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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3024-h.zip b/3024-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b3a865 --- /dev/null +++ b/3024-h.zip diff --git a/3024-h/3024-h.htm b/3024-h/3024-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba1e5cf --- /dev/null +++ b/3024-h/3024-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1664 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Last Stetson, by John Fox Jr. + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Stetson, by John Fox Jr. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Last Stetson + +Author: John Fox Jr. + +Release Date: February 9, 2009 [EBook #3024] +Last Updated: January 26, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STETSON *** + + + + +Produced by David Reed, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE LAST STETSON + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By John Fox Jr. + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Contents + </h3> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V. </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + I. + </h2> + <p> + A MIDSUMMER freshet was running over old Gabe Bunch's water-wheel into the + Cumberland. Inside the mill Steve Marcum lay in one dark corner with a + slouched hat over his face. The boy Isom was emptying a sack of corn into + the hopper. Old Gabe was speaking his mind. + </p> + <p> + Always the miller had been a man of peace; and there was one time when he + thought the old Stetson-Lewallen feud was done. That was when Rome + Stetson, the last but one of his name, and Jasper Lewallen, the last but + one of his, put their guns down and fought with bare fists on a high ledge + above old Gabe's mill one morning at daybreak. The man who was beaten was + to leave the mountains; the other was to stay at home and have peace. + Steve Marcum, a Stetson, heard the sworn terms and saw the fight. Jasper + was fairly whipped; and when Rome let him up he proved treacherous and ran + for his gun. Rome ran too, but stumbled and fell. Jasper whirled with his + Winchester and was about to kill Rome where he lay, when a bullet came + from somewhere and dropped him back to the ledge again. Both Steve Marcum + and Rome Stetson said they had not fired the shot; neither would say who + had. Some thought one man was lying, some thought the other was, and + Jasper's death lay between the two. State troops came then, under the + Governor's order, from the Blue Grass, and Rome had to drift down the + river one night in old Gabe's canoe and on Out of the mountains for good. + Martha Lewallen, who, though Jasper's sister, and the last of the name, + loved and believed Rome, went with him. Marcums and Braytons who had taken + sides in the fight hid in the bushes around Hazlan, or climbed over into + Virginia. A railroad started up the Cumberland. "Furriners came in to buy + wild lands and get out timber." Civilization began to press over the + mountains and down on Hazlan, as it had pressed in on Breathitt, the seat + of another feud, in another county. In Breathitt the feud was long past, + and with good reason old Gabe thought that it was done in Hazlan. + </p> + <p> + But that autumn a panic started over from England. It stopped the railroad + far down the Cumberland; it sent the "furriners" home, and drove + civilization back. Marcums and Braytons came in from hiding, and drifted + one by one to the old fighting-ground. In time they took up the old + quarrel, and with Steve Marcum and Steve Brayton as leaders, the old + Stetson-Lewallen feud went on, though but one soul was left in the + mountains of either name. That was Isom, a pale little fellow whom Rome + had left in old Gabe's care; and he, though a Stetson and a half-brother + to Rome, was not counted, because he was only a boy and a foundling, and + because his ways were queer. + </p> + <p> + There was no open rupture, no organized division—that might happen + no more. The mischief was individual now, and ambushing was more common. + Certain men were looking for each other, and it was a question of + "draw-in' quick 'n' shootin' quick" when the two met by accident, or of + getting the advantage "from the bresh." + </p> + <p> + In time Steve Marcum had come face to face with old Steve Brayton in + Hazlan, and the two Steves, as they were known, drew promptly. Marcum was + in the dust when the smoke cleared away; and now, after three months in + bed, he was just out again. He had come down to the mill to see Isom. This + was the miller's first chance for remonstrance, and, as usual, he began to + lay it down that every man who had taken a human life must sooner or later + pay for it with his own. It was an old story to Isom, and, with a shake of + impatience, he turned out the door of the mill, and left old Gabe droning + on under his dusty hat to Steve, who, being heavy with "moonshine," + dropped asleep. + </p> + <p> + Outside the sun was warm, the flood was calling from the dam, and the + boy's petulance was gone at once. For a moment he stood on the rude + platform watching the tide; then he let one bare foot into the water, and, + with a shiver of delight, dropped from the boards. In a moment his clothes + were on the ground behind a laurel thicket, and his slim white body was + flashing like a faun through the reeds and bushes up stream. A hundred + yards away the creek made a great loop about a wet thicket of pine and + rhododendron, and he turned across the bushy neck. Creeping through the + gnarled bodies of rhododendron, he dropped suddenly behind the pine, and + lay flat in the black earth. Ten yards through the dusk before him was the + half-bent figure of a man letting an old army haversack slip from one + shoulder; and Isom watched him hide it with a rifle under a bush, and go + noiselessly on towards the road. It was Crump, Eli Crump, who had been a + spy for the Lewallens in the old feud and who was spying now for old Steve + Brayton. It was the second time Isom had seen him lurking about, and the + boy's impulse was to hurry back to the mill. But it was still peace, and + without his gun Crump was not dangerous; so Isom rose and ran on, and, + splashing into the angry little stream, shot away like a roll of birch + bark through the tawny crest of a big wave. He had done the feat a hundred + times; he knew every rock and eddy in flood-time, and he floated through + them and slipped like an eel into the mill-pond. Old Gabe was waiting for + him. + </p> + <p> + "Whut ye mean, boy," he said, sharply, "reskin' the fever an' ager this + way? No wonder folks thinks ye air half crazy. Git inter them clothes now + 'n' come in hyeh. You'll ketch yer death o' cold swimmin' this way atter a + fresh." + </p> + <p> + The boy was shivering when he took his seat at the funnel, but he did not + mind that; some day he meant to swim over that dam. Steve still lay + motionless in the corner near him, and Isom lifted the slouched hat and + began tickling his lips with a straw. Steve was beyond the point of + tickling, and Isom dropped the hat back and turned to tell the miller what + he had seen in the thicket. The dim interior darkened just then, and Crump + stood in the door. Old Gabe stared hard at him without a word of welcome, + but Crump shuffled to a chair unasked, and sat like a toad astride it, + with his knees close up under his arms, and his wizened face in his hands. + </p> + <p> + Meeting Isom's angry glance, he shifted his own uneasily. + </p> + <p> + "Seed the new preacher comm' 'long today?" he asked. Drawing one dirty + finger across his forehead, "Got a long scar 'cross hyeh." + </p> + <p> + The miller shook his head. + </p> + <p> + "Well, he's a-comm'. I've been waitin' fer him up the road, but I reckon I + got to git 'cross the river purty soon now." + </p> + <p> + Crump had been living over in Breathitt since the old feud. He had been + "convicted" over there by Sherd Raines, a preacher from the Jellico Hills, + and he had grown pious. Indeed, he had been trailing after Raines from + place to place, and he was following the circuit-rider now to the scene of + his own deviltry—Hazlan. + </p> + <p> + "Reckon you folks don't know I got the cirkit-rider to come over hyeh, do + ye?" he went on. "Ef he can't preach! Well, I'd tell a man! He kin jus' + draw the heart out'n a holler log! He 'convicted' me fust night, over thar + in Breathitt. He come up thar, ye know, to stop the feud, he said; 'n' + thar was laughin' from one eendo' Breathitt to t'other; but thar was the + whoppinest crowd thar I ever see when he did come. The meetin'-house + wasn't big enough to hold 'em, so he goes out on the aidge o' town, n' + climbs on to a stump. He hed a woman with him from the settlemints—she's + a-waitin' at Hazlan fer him now-'n' she had a cur'us little box, 'n' he + put her 'n' the box on a big rock, 'n' started in a callin' 'em his + bretherin' 'n' sisteren, 'n' folks seed mighty soon thet he meant it, too. + He's always mighty easylike, tell he gits to the blood-penalty." + </p> + <p> + At the word, Crump's listeners paid sudden heed. Old Gabe's knife stopped + short in the heart of the stick he was whittling; the boy looked sharply + up from the running meal into Crump's face and sat still. + </p> + <p> + Well, he jes prayed to the Almighty as though he was a-talkin' to him face + to face, 'n' then the woman put her hands on that box, 'n' the sweetes' + sound anybody thar ever heerd come outen it. Then she got to singin'. Hit + wusn't nuthin' anybody thar'd ever heerd; but some o' the women folks was + a snifflin' 'fore she got through. He pitched right into the feud, as he + calls hit, 'n' the sin o' sheddin' human blood, I tell ye; 'n' 'twixt him + and the soldiers I reckon thar won't be no more fightin' in Breathitt. He + says, 'n' he always says it mighty loud —Crump raised his own voice—"thet + the man as kills his feller-critter hev some day got ter give up his own + blood, sartin 'n' shore." + </p> + <p> + It was old Gabe's pet theory, and he was nodding approval. The boy's + parted lips shook with a spasm of fear, and were as quickly shut tight + with suspicion. Steve raised his head as though he too had heard the + voice, and looked stupidly about him. + </p> + <p> + "I tol' him," Crump went on, "thet things was already a-gettin' kind o' + frolicsome round hyeh agin; thet the Marcums 'n' Braytons was a-takin' up + the ole war, 'n' would be a-plunkin' one 'nother every time they got + together, 'n' a-gittin' the whole country in fear 'n' tremblin'—now + thet Steve Marcum had come back." + </p> + <p> + Steve began to scowl and a vixenish smile hovered at Isom's lips. + </p> + <p> + "He knows mighty well—fer I tol' him—thet thar hain't a wuss + man in all these mountains than thet very Steve—" The name ended in + a gasp, and the wizened gossip was caught by the throat and tossed, chair + and all, into a corner of the mill. + </p> + <p> + "None o' that, Steve!" called the miller, sternly. "Not hyeh. Don't hurt + him now!" + </p> + <p> + Crump's face stiffened with such terror that Steve broke into a laugh. + </p> + <p> + "Well, ye air a skeery critter!" he said, contemptuously. "I hain't goin' + to hurt him, Uncl' Gabe, but he must be a plumb idgit, a-talkin' 'bout + folks to thar face, 'n' him so puny an' spindlin'! You git!" + </p> + <p> + Crump picked himself up trembling—"Don't ye ever let me see ye on + this side o' the river agin, now "—and shuffled out, giving Marcum + one look of fear and unearthly hate. + </p> + <p> + "Convicted!" snorted Steve. "I heerd old Steve Brayton had hired him to + waylay me, 'n' I swar I believe hit's so." + </p> + <p> + "Well, he won't hev to give him more'n a chaw o' tobaccer now," said Gabe. + "He'll come purty near doin' hit hisseif, I reckon, ef he gits the + chance." + </p> + <p> + "Well, he kin git the chance ef I gits my leetle account settled with ole + Steve Brayton fust. 'Pears like that old hog ain't satisfied shootin' me + hisself." Stretching his arms with a yawn, Steve winked at Isom and moved + to the door. The boy followed him outside. + </p> + <p> + "We're goin' fer ole Brayton about the dark o' the next moon, boy," he + said. "He's sort o' s'picious now, 'n' we'll give him a leetle time to git + tame. I'll have a bran'-new Winchester fer ye, Isom. Hit ull be like ole + times agin, when Rome was hyeh. Whut's the matter, boy?" he asked, + suddenly. Isom looked unresponsive, listless. + </p> + <p> + "Air ye gittin' sick agin?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, I hain't feelin' much peert, Steve." + </p> + <p> + "Take keer o' yourself, boy. Don't git sick now. We'll have to watch Eli + Crump purty close. I don't know why I hain't killed thet spyin' skunk long + ago, 'ceptin' I never had a shore an' sartin reason fer doin 'it." + </p> + <p> + Isom started to speak then and stopped. He would learn more first; and he + let Steve go on home unwarned. + </p> + <p> + The two kept silence after Marcum had gone. Isom turned away from old + Gabe, and stretched himself out on the platform. He looked troubled. The + miller, too, was worried. + </p> + <p> + "Jus' a hole in the groun'," he said, half to himself; "that's whut we're + all comm' to! 