome's father was killed +from the brush. He remembered his mother's rage and grief, her +calls for vcngeance, the uprising, the fights, plots, and ambushes. +He remembered the look the girl had given him that long ago, and +her look that day was little changed. + +When fighting began, she had been sent for safety to the sister of +her dead mother in another county. When peace came, old Jasper +married again and the girl refused to come home. Lately the +step-mother, too, had passed away, and then she came back to live. +All this the old miller told in answer to Rome's questions as the +two walked away in the twilight. This was why he had not +recognized her, and why her face yet seemed familiar even when +he crossed the river that morning. + +"Uncle Gabe, how do you reckon the gal knowed who I was?" + +"She axed me." + +"She axed you! Whar?" + +Over thar in the mill." The miller was watching the young +mountaineer closely. The manner of the girl was significant when +she asked who Rome was, and the miller knew but one reason +possible for his foolhardiness that morning. + +"Do you mean to say she have been over hyeh afore?" + +"Why, yes, come to think about it, three or four times while Isom +was sick, and whut she come fer I can't make out. The mill over +thar wasn't broke long, 'n' why she didn't go thar or bring more co'n +at a time, to save her the trouble o' so many trips, I can't see to save +me. + +Young Stetson was listening eagerly. Again the miller cast his +bait. + +Mebbe she's spyin'." + +Rome faced him, alert with suspicion; but old Gabe was laughing +silently. + +"Don't you be a fool, Rome. The gal comes and goes in that boat, +'n' she couldn't see a soul without my knowin' it. She seed ye ridin' +by one day, 'n' she looked mighty cur'us when I tole her who ye +was." + +Old Gabe stopped his teasing, Rome's face was so troubled, and +himself grew serious. + +"Rome," he said, earnestly, "I wish to the good Lord ye wasn't in +sech doin's. Ef that had been young Jas 'stid o' Marthy, I reckon ye +would 'a' killed him right thar." + +"I wasn't going to let him kill me," was the sullen answer. + +The two had stopped at a rickety gate swinging open on the road. +The young mountaineer was pushing a stone about with the toe of +his boot. He had never before listened to remonstrance with such +patience, and old Gabe grew bold. + +"You've been drinkin' ag'in, Rome," he said, sharply, " 'n' I know it. +Hit's been moonshine that's whooped you Stetsons, not the +Lewallens, long as I kin rickollect, 'n' it ull be moonshine ag'in ef +ye don't let it alone." + +Rome made no denial, no defence. "Uncle Gabe," he said slowly, +still busied with the stone, " hev that gal been over hyeh sence y'u +tol' her who I was?" + +The old man was waiting for the pledge that seemed on his lips, +but he did not lose his temper. + +Not till to-day," he said, quietly. + +Rome turned abruptly, and the two separated with no word of +parting. For a moment the miller watched the young fellow +striding away under his rifle. + +"I have been atter peace a good while," he said to himself, " but I +reckon thar's a bigger hand a-workin' now than mine." Then he +lifted his voice. "Ef Isom's too sick to come down to the mill +to-morrer, I wish you'd come 'n' holp me." + +Rome nodded back over his shoulder, and went on, with head bent, +along the river road. Passing a clump of pines at the next curve, he +pulled a bottle from his pocket. + +"Uncle Gabe's about right, I reckon," he said, half aloud; and he +raised it above his head to hurl it away, but checked it in mid-air. +For a moment he looked at the colorless liquid, then, with quick +nervousness, pulled the cork of sassafras leaves, gulped down the +pale moonshine, and dashed the bottle against the trunk of a beech. +The fiery stuff does its work in a hurry. He was thirsty when he +reached the mouth of a brook that tumbled down the mountain +along the pathway that would lead him home, and he stooped to +drink where the water sparkled in a rift of dim light from +overhead. Then he sat upright on a stone, with his wide hat-brim +curved in a crescent over his forehead, his hands caught about his +knees, and his eyes on the empty air. + +He was scarcely over his surprise that the girl was young +Lewallen's sister, and the discovery had wrought a curious change. +The piquant impulse of rivalry was gone, and something deeper +was taking its place. He was confused and a good deal troubled, +thinking it all over. He tried to make out what the girl meant by +looking at him from the mountain-side, by waving her bonnet at +him, and by coming to old Gabe's mill when she could have gone +to her own. To be sure, she did not know then who he was, and +she had stopped coming when she learned; but why had she +crossed again that day? Perhaps she too was bantering him, and he +was at once angry and drawn to her; for her mettlesome spirit +touched his own love of daring, even when his humiliation was +most bitter-when she told him he warred on women; when he held +out to her the branch of peace and she swept it aside with a stroke +of her oar. But Rome was little conscious of the weight of subtle +facts like these. His unseeing eyes went back to her as she combed +her hair. He saw the color in her cheeks, the quick light in her +eyes, the naked, full throat once more, and the wavering forces of +his unsteady brain centred in a stubborn resolution-to see it all +again. He would make Isom stay at home, if need be, and he +would take the boy's place at the mill. If she came there no more, +he would cross the river again. Come peace or war, be she friend +or enemy, he would see her. His thirst was fierce again, and, with +this half-drunken determination in his heart, he stooped once more +to drink from the cheerful little stream. As he rose, a loud curse +smote the air. The river, pressed between two projecting cliffs, +was narrow at that point, and the oath came across the water. An +instant later a man led a lamed horse from behind a bowlder, and +stooped to examine its leg. The dusk was thickening, but Rome +knew the huge frame and gray beard of old Jasper Lewallen. The +blood beat in a sudden tide at his temples, and, half by instinct, he +knelt behind a rock, and, thrusting his rifle through a crevice, +cocked it softly. + +Again the curse of impatience came over the still water, and old +Jasper rose and turned toward him. The glistening sight caught in +the centre of his beard. That would take him in the throat; it might +miss, and he let the sight fall till the bullet would cut the fringe of +gray hair into the heart. Old Jasper, so people said, had killed his +father in just this way; he had driven his uncle from the mountains; +he was trying now to revive the feud. He was the father of young +Jasper, who had threatened his life, and the father of the girl whose +contempt had cut him to the quick twice that day. Again her taunt +leaped through his heated brain, and his boast to the old miller +followed it. His finger trembled at the trigger. + +"No; by--, no! "he breathed between his teeth; and old Jasper +passed on, unharmed. + +VII + +NEXT day the news of Rufe Stetson's flight went down the river +on the wind, and before nightfall the spirit of murder was loosed +on both shores of the Cumberland. The more cautious warned old +Jasper. The Stetsons were gaining strength again, they said; so +were their feudsmen, the Marcums, enemies of the Braytons, old +Jasper's kinspeople. Keeping store, Rufe had made money in the +West, and money and friends right and left through the mountains. +With all his good-nature, he was a persistent hater, and he was +shrewd. He had waited the chance to put himself on the side of the +law, and now the law was with him. But old Jasper laughed +contemptuously. Rufe Stetson was gone again, he said, as he had +gone before, and this time for good. Rufe had tried to do what +nobody had done, or could do, while he was alive. Anyway, he +was reckless, and he cared little if war did come again. Still, the +old man prepared for a fight, and Steve Marcum on the other shore +made ready for Rufe's return. + +It was like the breaking of peace in feudal days. The close kin of +each leader were already about him, and now the close friends of +each took sides. Each leader trading in Hazlan had debtors +scattered through the mountains, and these rallied to aid the man +who had befriended them. There was no grudge but served a +pretext for partisanship in the coming war. Political rivalry had +wedged apart two strong families, the Marcums and Braytons; a +boundary line in dispute was a chain of bitterness; a suit in a +country court had sown seeds of hatred. +Sometimes it was a horse-trade, a fence left down, or a gate left +open, and the trespassing of cattle; in one instance, through spite, a +neighbor had docked the tail of a neighbor's horse-had " muled his +critter," as the owner phrased the outrage. There was no old sore +that was not opened by the crafty leaders, no slumbering bitterness +that they did not wake to life. " Help us to revenge, and we will +he!p you," was the whispered promise. So, had one man a grudge +against another, he could set his foot on one or the other shore, +sure that his enemy would be fighting for the other. + +Others there were, friends of neither leader, who, under stress of +poverty or hatred of work, would fight with either for food and +clothes; and others still, the ne'er-do-wells and outlaws, who +fought by the day or month for hire. Even these were secured by +one or the other faction, for Steve and old Jasper left no resource +untried, knowing well that the fight, if there was one, would be +fought to a quick and decisive end. The day for the leisurely feud, +for patient planning, and the slow picking off of men from one +side or the other, was gone. The people in the Blue Grass, who +had no feuds in their own country, were trying to stop them in the +mountain. Over in Breathitt, as everybody knew, soldiers had +come from the " settlemints," had arrested the leaders, and had +taken them to the Blue Grass for the feared and hated ordeal of +trial by a jury of "bigoted furriners." On the heels of the soldiers +came a young preacher up from the Jellico hills, half " citizen," +half furriner," with long black hair and a scar across his forehead, +who was stirring up the people, it was said, " as though Satan was +atter them." Over there the spirit of the feud was broken, and a +good effect was already perceptible around Hazlan. In past days +every pair of lips was sealed with fear, and the non-combatants left +crops and homes, and moved down the river, when trouble began. +Now only the timid considered this way of escape. Steve and old +Jasper found a few men who refused to enter the fight. Several, +indeed, talked openly against the renewal of the feud, and +somebody, it was said, had dared to hint that he would send to the +Governor for aid if it should break out again. But these were +rumors touching few people. + +For once again, as time and time again before, one bank of the +Cumberland was arrayed with mortal enmity against the other, and +old Gabe sat, with shaken faith, in the door of his mill. For years +he had worked and prayed for peace, and for a little while the +Almighty seemed lending aid. Now the friendly grasp was +loosening, and yet the miller did all he could. He begged Steve +Marcum to urge Rufe to seek aid from the law when the latter +came back; and Steve laughed, and asked what justice was +possible for a Stetson, with a Lewallen for a judge and Braytons +for a jury. The miller pleaded with old Jasper, and old Jasper +pointed to the successes of his own life. + +"I hev triumphed ag'in' my enemies time 'n' ag'in," he said. "The +Lord air on my side, 'n' I gits a better Christian ever' year." The old +man spoke with the sincerity of a barbarism that has survived the +dark ages, and, holding the same faith, the miller had no answer. +It was old Gabe indeed who had threatened to send to the +Governor for soldiers, and this he would have done, perhaps, had +there not been one hope left, and only one. A week had gone, and +there was no word from Rufe Stetson. Up on Thunderstruck Knob +the old Stetson mother was growing pitiably eager and restless. +Every day she slipped like a ghost through the leafless woods and +in and out the cabin, kindling hatred. At every dawn or dusk she +was on her porch peering through the dim light for Rufe Stetson. +Steve Marcum was ill at ease. Rome Stetson alone seemed +unconcerned, and his name was on every gossiping tongue. + +He took little interest and no hand in getting ready for the war. He +forbade the firing of a gun till Rufe came back, else Steve should +fight his fight alone. He grew sullen and morose. His old mother's +look was a thorn in his soul, and he stayed little at home. He hung +about the mill, and when Isom became bedfast, the big +mountaineer, who had never handled anything but a horse, a +plough, or a rifle, settled him-self, to the bewilderment of the +Stetsons, into the boy's duties, and nobody dared question him. +Even old Gabe jested no longer. The matter was too serious. + +Meanwhile the winter threw off the last slumbrous mood of +autumn, as a sleeper starts from a dream. A fortnight was gone, +and still no message came from the absent leader. One shore was +restive, uneasy; the other confident, mocking. Between the two, +Rome Stetson waited his chance at the mill. + +VIII. + +DAY was whitening on the Stetson shore. Across the river the air +was still sharp with the chill of dawn, and the mists lay like flocks +of sheep under shelter of rock and crag. A peculiar cry radiated +from the Lewallen cabin with singular resonance on the crisp +air-the mountain cry for straying cattle. A soft low came from a +distant patch of laurel, and old Jasper's girl, Martha, folded. her +hands like a conch at her mouth, and the shrill cry again startled +the air. + +Ye better come, ye pieded cow-brute." Picking up a cedar piggin, +she stepped from the porch toward the meek voice that had +answered her. Temper and exertion had brought the quick blood +to her face. Her head was bare, her thick hair was loosely coiled, +and her brown arms were naked almost to the shoulder. At the +stable a young mountaineer was overhauling his riding-gear. + +Air you goin' to ride the hoss to-day, Jas?" she asked, querulously. + +"That's jes whut I was aimin' to do. I'm a-goin' to town." + +Well, I 'lowed I was goin' to mill to-day. The co'n is 'mos' gone." + +"Well, y'u 'lowed wrong," he answered, imperturbably. + +Y'u're mean, Jas Lewallen," she cried, hotly; " that's whut ye air, +mean-dog-mean! + +The young mountaineer looked up, whistled softly, and laughed. +But when he brought his horse to the door an hour later there was a +bag of corn across the saddle. + +"As ye air so powerful sot on goin' to mill, whether or no, I'll leave +this hyeh sack at the bend O' the road, 'n' ye kin git it thar. I'll +bring the meal back ef ye puts it in the same place. I hates to see +women-folks a-ridin' this horse. Hit spiles him." + +The horse was a dapple-gray of unusual beauty, and as the girl +reached out her hand to stroke his throat, he turned to nibble at her +arm. + +"I reckon he'd jes as lieve have me ride him as you, Jas," she said. +" Me 'n' him have got to be great friends. Ye orter n't to be so +stingy." + +Well, he ain't no hoss to be left out'n the bresh now, 'n' I hain't goin' +to 'low it." + +Old Jasper had lounged out of the kitchen door, and stood with his +huge bulk against a shrinking pillar of the porch. The two men +were much alike. Both had the same black, threatening brows +meeting over the bridge of the nose. A kind of grim humor lurked +about the old man's mouth, which time might trace about young +Jasper's. The girl's face had no humor; the same square brows, +apart and clearly marked, gave it a strong, serious cast, and while +she had the Lewallen fire, she favored her mother enough, so the +neighbors said, "to have a mighty mild, takin' way about her ef she +wanted." + +You're right, Jas," the old mountaineer said; "the hoss air a sin 'n' +temptation. Hit do me good ever' time I look at him. Thar air no +sech hoss, I tell ye, this side o' the settlements." + +The boy started away, and the old man followed, and halted him +out of the girl's hearing. + +"Tell Eli Crump 'n' Jim Stover to watch the Breathitt road close +now," he said, in a low voice. " See all them citizens I tol' ye, 'n' +tell 'em to be ready when I says the word. Thar's no tellin' whut's +goin' to happen." + +Young Jasper nodded his head, and struck his horse into a gallop. +The old man lighted his pipe, and turned back to the house. The +girl, bonnet in hand, was starting for the valley. + +"Thar ain't no use goin' to Gabe Bunch's fer yer grist," he said. " +The mill on Dead Crick's a-runnin' ag'in, 'n' I don't want ye over +thar axin favors, specially jes now." + +"I lef' somethin' fer ye to eat, dad," she replied, " ef ye gits hungry +before I git back." + +You heerd me? " he called after her, knitting his brows. + +Yes, dad; I heerd ye," she answered, adding to herself, " But I don't +heed ye." In truth, the girl heeded nobody. It was not her way to +ask consent, even her own, nor to follow advice. At the bend of the +road she found the bag, and for an instant she stood wavering. An +impulse turned her to the river, and she loosed the boat, and +headed it across the swift, shallow water from the ford and straight +toward the mill. At every stroke of her paddle the water rose above +the prow of the boat, and, blown into spray, flew back and +drenched her; the wind loosed her hair, and, tugging at her skirts, +draped her like a statue; and she fought them, wind and water, +with mouth set and a smile in her eyes. One sharp struggle still, +where the creek leaped into freedom; the mouth grew a little +firmer, the eyes laughed more, the keel grated on pebbles, and the +boat ran its nose into the withered sedge on the Stetson shore. + +A tall gray figure was pouring grain into the hopper when she +reached the door of the mill. She stopped abruptly, Rome Stetson +turned, and again the two were face to face. No greeting passed. +The girl lifted her head with a little toss that deepened the set look +about the mountaineer's mouth; her lax figure grew tense as +though strung suddenly against some coming harm, and her eyes +searched the shadows without once resting on him. + +Whar's Uncle Gabe? " She spoke shortly, and as to a stranger. + +Gone to town," said Rome, composedly. He had schooled himself +for this meeting. + +When's he comm' back? + +Not 'fore night, I reckon." + +Whar's Isom? + +Isom's sick." + +Well, who's tendin' this mill? + +For answer he tossed the empty bag into the corner and, without +looking at her, picked up another bag. + +"I reckon ye see me, don't ye? " he asked, coolly. " Hev a cheer, +and rest a spell. Hit's a purty long climb whar you come from." + +The girl was confused. She stayed in the doorway, a little helpless +and suspicious. What was Rome Stetson doing here? His mastery +of the situation, his easy confidence, puzzled and irritated her. +Should she leave? The mountaineer was a Stetson, a worm to +tread on if it crawled across the path. It would be like backing +down before an enemy. He might laugh at her after she was gone, +and, at that thought, she sat down in the chair with composed face, +looking through the door at the tumbling water, which broke with +a thousand tints under the sun, but able still to see Rome, +sidewise, as he moved about the hopper, whistling softly. + +Once she looked around, fancying she saw a smile on his sober +face. Their eyes came near meeting, and she turned quite away. + +Ever seed a body out'n his head? + +The girl's eyes rounded with a start of surprise. + +Well, it's plumb cur'us. Isom's been that way lately. Isom's sick, +ye know. Uncle Gabe's got the rheumatiz, 'n' Isom's mighty fond o' +Uncle Gabe, 'n' the boy pestered me till I come down to he'p him. +Hit p'int'ly air strange to hear him talkin'. He's jes a-ravin' 'bout +hell 'n' heaven, 'n' the sin o' killin' folks. You'd ha' thought he hed +been convicted, though none o' our fambly hev been much atter +religion. He says as how the wrath uv a livin' God is a-goin' to +sweep these mount ins, ef some mighty tall repentin' hain't done. +Of co'se he got all them notions from Gabe. But Isom al'ays was +quar, 'n' seed things hisself. He ain't no fool!" + +The girl was listening. Morbidly sensitive to the supernatural, she +had turned toward him, and her face was relaxed with fear and +awe. + +"He's havin' dreams 'n' sech-like now, 'n' I reckon thar's nothing +he's seed or heerd that he don' talk about. He's been a-goin' on +about you," he added, abruptly. The girl's hands gave a nervous +twitch. "Oh, he don't say nothin' ag'in' ye. I reckon he tuk a fancy +to ye. Mam was plumb distracted, not knowin' whar he had seed +ye. She thought it was like his other talk, 'n' I never let +on-a-knowin' how mam was." A flush rose like a flame from the +girl's throat to her hair. " But hit's this," Rome went on in an +unsteady tone, "that he talks most about, 'n' I'm sorry myself that +trouble's a-comm'." He dropped all pretence now. "I've been +a-watchin' fer ye over thar on t' other shore a good deal lately. I +didn't know ye at fust, Marthy "-he spoke her name for the first +time-' 'n' Gabe says y'u didn't know me. I remembered ye, though, +'n' I want to tell ye now what I tol' ye then: I've got nothin' ag'in +you. I was hopin' ye mought come over ag'in-hit was sorter cur'us +that y'u was the same gal-the same gal-" + +His self-control left him; he was halting in speech, and blundering +he did not know where. Fumbling an empty bag at the hopper, he +had not dared to look at the girl till he heard her move. She had +risen, and was picking up her bag. The hard antagonism of her +face calmed him instantly. + +Hain't ye goin' to have yer grist ground? + +Not hyeh," she answered, quickly. + +"Why, gal " He got no further. Martha was gone, and he followed +her to the bank, bewildered. + +The girl's suspicion, lulled by his plausible explanation, had grown +sharp again. The mountaineer knew that she had been coming +there. He was at the mill for another reason than to take the boy's +place; and with swift in-tuition she saw the truth. + +He got angry as she rode away-angry with himself that he had let +her go; and the same half-tender, half-brutal impulse seized him as +when he saw her first. This time he yielded. His horse was at +hand, and the river not far below was narrow. The bridle-path that +led to the Lewallen cabin swerved at one place to a cliff +overlooking the river, and by hard riding and a climb of a few +hundred feet on foot he could overtake her half-way up the +mountain steep. + +The plan was no more than shaped before he was in the saddle and +galloping down the river. The set of his face changed hardly a line +while he swam the stream, and, drenched to the waist, scaled the +cliff. When he reached the spot, he found the prints of a woman's +shoe in the dust of the path, going down. There were none +returning, and he had not long to wait. A scarlet bit of color soon +flashed through the gray bushes below him. The girl was without +her bag of corn. She was climbing slowly, and was looking at the +ground as though in deep thought. Reckless as she was, she had +come to realize at last just what she had done. She had been +pleased at first, as would have been any woman, when she saw the +big mountaineer watching her, for her life was lonely. She had +waved her bonnet at him from mere mischief. She hardly knew it +herself, but she had gone across the river to find out who he was. +She had shrunk from him as from a snake thereafter, and had gone +no more until old Jasper had sent her because the Lewallen mill +was broken, and because she was a woman, and would be safe +from harm. She had met him then when she could not help +herself. But now she had gone of her own accord. She had given +this Stetson, a bitter enemy, a chance to see her, to talk with her. +She had listened to him; she had been on the point of letting him +grind her corn. And he knew how often she had gone to the mill, +and he could not know that she had ever been sent. Perhaps he +thought that she had come to make overtures of peace, friendship, +even more. The suspicion reddened her face with shame, and her +anger at him was turned upon herself. Why she had gone again that +day she hardly knew. But if there was another reason than simple +perversity, it was the memory of Rome Stetson's face when he +caught her boat and spoke to her in a way she could not answer. +The anger of the moment came with every thought of the incident +afterward, and with it came too this memory of his look, which +made her at once defiant and uneasy. She saw him now only when +she was quite close, and, startled, she stood still; his stern look +brought her the same disquiet, but she gave no sign of fear. + +Whut's the matter with ye? + +The question was too abrupt, too savage, and the girl looked +straight at him, and her lips tightened with a resolution not to +speak. The movement put him beyond control. + +"Y'u puts hell into me, Marthy Lewallen; y'u puts downright hell +into me." The words came between gritted teeth. "I want to take +ye up 'n' throw ye off this cliff clean into the river, 'n' I reckon the +next minute I'd jump off atter ye. Y'u've 'witched me, gal! I forgits +who ye air 'n' who I be, 'n' sometimes I want to come over hyeh 