'Pears like we mought help one 'nother to keep out'n hit, + 'stid o' holpin' 'em in." + </p> + <p> + Brown shadows were interlacing out in the mill-pond, where old Gabe's eyes + were intent. A current of cool air had started down the creek to the + river. A katydid began to chant. Twilight was coming, and the miller rose. + </p> + <p> + "Hit's a comfort to know you won't be mixed up in all this devilment," he + said; and then, as though he had found more light in the gloom: "Hit's a + comfort to know the new rider air shorely a-preachin' the right doctrine, + 'n' I want ye to go hear him. Blood for blood-life fer a life! Your + grandad shot ole Tom Lewallen in Hazlan. Ole Jack Lewallen shot him from + the bresh. Tom Stetson killed ole Jack; ole Jass killed Tom, 'n' so hit + comes down, fer back as I can ricollect. I hev nuver knowed hit to fail." + The lad had risen on one elbow. His face was pale and uneasy, and he + averted it when the miller turned in the door. + </p> + <p> + "You'd better stay hyeh, son, 'n' finish up the grist. Hit won't take + long. Hev ye got victuals fer yer supper?" + </p> + <p> + Isom nodded, without looking around, and when old Gabe was gone he rose + nervously and dropped helplessly back to the floor. + </p> + <p> + "'Pears like old Gabe knows I killed Jass," he breathed, sullenly. "'Pears + like all of 'em knows hit, 'n' air jus' a-tormentin' me." + </p> + <p> + Nobody dreamed that the boy and his old gun had ended that fight on the + cliff; and without knowing it, old Gabe kept the lad in constant torture + with his talk of the blood-penalty. But Isom got used to it in time, for + he had shot to save his brother's life. Steve Marcum treated him + thereafter as an equal. Steve's friends, too, changed in manner towards + him because Steve had. And now, just when he had reached the point of + wondering whether, after all, there might not be one thing that old Gabe + did not know, Crump had come along with the miller's story, which he had + got from still another, a circuit-rider, who must know the truth. The fact + gave him trouble. + </p> + <p> + "Mebbe hit's goin' to happen when I goes with Steve atter ole Brayton," he + mumbled, and he sat thinking the matter over, until a rattle and a whir + inside the mill told him that the hopper was empty. He arose to fill it, + and coming out again, he heard hoof-beats on the dirt road. A stranger + rode around the rhododendrons and shouted to him, asking the distance to + Hazlan. He took off his hat when Isom answered, to wipe the dust and + perspiration from his face, and the boy saw a white scar across his + forehead. A little awestricken, the lad walked towards him. + </p> + <p> + "Air you the new rider whut's goin' to preach up to Hazlan?" he asked. + </p> + <p> + Raines smiled at the solemnity of the little fellow. "Yes," he said, + kindly. "Won't you come up and hear me?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sir," he said, and his lips parted as though he wanted to say + something else, but Raines did not notice. + </p> + <p> + "I wished I had axed him," he said, watching the preacher ride away. + "Uncle Gabe knows might' nigh ever'thing, 'n' he says so. Crump said the + rider said so; but Crump might 'a' been lyin'. He 'most al'ays is. I + wished I had axed him." + </p> + <p> + Mechanically the lad walked along the millrace, which was made of hewn + boards and hollow logs. In every crevice grass hung in thick bunches to + the ground or tipped wiry blades over the running water. Tightening a prop + where some silvery jet was getting too large, he lifted the tail-gate a + trifle and lay down again on the platform near the old wheel. Out in the + mill-pond the water would break now and then into ripples about some + unwary moth, and the white belly of a fish would flash from the surface. + It was the only sharp accent on the air. The chant of the katydids had + become a chorus, and the hush of darkness was settling over the steady + flow of water and the low drone of the millstones. + </p> + <p> + "I hain't afeerd," he kept saying to himself. "I hain't afeerd o' nothin' + nor nobody;" but he lay brooding until his head throbbed, until darkness + filled the narrow gorge, and the strip of dark blue up through the trees + was pointed with faint stars. He was troubled when he rose, and climbed on + Rome's horse and rode homeward—so troubled that he turned finally + and started back in a gallop for Hazlan. + </p> + <p> + It was almost as Crump had said. There was no church in Hazlan, and, as in + Breathitt, the people had to follow Raines outside the town, and he + preached from the roadside. The rider's Master never had a tabernacle more + simple: overhead the stars and a low moon; close about, the trees still + and heavy with summer; a pine torch over his head like a yellow plume; two + tallow dips hung to a beech on one side, and flicking to the other the + shadows of the people who sat under them. A few Marcums and Braytons were + there, one faction shadowed on Raines's right, one on his left. Between + them the rider stood straight, and prayed as though talking with some one + among the stars. Behind him the voice of the woman at her tiny organ rose + among the leaves. And then he spoke as he had prayed; and from the first + they listened like children, while in their own homely speech he went on + to tell them, just as he would have told children, a story that some of + them had never heard before. "Forgive your enemies as He had forgiven + his," that was his plea. Marcums and Braytons began to press in from the + darkness on each side, forgetting each other as the rest of the people + forgot them. And when the story was quite done, Raines stood a full minute + without a word. No one was prepared for what followed. Abruptly his voice + rose sternly—"Thou shalt not kill"; and then Satan took shape under + the torch. The man was transformed, swaying half crouched before them. The + long black hair fell across the white scar, and picture after picture + leaped from his tongue with such vividness that a low wail started through + the audience, and women sobbed in their bonnets. It was penalty for + bloodshed—not in this world: penalty eternal in the next; and one + slight figure under the dips staggered suddenly aside into the darkness. + </p> + <p> + It was Isom; and no soul possessed of devils was ever more torn than his, + when he splashed through Troubled Fork and rode away that night. Half a + mile on he tried to keep his eyes on his horse's neck, anywhere except on + one high gray rock to which they were raised against his will—the + peak under which he had killed young Jasper. There it was staring into the + moon, but watching him as he fled through the woods, shuddering at + shadows, dodging branches that caught at him as he passed, and on in a + run, until he drew rein and slipped from his saddle at the friendly old + mill. There was no terror for him there. There every bush was a friend; + every beech trunk a sentinel on guard for him in shining armor. + </p> + <p> + It was the old struggle that he was starting through that night—the + old fight of humanity from savage to Christian; and the lad fought it + until, with the birth of his wavering soul, the premonitions of the first + dawn came on. The patches of moonlight shifted, paling. The beech columns + mottled slowly with gray and brown. A ruddy streak was cleaving the east + like a slow sword of fire. The chill air began to pulse and the mists to + stir. Moisture had gathered on the boy's sleeve. His horse was stamping + uneasily, and the lad rose stiffly, his face gray but calm, and started + home. At old Gabe's gate he turned in his saddle to look where, under the + last sinking star, was once the home of his old enemies. Farther down, + under the crest, was old Steve Brayton, alive, and at that moment perhaps + asleep. + </p> + <p> + "Forgive your enemies;" that was the rider's plea. Forgive old Steve, who + had mocked him, and had driven Rome from the mountains; who had threatened + old Gabe's life, and had shot Steve Marcum almost to death! The lad drew + breath quickly, and standing in his stirrups, stretched out his fist, and + let it drop, slowly. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + OLD Gabe was just starting out when Isom' reached the cabin, and the old + man thought the boy had been at the mill all night. Isom slept through the + day, and spoke hardly a word when the miller came home, though the latter + had much to say of Raines, the two Steves, and of the trouble possible. He + gave some excuse for not going with old Gabe the next day, and instead + went into the woods alone. + </p> + <p> + Late in the middle of the afternoon he reached the mill. Old Gabe sat + smoking outside the door, and Isom stretched himself out on the platform + close to the water, shading his eyes from the rich sunlight with one + ragged sleeve. + </p> + <p> + "Uncl' Gabe," he said, suddenly, "s'posin' Steve Brayton was to step out'n + the bushes thar some mawnin' 'n' pull down his Winchester on ye, would ye + say, 'Lawd, fergive him, fer he don't know whut he do'?" + </p> + <p> + Old Gabe had told him once about a Stetson and a Lewallen who were heard + half a mile away praying while they fought each other to death with + Winchesters. "There was no use prayin' an' shootin'," the miller declared. + There was but one way for them to escape damnation; that was to throw down + their guns and make friends. But the miller had forgotten, and his mood + that morning was whimsical. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I mought, Isom," he said, "ef I didn't happen to have a gun handy." + </p> + <p> + The humor was lost on Isom. His chin was moving up and down, and his face + was serious. That was just it. He could forgive Jass—Jass was dead; + he could forgive Crump, if he caught him in no devilment; old Brayton even—after + Steve's revenge was done. But now—The boy rose, shaking his head. + </p> + <p> + "Uncl' Gabe," he said with sudden passion, "whut ye reckon Rome's + a-doin'?" + </p> + <p> + The miller looked a little petulant. "Don't ye git tired axin' me thet + question, Isom? Rome's a-scratchin' right peert fer a livin', I reckon, + fer hisself 'n' Marthy. Yes, 'n' mebbe fer a young 'un too by this time. + Ef ye air honin' fer Rome, why don't ye rack out 'n' go to him? Lawd knows + I'd hate ter see ye go, but I tol' Rome I'd let ye whenever ye got ready, + 'n' so I will." + </p> + <p> + Isom had no answer, and old Gabe was puzzled. It was always this way. The + boy longed for Rome, the miller could see. He spoke of him sometimes with + tears, and sometimes he seemed to be on the point of going to him, but he + shrank inexplicably when the time for leaving came. + </p> + <p> + Isom started into the mill now without a word, as usual. Old Gabe noticed + that his feet were unsteady, and with quick remorse began to question him. + </p> + <p> + "Kinder puny, hain't ye, Isom?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, I hain't feelin' much peert." + </p> + <p> + "Hit was mighty keerless," old Gabe said, with kindly reproach, "swimmin' + the crick atter a fresh." + </p> + <p> + "Hit wasn't the swimmin'," he protested, dropping weakly at the threshold. + "Hit was settin' out 'n the woods. I was in Hazlan t'other night, Und' + Gabe, to hear the new rider." + </p> + <p> + The miller looked around with quick interest. "I've been skeered afore by + riders a-tellin' 'bout the torments o' hell, but I never heerd nothin' + like his tellin' 'bout the Lord. He said the Lord was jes as pore as + anybody thar, and lived jes as rough; thet He made fences and barns n' + ox-yokes 'n' sech like, an' He couldn't write His own name when He started + out to save the worl'; an' when he come to the p'int whar His enemies tuk + hol' of Him, the rider jes crossed his fingers up over his head 'n' axed + us if we didn't know how it hurt to run a splinter into a feller's hand + when he's loggin' or a thorn into yer foot when ye're goin' barefooted." + </p> + <p> + "Hit jes made me sick, Uncl' Gabe, hearin' him tell how they stretched Him + out on a cross o' wood, when He'd come down fer nothin' but to save 'em, + 'n' stuck a spear big as a co'n-knife into His side, 'n' give Him vinegar, + 'n' let Him hang thar 'n' die, with His own mammy a-stand-in' down on the + groun' a-cryin' 'n' watchin' Him. Some folks thar never heerd sech afore. + The women was a-rockin', 'n' ole Granny Day axed right out ef thet tuk + place a long time ago; 'n' the rider said, 'Yes, a long time ago, mos two + thousand years.' Granny was a-cryin', Uncl' Gabe, 'n' she said, sorter + soft, 'Stranger, let's hope that hit hain't so'; 'n' the rider says, But + hit air so; n' He fergive em while they was doin' it.' Thet's whut got me, + Uncl' Gabe, 'n' when the woman got to singin', somethin' kinder broke + loose hyeh"—Isom passed his hand over his thin chest—"'n' I + couldn't git breath. I was mos' afeerd to ride home. I jes layed at the + mill studyin', till I thought my head would