'n' +kerry ye out'n these mount ins, n' nuver come back. You know +whut I've been watchin' the river fer sence the fust time I seed ye. +You know whut I've been a-stayin' at the mill fer, 'n' Steve mad 'n' +mam a-jowerin'-'n' a-lookin' over hyeh fer ye night 'n' day! Y'u +know whut I've jes swum over hyeh fer! Whut's the matter with +ye?" + +Martha was not looking for a confession like this. It took away her +shame at once, and the passion of it thrilled her, and left her +trembling. While he spoke her lashes drooped quickly, her face +softened, and the color came back to it. She began intertwining her +fingers, and would not look up at him. + +Ef y'u hates me like the rest uv ye, why don't ye say it right out? +'N' ef ye do hate me, whut hev you been lookin' 'cross the river fer, +'n' a-shakin' yer bonnet at me, 'n' paddlin' to Gabe's fer yer grist, +when the mill on Dead Crick's been a-runnin', 'n' I know it? You've +been banterin' me, hev ye? "-the blood rose to his eyes again. " Ye +mustn't fool with me, gal, by , ye mustn't. Whut hev you been +goin' over thar fer? " He even took a threatening step toward her, +and, with a helpless gesture, stopped. The girl was a little +frightened. Indeed, she smiled, seeing her power over him; she +seemed even about to laugh outright; but the smile turned to a +quick look of alarm, and she bent her head suddenly to listen to +something below. At last she did speak. "Somebody's comm'! " +she said. " You'd better git out O' the way," she went on, +hurriedly. "Somebody's comm', I tell ye! Don't ye hear? + +It was no ruse to get rid of him. The girl's eyes were dilating. +Something was coming far below. Rome could catch the faint +beats of a horse's hoofs. He was unarmed, and he knew it was +death for him to be seen on that forbidden mountain; but he was +beyond caution, and ready to welcome any vent to his passion, and +he merely shook his head. + +Ef it's Satan hisself, I hain't goin' to run." The hoof-beats came +nearer. The rider must soon see them from the coil below. + +Rome, hit's Jas! He's got his rifle, and he'll kill ye, 'n' me too! " +The girl was white with distress. She had called him by his name, +and the tone was of appeal, not anger. The black look passed from +his face, and he caught her by the shoulders with rough tenderness; +but she pushed him away, and without a word he sprang from the +road and let himself noiselessly down the cliff. The hoof-beats +thundered above his head, and Young Jasper's voice hailed Martha. + +This hyeh's the bigges' meal I ever straddled. Why d'n't ye git the +grist ground?" + +For a moment the girl did not answer, and Rome waited, +breathless. " Wasn't the mill runnin'? Whyn't ye go on 'cross the +river? + +That's whut I did," said the girl, quietly. Uncle Gabe wasn't thar, 'n' +Rome Stetson was. I wouldn't 'low him to grin' the co 'n, 'n' so I +toted hit back." + +Rome Stetson! " The voice was lost in a volley of oaths. + +The two passed out of hearing, and Rome went plunging down the +mountain, swinging recklessly from one little tree to another, and +wrenching limbs from their sockets out of pure physical ecstasy. +When he reached his horse he sat down, breathing heavily, on a +bed of moss, with a strange new yearning in his heart. If peace +should come! Why not peace, if Rufe should not come back? He +would be the leader then, and without him there could be no war. +Old Jasper had killed his father. He was too young at the time to +feel poignant sorrow now, and somehow he could look even at that +death in a fairer way. His father had killed old Jasper's brother. +So it went back: a Lewallen killed a Stetson; that Stetson had +killed a Lewallen, until one end of the chain of deaths was lost, +and the first fault could not be placed, though each clan put it on +the other. In every generation there had been compromises- +periods of peace; why not now? Old Gabe would gladly help him. +He might make friends with young Jasper; he might even end the +feud. And then-he and Martha-why not? He closed his eyes, and +for one radiant moment t all seemed possible. And then a gaunt +image rose in the dream, and only the image was left. It was the +figure of his mother, stern and silent through the years, opening +her grim lips rarely without some curse against the Lewallen race. +He remembered she had smiled for the first time when she heard +of the new trouble-the flight of his uncle and the hope of conflict. +She had turned to him with her eyes on fire and her old hands +clinched. She had said nothing, but he understood her look. And +now-Good God! what would she think and say if she could know +what he had done? His whole frame twitched at the thought, and, +with a nervous spring to escape it, he was on his feet, and starting +down the mountain. + +Close to the river he heard voices below him, and he turned his +horse quickly aside into the bushes. Two women who had been +washing clothes passed, carrying white bundles home. They were +talking of the coming feud. + +"That ar young Stetson ain't much like his dad," said one. "Young +Jas has been a-darin' 'n' a-banterin' him, 'n' he won't take it up. They +say he air turnin' out a plumb coward." + +When he reached the Stetson cabin three horses with drooping +heads were hitched to the fence. All had travelled a long way. +One wore a man's saddle; on the others were thick blankets tied +together with leathern thongs. + +In the dark porch sat several men. Through the kitchen door he +could see his mother getting supper. Inside a dozen rifles leaned +against the wall in the firelight, and about their butts was a pile of +ammunition. In the doorway stood Rufe Stetson. + +IX + +ALL were smoking and silent. Several spoke from the shadows as +Rome stepped on the porch, and Rufe Stetson faced him a moment +in the doorway, and laughed. + +Seem kinder s'prised? " he said, with a searching look. " Wasn't +lookin' for me? I reckon I'll s'prise sev'ral ef I hev good-luck." + +The subtlety of this sent a chuckle of appreciation through the +porch, but Rome passed in without answer. + +Isom lay on his bed within the circle of light, and his face in the +brilliant glow was white, and his eyes shone feverishly. " Rome," +he said, excitedly, " Uncle Rufe's hyeh, 'n' they laywayed him, +'n'____" He paused abruptly. His mother came in, and at her call +the mountaineers trooped through the covered porch, and sat down +to supper in the kitchen. They ate hastily and in silence, the +mother attending their wants, and Rome helping her. The meal +finished, they drew their chairs about the fire. Pipes were lighted, +and Rufe Stetson rose and closed the door. + +Thar's no use harryin' the boy," he said; "I reckon he'll be too puny +to take a hand." + +The mother stopped clearing the table, and sat on the rock hearth +close to the fire, her withered lips shut tight about a lighted pipe, +and her sunken eyes glowing like the coal of fire in its black bowl. +Now and then she would stretch her knotted hands nervously into +the flames, or knit them about her knees, looking closely at the +heavy faces about her, which had lightened a little with +expectancy. Rufe Stetson stood before the blaze, his hands +clasped behind him, and his huge figure bent in reflection. At +intervals he would look with half-shut eyes at Rome, who Sat with +troubled face outside the firelight. Across the knees of Steve +Marcum, the best marksman in the mountains, lay the barrel of a +new Winchester. Old Sam Day, Rufe's father-in-law and +counsellor to the Stetsons for a score of years, sat as if asleep on +the opposite side of the fireplace from the old mother, with his big +square head pressed down between his misshapen shoulders. + +"The time hev come, Rome." Rufe spoke between the puffs of his +pipe, and Rome's heart quickened, for every eye was upon him. +Thar's goin' to be trouble now. I hear as how young Jasper hev +been talkin' purty tall about ye-'lowin' as how ye air afeard O' him." + +Rome felt his mother's burning look. He did not turn toward her +nor Rufe, but his face grew sullen, and his voice was low and +harsh. "I reckon he'll find out about that when the time comes," he +said, quietly-too quietly, for the old mother stirred uneasily, and +significant glances went from eye to eye. Rufe did not look up +from the floor. He had been told about Rome's peculiar conduct, +and, while the reason for it was beyond guessing, he knew the +temper of the boy and how to kindle it. He had thrust a thorn in a +tender spot, and he let it rankle. How sorely it did rankle he little +knew. The voice of the woman across the river was still in Rome 5 +ears. Nothing cuts the mountaineer to the quick like the name of +coward. It stung him like the lash of an ox-whip then; it smarted +all the way across the river and up the mountain. Young Jasper +had been charging him broadcast with cowardice, and Jasper's +people no doubt believed it. Perhaps his own did +-his uncle, his mother. The bare chance of such a humiliation set +up an inward rage. He wondered how he could ever have been +such a fool as to think of peace. The woman's gossip had swept +kindly impulses from his heart with a fresh tide of bitterness, and, +helpless now against its current, he sullenly gave way, and let his +passions loose to drift with it. + +"Whar d' ye git the guns, Rufe? " Steve was testing the action of +the Winchester with a kindling look, as the click of the locks +struck softly through the silence. + +"Jackson; 'way up in Breathitt, at the eend of the new road." + +"No wonder y'u've been gone so long." + +"I had to wait thar fer the guns, 'n' I had to travel atter dark comm' +back, 'n' lay out'n the bresh by day. Hit's full eighty mile up thar." + +"Air ye shore nobody seed ye?" + +The question was from a Marcum, who had come in late, and +several laughed. Rufe threw back his dusty coat, which was ripped +through the lapel by a bullet. + +They seed me well 'nough fer that," he said, grimly, and then he +looked toward Rome, who thought of old Jasper, and gave back a +gleam of fierce sympathy. There were several nods of approval +along with the laugh that followed. It was a surprise-so little +consideration of an escape so narrow-from Rufe; for, as old Gabe +said, Rufe was big and good-natured, and was not thought fit for +leadership. But there was a change in him when he came back +from the West. He was quieter; he laughed less No one spoke of +the difference; it was too vague; but every one felt it, and it had an +effect. His flight had made many uneasy, but his return, for that +reason, brought a stancher fealty from these; and this was evident +now. All eyes were upon him, and all tongues, even old Sam's, +waited now for his to speak. + +"Whut we've got to do, we've got to do mighty quick," he began, at +last. " Things air changin'. I seed it over thar in Breathitt. The +soldiers 'n' that scar-faced Jellico preacher hev broke up the fightin' +over thar, 'n' ef we don't watch out, they'll be a-doin' it hyeh, when +we start our leetle frolic. We hain't got no time to fool. Old Jas +knows this as well as me, 'n' thar's goin' to be mighty leetle chance +fer 'em to layway 'n' pick us off from the bresh. Thar's goin' to be +fa'r fightin' fer once, thank the Lord. They bushwhacked us dunn' +the war, 'n' they've laywayed us 'n' shot us to pieces ever sence; but +now, ef God A'mighty's willin', the thing's a-goin' to be settled one +way or t'other at last, I reckon." + +He stopped a moment to think. The men's breathing could be +heard, so quiet was the room, and Rufe went on telling in detail, +slowly, as if to himself, the wrongs the Lewallens had done his +people. When he came to old Jasper his voice was low, and his +manner was quieter than ever. + +"Now old Jas have got to the p'int whar he says as how nobody in +this county kin undersell him 'n' stay hyeh. Old Jas druv Bond +Vickers out'n the mount 'ins fer tryin' hit. He druv Jess Hale away; +'n' them two air our kin." + +The big mountaineer turned then, and knocked the ashes from his +pipe. His eyes grew a little brighter, and his nostrils spread, but +with a sweep of his arm he added, still quietly: + +"Y' all know whut he's done." + +The gesture lighted memories of personal wrongs in every breast; +he had tossed a fire-brand among fagots, and an angry light began +to burn from the eyes that watched him. + +"Ye know, too, that he thinks he has played the same game with +me; but ye don't know, I reckon, that he had ole Jim Stover 'n' that +mis'-able Eli Crump a-hidin' in the bushes to shoot me "-again he +grasped the torn lapel; "that a body warned me to git away from +Hazlan; n' the night I left home they come thar to kill me, 'n' +s'arched the house, 'n' skeered Mollie n' the leetle gal 'most to +death." + +The mountaineer's self-control was lost