bust. I reckon hit was the + spent a-work-in me. Looks like I was mos' convicted, Uncl' Gabe." His + voice trembled and he stopped. "Crump was a-lyin'," he cried, suddenly. + "But hit's wuss, Und' Gabe; hit's wuss! You say a life fer a life in this + worl'; the rider says hit's in the next, 'n' I'm mis'ble, Uncl' Gabe. Ef + Rome—I wish Rome was hyeh," he cried, helplessly. "I don't know whut + to do." + </p> + <p> + The miller rose and limped within the mill, and ran one hand through the + shifting corn. He stood in the doorway, looking long and perplexedly + towards Hazlan; he finally saw, he thought, just what the lad's trouble + was. He could give him some comfort, and he got his chair and dragged it + out to the door across the platform, and sat down in silence. + </p> + <p> + "Isom," he said at last, "the Spent air shorely a-workin' ye, 'n' I'm glad + of it. But ye mus 'n t worry about the penalty a-fallin' on Rome. Steve + Marcum killed Jass—he can't fool me—'n' I've told Steve he's + got thet penalty to pay ef he gits up this trouble. I'm glad the Spent's + a-workin' ye, but ye mus'n' t worry 'bout Rome." + </p> + <p> + Isom rose suddenly on one elbow, and with a moan lay back and crossed his + arms over his face. + </p> + <p> + Old Gabe turned and left him. + </p> + <p> + "Git up, Isom." It was the miller's voice again, an hour later. "You + better go home now. Ride the hoss, boy," he and, kindly. + </p> + <p> + Isom rose, and old Gabe helped him mount, and stood at the door. The horse + started, but the boy pulled him to a standstill again. + </p> + <p> + "I want to ax ye jes one thing more, Uncl' Gabe," he said, slowly. + "S'posin' Steve had a-killed Jass to keep him from killin' Rome, hev he + got to be damned fer it jes the same? Hev he got to give up eternal life + anyways? Hain't thar no way out'n it—no way?" + </p> + <p> + There was need for close distinction now and the miller was deliberate. + </p> + <p> + "Ef Steve shot Jass," he said, "jes to save Rome's life—he had the + right to shoot him. Thar hain't no doubt 'bout that. The law says so. But"—there + was a judicial pause—"I've heerd Steve say that he hated Jass wuss' + n anybody on earth, 'cept old Brayton; 'n' ef he wus glad o' the chance o' + killin' him, why—the Lord air merciful, Isom; the Bible air true, + 'n' hit says an 'eye fer an eye, a tooth fer a tooth,' 'n' I never knowed + hit to fail—but the Lord air merciful. Ef Steve would only jes + repent, 'n' ef, 'stid o' fightin' the Lord by takin' human life, he'd + fight fer Him by savin' it, I reckon the Lord would fergive him. Fer ef ye + lose yer life fer Him, He do say you'll find it agin somewhar—sometime." + </p> + <p> + Old Gabe did not see the sullen despair that came into the boy's tense + face. The subtlety of the answer had taken the old man back to the days + when he was magistrate, and his eyes were half closed. Isom rode away + without a word. From the dark of the mill old Gabe turned to look after + him again. + </p> + <p> + "I'm afeerd he's a-gittin' feverish agin. Hit looks like he's convicted; + but"—he knew the wavering nature of the boy—"I don't know—I + don't know." + </p> + <p> + Going home an hour later, the old man saw several mountaineers climbing + the path towards Steve Marcum's cabin; it meant the brewing of mischief; + and when he stopped at his own gate, he saw at the bend of the road a + figure creep from the bushes on one side into the bushes on the other. + </p> + <p> + It looked like Crump. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + IT was Crump, and fifty yards behind him was Isom, slipping through the + brush after him—Isom's evil spirit—old Gabe, Raines, + "conviction," blood-penalty, forgotten, all lost in the passion of a chase + which has no parallel when the game is man. + </p> + <p> + Straight up the ravine Crump went along a path which led to Steve Marcum's + cabin. There was a clump of rhododendron at the head of the ravine, and + near Steve's cabin. About this hour Marcum would be chopping wood for + supper, or sitting out in his porch in easy range from the thicket. + Crump's plan was plain: he was about his revenge early, and Isom was + exultant. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no, Eli, you won't git Steve this time. Oh, naw!" + </p> + <p> + The bushes were soon so thick that he could no longer follow Crump by + sight, and every few yards he had to stop to listen, and then steal on + like a mountain-cat towards the leaves rustling ahead of him. Half-way up + the ravine Crump turned to the right and stopped. Puzzled, Isom pushed so + close that the spy, standing irresolute on the edge of the path, whirled + around. The boy sank to his face, and in a moment footsteps started and + grew faint; Crump had darted across the path, and was running through the + undergrowth up the spur. Isom rose and hurried after him; and when, + panting hard, he reached the top, the spy's skulking figure was sliding + from Steve's house and towards the Breathitt road; and with a hot, puzzled + face, the boy went down after it. + </p> + <p> + On a little knob just over a sudden turn in the road Crump stopped, and + looking sharply about him, laid his gun down. Just in front of him were + two rocks, waist-high, with a crevice between them. Drawing a long knife + from his pocket, he climbed upon them, and began to cut carefully away the + spreading top of a bush that grew on the other side. Isom crawled down + towards him like a lizard, from tree to tree. A moment later the spy was + filling up the crevice with stones, and Isom knew what he was about; he + was making a "blind" to waylay Steve, who, the boy knew, was going to + Breathitt by that road the next Sunday. How did Crump know that—how + did he know everything? The crevice filled, Crump cut branches and stuck + them between the rocks. Then he pushed his rifle through the twigs, and + taking aim several times, withdrew it. When he turned away at last and + started down to the road, he looked back once more, and Isom saw him + grinning. Almost chuckling in answer, the lad slipped around the knob to + the road the other way, and Crump threw up his gun with a gasp of fright + when a figure rose out of the dusk before him. + </p> + <p> + "Hol' on, Eli!" said Isom, easily. "Don't git skeered! Hit's nobody but + me. Whar ye been?" + </p> + <p> + Crump laughed, so quick was he disarmed of suspicion. "Jes up the river a + piece to see Aunt Sally Day. She's a fust cousin o' mine by marriage." + </p> + <p> + Jsom's right hand was slipping back as if to rest on his hip. "D'you say + you'd been 'convicted,' Eli?" + </p> + <p> + Crump's answer was chantlike. "Yes, Lawd reckon I have." + </p> + <p> + "Goin' to stop all o' yer lyin', air ye," Isom went on, in the same tone, + and Crump twitched as though struck suddenly from behind, "an' stealin' + 'n' lay-wayin'?" + </p> + <p> + "Look a-hyeh, boy—" he began, roughly, and mumbling a threat, + started on. + </p> + <p> + "Uh, Eli!" Even then the easy voice fooled him again, and he turned. Isom + had a big revolver on a line with his breast. "Drap yer gun!" he said, + tremulously. + </p> + <p> + Crump tried to laugh, but his guilty face turned gray. "Take keer, boy," + he gasped; "yer gun's cocked. Take keer, I tell ye!" + </p> + <p> + "Drap it, damn ye!" Isom called in sudden fury, "'n' git clean away from + it!" Crump backed, and Isom came forward and stood with one foot on the + fallen Winchester. + </p> + <p> + "I seed ye, Eli. Been makin' a blind fer Steve, hev ye? Goin' to shoot him + in the back, too, air ye? You're ketched at last, Eli. You've done a heap + o' devilment. You're gittin' wuss all the time. You oughter be dead, 'n' + now—" + </p> + <p> + Crump found voice in a cry of terror and a whine for mercy. The boy looked + at him, unable to speak his contempt. + </p> + <p> + "Git down thar!" he said, finally; and Crump, knowing what was wanted, + stretched himself in the road. Isom sat down on a stone, the big pistol + across one knee. + </p> + <p> + "Roll over!" Crump rolled at full length. + </p> + <p> + "Git up!" Isom laughed wickedly. "Ye don't look purty, Eli." He lifted the + pistol and nipped a cake of dirt from the road between Crump's feet. With + another cry of fear, the spy began a vigorous dance. + </p> + <p> + "Hol' on, Eli; I don't want ye to dance. Ye belong to the chu'ch now, 'n' + I wouldn't have ye go agin yer religion fer nothin'. Stan' still!" Another + bullet and another cut between Crump's feet. "'Pears like ye don't think I + kin shoot straight. Eli," he went on, reloading the empty chambers, "some + folks think I'm a idgit, 'n' I know 'em. Do you think I'm a idgit, Eli?" + </p> + <p> + "Actin' mighty nateral now." Isom was raising the pistol again. "Oh, + Lawdy! Don't shoot, boy—don't shoot! + </p> + <p> + "Git down on yer knees! Now I want ye to beg fer mercy thet ye never + showed—thet ye wouldn't 'a' showed Steve... Purty good," he said, + encouragingly. + </p> + <p> + "Mebbe ye kin pray a leetle, seem' ez ye air a chu'ch member. Pray fer yer + enemies, Eli; Uncl' Gabe says ye must love yer enemies. I know how ye + loves me, 'n' I want yer to pray fer me. The Lawd mus' sot a powerful + store by a good citizen like you. Ax him to fergive me fer killin' ye." + </p> + <p> + "Have mercy, O Lawd," prayed Crump, to command—and the prayer was + subtle—"on the murderer of this Thy servant. A life fer a life, Thou + hev said, O Lawd. Fer killin' me he will foller me, 'n' ef Ye hev not + mussy he is boun' fer the lowes' pit o' hell, O Lawd—" + </p> + <p> + It was Isom's time to wince now, and Crump's pious groan was cut short. + </p> + <p> + "Shet up!" cried the boy, sharply, and he sat a moment silent. "You've + been a-spyin' on us sence I was borned, Eli," he said, reflectively. + </p> + <p> + "I believe ye lay-wayed dad. Y'u spied on Rome. Y'u told the soldiers whar + he was a-hidin' Y'u tried to shoot him from the bresh. Y'u found out Steve + was goin' to Breathitt on Sunday, 'n' you've jes made a blind to shoot him + in the back. I reckon thar's no meanness ye hain't done. Dad's al'ays said + ye sot a snare fer a woman once—a woman! Y'u loaded a musket with + slugs, 'n' tied a string to the trigger, 'n' stretched hit 'cross the + path, 'n' y'u got up on a cliff 'n' whistled to make her slow up jes when + she struck the string. I reckon thet's yer wust—but I don't know." + </p> + <p> + Several times Crump raised his hands in protest while his arraignment was + going on; several times he tried to speak, but his lips refused utterance. + The boy's voice was getting thicker and thicker, and he was nervously + working the cock of the big pistol up and down. + </p> + <p> + "Git up," he said; and Crump rose with a spring. The lad's tone meant + release. + </p> + <p> + "You hain't wuth the risk. I hain't goin' ter kill ye. I jus' wanted ter + banter ye 'n' make ye beg. You're a good beggar, Eli, 'n' a powerful + prayer. You'll be a shinin' light in the chu'ch, ef ye gits a chance ter + shine long. Fer lemme tell ye, nobody ever ketched ye afore. But you're + ketched now, an' I'm goin' to tell Steve. He'll be a-watchin' fer ye, 'n' + so 'll I. I tell ye in time, ef ye ever come over hyeh agin as long as you + live, you'll never git back alive. Turn roun'! Hev ye got any balls?" he + asked, feeling in Crump's pockets for cartridges. "No; well"—he + picked up the Winchester and pumped the magazine empty—"I'll keep + these," he said, handing Crump the empty rifle. "Now git away—an' + git away quick!" + </p> + <p> + Crump's slouching footsteps went out of hearing, and Isom sat where he + was. His elbows dropped to his knees. His face dropped slowly into his + hands, and the nettles of remorse began to sting. He took the back of one + tremulous hand presently to wipe the perspiration from his forehead, and + he found it burning. A sharp pain shot through his eyes. He knew what that + meant, and feeling dizzy, he rose and started a little blindly towards + home. + </p> + <p> + Old Gabe was waiting for him. He did not answer the old man's querulous + inquiry, but stumbled towards a bed. An hour later, when the miller was + rubbing his forehead, he opened his eyes, shut them, and began to talk. + </p> + <p> + "I reckon I hain't much better 'n Eli, Und' Gabe," he said, plaintively. + "I've been abusin' him down thar in the woods. I come might' nigh killin' + him onct." The old man stroked on, scarcely heeding the boy's words, so + much nonsense would he talk when ill. + </p> + <p> + "I've been lyin' to ye, Uncl' Gabe, 'n' a-deceivin' of ye right along. + Steve's a-goin' atter ole Brayton—I'm goin' too—Steve didn't + kill Jass—hit wusn't Steve—hit wusn't Rome—hit was—" + The last word stopped behind his shaking lips; he rose suddenly in bed, + looked wildly into the miller's startled face, and dropping with a sob to + the bed, went sobbing to sleep. + </p> + <p> + Old Gabe went back to his pipe, and while he smoked, his figure shrank + slowly in his chair. He went to bed finally, but sleep would not come, and + he rose again and built up the fire and sat by it, waiting for day. His + own doctrine, sternly taught for many a year, had come home to him; and + the miller's face when he opened his door was gray as the breaking light. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. + </h2> + <p> + THERE was little peace for old Gabe that day at the mill. And when he went + home at night he found cause for the thousand premonitions that had + haunted him. The lad was gone. + </p> + <p> + A faint light in the east was heralding the moon when Isom reached Steve + Marcum's gate. There were several horses hitched to the fence, several dim + forms seated in the porch, and the lad halloed for Steve, whose shadow + shot instantly from the door and came towards him. + </p> + <p> + "Glad ter see ye, Isom," he called, jubilantly. "I was jus' about to sen' + fer ye. How'd ye happen to come up?" + </p> + <p> + Isom answered in a low voice with the news of Crump's "blind," and Steve + laughed and swore in the same breath. + </p> + <p> + "Come hyeh!" he said, leading the way back; and at the porch he had Isom + tell the story again. + </p> + <p> + "Whut d' I tell ye, boys?" he asked, triumphantly. "Don't believe ye more + 'n half believed me." + </p> + <p> + Three more horsemen rode up to the gate and came into the light. Every man + was armed, and at Isom's puzzled look, Steve caught the lad by the arm and + led him around the chimney-corner. He was in high spirits. + </p> + <p> + "'Pears like ole times, Isom. I'm a-goin' fer thet cussed ole Steve + Brayton this very night. He's behind Crump. I s'picioned it afore; now I + know it for sartain. He's a-goin' to give Eli a mule 'n' a Winchester fer + killin' me. We're goin' to s'prise him to-night. He won't be look-in' fer + us—I've fixed that. I wus jus' about to sen' fer ye. I hain't fergot + how ye kin handle a gun." Steve laughed significantly. "Ye're a good + frien' o' mine, 'n' I'm goin' to show ye thet I'm a frien' o' yourn." + </p> + <p> + Isom's paleness was unnoticed in the dark. The old throbbing began to beat + again at his temple; the old haze started from his eyes. + </p> + <p> + "Hyeh's yer gun, Isom," he heard Steve saying next. The fire was blazing + into his face. At the chimney-corner was the bent figure of old Daddy + Marcum, and across his lap shone a Winchester. Steve was pointing at it, + his grim face radiant; the old man's toothless mouth was grinning, and his + sharp black eyes were snapping up at him. + </p> + <p> + "Hit's yourn, I tell ye," said Steve again. "I aimed jes to lend it to ye, + but ye've saved me frum gittin' killed, mebbe, 'n' hit's yourn now—yourn, + boy, fer keeps." + </p> + <p> + Steve was holding the gun out to him now. The smooth cold touch of the + polished barrel thrilled him. It made everything for an instant clear + again, and feeling weak, Isom sat down on the bed, gripping the treasure + in both trembling hands. On one side of him some one was repeating Steve's + plan of attack. Old Brayton's cabin was nearly opposite, but they would go + up the river, cross above the mill, and ride back. The night was cloudy, + but they would have the moonlight now and then for the climb up the + mountain. They would creep close, and when the moon was hid they would run + in and get old Brayton alive, if possible. Then—the rest was with + Steve. + </p> + <p> + Across the room he could hear Steve telling the three new-comers, with an + occasional curse, about Crump's blind, and how he knew that old Brayton + was hiring Crump. + </p> + <p> + "Old Steve's meaner 'n Eli," he said to himself, and a flame of the old + hate surged up from the fire of temptation in his heart. Steve Marcum was + his best friend; Steve had shielded him. The boy had promised to join him + against old Brayton, and here was the Winchester, brand-new, to bind his + word. + </p> + <p> + "Git ready, boys; git ready." + </p> + <p> + It was Steve's voice, and in Isom's ears the preacher's voice rang after + it. Again that blinding mist before his eyes, and the boy brushed at it + irritably. He could see the men buckling cartridge-belts, but he sat + still. Two or three men were going out. Daddy Marcum was leaning on a + chair at the door, looking eagerly at each man as he passed. + </p> + <p> + "Hain't ye goin', Isom?" + </p> + <p> + Somebody was standing before him twirling a rifle on its butt, a boy near + Isom's age. The whirling gun made him dizzy. + </p> + <p> + "Stop it!" he cried, angrily. Old Daddy Marcum was answering the boy's + question from the door. + </p> + <p> + "Isom goin'?" he piped, proudly. "I reckon he air. Whar's yer belt, boy? + Git ready. Git ready." + </p> + <p> + Isom rose then—he could not answer sitting down—and caught at + a bedpost with one hand, while he fumbled at his throat with the other. + </p> + <p> + "I hain't goin'." + </p> + <p> + Steve heard at the door, and whirled around. Daddy Marcum was tottering + across the floor, with one bony hand uplifted. + </p> + <p> + "You're a coward!" The name stilled every sound. Isom, with eyes afire, + sprang at the old man to strike, but somebody caught his arm and forced + him back to the bed. + </p> + <p> + "Shet up, dad," said Steve, angrily, looking sharply into Isom's face. + "Don't ye see the boy's sick? He needn't go ef he don't want to. Time to + start, boys." + </p> + <p> + The tramp of heavy boots started across the puncheon floor and porch + again. Isom could hear Steve's orders outside; the laughs and jeers and + curses of the men as they mounted their horses; he heard the cavalcade + pass through the gate, the old man's cackling good-by; then the horses' + hoofs going down the mountain, and Daddy Marcum's hobbling step on the + porch again. He was standing in the middle of the floor, full in the + firelight, when the old man reached the threshold—standing in a + trance, with a cartridge-belt in his hand. + </p> + <p> + "Good fer you, Isom—" + </p> + <p> + The cry was apologetic, and stopped short. + </p> + <p> + "The critter's fersakcn," he quavered, and cowed by the boy's strange + look, the old man shrank away from him along the wall. But Isom seemed + neither to see nor hear. He caught up his rifle, and, wavering an instant, + tossed it with the belt on the bed and ran out the door. The old man + followed, dumb with amazement. + </p> + <p> + "Isom!" he called, getting his wits and his tongue at last. "Hyeh's yer + gun! Come back, I tell ye! You've fergot yer gun! Isom! Isom!" + </p> + <p> + The voice piped shrilly out into the darkness, and piped back without + answer. + </p> + <p> + A steep path, dangerous even by day, ran snakelike from the cabin down to + the water's edge. It was called Isom's path after that tragic night. No + mountaineer went down it thereafter without a firm faith that only by the + direct help of Heaven could the boy, in his flight down through the dark, + have reached the river and the other side alive. The path dropped from + ledge to ledge, and ran the brink of precipices and chasms. In a dozen + places the boy crashed through the undergrowth from one slippery fold to + the next below, catching at roots and stones, slipping past death a score + of times, and dropping on till a flood of yellow light lashed the gloom + before him. Just there the river was most narrow; the nose of a cliff + swerved the current sharply across, and on the other side an eddy ran from + it up stream. These earthly helps he had, and he needed them. + </p> + <p> + There had been a rain-storm, and the waves swept him away like + thistle-down, and beat back at him as he fought through them and stood + choked and panting on the other shore. He did not dare stop to rest. The + Marcums, too, had crossed the river up at the ford by this time, and were + galloping towards him; and Isom started on and up. When he reached the + first bench of the spur the moon was swinging over Thunderstruck Knob. The + clouds broke as he climbed; strips of radiant sky showed between the + rolling masses, and the mountain above was light and dark in quick + succession. He had no breath when he reached the ledge that ran below old + Steve's cabin, and flinging one arm above it, he fell through sheer + exhaustion. The cabin was dark as the clump of firs behind it; the inmates + were unsuspecting; and Steve Marcum and his men were not far below. A + rumbling started under him, while he lay there and grew faint—the + rumble of a stone knocked from the path by a horse's hoof. Isom tried to + halbo, but his voice stopped in a whisper, and he painfully drew himself + upon the rock, upright under the bright moon. A quick oath of warning came + then—it was Crump's shrill voice in the Brayton cabin—and Isom + stumbled forward with both hands thrown up and a gasping cry at his lips. + One flash came through a port-hole of the cabin. A yell broke on the night—Crump's + cry again—and the boy swayed across the rock, and falling at the + brink, dropped with a limp struggle out of sight. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. + </h2> + <p> + THE news of Isom's fate reached the miller by way of Hazlan before the + next noon. Several men in the Brayton cabin had recognized the boy in the + moonlight. At daybreak they found bloodstains on the ledge and on a narrow + shelf a few feet farther down. Isom had slipped from one to the other, + they said, and in his last struggle had rolled over into Dead Creek, and + had been swept into the Cumberland. + </p> + <p> + It was Crump who had warned the Braytons. Nobody ever knew how he had + learned Steve Marcum's purpose. And old Brayton on his guard and in his + own cabin was impregnable. So the Marcums, after a harmless fusillade, had + turned back cursing. Mocking shouts followed after them, pistol-shots, + even the scraping of a fiddle and shuffling on the ledge. But they kept + on, cursing across the river and back to Daddy Marcum, who was standing in + the porch, peering for them through the dawn, with a story to tell about + Isom. + </p> + <p> + "The critter was teched in the head," the old man said, and this was what + the Braytons, too, believed. But Steve Marcum, going to search for Isom's + body next day, gave old Gabe another theory. He told the miller how Daddy + Marcum had called Isom a coward, and Steve said the boy had gone ahead to + prove he was no coward. + </p> + <p> + "He had mighty leetle call to prove it to me. Think o' his takin' ole + Brayton all by hisself!" he said, with a look at the yellow, heaving + Cumberland. "'N', Lord! think o' his swimmin' that river in the dark!" + </p> + <p> + Old Gabe asked a question fiercely then and demanded the truth, and Steve + told him about the hand-to-hand fight on the mountain-side, about young + Jasper's treachery, and how the boy, who was watching the fight, fired + just in time to save Rome. It made all plain at last—Rome's and + Steve's denials, Isom's dinning on that one theme,' and why the boy could + not go to Rome and face Martha, with her own blood on his hands. Isom's + true motive, too, was plain, and the miller told it brokenly to Steve, who + rode away with a low whistle to tell it broadcast, and left the old man + rocking his body like a woman. + </p> + <p> + An hour later he rode back at a gallop to tell old Gabe to search the + river bank below the mill. He did not believe Isom dead. It was just his + feelin', he said, and one fact, that nobody else thought important—the + Brayton canoe was gone. + </p> + <p> + "Ef he was jus' scamped by a ball," said Steve, "you kin bet he tuk the + boat, 'n' he's down thar in the bushes somewhar now waitin' fer dark." + </p> + <p> + And about dusk, sure enough, old Gabe, wandering hopefully through the + thicket below the mill, stumbled over the canoe stranded in the bushes. In + the new mud were the tracks of a boy's bare feet leading into the thicket, + and the miller made straight for home. When he opened his door he began to + shake as if with palsy. A figure was seated on the hearth against the + chimney, and the firelight was playing over the face and hair. The lips + were parted, and the head hung limply to the breast. The clothes were torn + to rags, and one shoulder was bare. Through the upper flesh of it and + close to the neck was an ugly burrow clotted with blood. The boy was + asleep. + </p> + <p> + Three nights later, in Hazlan, Sherd Raines told the people of Isom's + flight down the mountain, across the river, and up the steep to save his + life by losing it. Before he was done, one gray-headed figure pressed from + the darkness on one side and stood trembling under the dips. It was old + Steve Brayton, who had fired from the cabin at Isom, and dropping his + Winchester, he stumbled forward with the butt of his pistol held out to + Raines. A Marcum appeared on the other side with the muzzle of his + Winchester down. Raines raised both hands then and imperiously called on + every man who had a weapon to come forward and give it up. Like children + they came, Marcums and Braytons, piling their arms on the rock before him, + shaking hands right and left, and sitting together on the mourner's bench. + </p> + <p> + Old Brayton was humbled thereafter. He wanted to shake hands with Steve + Marcum and make friends. But Steve grinned, and said, "Not yit," and went + off into the bushes. A few days later he went to Hazlan of his own accord + and gave up his gun to Raines. He wouldn't shake hands with old Brayton, + he said, nor with any other man who would hire another man to do his + "killin';" but he promised to fight no more, and he kept his word. + </p> + <p> + A flood followed on New Year's day. Old Gabe's canoe—his second + canoe—was gone, and a Marcum and a Brayton worked side by side at + the mill hollowing out another. The miller sat at the door whittling. + </p> + <p> + "'Pears like folks is havin' bad luck with thar dugouts." said Brayton. + "Some trifin' cuss took old Steve Brayton's jes to cross the river, + without the grace to tie it to the bank, let 'lone takin' it back. I've + heard ez how Aunt Sally Day's boy Ben, who was a-fishin' that evenin, says + ez how he seed Isom's harnt a-floatin' across the river in it, without + techin' a paddle." + </p> + <p> + The Marcum laughed. "Idgits is thick over hyeh," he said. "Ben's a-gittin' + wuss sence Isom was killed. Yes, I recollect Gabe hyeh lost a canoe jus' + atter a flood more'n a year ago, when Rome Stetson 'n' Marthy Lewallen + went a-gallivantin' out' n the mountains together. Hyeh's another flood, + 'n' old Gabe's dugout gone agin." The miller raised a covert glance of + suspicion from under his hat, but the Marcum was laughing. "Ye oughter put + a trace-chain on this un," he added. "A rope gits rotten in the water, 'n' + a tide is mighty apt to break it." + </p> + <p> + Old Gabe said that "mebbe that wus so," but he had no chain to waste; he + reckoned a rope was strong enough, and he started home. + </p> + <p> + "Old Gabe don't seem to keer much now 'bout Isom," said the Brayton. + "Folks say he tuk on so awful at fust that hit looked like he wus goin' + crazy. He's gittin' downright peert again. Hello!" + </p> + <p> + Bud Vickers was carrying a piece of news down to Hazlan, and he pulled up + his horse to deliver it. Aunt Sally Day's dog had been seen playing in the + Breathitt road with the frame of a human foot. Some boys had found not far + away, behind a withered "blind," a heap of rags and bones. Eli Crump had + not been seen in Hazlan since the night of the Marcum raid. + </p> + <p> + "Well, ef hit was Eli," said the Brayton, waggishly, "we're all goin' to + be saved. Eli's case 'll come fust, an' ef thar's only one Jedgment Day, + the Lord 'll nuver git to us." + </p> + <p> + The three chuckled, while old Gabe sat dreaming at his gate. The boy had + lain quiet during the weeks of his getting well, absorbed in one aim—to + keep hidden until he was strong enough to get to Rome. On the last night + the miller had raised one of the old hearth-stones and had given him the + hire of many years. At daybreak the lad drifted away. Now old Gabe was + following him down the river and on to the dim mountain line, where the + boy's figure was plain for a moment against the sky, and then was lost. + </p> + <p> + The clouds in the west had turned gray and the crescent had broken the + gloom of the woods into shadows when the miller rose. One star was coming + over Black Mountain from the east. It was the Star of Bethlehem to old + Gabe; and, starlike on both sides of the Cumberland, answering fires from + cabin hearths were giving back its message at last. + </p> + <p> + "Thar hain't nothin' to hender Rome 'n' Marthy now. I nuver knowed anybody + to stay 'way from these mount'ins ef he could git back; 'n' Isom said he'd + fetch 'em. Thar hain't nothin' to hender—nothin' now." + </p> + <p> + On the stoop of the cabin the miller turned to look again, and then on the + last Stetson the door was closed. + </p> + <p> + THE END <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Stetson, by John Fox Jr. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STETSON *** + +***** This file should be named 3024-h.htm or 3024-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3024/ + +Produced by David Reed, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Last Stetson + +Author: John Fox Jr. + +Posting Date: February 9, 2009 [EBook #3024] +Release Date: January, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STETSON *** + + + + +Produced by David Reed + + + + + +THE LAST STETSON + +By John Fox Jr. + + + + +I. + +A MIDSUMMER freshet was running over old Gabe Bunch's water-wheel into +the Cumberland. Inside the mill Steve Marcum lay in one dark corner with +a slouched hat over his face. The boy Isom was emptying a sack of corn +into the hopper. Old Gabe was speaking his mind. + +Always the miller had been a man of peace; and there was one time when +he thought the old Stetson-Lewallen feud was done. That was when Rome +Stetson, the last but one of his name, and Jasper Lewallen, the last +but one of his, put their guns down and fought with bare fists on a high +ledge above old Gabe's mill one morning at daybreak. The man who was +beaten was to leave the mountains; the other was to stay at home and +have peace. Steve Marcum, a Stetson, heard the sworn terms and saw the +fight. Jasper was fairly whipped; and when Rome let him up he proved +treacherous and ran for his gun. Rome ran too, but stumbled and fell. +Jasper whirled with his Winchester and was about to kill Rome where he +lay, when a bullet came from somewhere and dropped him back to the ledge +again. Both Steve Marcum and Rome Stetson said they had not fired the +shot; neither would say who had. Some thought one man was lying, some +thought the other was, and Jasper's death lay between the two. State +troops came then, under the Governor's order, from the Blue Grass, and +Rome had to drift down the river one night in old Gabe's canoe and on +Out of the mountains for good. Martha Lewallen, who, though Jasper's +sister, and the last of the name, loved and believed Rome, went with +him. Marcums and Braytons who had taken sides in the fight hid in the +bushes around Hazlan, or climbed over into Virginia. A railroad started +up the Cumberland. "Furriners came in to buy wild lands and get out +timber." Civilization began to press over the mountains and down on +Hazlan, as it had pressed in on Breathitt, the seat of another feud, +in another county. In Breathitt the feud was long past, and with good +reason old Gabe thought that it was done in Hazlan. + +But that autumn a panic started over from England. It stopped the +railroad far down the Cumberland; it sent the "furriners" home, and +drove civilization back. Marcums and Braytons came in from hiding, and +drifted one by one to the old fighting-ground. In time they took up the +old quarrel, and with Steve Marcum and Steve Brayton as leaders, the +old Stetson-Lewallen feud went on, though but one soul was left in the +mountains of either name. That was Isom, a pale little fellow whom Rome +had left in old Gabe's care; and he, though a Stetson and a half-brother +to Rome, was not counted, because he was only a boy and a foundling, and +because his ways were queer. + +There was no open rupture, no organized division--that might happen no +more. The mischief was individual now, and ambushing was more common. +Certain men were looking for each other, and it was a question of +"draw-in' quick 'n' shootin' quick" when the two met by accident, or of +getting the advantage "from the bresh." + +In time Steve Marcum had come face to face with old Steve Brayton in +Hazlan, and the two Steves, as they were known, drew promptly. Marcum +was in the dust when the smoke cleared away; and now, after three months +in bed, he was just out again. He had come down to the mill to see Isom. +This was the miller's first chance for remonstrance, and, as usual, +he began to lay it down that every man who had taken a human life must +sooner or later pay for it with his own. It was an old story to Isom, +and, with a shake of impatience, he turned out the door of the mill, and +left old Gabe droning on under his dusty hat to Steve, who, being heavy +with "moonshine," dropped asleep. + +Outside the sun was warm, the flood was calling from the dam, and the +boy's petulance was gone at once. For a moment he stood on the rude +platform watching the tide; then he let one bare foot into the water, +and, with a shiver of delight, dropped from the boards. In a moment his +clothes were on the ground behind a laurel thicket, and his slim white +body was flashing like a faun through the reeds and bushes up stream. +A hundred yards away the creek made a great loop about a wet thicket +of pine and rhododendron, and he turned across the bushy neck. Creeping +through the gnarled bodies of rhododendron, he dropped suddenly behind +the pine, and lay flat in the black earth. Ten yards through the +dusk before him was the half-bent figure of a man letting an old army +haversack slip from one shoulder; and Isom watched him hide it with +a rifle under a bush, and go noiselessly on towards the road. It was +Crump, Eli Crump, who had been a spy for the Lewallens in the old feud +and who was spying now for old Steve Brayton. It was the second time +Isom had seen him lurking about, and the boy's impulse was to hurry back +to the mill. But it was still peace, and without his gun Crump was not +dangerous; so Isom rose and ran on, and, splashing into the angry little +stream, shot away like a roll of birch bark through the tawny crest of +a big wave. He had done the feat a hundred times; he knew every rock and +eddy in flood-time, and he floated through them and slipped like an eel +into the mill-pond. Old Gabe was waiting for him. + +"Whut ye mean, boy," he said, sharply, "reskin' the fever an' ager this +way? No wonder folks thinks ye air half crazy. Git inter them clothes +now 'n' come in hyeh. You'll ketch yer death o' cold swimmin' this way +atter a fresh." + +The boy was shivering when he took his seat at the funnel, but he did +not mind that; some day he meant to swim over that dam. Steve still lay +motionless in the corner near him, and Isom lifted the slouched hat +and began tickling his lips with a straw. Steve was beyond the point of +tickling, and Isom dropped the hat back and turned to tell the miller +what he had seen in the thicket. The dim interior darkened just then, +and Crump stood in the door. Old Gabe stared hard at him without a word +of welcome, but Crump shuffled to a chair unasked, and sat like a toad +astride it, with his knees close up under his arms, and his wizened face +in his hands. + +Meeting Isom's angry glance, he shifted his own uneasily. + +"Seed the new preacher comm' 'long today?" he asked. Drawing one dirty +finger across his forehead, "Got a long scar 'cross hyeh." + +The miller shook his head. + +"Well, he's a-comm'. I've been waitin' fer him up the road, but I reckon +I got to git 'cross the river purty soon now." + +Crump had been living over in Breathitt since the old feud. He had been +"convicted" over there by Sherd Raines, a preacher from the Jellico +Hills, and he had grown pious. Indeed, he had been trailing after Raines +from place to place, and he was following the circuit-rider now to the +scene of his own deviltry--Hazlan. + +"Reckon you folks don't know I got the cirkit-rider to come over hyeh, +do ye?" he went on. "Ef he can't preach! Well, I'd tell a man! He kin +jus' draw the heart out'n a holler log! He 'convicted' me fust night, +over thar in Breathitt. He come up thar, ye know, to stop the feud, he +said; 'n' thar was laughin' from one eendo' Breathitt to t'other; but +thar was the whoppinest crowd thar I ever see when he did come. The +meetin'-house wasn't big enough to hold 'em, so he goes out on the +aidge o' town, n' climbs on to a stump. He hed a woman with him from the +settlemints--she's a-waitin' at Hazlan fer him now-'n' she had a cur'us +little box, 'n' he put her 'n' the box on a big rock, 'n' started in a +callin' 'em his bretherin' 'n' sisteren, 'n' folks seed mighty soon +thet he meant it, too. He's always mighty easylike, tell he gits to the +blood-penalty." + +At the word, Crump's listeners paid sudden heed. Old Gabe's knife +stopped short in the heart of the stick he was whittling; the boy looked +sharply up from the running meal into Crump's face and sat still. + +Well, he jes prayed to the Almighty as though he was a-talkin' to him +face to face, 'n' then the woman put her hands on that box, 'n' the +sweetes' sound anybody thar ever heerd come outen it. Then she got to +singin'. Hit wusn't nuthin' anybody thar'd ever heerd; but some o' the +women folks was a snifflin' 'fore she got through. He pitched right into +the feud, as he calls hit, 'n' the sin o' sheddin' human blood, I tell +ye; 'n' 'twixt him and the soldiers I reckon thar won't be no more +fightin' in Breathitt. He says, 'n' he always says it mighty loud +--Crump raised his own voice--"thet the man as kills his feller-critter +hev some day got ter give up his own blood, sartin 'n' shore." + +It was old Gabe's pet theory, and he was nodding approval. The boy's +parted lips shook with a spasm of fear, and were as quickly shut tight +with suspicion. Steve raised his head as though he too had heard the +voice, and looked stupidly about him. + +"I tol' him," Crump went on, "thet things was already a-gettin' kind o' +frolicsome round hyeh agin; thet the Marcums 'n' Braytons was a-takin' +up the ole war, 'n' would be a-plunkin' one 'nother every time they got +together, 'n' a-gittin' the whole country in fear 'n' tremblin'--now +thet Steve Marcum had come back." + +Steve began to scowl and a vixenish smile hovered at Isom's lips. + +"He knows mighty well--fer I tol' him--thet thar hain't a wuss man in all +these mountains than thet very Steve--" The name ended in a gasp, and the +wizened gossip was caught by the throat and tossed, chair and all, into +a corner of the mill. + +"None o' that, Steve!" called the miller, sternly. "Not hyeh. Don't hurt +him now!" + +Crump's face stiffened with such terror that Steve broke into a laugh. + +"Well, ye air a skeery critter!" he said, contemptuously. "I hain't +goin' to hurt him, Uncl' Gabe, but he must be a plumb idgit, a-talkin' +'bout folks to thar face, 'n' him so puny an' spindlin'! You git!" + +Crump picked himself up trembling--"Don't ye ever let me see ye on this +side o' the river agin, now "--and shuffled out, giving Marcum one look +of fear and unearthly hate. + +"Convicted!" snorted Steve. "I heerd old Steve Brayton had hired him to +waylay me, 'n' I swar I believe hit's so." + +"Well, he won't hev to give him more'n a chaw o' tobaccer now," said +Gabe. "He'll come purty near doin' hit hisseif, I reckon, ef he gits +the chance." + +"Well, he kin git the chance ef I gits my leetle account settled with ole +Steve Brayton fust. 