suddenly in a furious oath. +The men did know, but in fresh anger they leaned forward in their +chairs, and twisted about with smothered curses. The old woman +had stopped smoking, and was rocking her body to and fro. Her +lips were drawn in upon her toothless gums, and her pipe was +clinched against her sunken breast. The head of the old +mountaineer was lifted, and his eyes were open and shining +fiercely. + +"I hear as how he says I'm gone fer good. Well, I have been kinder +easy-goin', hatin' to fight, but sence the day I seed Rome's dad thar +dead in his blood, I hev had jes one thing I wanted to do. Thar +wasn't no use stayin' hyeh; I seed that. Rome thar was too leetle, +and they was too many fer me. I knowed it was easier to git a new +start out West, 'n' when I come back to the mount'in, hit was to do +jes-whut I'm - going - to - do - now." He wheeled suddenly upon +Rome, with one huge hand lifted. Under it the old woman's voice +rose in a sudden wail: + +Yes; 'n' I want to see it done befoh I die. I hain't hyeh fer long, but I +hain't goin' to leave as long as ole Jas is hyeh, 'n' I want ye all to +know it. Ole Jas hev got to go fust. You hear me, Rome? I'm +a-talkin' to you; I'm a-talkin' to you. Hit's yo' time now! + +The frenzied chant raised Rome from his chair. Rufe himself took +up the spirit of it, and his voice was above all caution. + +"Yes, Rome! They killed him, boy. They sneaked on him, 'n' shot +him to pieces from the bushes. Yes; hit's yo' time now! Look +hyeh, boys! " He reached above the fireplace and took down an +old rifle-his brother's-which the old mother had suffered no one to +touch. He held it before the fire, pointing to two crosses made near +the flash-pan. " Thar's one fer ole Jim Lewallen! Thar's one fer +ole Jas! He got Jim, but ole Jas has got him, 'n' thar's his cross thar +yit! Whar's yo' gun, Rome? Shame on ye, boy!" + +The wild-eyed old woman was before him. She had divined Rufe's +purpose, and was already at his side, with Rome's Winchester in +one hand and a clasp-knife in the other. Every man was on his +feet; the door was open, and the boy Isom was at the threshold, his +eyes blazing from his whitc face. Rome had strode forward. + +Yes, boy; now's the time, right hyeh before us all! + +The mother had the knife outstretched. Rome took it, and the +scratch of the point on the hard steel went twice through the +stillness-one more fer the young un"; the voice was the old +mother's-then twice again. + +The moon was sinking when Rome stood in the door alone. The +tramp of horses was growing fainter down the mountain. The trees +were swaying in the wind below him, and he could just see the +gray cliffs on the other shore. The morning seemed far away; it +made him dizzy looking back to it through the tumult of the day. +Somewhere in the haze was the vision of a girl's white face-white +with distress for him. Her father and her brother he had sworn to +kill. He had made a cross for each, and each cross was an oath. +He closed the door; and then he gave way, and sat down with his +head in both hands. The noises in the kitchen ceased. The fire +died away, and the chill air gathered about him. When he rose, the +restless eyes of the boy were upon him from the shadows. + +X + +IT was court-day in Hazlan, but so early in the morning nothing +was astir in the town that hinted of its life on such a day. But for +the ring of a blacksmith's anvil on the quiet air, and the fact that +nowhere was a church-spire visible, a stranger would have thought +that the peace of Sabbath overlay a village of God-fearing people. +A burly figure lounged in the porch of a rickety house, and yawned +under a swinging sign, the rude letters of which promised" private +entertainment " for the traveller unlucky enough to pass that way. +In the one long, narrow main street, closely flanked by log and +framed houses, nothing else human was in sight. Out from this +street, and in an empty square, stood the one brick building in the +place, the court-house, brick without, brick within; unfinished, +unpencilled, unpainted; panes out of the windows, a shutter off +here and there, or swinging drunkenly on one hinge; the door wide +op en, as though there was no privacy within-a poor structure, with +the look of a good man gone shiftless and fast going wrong. + +Soon two or three lank brown figures appeared from each direction +on foot; then a horseman or two, and by and by mountaineers came +in groups, on horse and on foot. In time the side alleys and the +court-house square were filled with horses and mules, and even +steers. The mountaineers crowded the narrow street: idling from +side to side; squatting for a bargain on the wooden sidewalks; +grouping on the porch of the rickety hotel, and on the court-house +steps loitering in and out of the one store in sight. Out in the street +several stood about a horse, looking at his teeth, holding his eyes +to the sun, punching his ribs, twisting his tail; while the phlegmatic +owner sat astride the submissive beast, and spoke short answers to +rare questions. Everybody talked politics, the crop failure, or the +last fight at the seat of some private war; but nobody spoke of a +Lewallen or a Stetson unless he knew his listener's heart, and said +it in a whisper. For nobody knew when the powder would flash, or +who had taken sides, or that a careless word might not array him +with one or the other faction. + +A motley throng it was-in brown or gray homespun, with trousers +in cowhide boots, and slouched hats with brims curved according +to temperament, but with striking figures in it; the patriarch with +long, white hair, shorn even with the base of the neck, and bearded +only at the throat-a justice of the peace, and the sage of his district; +a little mountaineer with curling black hair and beard, and dark, +fine features; a grizzled giant with a head rugged enough to have +been carelessly chipped from stone; a bragging candidate claiming +everybody's notice; a square- shouldered fellow surging through +the crowd like a stranger; an open-faced, devil-may- care young +gallant on fire with moonshine; a skulking figure with brutish +mouth and shifting eyes. Indeed, every figure seemed distinct; for, +living apart from his neighbor, and troubling the law but little in +small matters of dispute, the mountaineer preserves independence, +and keeps the edges of his individuality unworn. Apparently there +was not a woman in town. Those that lived there kept housed, and +the fact was significant. Still, it was close to noon, and yet not a +Stetson or a Lewallen had been seen. The stores of Rufe and old +Jasper were at the extremities of the town, and the crowd did not +move those ways. It waited in the centre, and whetted impatience +by sly trips in twos and three to stables or side alleys for "mountain +dew." Now and then the sheriff, a little man with a mighty voice, +would appear on the courthouse steps, and summon a witness to +court, where a frightened judge gave instructions to a frightened +jury. But few went, unless called; for the interest was outside; +every man in the streets knew that a storm was nigh, and was +waiting to see it burst. + +Noon passed. A hoarse bell and a whining hound had announced +dinner in the hotel. The guests were coming again into the streets. +Eyes were brighter, faces a little more flushed, and the +"moonshine" was passed more openly. Both ways the crowd +watched closely. The quiet at each end of the street was ominous, +and the delay could last but little longer. The lookers-on +themselves were getting quarrelsome. The vent must come soon, +or among them there would be trouble. + +Thar comes Jas Lewallen! " At last. A dozen voices spoke at +once. A horseman had appeared far down the street from the +Lewallen end. The clouds broke from about the sun, and a dozen +men knew the horse that bore him; for the gray was prancing the +street sidewise, and throwing the sunlight from his flanks. Nobody +followed, and the crowd was puzzled. Young Jasper carried a +Winchester across his saddle-bow, and, swaying with the action of +his horse, came on. + +"What air he about?" + +"He's a plumb idgit." + +He mus' be crazy." + +He's drunk! + +The wonder ceased. Young Jasper was reeling. Two or three +Stetsons slipped from the crowd, and there was a galloping of +hoofs the other way. Another horseman appeared from the +Lewallen end, riding hastily. The new-comer's errand was to call +Jasper back. But the young dare-devil was close to the crowd, and +was swinging a bottle over his head. + +Come back hyeh, Jas! Come hyeh!" The new-comer was shouting +afar off while he galloped. Horses were being untethered from the +side alleys. Several more Lewallen riders came in sight. They +could see the gray shining in the sunlight amid the crowd, and the +man sent after him halted at a safe distance, gesticulating; and +they, too, spurred forward. + +Hello, boys! " young Jasper was calling out, as he swayed from +side to side, the people everywhere giving him way. + +"Fun to-day, by- ! fun to-day! Who'll hev a drink? Hyeh's hell to +the Stetsons, whar some of 'em '11 be afore night! + +With a swagger he lifted the bottle to his lips, and, stopping short, +let it fall untouched to the ground. He had straightened in his +saddle, and was looking up the street. With a deep curse he threw +the Winchester to his shoulder, fired, and before his yell had died +on his lips horse and rider were away like a shaft of light. The +crowd melted like magic from the street. The Stetsons, chiefly on +foot, did not return the fire, but halted up the street, as if parleying. +Young Jasper joined his party, and they, too, stood still a moment, +puzzled by the irresolution of the other side. + +"Watch out! they're gittin' round ye! Run for the court-house, ye +fools !-ye, run! " The voice came in a loud yell from somewhere +down the street, and its warning was just in time. + +A wreath of smoke came about a corner of the house far down the +street, and young Jasper yelled, and dashed up a side alley with his +followers. A moment later judge, jury, witnesses, and sheriff were +flying down the court-house steps at the point of Lewallen guns; +the Lewallen horses, led by the gray, were snorting through the +streets; their riders, barricaded in the forsaken court-house, were +puffing a stream of fire and smoke from every window of +court-room below and jury-room above. + +The streets were a bedlam. The Stetsons were yelling with +triumph. The Lewallens were divided, and Rufe placed three +Stetsons with Winchesters on each side of the courthouse, and kept +them firing. Rome, pale and stern, hid his force between the +square and the Lewallen store. He was none too quick. The rest +were coming on, led by old Jasper. It was reckless, riding that +way right into death; but the old man believed young Jasper's life +at stake, and the men behind asked no questions when old Jasper +led them. The horses' hoofs beat the dirt street like the crescendo +of thunder. The fierce old man's hat was gone, and his mane-like +hair was shaking in the wind. Louder-and still the Stetsons were +quiet-quiet too long. The wily old man saw the trap, and, with a +yell, whirled the column up an alley, each man flattening over his +saddle. From every window, from behind every corner and tree, +smoke belched from the mouth of a Winchester. Two horses went +down; one screamed; the other struggled to his feet, and limped +away with an empty saddle. One pf the fallen men sprang into +safety behind a house, and one lay still, with his arms stretched out +and his face in the dust. + +From behind barn, house, and fence the Lewallens gave back a +scattering fire; but the Stetsons crept closer, and were plainly in +greater numbers. Old Jasper was being surrounded, and he +mounted again, and all, followed by a chorus of bullets and +triumphant yells, fled for a wooded slope in the rear of the +court-house. A dozen Lewallens were prisoners, and must give up +or starve. There was savage joy in the Stetson crowd, and +many-footed rumor went all ways that night. + +Despite sickness and Rome's strict order, Isom had ridden down to +the mill. Standing in the doorway, he and old Gabe saw up the +river, where the water broke into foam over the ford, a riderless +gray horse plunging across. Later it neighed at a gate under Wolf's +Head, and Martha Lewallen ran out to meet it. Across under +Thunderstruck Knob that night the old Stetson mother listened to +Isom's story of the fight with ghastly joy in her death-marked face. + +XI + +ALL night the court-house was guarded and on guard. At one +corner of the square Rufe Stetson, with a few men, sat on watch in +old Sam Day's cabin-the fortress of the town, built for such a +purpose, and used for it many times before. The prisoners, too, +were alert, and no Stetson ventured into the open square, for the +moon was high; an exposure anywhere was noted instantly by the +whistle of a rifle-ball, and the mountaineer takes few risks except +under stress of drink or passion. Rome Stetson had placed pickets +about the town wherever surprise was possible. All night he +patrolled the streets to keep his men in such readiness as he could +for the attack that the Lewallens would surely make to rescue their +living friends and to avenge the dead ones. + +But the triumph was too great and unexpected. Two Braytons +were dead; several more were prisoners with young Jasper in the +courthouse; and drinking began. + +As the night deepened without attack the Stetsons drank more, and +grew reckless. A dance was started. Music and "moonshine" were +given to every man who bore a Winchester. The night was broken +with drunken yells, the random discharge of fire-arms, and the +mono-tone of heavy feet. The two leaders were helpless, and the +inaction of the Lewallens puzzled them. Chafed with anxiety, they +kept their eyes on the court-house or on the thicket of gloom where +their enemies lay. But the woods were as quiet as the pall of +shadows over them. Once Rome, making his rounds, saw a figure +crawling through a field of corn. It looked like Crump's, but +before he could fire the man rolled like a ball down the bushy bank +to the river. An instant later some object went swiftly past a side +street-somebody on horseback-and a picket fired an alarm. The +horse kept on, and Rome threw his rifle on a patch of moonlight, +but when the object flashed through, his finger was numbed at the +trigger. In the moonlight the horse looked gray, and the rider was +seated sidewise. A bullet from the court-house clipped his hat-brim +as he ran recklessly across the street to where Steve Marcum stood +in the dark behind old Sam's cabin. + +"Jim Hale 'll git him as he goes up the road," said Steve, +calmly-and then with hot impatience, "Why the hell don't he +shoot? + +Rome started forward in the moonlight, and Steve caught his arm. +Two bullets hissed from the court-house, and he fell back. + +A shot sounded from the bushes far away from the road. The horse +kept on, and splashed into Troubled Fork, and Steve swore bitterly. + +"Hit hain't Jim. Hit's that mis'able Bud Vickers; he's been a-stan +din' guard out'n the bushes 'stid o' the road. That was a spy, I tell +ye, 'n' the coward let him in and let him out. They'll know now +we're all drunk! Whut's the matter? + +Rome's mouth was half open. He looked white and sick, and Steve +thought he had been hit, but he took off his hat. " Purty close! " he +said, with a laugh, pointing at the bullet-hole through the brim. + +Steve, unsuspicious, went on: "Hit was a spy, I tell ye. Bud was +afeard to stan' in the road, 'n' I'm goin' out thar 'n' twist his damned +neck. We've got 'em, Rome! I tell ye, we've got 'em! Ef we kin git +through this night, and git the boys sober in the morning, we've got +'em shore!" + +The night did pass in safety, darkness wore away without attack, +and morning broke on the town in its drunken stupor. Then the +curious silence of the Lewallens was explained. The rumor came +that old Jasper was dead, and it went broadcast. Later, friends +coming to the edge of the town for the bodies of the dead +Lewallens confirmed it. A random ball had passed through old +Lewallen's body in the wild flight for the woods, and during the +night he had spent his last breath in a curse against the man who +fired it. + +Then each Stetson, waked from his drunken sleep, drank again +when he heard of the death. The day bade fair to be like the night, +and again the anxiety of the leaders was edged with fear. Old +Jasper dead and young Jasper a prisoner, the chance was near to +end the feud, or there would be no Lewallen left to lead their +enemies. But, again, they were wellnigh helpless. Already they +had barely enough men to guard their prisoners. Of the Marcums, +Steve alone was able to handle a Winchester, and outside the +sounds of the carousal were in the air and growing louder. In a +little while, if the Lewallens but knew it, escape would be easy and +the Stetsons could be driven from the town. + +Oh, they know it," said Steve. "They'll be a-whoopin' down out O' +them woods purty soon, 'n' we re goin to ketch hell. I'd like to +know mighty well who that spy was last night. That cussed Bud +Vickers says it was a ha'nt, on a white hoss, with long hair flyin' in +the wind, 'n' that he shot plumb through it. I jus' wish I'd a had a +chance at it." + +Still, noon came again without trouble, and the imprisoned +Lewallens had been twenty-four hours without food. Their +ammunition was getting scarce. The firing was less frequent, +though the watch was as close as ever, and twice a Winchester had +sounded a signal of distress. All knew that a response must come +soon; and come it did. A picket, watching the river road, saw +young Jasper's horse coming along the dark bushes far up the river, +and brought the news to the group standing behind old Sam's +cabin. The gray galloped into sight, and, skirting the woods, came +straight for the town-with a woman on his back. The stirrup of a +man's saddle dangled on one side, and the woman's bonnet had +fallen from her head. Some one challenged her. + +Stop, I tell ye! Don't ye go near that courthouse! Stop, I tell ye! I'll +shoot! Stop!" + +Rome ran from the cabin with a revolver in each hand. A drunken +mountaineer was raising a Winchester to his shoulder, and, +springing from the back of the gray at the court-house steps, was +Martha Lewallen. + +"I'll kill the fust man that lifts his finger to hurt the gal," Rome +said, knocking the drunken man's gun in the air. "We hain't fightin' +women!" + +It was too late to oppose her, and the crowd stood helplessly +watching. No one dared approach, so, shielding with her body the +space of the opening door, she threw the sack of food within. Then +she stood a moment talking and, turning, climbed to her saddle. +The gray was spotted with foam, and showed the red of his nostrils +with every breath as, with face flushed and eyes straight before +her, she rode slowly toward the crowd. What was she about? +Rome stood rigid, his forgotten pistols hanging at each side; the +mouth of the drunken mountaineer was open with stupid wonder; +the rest fell apart as she came around the corner of the cabin and, +through the space given, rode slowly, her skirt almost brushing +Rome, looking neither to the right nor to the left; and when she +had gone quite through them all, she wheeled and rode, still +slowly, through the open fields toward the woods which sheltered +the Lewallens, while the crowd stood in bewildered silence +looking after her. Yells of laughter came from the old court-house. +Some of the Stetsons laughed, too; some swore, a few grumbled; +but there was not one who was not stirred by the superb daring of +the girl, though she had used it only to show her contempt. + +" Rome, you're a fool; though, fer a fac', we can't shoot a woman; +'n' anyways I ruther shoot her than the hoss. But lemme tell ye, thar +was more'n sump'n to eat in that bag! They air up to some dodge." + +Rufe Stetson had watched the incident through a port-hole of the +cabin, and his tone was at once jesting and anxious. + +"That grub won't last more'n one day, I reckon," said the drunken +mountaineer. We'll watch out fer the gal nex' time. We're boun' to +git 'em one time or t'other." + +"She rid through us to find out how many of us wasn't dead drunk," +said Steve Marcum, still watching the girl as she rode on, toward +the woods; "'n' I'm a-thinkin' they'll be down on us purty soon now, +'n' I reckon we'll have to run fer it. Look thar boys!" + +The girl had stopped at the edge of the woods; facing the town, she +waved her bonnet high above her head. + +"Well, whut in the--! "he said, with slow emphasis, and then he +leaped from the door with a yell. The bonnet was a signal to the +beleaguered Lewallens. The rear door of the courthouse had been +quietly opened, and the prisoners were out in a body and +scrambling over the fence before the pickets could give an alarm. +The sudden yells, the crack of Winchesters, startled even the +revellers and all who could, headed by Rome and Steve Marcum, +sprang into the square, and started in pursuit. But the Lewallens +had got far ahead, and were running in zigzag lines to dodge the +balls flying after them. Half-way to the woods was a gully of red +clay, and into this the fleetest leaped, and turned instantly to cover +their comrades. The Winchesters began to rattle from the woods, +and the bullets came like rain from everywhere. + +"T-h-up! T-h-up! T-h-up! " there were three of them-the peculiar +soft, dull messages of hot lead to living flesh. A Stetson went +down; another stumbled; Rufe Stetson, climbing the fence, caught +at his breast with an oath, and fell back. Rome and Steve dropped +for safety to the ground. Every other Stetson turned in a panic, and +every Lewallen in the gully leaped from it, and ran under the +Lewallen fire for shelter in the woods. The escape was over. + +"That was a purty neat trick," said Steve, wiping a red streak from +his cheek. " Nex' time she tries that, she'll git herself into trouble." + +At nightfall the wounded leader and the dead one were carried up +the mountain, each to his home; and there was mourning far into +the night on one bank of the Cumberland, and, serious though Rufe +Stetson's wound was, exultation on the other. But in it Rome could +take but little part. There had been no fault to find with him in the +fight. But a reaction had set in when he saw the girl flash in the +moonlight past the sights of his Winchester, and her face that day +had again loosed within him a flood of feeling that drove the lust +for revenge from his veins. Even now, while he sat in his own +cabin, his thoughts were across the river where Martha, broken at +last, sat at her death vigils. He knew what her daring ride that day +had cost her, with old Jasper dead out there in the woods; and as +she passed him he had grown suddenly humbled, shamed. He grew +heart-sick now as he thought of it all; and the sight of his mother +on her bed in the corner, close to death as she was, filled him with +bitterness. There was no help for him. He was alone now, pitted +against young Jasper alone. On one bed lay his uncle-nigh to death. +There was the grim figure in the corner, the implacable spirit of +hate and revenge. His rifle was against the wall. If there was any +joy for him in old Jasper's death, it was that his hand had not +caused it, and yet-God help him!-there was the other cross, the +other oath. + +XII + +THE star and the crescent were swinging above Wolf's Head, and +in the dark hour that breaks into dawn a cavalcade of Lewallens +forded the Cumberland, and galloped along the Stetson shore. At +the head rode young Jasper, and Crump the spy. + +Swift changes had followed the court-house fight. In spite of the +death of Rufe Stetson from his wound, and several other Stetsons +from ambush, the Lewallens had lost ground. Old Jasper's store +had fallen into the hands of creditors -" furriners "-for debts, and it +was said his homestead must follow. In a private war a leader +must be more than leader. He must feed and often clothe his +followers, and young Jasper had not the means to carry on the +feud. The famine had made corn dear. He could feed neither man +nor horse, and the hired feudsmen fell away, leaving the Lewallens +and the Braytons and their close kin to battle alone. So Jasper +avoided open combat and resorted to ambush and surprise; and, +knowing in some way every move made by the Stetsons, with great +daring and success. It was whispered, too, that he no longer cared +who owned what he might want for himself. Several dark deeds +were traced to him. In a little while he was a terror to good +citizens, and finally old Gabe asked aid of the Governor. Soldiers +from the settlements were looked for any day, and both factions +knew it. At the least this would delay the war, and young Jasper +had got ready for a last fight, which was close at hand. + +Half a mile on the riders swerved into a wooded slope. There they +hid their horses in the brush, and climbed the spur stealthily. The +naked woods showed the cup-like shape of the mountains there-a +basin from which radiated upward wooded ravines, edged with +ribs of rock. In this basin the Stetsons were encamped. The smoke +of a fire was visible in the dim morning light, and the Lewallens +scattered to surround the camp, but the effort was vain. A picket +saw the creeping figures; his gun echoed a warning from rock to +rock, and with yells the Lewallens ran forward. Rome sprang from +his sleep near the fire, bareheaded, rifle in hand, his body plain +against a huge rock, and the bullets hissed and spat about him as +he leaped this way and that, firing as he sprang, and shouting for +his men. Steve Marcum alone answered. Some, startled from +sleep, had fled in a panic; some had run deeper into the woods for +shelter. And bidding Steve save himself, Rome turned up the +mountain, running from tree to tree, and dropped unhurt behind a +fallen chestnut. Other Stetsons, too, had turned, and answering +bullets began to whistle to the enemy, but they were widely +separated and ignorant of one another's position, and the Lewallens +drove them one by one to new hiding-places, scattering them more. +To his right Rome saw Steve Marcum speed like a shadow up +through a little open space, but he feared to move, for several +Lewallens had recognized him, and were watching him alone. He +could not even fire; at the least exposure there was a chorus of +bullets about his ears. In a moment they began to come obliquely +from each side-the Lewallens were getting around him. In a +moment more death was sure there, and once again he darted up +the mountain. The bullets sang after him like maddened bees. He +felt one cut his hat and another sting his left arm, but he raced up, +up, till the firing grew fainter as he climbed, and ceased an instant +altogether. Then, still farther below, came a sudden crash of +reports. Stetsons were pursuing the men who were after him, but +he could not join them. The Lewallens were scattered everywhere +between him and his own man, and a desccnt might lead him to +the muzzle of an enemy's Winchester. So he climbed over a ledge +of rock and lay there, peeping through a crevice between two +bowlders, gaining his breath. The firing was far below him now, +and was sharp. Evidently his pursuers were too busy defending +themselves to think further of him, and he began to plan how he +should get back to his friends. But he kept hidden, and, searching +the cliffs below him for a sheltered descent, he saw something like +a slouched hat just over a log, scarcely fifty feet below him. +Presently the hat was lifted a few inches; a figure rose cautiously +and climbed toward the ledge, shielding itself behind rock and +tree. Very quietly Rome crawled back to the face of the cliff +behind him, and crouched behind a rock with his cocked rifle +across his knees. The man must climb over the ledge; there would +be a bare, level floor of rock between them-the Lewallen would be +at his mercy-and Rome, with straining eyes, waited. There was a +footfall on the other side of the ledge; a soft clink of metal against +stone. The Lewallen was climbing slowly-slowly. Rome could hear +his heavy breathing. A grimy hand slipped over the sharp comb of +the ledge; another appeared, clinched about a Winchester-then the +slouched hat, and under it the dark, crafty face of young Jasper. +Rome sat like the stone before him, with a half-smile on his lips. +Jasper peered about with the sly caution of a fox, and his face grew +puzzled and chagrined as he looked at the cliffs above him. + +"Stop thar!" + +He was drawing himself over the ledge, and the low, stern voice +startled him, as a knife might have done, thrust suddenly from the +empty air at his breast. Rome rose upright against the cliff, with +his resolute face against the stock of a Winchester. + +"Drap that gun!" + +The order was given along Stetson's barrel, and the weapon was +dropped, the steel ringing on the stone floor. Rome lowered his +gun to the hollow of his arm, and the two young leaders faced each +other for the first time in the life of either. + +Seem kinder s'prised to see me," said the Stetson, grimly. " Hev ye +got a pistol? + +Young Jasper glared at him in helpless ferocity. + +"Naw!" + +"Knife?" + +He drew a long-bladed penknife from his pocket, and tossed it at +Rome's feet. + +"Jes' move over thar, will ye?" + +The Lewallen took his stand against the cliff. Rome picked up the +fallen rifle and leaned it against the ledge. + +"Now, Jas Lewallen, thar's nobody left in this leetle trouble 'cept +you 'n' me, 'n' ef one of us was dead, I reckon t'other could live +hyeh, 'n' thar'd be peace in these mount'ins. I thought o' that when I +had ye at the eend o' this Winchester. I reckon you would 'a' shot +me dead ef I had poked my head over a rock as keerless as you." +That is just what he would have done, and Jasper did not answer. +"I've swore to kill ye, too," added Rome, tapping his gun; "I've got +a cross fer ye hyeh." + +The Lewallen was no coward. Outcry or resistance was useless. +The Stetson meant to taunt him, to make death more bitter; for +Jasper expected death, and he sullenly waited for it against the +cliff. + +"You've been banterin me a long time now, 'lowin' as how ye air +the better man o' the two; n' I've got a notion o' givin' ye a chance +to prove yer tall talk. Hit's not our way to kill a man in cold blood, +'n' I don't want to kill ye anyways ef I kin he'p it. Seem s'prised +ag'in. Reckon ye don't believe me? I don't wonder when I think o' +my own dad, 'n' all the meanness yo folks have done mine; but I've +got a good reason fer not killin' ye-ef I kin he'p it. Y'u don't know +what it is, 'n' y'u'll never know; but I'll give yer a chance now fer +yer life ef y'u'll sw'ar on a stack o' Bibles as high as that tree thar +that y'u'll leave these mount'ins ef I whoops ye, 'n' nuver come back +ag'in as long as you live. I'll leave, ef ye whoops me. Now whut do +ye say? Will ye sw'ar? + +"I reckon I will, seem' as I've got to," was the surly answer. But +Jasper's face was dark with suspicion, and Rome studied it keenly. +The Lewallens once had been men whose word was good, but he +did not like Jasper's look. + +"I reckon I'll trust ye," he said, at last, more through confidence in +his own strength than faith in his enemy; foi Jasper whipped would +be as much at his mercy as he was now. So Rome threw off his +coat, and began winding his homespun suspenders about his waist. +Watching him closely, Jasper did the same. + +The firing below had ceased. A flock of mountain vultures were +sailing in great circles over the thick woods. Two eagles swept +straight from the rim of the sun above Wolf's Head, beating over a +turbulent sea of mist for the cliffs, scarcely fifty yards above the +ledge, where a pine-tree grew between two rocks. At the instant of +lighting, they wheeled away, each with a warning scream to the +other. A figure lying flat behind the pine had frightened them, and +now a face peeped to one side, flushed with eagerness over the +coming fight. Both were ready now, and the Lewallen grew +suddenly white as Rome turned again and reached down for the +guns. + +"I reckon I'll put 'em a leetle furder out o' the way," he said, +kicking the knife over the cliff; and, standing on a stone, he thrust +them into a crevice high above his head. + +"Now, Jas, we'll fight this gredge out, as our grandads have done +afore us." + +Lewallen and Stetson were man to man at last. Suspicion was gone +now, and a short, brutal laugh came from the cliff. + +"I'll fight ye! Oh, by God, I'll fight ye!" + +The ring of the voice struck an answering gleam from Rome's gray +eyes, and the two sprang for each other. It was like the struggle of +primeval men who had not yet learned even the use of clubs. For +an instant both stood close, like two wild beasts crouched for a +spring, and circling about to get at each other's throats, with +mouths set, eyes watching eyes, and hands twitching nervously. +Young Jasper leaped first, and the Stetson, wary of closing with +him, shrank back. There were a few quick, heavy blows, and the +Lewallen was beaten away with blood at his lips. Then each knew +the advantage of the other. The Stetson's reach was longer; the +Lewallen was shorter and heavier, and again he closed in. Again +Rome sent out his long arm. A turn of Jasper's head let the heavy +fist pass over his shoulder. The force of the blow drove Rome +forward; the two clinched, and Jasper's arms tightened about the +Stetson's waist. With a quick gasp for breath Rome loosed his +hold, and, bending his enemy's head back with one hand, rained +blow after blow in his face with the other. One terrible stroke on +the jaw, and Jasper's arms were loosed; the two fell apart, the one +stunned, the other breathless. One dazed moment only, and for a +third time the Lewallen came on. Rome had been fighting a man; +now he faced a demon. Jasper's brows stood out like bristles, and +the eyes under them were red and fierce like a mad bull's. Again +Rome's blows fell, but again the Lewallen reached him, and this +time he got his face under the Stetson's chin, -'id the heavy fist fell +upon the back of his head, and upon his neck, as upon wood and +leather. Again Rome had to gasp for breath, and again the two +were fiercely locked-their corded arms as tense as serpents. +Around and around they whirled, straining, tripping, breaking the +silence only with deep, quick breaths and the stamping of feet, +Jasper firm on the rock, and Rome's agility saving him from being +lifted in the air and tossed from the cliff. There was no pause for +rest. It was a struggle to the end, and a quick one; and under stress +of excitement the figure at the pine-tree had risen to his knees- +jumping even to his feet in plain view, when the short, strong arms +of the Lewallen began at last to draw Rome closer still, and to +bend him backward. The Stetson was giving way at last. The +Lewallen's vindictive face grew blacker, and his white teeth +showed between his snarling lips as he fastened one leg behind his +enemy's, and, with chin against his shoulder, bent him slowly, +slowly back. The two breathed in short, painful gasps; their +swollen muscles trembled under the strain as with ague. Back - +back - the Stetson was falling; he seemed almost down, when-the +trick is an old one-whirling with the quickness of light, he fell +heavily on his opponent, and caught him by the throat with both +hands. + +"'Nough? " he asked, hoarsely. It was the first word uttered. + +The only answer was a fierce struggle. Rome felt the Lewallen's +teeth sinking in his arm, and his fingers tightened like twisting +steel, till Jasper caught his breath as though strangling to death. + +"'Nough?" asked the hoarse voice again. + +No answer; tighter clinched the fingers. The Lewallen shook his +head feebly; his purple face paled suddenly as Rome loosed his +hold, and his lips moved in a whisper. + +"'Nough!" + +Rome rose dizzily to one knee. Jasper turned, gasping, and lay +with his face to the rock. For a while both were quiet, Rome, +panting with open mouth and white with exhaustion, looking down +now and then at the Lewallen, whose face was turned away with +shame. + +The sun was blazing above Wolf's Head now, and the stillness +about them lay unbroken on the woods below. + +"I've whooped ye, Jas," Rome said, at last; "I've whooped ye in a +fa'r fight, 'n' I've got nothin' now to say 'bout yer tall talk, 'n' I +reckon you hevn't nuther. Now, hit's understood, hain't it, that y'u'll +leave these mount'ins? + +Y'u kin go West," he continued, as the Lewallen did not answer. " +Uncle Rufe used to say thar's a good deal to do out thar, 'n' nobody +axes questions. Thar's nobody left hyeh but you 'n' me, but these +mount'ins was never big 'nough fer one Lewallen 'n' one Stetson, 'n' +you've got to go. I reckon ye won't believe me, but I'm glad I didn't +hev to kill ye. But you've promised to go, now, 'n' I'll take yer word +fer it." He turned his face, and the Lewallen, knowing it from the +sound of his voice, sprang to his feet. + +"Oh-!" + +A wild curse burst from Rome's lips, and both leaped for the guns. +The Lewallen had the start of a few feet, and Rome, lamed in the +fight, stumbled and fell. Before he could rise Jasper had whirled, +with one of the Winchesters above his head and his face aflame +with fury. Asking no mercy, Rome hid his face with one arm and +waited, stricken faint all at once, and numb. One report struck his +ears, muffled, whip-like. A dull wonder came to him that the +Lewallen could have missed at such close range, and he waited for +another. Some one shouted-a shrill hallo. A loud laugh followed; a +light seemed breaking before Rome's eyes, and he lifted his head. +Jasper was on his face again, motionless; and Steve Marcum's tall +figure was climbing over a bowlder toward him. + +"That was the best fight I've seed in my time, by God," he said, +coolly, " 'n', Rome, y'u air the biggest fool this side o' the +settlements, I reckon. I had dead aim on him, 'n' I was jest +a-thinkin' hit was a purty good thing fer you that old long-nosed +Jim Stover chased me up hyeh, when, damn me, ef that boy up thar +didn't let his ole gun loose. I'd