'Pears like that old hog ain't satisfied shootin' +me hisself." Stretching his arms with a yawn, Steve winked at Isom and +moved to the door. The boy followed him outside. + +"We're goin' fer ole Brayton about the dark o' the next moon, boy," he +said. "He's sort o' s'picious now, 'n' we'll give him a leetle time to +git tame. I'll have a bran'-new Winchester fer ye, Isom. Hit ull be like +ole times agin, when Rome was hyeh. Whut's the matter, boy?" he asked, +suddenly. Isom looked unresponsive, listless. + +"Air ye gittin' sick agin?" + +"Well, I hain't feelin' much peert, Steve." + +"Take keer o' yourself, boy. Don't git sick now. We'll have to watch Eli +Crump purty close. I don't know why I hain't killed thet spyin' skunk +long ago, 'ceptin' I never had a shore an' sartin reason fer doin 'it." + +Isom started to speak then and stopped. He would learn more first; and +he let Steve go on home unwarned. + +The two kept silence after Marcum had gone. Isom turned away from old +Gabe, and stretched himself out on the platform. He looked troubled. The +miller, too, was worried. + +"Jus' a hole in the groun'," he said, half to himself; "that's whut we're +all comm' to! 'Pears like we mought help one 'nother to keep out'n hit, +'stid o' holpin' 'em in." + +Brown shadows were interlacing out in the mill-pond, where old Gabe's +eyes were intent. A current of cool air had started down the creek to +the river. A katydid began to chant. Twilight was coming, and the miller +rose. + +"Hit's a comfort to know you won't be mixed up in all this devilment," +he said; and then, as though he had found more light in the gloom: +"Hit's a comfort to know the new rider air shorely a-preachin' the right +doctrine, 'n' I want ye to go hear him. Blood for blood-life fer a life! +Your grandad shot ole Tom Lewallen in Hazlan. Ole Jack Lewallen shot him +from the bresh. Tom Stetson killed ole Jack; ole Jass killed Tom, 'n' so +hit comes down, fer back as I can ricollect. I hev nuver knowed hit to +fail." The lad had risen on one elbow. His face was pale and uneasy, and +he averted it when the miller turned in the door. + +"You'd better stay hyeh, son, 'n' finish up the grist. Hit won't take +long. Hev ye got victuals fer yer supper?" + +Isom nodded, without looking around, and when old Gabe was gone he rose +nervously and dropped helplessly back to the floor. + +"'Pears like old Gabe knows I killed Jass," he breathed, sullenly. +"'Pears like all of 'em knows hit, 'n' air jus' a-tormentin' me." + +Nobody dreamed that the boy and his old gun had ended that fight on the +cliff; and without knowing it, old Gabe kept the lad in constant torture +with his talk of the blood-penalty. But Isom got used to it in time, +for he had shot to save his brother's life. Steve Marcum treated him +thereafter as an equal. Steve's friends, too, changed in manner towards +him because Steve had. And now, just when he had reached the point of +wondering whether, after all, there might not be one thing that old Gabe +did not know, Crump had come along with the miller's story, which he had +got from still another, a circuit-rider, who must know the truth. The +fact gave him trouble. + +"Mebbe hit's goin' to happen when I goes with Steve atter ole Brayton," +he mumbled, and he sat thinking the matter over, until a rattle and a +whir inside the mill told him that the hopper was empty. He arose to +fill it, and coming out again, he heard hoof-beats on the dirt road. A +stranger rode around the rhododendrons and shouted to him, asking the +distance to Hazlan. He took off his hat when Isom answered, to wipe the +dust and perspiration from his face, and the boy saw a white scar across +his forehead. A little awestricken, the lad walked towards him. + +"Air you the new rider whut's goin' to preach up to Hazlan?" he asked. + +Raines smiled at the solemnity of the little fellow. "Yes," he said, +kindly. "Won't you come up and hear me?" + +"Yes, sir," he said, and his lips parted as though he wanted to say +something else, but Raines did not notice. + +"I wished I had axed him," he said, watching the preacher ride away. +"Uncle Gabe knows might' nigh ever'thing, 'n' he says so. Crump said +the rider said so; but Crump might 'a' been lyin'. He 'most al'ays is. I +wished I had axed him." + +Mechanically the lad walked along the millrace, which was made of hewn +boards and hollow logs. In every crevice grass hung in thick bunches to +the ground or tipped wiry blades over the running water. Tightening +a prop where some silvery jet was getting too large, he lifted the +tail-gate a trifle and lay down again on the platform near the old +wheel. Out in the mill-pond the water would break now and then into +ripples about some unwary moth, and the white belly of a fish would +flash from the surface. It was the only sharp accent on the air. The +chant of the katydids had become a chorus, and the hush of darkness +was settling over the steady flow of water and the low drone of the +millstones. + +"I hain't afeerd," he kept saying to himself. "I hain't afeerd o' +nothin' nor nobody;" but he lay brooding until his head throbbed, until +darkness filled the narrow gorge, and the strip of dark blue up through +the trees was pointed with faint stars. He was troubled when he rose, +and climbed on Rome's horse and rode homeward--so troubled that he +turned finally and started back in a gallop for Hazlan. + +It was almost as Crump had said. There was no church in Hazlan, and, as +in Breathitt, the people had to follow Raines outside the town, and he +preached from the roadside. The rider's Master never had a tabernacle +more simple: overhead the stars and a low moon; close about, the trees +still and heavy with summer; a pine torch over his head like a yellow +plume; two tallow dips hung to a beech on one side, and flicking to the +other the shadows of the people who sat under them. A few Marcums and +Braytons were there, one faction shadowed on Raines's right, one on +his left. Between them the rider stood straight, and prayed as though +talking with some one among the stars. Behind him the voice of the woman +at her tiny organ rose among the leaves. And then he spoke as he had +prayed; and from the first they listened like children, while in their +own homely speech he went on to tell them, just as he would have told +children, a story that some of them had never heard before. "Forgive +your enemies as He had forgiven his," that was his plea. Marcums and +Braytons began to press in from the darkness on each side, forgetting +each other as the rest of the people forgot them. And when the story +was quite done, Raines stood a full minute without a word. No one was +prepared for what followed. Abruptly his voice rose sternly--"Thou +shalt not kill"; and then Satan took shape under the torch. The man was +transformed, swaying half crouched before them. The long black hair fell +across the white scar, and picture after picture leaped from his tongue +with such vividness that a low wail started through the audience, and +women sobbed in their bonnets. It was penalty for bloodshed--not in this +world: penalty eternal in the next; and one slight figure under the dips +staggered suddenly aside into the darkness. + +It was Isom; and no soul possessed of devils was ever more torn than +his, when he splashed through Troubled Fork and rode away that night. +Half a mile on he tried to keep his eyes on his horse's neck, anywhere +except on one high gray rock to which they were raised against his +will--the peak under which he had killed young Jasper. There it was +staring into the moon, but watching him as he fled through the woods, +shuddering at shadows, dodging branches that caught at him as he passed, +and on in a run, until he drew rein and slipped from his saddle at the +friendly old mill. There was no terror for him there. There every bush +was a friend; every beech trunk a sentinel on guard for him in shining +armor. + +It was the old struggle that he was starting through that night--the old +fight of humanity from savage to Christian; and the lad fought it until, +with the birth of his wavering soul, the premonitions of the first dawn +came on. The patches of moonlight shifted, paling. The beech columns +mottled slowly with gray and brown. A ruddy streak was cleaving the east +like a slow sword of fire. The chill air began to pulse and the mists to +stir. Moisture had gathered on the boy's sleeve. His horse was stamping +uneasily, and the lad rose stiffly, his face gray but calm, and started +home. At old Gabe's gate he turned in his saddle to look where, under +the last sinking star, was once the home of his old enemies. Farther +down, under the crest, was old Steve Brayton, alive, and at that moment +perhaps asleep. + +"Forgive your enemies;" that was the rider's plea. Forgive old Steve, +who had mocked him, and had driven Rome from the mountains; who had +threatened old Gabe's life, and had shot Steve Marcum almost to death! +The lad drew breath quickly, and standing in his stirrups, stretched out +his fist, and let it drop, slowly. + + + + +II. + +OLD Gabe was just starting out when Isom' reached the cabin, and the old +man thought the boy had been at the mill all night. Isom slept through +the day, and spoke hardly a word when the miller came home, though the +latter had much to say of Raines, the two Steves, and of the trouble +possible. He gave some excuse for not going with old Gabe the next day, +and instead went into the woods alone. + +Late in the middle of the afternoon he reached the mill. Old Gabe sat +smoking outside the door, and Isom stretched himself out on the platform +close to the water, shading his eyes from the rich sunlight with one +ragged sleeve. + +"Uncl' Gabe," he said, suddenly, "s'posin' Steve Brayton was to step +out'n the bushes thar some mawnin' 'n' pull down his Winchester on ye, +would ye say, 'Lawd, fergive him, fer he don't know whut he do'?" + +Old Gabe had told him once about a Stetson and a Lewallen who were heard +half a mile away praying while they fought each other to death with +Winchesters. "There was no use prayin' an' shootin'," the miller +declared. There was but one way for them to escape damnation; that was +to throw down their guns and make friends. But the miller had forgotten, +and his mood that morning was whimsical. + +"Well, I mought, Isom," he said, "ef I didn't happen to have a gun +handy." + +The humor was lost on Isom. His chin was moving up and down, and his +face was serious. That was just it. He could forgive Jass--Jass was dead; +he could forgive Crump, if he caught him in no devilment; old Brayton +even--after Steve's revenge was done. But now--The boy rose, shaking his +head. + +"Uncl' Gabe," he said with sudden passion, "whut ye reckon Rome's +a-doin'?" + +The miller looked a little petulant. "Don't ye git tired axin' me thet +question, Isom? Rome's a-scratchin' right peert fer a livin', I reckon, +fer hisself 'n' Marthy. Yes, 'n' mebbe fer a young 'un too by this time. +Ef ye air honin' fer Rome, why don't ye rack out 'n' go to him? Lawd +knows I'd hate ter see ye go, but I tol' Rome I'd let ye whenever ye got +ready, 'n' so I will." + +Isom had no answer, and old Gabe was puzzled. It was always this way. +The boy longed for Rome, the miller could see. He spoke of him sometimes +with tears, and sometimes he seemed to be on the point of going to him, +but he shrank inexplicably when the time for leaving came. + +Isom started into the mill now without a word, as usual. Old Gabe +noticed that his feet were unsteady, and with quick remorse began to +question him. + +"Kinder puny, hain't ye, Isom?" + +"Well, I hain't feelin' much peert." + +"Hit