a-got Jas myself ef he hadn't been +so all-fired quick o' trigger." + +Up at the root of the pine-tree Isom stood motionless, with his long +rifle in one hand and a little cloud of smoke breaking above his +white face. When Rome looked up he started down without a +word. Steve swung himself over the ledge. + +"I heerd the shootin'," said the boy, " up thar at the cave, 'n' I +couldn't stay thar. I knowed ye could whoop him, Rome, 'n' I seed +Steve, too, but I was afeard-" Then he saw the body. His tongue +stopped, his face shrivelled, and Steve, hanging with one hand to +the ledge, watched him curiously. + +" Rome," said the boy, in a quick whisper, "is he daid? + +" Come on! " said Steve, roughly. "They'll be up hyeh atter us in a +minute. Leave Jas's gun thar, 'n' send that boy back home." + +That day the troops came-young Blue Grass Kentuckians. That +night, within the circle of their camp-fires, a last defiance was cast +in the teeth of law and order. Flames rose within the old court- +house, and before midnight the moonlight fell on four black walls. +That night, too, the news of young Jasper's fate was carried to the +death-bed of Rome's mother, and before day the old woman passed +in peace. That day Stetsons and Lewallens disbanded. The +Lewallens had no leader; the Stetsons, no enemies to fight. Some +hid, some left the mountains, some gave themselves up for trial. +Upon Rome Stetson the burden fell. Against him the law was set. +A price was put on his head, his house was burned-a last act of +Lewallen hate-and Rome was homeless, the last of his race, and an +outlaw. + +XIII + +WITH the start of a few hours and the sympathy of his people one +mountaineer can defy the army of the United States; and the +mountaineers usually laugh when they hear troops are coming. For +the time they stop fighting and hide in the woods; and when the +soldiers are gone, they come out again, and begin anew their little +pleasantries. But the soldiers can protect the judge on his bench +and the county-seat in time of court, and for these purposes they +serve well. + +The search for Rome Stetson, then, was useless. His friends would +aid him; his enemies feared to betray him. So the soldiers +marched away one morning, and took their prisoners for safe- +keeping in the Blue Grass, until court should open at Hazlan. + +Meantime, spring came and deepened-the mountain spring. The +berries of the wintergreen grew scarce, and Rome Stetson, " hiding +out," as the phrase is, had to seek them on thc northem face of the +mountains. The moss on the naked winter trees brightened in +color, and along the river, where willows drooped, ran faint lines +of green. The trailing arbutus gave out delicate pink blossoms, and +the south wind blew apart the petals of the anemone. Soon violets +unfolded above the dead leaves; azaleas swung their yellow +trumpets through the undergrowth; over-head, the dogwood tossed +its snow-flakes in gusts through the green and gold of new leaves +and sunlight; and higher still waved the poplar blooms, with honey +ready on every crimson heart for the bees. Down in the valley +Rome Stetson could see about every little cabin pink clouds and +white clouds of peach and of apple blossoms. Amid the ferns about +him shade-loving trilliums showed their many-hued faces, and +every opening was thickly peopled with larkspur seeking the sun. +The giant magnolia and the umbrella-tree spread their great +creamy flowers; the laurel shook out myriads of pink and white +bells, and the queen of mountain flowers was stirring from sleep in +the buds of the rhododendron. + +With the spring new forces pulsed the mountain air. The spirit of +the times reached even Hazlan. A railroad was coming up the +river, so the rumor was. When winter broke, surveyors had +appeared; after them, mining experts and purchasers of land. New +ways of bread-making were open to all, and the feudsman began to +see that he could make food and clothes more easily and with less +danger than by sleeping with his rifle in the woods, and by fighting +men who had done him no harm. Many were tired of fighting; +many, forced into the feud, had fought unwillingly. Others had +sold their farms and wild lands, and were moving toward the Blue +Grass or westward. The desperadoes of each faction had fled the +law or were in its clutches. The last Lewallen was dead; the last +Stetson was hidden away in the mountains. There were left +Mareums and Braytons, but only those who felt safest from +indictment; in these a spirit of hostility would live for years, and, +roused by passion or by drink, would do murder now on one side +of the Cumberland and now on the other; but the Stetson-Lewallen +feud, old Gabe believed, was at an end at last. + +All these things the miller told Rome Stetson, who well knew what +they meant. He was safe enough from the law while the people +took no part in his capture, but he grew apprehensive when he +learned of the changes going on in the valley. None but old Gabe +knew where he was, to be sure, but with his own enemies to guide +the soldiers he could not hope to remain hidden long. Still, with +that love of the mountains characteristic of all races born among +them, he clung to his own land. He would rather stay where he +was the space of a year and die, he told old Gabe passionately, +than live to old age in another State. + +But there was another motive, and he did not hide it. On the other +side he had one enemy left-the last, too, of her race-who was more +to him than his own dead kindred, who hated him, who placed at +his door all her sorrows. For her he was living like a wolf in a +cave, and old Gabe knew it. Her-he would not leave. + +"I tell ye, Rome, you've got to go. Thar's no use talkin'. Court +comes the fust Monday in June. The soldiers ull be hyeh. Hit won't +be safe. Thar's some that s'picions I know whar ye air now, 'n' +they'll be spyin', 'n' mebbe hit'll git me into trouble, too, aidin' 'n' +abettin' a man to git away who air boun' to the law." + +The two were sitting on the earthen floor of the cave before a little +fire, and Rome, with his hands about his knees and his brows +knitted, was staring into the yellow blaze. His unshorn hair fell to +his shoulders; his face was pale from insufficient food and +exercise, and tense with a look that was at once caged and defiant. + +"Uncle Gabe," he asked, quietly, for the old man's tone was a little +querulous, " air ye sorry ye holped me? Do ye blame me fer whut +I've done?" + +"No," said the old miller, answering both questions; "I don't. I +believe whut ye tol' me. Though, even ef ye had 'a' done it, I don't +know as I'd blame ye, seem' that it was a fa'r fight. I don't doubt he +was doin' his best to kill you." + +Rome turned quickly, his face puzzled and darkening. + +Uncle Gabe, whut air you drivin' at? " The old man spat into the +fire, and shifted his position uneasily, as Rome's hand caught his +knee. + +Well, ef I have to tell ye, I s'pose I must. Thar's been nothin' +pertickler ag'in ye so fer, 'cept fer breakin' that confederatin' statute +'bout bandin' fightin' men together; 'n' nobody was very anxious to +git hol' o' ye jes fer that, but now "-the old man stopped a moment, +for Rome's eyes were kindling-" they say that ye killed Jas Lew +allen, 'n' that ye air a murderer; 'n' hit air powerful strange how all +of a suddint folks seem to be gittin' down on a man as kills his +fellow-creetur; 'n' now they means to hunt ye til they ketch ye." + +It was all out now, and the old man was relieved. Rome rose to his +feet, and in sheer agony of spirit paced the floor. + +"I tol' ye, Uncle Gabe, that I didn't kill him." + +So ye did, 'n' I believe ye. But a feller seed you 'n' Steve comm' +from the place whar Jas was found dead, 'n' whar the dirt 'n' rock +was throwed about as by two bucks in spring-time. Steve says he +didn't do it, 'n' he wouldn't say you didn't. Looks to me like Steve +did the kuhn', 'n' was lyin' a leetle. He hain't goin' to confess hit to +save your neck; 'n' he can't no way, fer he hev lit out o' these +mount'ins-long ago." + +If Steve was out of danger, suspicion could not harm him, and +Rome said nothing. + +"Isom's got the lingerin' fever ag'in, 'n' he's out"i his head. He's +ravin' 'bout that fight. Looks like ye tol' him 'bout it. He says,' Don't +tell Uncle Gabe'; 'n' he keeps sayin' it. Hit'll 'most kill him ef you +go 'way; but he wants ye to git out o' the mount'ins; 'n', Rome, +you've got to go." + +"Who was it, Uncle Gabe, that seed me 'n' Steve comm' 'way from +thar? + +He air the same feller who hev been spyin' ye all the time this war's +been goin' on; hit's that dried-faced, snaky Eli Crump, who ye +knocked down 'n' choked up in Hazlan one day fer sayin' +something ag'in Isom." + +"I knowed it-I knowed it-oh, ef I could git my fingers roun' his +throat once more-jes once more-I'd be 'mos' ready to die." + +He stretched out his hands as he strode back and forth, with his +fingers crooked like talons; his shadow leaped from wall to wall, +and his voice, filling the cave, was, for the moment, scarcely +human. The old man waited till the paroxysm was over and Rome +had again sunk before the fire. + +"Hit 'u'd do no good, Rome," he said, rising to go. "You've got +enough on ye now, without the sin o' takin' his life. You better +make up yer mind to leave the mount ins now right 'way. You're +a-gittin' no more'n half-human, livin' up hyeh like a catamount. I +don't see how ye kin stand it. Thar's no hope o' things blowin' over, +boy, 'n' givin' ye a chance o' comm' out ag'in, as yer dad and yer +grandad usen to do afore ye. The citizens air gittin' tired o' these +wars. They keeps out the furriners who makes roads 'n' buys lands; +they air ag'in' the law, ag'in' religion, ag'in' yo' pocket, 'n' ag'in' +mine. Lots o' folks hev been ag'in' all this fightin' fer a long time, +but they was too skeery to say so. They air talkin' mighty big now, +seem' they kin git soldiers hyeh to pertect 'em. So ye mought as +well give up the idea o' staying hyeh, 'less'n ye want to give +yourself up to the law." + +The two stepped from the cave, and passed through the +rhododendrons till they stood on the cliff overlooking the valley. +The rich light lay like a golden mist between the mountains, and +through it, far down, the river moaned like the wind of a coming +storm. + +Did ye tell the gal whut I tol' ye?" + +"Yes, Rome; hit wasn't no use. She says Steve's word's as good as +yourn; 'n' she knowed about the crosses. Folks say she swore awful +ag'in' ye at young Jas's burial, 'lowin' that she'd hunt ye down +herse'f, ef the soldiers didn't ketch ye. I hain't seed her sence she +got sick; 'pears like ever'body's sick. Mebbe she's a leetle settled +down now-no tellin'. No use foolin' with her, Rome. You git away +from hyeh. Don't you worry 'bout Isom-I'll take keer o' him, 'n' +when he gits well, he'll want to come atter ye, 'n' I'll let him go. He +couldn't live hyeh without you. But y'u must git away, Rome, 'n' +git away mighty quick." + +With hands clasped behind him, Rome stood and watched the bent +figure slowly pick its way around the stony cliff. + +"I reckon I've got to go. She's ag'in' me; they're all ag'in' me. I +reckon I've jes got to go. Somehow, I've been kinder hopin'-" He +closed his lips to check the groan that rose to them, and turned +again into the gloom behind him. + +XIV + +JUNE came. The wild rose swayed above its image along every +little shadowed stream, and the scent of wild grapes was sweet in +the air and as vagrant as a bluebird's note in autumn. The +rhododendrons burst into beauty, making gray ridge and gray cliff +blossom with purple, hedging streams with snowy clusters and +shining leaves, and lighting up dark coverts in the woods as with +white stars. The leaves were full, woodthrushes sang, and bees +droned like unseen running water in the woods. + +With June came circuit court once more-and the soldiers. Faint +music pierced the dreamy chant of the river one morning as Rome +lay on a bowlder in the summer sun; and he watched the guns +flashing like another stream along the water, and then looked again +to the Lewallen cabin. Never, morning, noon, or night, when he +came from the rhododendrons, or when they closed about him, did +he fail to turn his eyes that way. Often he would see a bright speck +moving about the dim lines of the cabin, and he would scarcely +breathe while he watched it, so easily would it disappear. Always +he had thought it was Martha, and now he knew it was, for the old +miller had told him more of the girl, and had wrung his heart with +pity. She had been ill a long while. The "furriners " had seized old +Jasper's cahin and land. The girl was homeless, and she did not +know it, for no one had the heart to tell her. She was living with +the Braytons; and every day she went to the cabin, "moonin'' n' +sorrowin' aroun'," as old Gabe said; and she was much changed. + +Once more the miller came-for the last time, he said, firmly. +Crump had trailed him, and had learned where Rome was. The +search would begin next day-perhaps that very night-and Crump +would guide the soldiers. Now he must go, and go quickly. The +boy, too, sent word that unless Rome went, he would have +something to tell. Old Gabe saw no significance in the message; +but he had promised to deliver it, and he did. Rome wavered then; +Steve and himself gone, no suspicion would fall on the lad. If he +were caught, the boy might confess. With silence Rome gave +assent, and the two parted in an apathy that was like heartlessness. +Only old Gabe's shrunken breast heaved with something more than +weariness of descent, and Rome stood watching him a long time +before he turned back to the cave that had sheltered him from his +enemies among beasts and men. In a moment he came out for the +last time, and turned the opposite way. Climbing about the spur, he +made for the path that led down to the river. When he reached it he +glanced at the sun, and stopped in indecision. Straight above him +was a knoll, massed with rhododendrons, the flashing leaves of +which made it like a great sea-wave in the slanting sun, while the +blooms broke slowly down over it like foam. Above this was a +gray sepulchre of dead, standing trees, more gaunt and spectre-like +than ever, with the rich life of summer about it. Higher still were a +dark belt of stunted firs and the sandstone ledge, and above +these-home. He was risking his liberty, his life. Any clump of +bushes might bristle suddenly with Winchesters. If the soldiers +sought for him at the cave they would at the same time guard the +mountain paths; they would guard, too, the Stetson cabin. But no +matter-the sun was still high, and he turned up the steep. The ledge +passed, he stopped with a curse at his lips and the pain of a +knife-thrust at his heart. A heap of blackened stones and ashes +was before him. The wild mountain-grass was growing up about it. +The bee-gums were overturned and rifled. The garden was a +tangled mass of weeds. The graves in the little family +burying-ground were unprotected, the fence was gone, and no +boards marked the last two ragged mounds. Old Gabe had never +told him. He, too, like Martha, was homeless, and the old miller +had been kind to him, as the girl's kinspeople had been to her. + +For a long while he sat on the remnant of the burned and broken +fence, and once more the old tide of bitterness rose within him and +ebbed away. There were none left to hate, to wreak vengeance on. +It was hard to leave the ruins as they were; and yet he would rather +leave weeds and ashes than, like Martha, have some day to know +that his home was in the hands of a stranger. When he thought of +the girl he grew calmer; his own sorrows gave way to the thought +of hers; and half from habit he raised his face to look across the +river. Two eagles swept from a dark ravine under the shelf of rock +where he had fought young Jasper, and made for a sun-lighted +peak on the other shore. From them his gaze fell to Wolf's Head +and to the cabin beneath, and a name passed his lips in a whisper. + +Then he took the path to the river, and he found the canoe where +old Gabe had hidden it. Before the young moon rose he pushed +into the stream and drifted with the current. At the mouth of the +creek that ran over old Gabe's water-wheel he turned the prow to +the Lewallen shore. + +Not yit! Not yit! " he said. + +XV + +THAT night Rome passed in the woods, with his rifle, in a bed of +leaves. Before +daybreak he had built a fire in a deep ravine to cook his breakfast, +and had scattered the embers that the smoke should give no sign. +The sun was high when he crept cautiously in sight of the +Lewallen cabin. It was much like his own home on the other shore, +except that the house, closed and desolate, was standing, and the +bees were busy. At the corner of the kitchen a rusty axe was +sticking in a half-cut piece of timber, and on the porch was a heap +of kindling and fire wood-the last work old Jasper and his son had +ever done. In the Lewallens' garden, also, two graves were fresh; +and the spirit of neglect and ruin overhung the place. + +All the morning he waited in the edge of the laurel, peering down +the path, watching the clouds race with their shadows over the +mountains, or pacing to and fro in his covert of leaves and flowers. +He began to fear at last that she was not coming, that she was ill, +and once he started down the mountain toward Steve Brayton's +cabin. The swift descent brought him to his senses, and he +stopped half-way, and climbed back again to his hiding-place. +What he was doing, what he meant to do, he hardly knew. Mid-day +passed; the sun fell toward the mountains, and once more came the +fierce impulse to see her, even though he must stalk into the +Brayton cabin. Again, half-crazed, he started impetuously +through the brush, and shrank back, and stood quiet. A little noise +down the path had reached his ear. In a moment he could hear +slow foot-falls, and the figure of the girl parted the pink-and-white +laurel blossoms, which fell in a shower about her when she +brushed through them. She passed quite near him, walking slowly, +and stopped for a moment to rest against a pillar of the porch. She +was very pale; her face was traced deep with suffering, and she +was, as old Gabe said, much changed. Then she went on toward +the garden, stepping with an effort over the low fence, and leaned +as if weak and tired against the apple-tree, the boughs of which +shaded the two graves at her feet. For a few moments she stood +there, listless, and Rome watched her with hungry eyes, at a loss +what to do. She moved presently, and walked quite around the +graves without looking at them; then came back past him, and, +seating herself in the porch, turned her face to the river. The sun +lighted her hair, and in the sunken, upturned eyes Rome saw the +shimmer of tears. + +"Marthy! " He couldn't help it-the thick, low cry broke like a groan +from his lips, and the girl was on her feet, facing him. She did not +know the voice, nor the shaggy, half-wild figure in the shade of the +laurel; and she started back as if to run; but seeing that the man did +not mean to harm her, she stopped, looking for a moment with +wonder and even with quick pity at the hunted face with its white +appeal. Then a sudden spasm caught her throat, and left her body +rigid, her hands shut, and her eyes dry and hard-she knew him. A +slow pallor drove the flush of surprise from her face, and her lips +moved once, but there was not even a whisper from them. Rome +raised one hand before his face, as though to ward off something. " +Don't look at mc that way, Marthy-my God, don't! I didn't kill him. +I sw'ar it! I give him a chance fer his life. I know, I know-Steve +says he didn't. Thar was only us two. Hit looks ag'in' me; but I +hain't killed one nur t'other. I let 'em both go. Y'u don't believe me? +" He went swiftly toward her, his gun outstretched. Hyeh, gal! I +heerd ye swore ag' in' me out thar in the gyarden-'lowin' that you +was goin' to hunt me down yerself if the soldiers didn't. Hyeh's yer +chance! + +The girl shrank away from him, too startled to take the weapon; +and he leaned it against her, and stood away, with his hands behind +him. + +Kill me ef ye think I'm a-lyin' to ye," he said. "Y'u kin git even with +me now. But I want to tell ye fust "-the girl had caught the muzzle +of the gun convulsively, and was bending over it, her eyes burning, +her face inscrutable-hit was a fa'r fight betwixt us, 'n' I whooped +him. He got his gun then, 'n' would 'a' killed me ag'in' his oath ef he +hadn't been shot fust Hit's so, too, 'bout the crosses. I made 'em; +they're right thar on that gun; but whut could I do with mam +a-standin' right thar with the gun 'n' Uncle Rufe a-tellin' 'bout my +own dad layin' in his blood, 'n' Isom 'n' the boys lookin' on! But I +went ag'in' my oath; I gave him his life when I had the right to take +it. I could 'a' killed yer dad once, 'n' I had the right to kill him, too, +fer killin' mine; but I let him go, 'n' I reckon I done that fer ye, too. +'Pears like I hain't done nothin' sence I seed ye over thar in the mill +that day that wasn't done fer ye. Somehow ye put me dead ag'in' +my own kin, 'n' tuk away all my hate ag'in' yourn. I couldn't fight +fer thinkin' I was fightin' you, 'n' when I seed ye comm' through the +bushes jes now, so white 'n' sickly-like, I couldn't hardly git breath, +a-thinkin' I was the cause of all yer misery. That's all!" He +stretched out his arms. Shoot, gal, ef ye don't believe me. I'd jes as +lieve die, ef ye thinks I'm lyin' to ye, 'n' ef ye hates me fer whut I +hain't done." + +The gun had fallen to the earth. The girl, trembling at the knees, +sank to her seat on the porch, and, folding her arms against the +pillar, pressed her forehead against them, her face unseen. Rome +stooped to pick up the weapon. + +"I'm goin' 'way now," he went on, slowly, after a little pause, "but I +couldn't leave hyeh without seem' you. I wanted ye to know the +truth, 'n' I 'lowed y'u'd believe me ef I tol' ye myself. I've been +a-waitin' thar in the lorrel fer ye sence mornin'. Uncle Gabe tol' me +ye come hyeh ever' day. He says I've got to go. I've been hopin' I +mought come out o' the bushes some day. But Uncle Gabe says +ever'body's ag'in' me more' n ever, 'n' that the soldiers mean to +ketch me. The gov'ner out thar in the settlements says as how he'll +give five hundred dollars fer me, livin' or dead. He'll nuver git me +livin'-I've swore that-'n' as I hev done nothin' sech as folks on both +sides hev done who air walkin' roun' free, I hain't goin' to give up. +Hit's purty hard to leave these mount'ins. Reckon I'll nuver see 'em +ag'in. Been livin' like a catamount over thar on the knob. I could +jes see you over hyeh, 'n' I reckon I hain't done much 'cept lay over +thar on a rock 'n' watch ye movin' round. Hit's mighty good to feel +that ye believe me, 'n' I want ye to know that I been stayin' over +thar fer nothin' on earth but jes to see you ag'in; 'n' I want ye to +know that I was a-sorrowin' fer ye when y'u was sick, 'n' a-pinin' to +see ye, 'n' a-hopin' some day y'u mought kinder git over yer hate fer +me." He had been talking with low tenderness, half to himself, and +with his face to the river, and he did not see the girl's tears falling +to the porch. Her sorrow gave way in a great sob now, and he +turned with sharp remorse, and stood quite near her. + +"Don't cry, Marthy," he said. "God knows hit's hard to think I've +brought all this on ye when I'd give all these mount 'ins to save ye +from it. Whut d' ye say? Don't cry." + +The girl was trying to speak at last, and Rome bent over to catch +the words. + +"I hain't cryin' fer myself," she said, faintly, and then she said no +more; but the first smile that had passed over Rome's face for +many a day passed then, and he put out one big hand, and let it rest +on the heap of lustrous hair. + +"Marthy, I hate to go 'way, leavin' ye hyeh with nobody to take +keer o' ye. You're all alone hyeh in the mount'ins; I'm all alone; 'n' I +reckon I'll be all alone wharever I go, ef you stay hyeh. I got a boat +down thar on the river, 'n' I'm goin' out West whar Uncle Rufe use +to live. I know I hain't good fer nothin' much "-he spoke almost +huskily; he could scarcely get the words to his lips-" but I want ye +to go with me. Won't ye?" + +The girl did not answer, but her sobbing ceased slowly, while +Rome stroked her hair; and at last she lifted her face, and for a +moment looked to the other shore. Then she rose. There is a +strange pride in the Kentucky mountaineer. + +"As you say, Rome, thar's nobody left but you, 'n' nobody but me; +but they burned you out, we hain't even-yit." Her eyes were on +Thunderstruck Knob, where the last sunlight used to touch the +Stetson cabin. + +"Hyeh, Rome!" He knew what she meant, and he kneeled at the +pile of kindling-wood near the kitchen door. Then they stood back +and waited. The sun dipped below a gap in the mountains, the sky +darkened, and the flames rose to the shingled porch, and leaped +into the gathering dusk. On the outer edge of the quivering light, +where it touched the blossomed laurel, the two stood till the blaze +caught the eaves of the cabin; and then they turned their faces +where, burning to ashes in the west, was another fire, whose light +blended in the eyes of each with a light older and more lasting than +its own-the light eternal. + +THE END + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of A Cumberland Vendetta, by John Fox Jr. + |