was mighty keerless," old Gabe said, with kindly reproach, +"swimmin' the crick atter a fresh." + +"Hit wasn't the swimmin'," he protested, dropping weakly at the +threshold. "Hit was settin' out 'n the woods. I was in Hazlan t'other +night, Und' Gabe, to hear the new rider." + +The miller looked around with quick interest. "I've been skeered afore +by riders a-tellin' 'bout the torments o' hell, but I never heerd +nothin' like his tellin' 'bout the Lord. He said the Lord was jes as +pore as anybody thar, and lived jes as rough; thet He made fences and +barns n' ox-yokes 'n' sech like, an' He couldn't write His own name when +He started out to save the worl'; an' when he come to the p'int whar His +enemies tuk hol' of Him, the rider jes crossed his fingers up over his +head 'n' axed us if we didn't know how it hurt to run a splinter into +a feller's hand when he's loggin' or a thorn into yer foot when ye're +goin' barefooted." + +"Hit jes made me sick, Uncl' Gabe, hearin' him tell how they stretched +Him out on a cross o' wood, when He'd come down fer nothin' but to save +'em, 'n' stuck a spear big as a co'n-knife into His side, 'n' give Him +vinegar, 'n' let Him hang thar 'n' die, with His own mammy a-stand-in' +down on the groun' a-cryin' 'n' watchin' Him. Some folks thar never +heerd sech afore. The women was a-rockin', 'n' ole Granny Day axed right +out ef thet tuk place a long time ago; 'n' the rider said, 'Yes, a long +time ago, mos two thousand years.' Granny was a-cryin', Uncl' Gabe, 'n' +she said, sorter soft, 'Stranger, let's hope that hit hain't so'; 'n' +the rider says, But hit air so; n' He fergive em while they was doin' +it.' Thet's whut got me, Uncl' Gabe, 'n' when the woman got to singin', +somethin' kinder broke loose hyeh"--Isom passed his hand over his thin +chest--"'n' I couldn't git breath. I was mos' afeerd to ride home. I jes +layed at the mill studyin', till I thought my head would bust. I reckon +hit was the spent a-work-in me. Looks like I was mos' convicted, Uncl' +Gabe." His voice trembled and he stopped. "Crump was a-lyin'," he cried, +suddenly. "But hit's wuss, Und' Gabe; hit's wuss! You say a life fer a +life in this worl'; the rider says hit's in the next, 'n' I'm mis'ble, +Uncl' Gabe. Ef Rome--I wish Rome was hyeh," he cried, helplessly. "I +don't know whut to do." + +The miller rose and limped within the mill, and ran one hand through +the shifting corn. He stood in the doorway, looking long and perplexedly +towards Hazlan; he finally saw, he thought, just what the lad's trouble +was. He could give him some comfort, and he got his chair and dragged it +out to the door across the platform, and sat down in silence. + +"Isom," he said at last, "the Spent air shorely a-workin' ye, 'n' I'm +glad of it. But ye mus 'n t worry about the penalty a-fallin' on Rome. +Steve Marcum killed Jass--he can't fool me--'n' I've told Steve he's got +thet penalty to pay ef he gits up this trouble. I'm glad the Spent's +a-workin' ye, but ye mus'n' t worry 'bout Rome." + +Isom rose suddenly on one elbow, and with a moan lay back and crossed +his arms over his face. + +Old Gabe turned and left him. + +"Git up, Isom." It was the miller's voice again, an hour later. "You +better go home now. Ride the hoss, boy," he and, kindly. + +Isom rose, and old Gabe helped him mount, and stood at the door. The +horse started, but the boy pulled him to a standstill again. + +"I want to ax ye jes one thing more, Uncl' Gabe," he said, slowly. +"S'posin' Steve had a-killed Jass to keep him from killin' Rome, hev he +got to be damned fer it jes the same? Hev he got to give up eternal life +anyways? Hain't thar no way out'n it--no way?" + +There was need for close distinction now and the miller was deliberate. + +"Ef Steve shot Jass," he said, "jes to save Rome's life--he had the right +to shoot him. Thar hain't no doubt 'bout that. The law says so. +But"--there was a judicial pause--"I've heerd Steve say that he hated Jass +wuss' n anybody on earth, 'cept old Brayton; 'n' ef he wus glad o' the +chance o' killin' him, why--the Lord air merciful, Isom; the Bible air +true, 'n' hit says an 'eye fer an eye, a tooth fer a tooth,' 'n' I never +knowed hit to fail--but the Lord air merciful. Ef Steve would only jes +repent, 'n' ef, 'stid o' fightin' the Lord by takin' human life, he'd +fight fer Him by savin' it, I reckon the Lord would fergive him. Fer +ef ye lose yer life fer Him, He do say you'll find it agin +somewhar--sometime." + +Old Gabe did not see the sullen despair that came into the boy's tense +face. The subtlety of the answer had taken the old man back to the days +when he was magistrate, and his eyes were half closed. Isom rode away +without a word. From the dark of the mill old Gabe turned to look after +him again. + +"I'm afeerd he's a-gittin' feverish agin. Hit looks like he's convicted; +but"--he knew the wavering nature of the boy--"I don't know--I don't +know." + +Going home an hour later, the old man saw several mountaineers climbing +the path towards Steve Marcum's cabin; it meant the brewing of mischief; +and when he stopped at his own gate, he saw at the bend of the road a +figure creep from the bushes on one side into the bushes on the other. + +It looked like Crump. + + + + +III. + +IT was Crump, and fifty yards behind him was Isom, slipping through the +brush after him--Isom's evil spirit--old Gabe, Raines, "conviction," +blood-penalty, forgotten, all lost in the passion of a chase which has +no parallel when the game is man. + +Straight up the ravine Crump went along a path which led to Steve +Marcum's cabin. There was a clump of rhododendron at the head of the +ravine, and near Steve's cabin. About this hour Marcum would be chopping +wood for supper, or sitting out in his porch in easy range from the +thicket. Crump's plan was plain: he was about his revenge early, and +Isom was exultant. + +"Oh, no, Eli, you won't git Steve this time. Oh, naw!" + +The bushes were soon so thick that he could no longer follow Crump by +sight, and every few yards he had to stop to listen, and then steal on +like a mountain-cat towards the leaves rustling ahead of him. Half-way +up the ravine Crump turned to the right and stopped. Puzzled, Isom +pushed so close that the spy, standing irresolute on the edge of +the path, whirled around. The boy sank to his face, and in a moment +footsteps started and grew faint; Crump had darted across the path, and +was running through the undergrowth up the spur. Isom rose and hurried +after him; and when, panting hard, he reached the top, the spy's +skulking figure was sliding from Steve's house and towards the Breathitt +road; and with a hot, puzzled face, the boy went down after it. + +On a little knob just over a sudden turn in the road Crump stopped, and +looking sharply about him, laid his gun down. Just in front of him were +two rocks, waist-high, with a crevice between them. Drawing a long knife +from his pocket, he climbed upon them, and began to cut carefully away +the spreading top of a bush that grew on the other side. Isom crawled +down towards him like a lizard, from tree to tree. A moment later the +spy was filling up the crevice with stones, and Isom knew what he was +about; he was making a "blind" to waylay Steve, who, the boy knew, was +going to Breathitt by that road the next Sunday. How did Crump know +that--how did he know everything? The crevice filled, Crump cut branches +and stuck them between the rocks. Then he pushed his rifle through the +twigs, and taking aim several times, withdrew it. When he turned away +at last and started down to the road, he looked back once more, and Isom +saw him grinning. Almost chuckling in answer, the lad slipped around the +knob to the road the other way, and Crump threw up his gun with a gasp +of fright when a figure rose out of the dusk before him. + +"Hol' on, Eli!" said Isom, easily. "Don't git skeered! Hit's nobody but +me. Whar ye been?" + +Crump laughed, so quick was he disarmed of suspicion. "Jes up the river +a piece to see Aunt Sally Day. She's a fust cousin o' mine by marriage." + +Jsom's right hand was slipping back as if to rest on his hip. "D'you say +you'd been 'convicted,' Eli?" + +Crump's answer was chantlike. "Yes, Lawd reckon I have." + +"Goin' to stop all o' yer lyin', air ye," Isom went on, in the same +tone, and Crump twitched as though struck suddenly from behind, "an' +stealin' 'n' lay-wayin'?" + +"Look a-hyeh, boy--" he began, roughly, and mumbling a threat, started +on. + +"Uh, Eli!" Even then the easy voice fooled him again, and he turned. +Isom had a big revolver on a line with his breast. "Drap yer gun!" he +said, tremulously. + +Crump tried to laugh, but his guilty face turned gray. "Take keer, boy," +he gasped; "yer gun's cocked. Take keer, I tell ye!" + +"Drap it, damn ye!" Isom called in sudden fury, "'n' git clean away from +it!" Crump backed, and Isom came forward and stood with one foot on the +fallen Winchester. + +"I seed ye, Eli. Been makin' a blind fer Steve, hev ye? Goin' to shoot +him in the back, too, air ye? You're ketched at last, Eli. You've done +a heap o' devilment. You're gittin' wuss all the time. You oughter be +dead, 'n' now--" + +Crump found voice in a cry of terror and a whine for mercy. The boy +looked at him, unable to speak his contempt. + +"Git down thar!" he said, finally; and Crump, knowing what was wanted, +stretched himself in the road. Isom sat down on a stone, the big pistol +across one knee. + +"Roll over!" Crump rolled at full length. + +"Git up!" Isom laughed wickedly. "Ye don't look purty, Eli." He lifted +the pistol and nipped a cake of dirt from the road between Crump's feet. +With another cry of fear, the spy began a vigorous dance. + +"Hol' on, Eli; I don't want ye to dance. Ye belong to the chu'ch now, +'n' I wouldn't have ye go agin yer religion fer nothin'. Stan' still!" +Another bullet and another cut between Crump's feet. "'Pears like ye +don't think I kin shoot straight. Eli," he went on, reloading the empty +chambers, "some folks think I'm a idgit, 'n' I know 'em. Do you think +I'm a idgit, Eli?" + +"Actin' mighty nateral now." Isom was raising the pistol again. "Oh, +Lawdy! Don't shoot, boy--don't shoot! + +"Git down on yer knees! Now I want ye to beg fer mercy thet ye never +showed--thet ye wouldn't 'a' showed Steve... Purty good," he said, +encouragingly. + +"Mebbe ye kin pray a leetle, seem' ez ye air a chu'ch member. Pray fer +yer enemies, Eli; Uncl' Gabe says ye must love yer enemies. I know how +ye loves me, 'n' I want yer to pray fer me. The Lawd mus' sot a powerful +store by a good citizen like you. Ax him to fergive me fer killin' ye." + +"Have mercy, O Lawd," prayed Crump, to command--and the prayer was +subtle--"on the murderer of this Thy servant. A life fer a life, Thou +hev said, O Lawd. Fer killin' me he will foller me, 'n' ef Ye hev not +mussy he is boun' fer the lowes' pit o' hell, O Lawd--" + +It was Isom's time to wince now, and Crump's pious groan was cut short. + +"Shet up!" cried the boy, sharply, and he sat a moment silent. "You've +been a-spyin' on us sence I was borned, Eli," he said, reflectively. + +"I believe ye lay-wayed dad. Y'u spied on Rome. Y'u told the soldiers +whar he was a-hidin' Y'u tried to shoot him from the bresh. Y'u found +out Steve was goin' to Breathitt on Sunday, 'n' you've jes made a blind +to shoot him in the back. I reckon thar's no meanness ye hain't done. +Dad's al'ays said ye sot a snare fer a woman once--a woman! Y'u loaded a +musket with slugs, 'n' tied a string to the trigger, 'n' stretched hit +'cross the path, 'n' y'u got up on a cliff 'n' whistled to make her slow +up jes when she struck the string. I reckon thet's yer wust--but I don't +know." + +Several times Crump raised his hands in protest while his arraignment +was going on; several times he tried to speak, but his lips refused +utterance. The boy's voice was getting thicker and thicker, and he was +nervously working the cock of the big pistol up and down. + +"Git up," he said; and Crump rose with a spring. The lad's tone meant +release. + +"You hain't wuth the risk. I hain't goin' ter kill ye. I jus' wanted +ter banter ye 'n' make ye beg. You're a good beggar, Eli, 'n' a powerful +prayer. You'll be a shinin' light in the chu'ch, ef ye gits a chance ter +shine long. Fer lemme tell ye, nobody ever ketched ye afore. But you're +ketched now, an' I'm goin' to tell Steve. He'll be a-watchin' fer ye, +'n' so 'll I. I tell ye in time, ef ye ever come over hyeh agin as long +as you live, you'll never git back alive. Turn roun'! Hev ye got any +balls?" he asked, feeling in Crump's pockets for cartridges. "No; +well"--he picked up the Winchester and pumped the magazine empty--"I'll +keep these," he said, handing Crump the empty rifle. "Now git away--an' +git away quick!" + +Crump's slouching footsteps went out of hearing, and Isom sat where he +was. His elbows dropped to his knees. His face dropped slowly into his +hands, and the nettles of remorse began to sting. He took the back of +one tremulous hand presently to wipe the perspiration from his forehead, +and he found it burning. A sharp pain shot through his eyes. He knew +what that meant, and feeling dizzy, he rose and started a little blindly +towards home. + +Old Gabe was waiting for him. He did not answer the old man's querulous +inquiry, but stumbled towards a bed. An hour later, when the miller was +rubbing his forehead, he opened his eyes, shut them, and began to talk. + +"I reckon I hain't much better 'n Eli, Und' Gabe," he said, plaintively. +"I've been abusin' him down thar in the woods. I come might' nigh +killin' him onct." The old man stroked on, scarcely heeding the boy's +words, so much nonsense would he talk when ill. + +"I've been lyin' to ye, Uncl' Gabe, 'n' a-deceivin' of ye right along. +Steve's a-goin' atter ole Brayton--I'm goin' too--Steve didn't kill +Jass--hit wusn't Steve--hit wusn't Rome--hit was--" The last word stopped +behind his shaking lips; he rose suddenly in bed, looked wildly into the +miller's startled face, and dropping with a sob to the bed, went sobbing +to sleep. + +Old Gabe went back to his pipe, and while he smoked, his figure shrank +slowly in his chair. He went to bed finally, but sleep would not come, +and he rose again and built up the fire and sat by it, waiting for day. +His own doctrine, sternly taught for many a year, had come home to him; +and the miller's face when he opened his door was gray as the breaking +light. + + + + +IV. + +THERE was little peace for old Gabe that day at the mill. And when he +went home at night he found cause for the thousand premonitions that had +haunted him. The lad was gone. + +A faint light in the east was heralding the moon when Isom reached Steve +Marcum's gate. There were several horses hitched to the fence, several +dim forms seated in the porch, and the lad halloed for Steve, whose +shadow shot instantly from the door and came towards him. + +"Glad ter see ye, Isom," he called, jubilantly. "I was jus' about to sen' +fer ye. How'd ye happen to come up?" + +Isom answered in a low voice with the news of Crump's "blind," and Steve +laughed and swore in the same breath. + +"Come hyeh!" he said, leading the way back; and at the porch he had Isom +tell the story again. + +"Whut d' I tell ye, boys?" he asked, triumphantly. "Don't believe ye +more 'n half believed me." + +Three more horsemen rode up to the gate and came into the light. Every +man was armed, and at Isom's puzzled look, Steve caught the lad by the +arm and led him around the chimney-corner. He was in high spirits. + +"'Pears like ole times, Isom. I'm a-goin' fer thet cussed ole Steve +Brayton this very night. He's behind Crump. I s'picioned it afore; now +I know it for sartain. He's a-goin' to give Eli a mule 'n' a Winchester +fer killin' me. We're goin' to s'prise him to-night. He won't be +look-in' fer us--I've fixed that. I wus jus' about to sen' fer ye. I +hain't fergot how ye kin handle a gun." Steve laughed significantly. +"Ye're a good frien' o' mine, 'n' I'm goin' to show ye thet I'm a frien' +o' yourn." + +Isom's paleness was unnoticed in the dark. The old throbbing began to +beat again at his temple; the old haze started from his eyes. + +"Hyeh's yer gun, Isom," he heard Steve saying next. The fire was blazing +into his face. At the chimney-corner was the bent figure of old Daddy +Marcum, and across his lap shone a Winchester. Steve was pointing at it, +his grim face radiant; the old man's toothless mouth was grinning, and +his sharp black eyes were snapping up at him. + +"Hit's yourn, I tell ye," said Steve again. "I aimed jes to lend it +to ye, but ye've saved me frum gittin' killed, mebbe, 'n' hit's yourn +now--yourn, boy, fer keeps." + +Steve was holding the gun out to him now. The smooth cold touch of the +polished barrel thrilled him. It made everything for an instant clear +again, and feeling weak, Isom sat down on the bed, gripping the treasure +in both trembling hands. On one side of him some one was repeating +Steve's plan of attack. Old Brayton's cabin was nearly opposite, but +they would go up the river, cross above the mill, and ride back. The +night was cloudy, but they would have the moonlight now and then for the +climb up the mountain. They would creep close, and when the moon was hid +they would run in and get old Brayton alive, if possible. Then--the rest +was with Steve. + +Across the room he could hear Steve telling the three new-comers, with +an occasional curse, about Crump's blind, and how he knew that old +Brayton was hiring Crump. + +"Old Steve's meaner 'n Eli," he said to himself, and a flame of the old +hate surged up from the fire of temptation in his heart. Steve Marcum +was his best friend; Steve had shielded him. The boy had promised to +join him against old Brayton, and here was the Winchester, brand-new, to +bind his word. + +"Git ready, boys; git ready." + +It was Steve's voice, and in Isom's ears the preacher's voice rang after +it. Again that blinding mist before his eyes, and the boy brushed at +it irritably. He could see the men buckling cartridge-belts, but he sat +still. Two or three men were going out. Daddy Marcum was leaning on a +chair at the door, looking eagerly at each man as he passed. + +"Hain't ye goin', Isom?" + +Somebody was standing before him twirling a rifle on its butt, a boy +near Isom's age. The whirling gun made him dizzy. + +"Stop it!" he cried, angrily. Old Daddy Marcum was answering the boy's +question from the door. + +"Isom goin'?" he piped, proudly. "I reckon he air. Whar's yer belt, boy? +Git ready. Git ready." + +Isom rose then--he could not answer sitting down--and caught at a bedpost +with one hand, while he fumbled at his throat with the other. + +"I hain't goin'." + +Steve heard at the door, and whirled around. Daddy Marcum was tottering +across the floor, with one bony hand uplifted. + +"You're a coward!" The name stilled every sound. Isom, with eyes afire, +sprang at the old man to strike, but somebody caught his arm and forced +him back to the bed. + +"Shet up, dad," said Steve, angrily, looking sharply into Isom's face. +"Don't ye see the boy's sick? He needn't go ef he don't want to. Time to +start, boys." + +The tramp of heavy boots started across the puncheon floor and porch +again. Isom could hear Steve's orders outside; the laughs and jeers and +curses of the men as they mounted their horses; he heard the cavalcade +pass through the gate, the old man's cackling good-by; then the horses' +hoofs going down the mountain, and Daddy Marcum's hobbling step on the +porch again. He was standing in the middle of the floor, full in the +firelight, when the old man reached the threshold--standing in a trance, +with a cartridge-belt in his hand. + +"Good fer you, Isom--" + +The cry was apologetic, and stopped short. + +"The critter's fersakcn," he quavered, and cowed by the boy's strange +look, the old man shrank away from him along the wall. But Isom seemed +neither to see nor hear. He caught up his rifle, and, wavering an +instant, tossed it with the belt on the bed and ran out the door. The +old man followed, dumb with amazement. + +"Isom!" he called, getting his wits and his tongue at last. "Hyeh's yer +gun! Come back, I tell ye! You've fergot yer gun! Isom! Isom!" + +The voice piped shrilly out into the darkness, and piped back without +answer. + +A steep path, dangerous even by day, ran snakelike from the cabin down +to the water's edge. It was called Isom's path after that tragic night. +No mountaineer went down it thereafter without a firm faith that only by +the direct help of Heaven could the boy, in his flight down through the +dark, have reached the river and the other side alive. The path dropped +from ledge to ledge, and ran the brink of precipices and chasms. In a +dozen places the boy crashed through the undergrowth from one slippery +fold to the next below, catching at roots and stones, slipping past +death a score of times, and dropping on till a flood of yellow light +lashed the gloom before him. Just there the river was most narrow; the +nose of a cliff swerved the current sharply across, and on the other +side an eddy ran from it up stream. These earthly helps he had, and he +needed them. + +There had been a rain-storm, and the waves swept him away like +thistle-down, and beat back at him as he fought through them and stood +choked and panting on the other shore. He did not dare stop to rest. +The Marcums, too, had crossed the river up at the ford by this time, and +were galloping towards him; and Isom started on and up. When he reached +the first bench of the spur the moon was swinging over Thunderstruck +Knob. The clouds broke as he climbed; strips of radiant sky showed +between the rolling masses, and the mountain above was light and dark +in quick succession. He had no breath when he reached the ledge that ran +below old Steve's cabin, and flinging one arm above it, he fell through +sheer exhaustion. The cabin was dark as the clump of firs behind it; +the inmates were unsuspecting; and Steve Marcum and his men were not +far below. A rumbling started under him, while he lay there and grew +faint--the rumble of a stone knocked from the path by a horse's hoof. +Isom tried to halbo, but his voice stopped in a whisper, and he +painfully drew himself upon the rock, upright under the bright moon. +A quick oath of warning came then--it was Crump's shrill voice in the +Brayton cabin--and Isom stumbled forward with both hands thrown up and +a gasping cry at his lips. One flash came through a port-hole of the +cabin. A yell broke on the night--Crump's cry again--and the boy swayed +across the rock, and falling at the brink, dropped with a limp struggle +out of sight. + + + + +V. + +THE news of Isom's fate reached the miller by way of Hazlan before the +next noon. Several men in the Brayton cabin had recognized the boy in +the moonlight. At daybreak they found bloodstains on the ledge and on a +narrow shelf a few feet farther down. Isom had slipped from one to the +other, they said, and in his last struggle had rolled over into Dead +Creek, and had been swept into the Cumberland. + +It was Crump who had warned the Braytons. Nobody ever knew how he had +learned Steve Marcum's purpose. And old Brayton on his guard and in his +own cabin was impregnable. So the Marcums, after a harmless fusillade, +had turned back cursing. Mocking shouts followed after them, +pistol-shots, even the scraping of a fiddle and shuffling on the ledge. +But they kept on, cursing across the river and back to Daddy Marcum, +who was standing in the porch, peering for them through the dawn, with a +story to tell about Isom. + +"The critter was teched in the head," the old man said, and this was +what the Braytons, too, believed. But Steve Marcum, going to search for +Isom's body next day, gave old Gabe another theory. He told the miller +how Daddy Marcum had called Isom a coward, and Steve said the boy had +gone ahead to prove he was no coward. + +"He had mighty leetle call to prove it to me. Think o' his takin' ole +Brayton all by hisself!" he said, with a look at the yellow, heaving +Cumberland. "'N', Lord! think o' his swimmin' that river in the dark!" + +Old Gabe asked a question fiercely then and demanded the truth, and +Steve told him about the hand-to-hand fight on the mountain-side, about +young Jasper's treachery, and how the boy, who was watching the fight, +fired just in time to save Rome. It made all plain at last--Rome's and +Steve's denials, Isom's dinning on that one theme,' and why the boy +could not go to Rome and face Martha, with her own blood on his hands. +Isom's true motive, too, was plain, and the miller told it brokenly to +Steve, who rode away with a low whistle to tell it broadcast, and left +the old man rocking his body like a woman. + +An hour later he rode back at a gallop to tell old Gabe to search the +river bank below the mill. He did not believe Isom dead. It was just his +feelin', he said, and one fact, that nobody else thought important--the +Brayton canoe was gone. + +"Ef he was jus' scamped by a ball," said Steve, "you kin bet he tuk the +boat, 'n' he's down thar in the bushes somewhar now waitin' fer dark." + +And about dusk, sure enough, old Gabe, wandering hopefully through the +thicket below the mill, stumbled over the canoe stranded in the bushes. +In the new mud were the tracks of a boy's bare feet leading into the +thicket, and the miller made straight for home. When he opened his door +he began to shake as if with palsy. A figure was seated on the hearth +against the chimney, and the firelight was playing over the face and +hair. The lips were parted, and the head hung limply to the breast. The +clothes were torn to rags, and one shoulder was bare. Through the upper +flesh of it and close to the neck was an ugly burrow clotted with blood. +The boy was asleep. + +Three nights later, in Hazlan, Sherd Raines told the people of Isom's +flight down the mountain, across the river, and up the steep to save his +life by losing it. Before he was done, one gray-headed figure pressed +from the darkness on one side and stood trembling under the dips. It was +old Steve Brayton, who had fired from the cabin at Isom, and dropping +his Winchester, he stumbled forward with the butt of his pistol held out +to Raines. A Marcum appeared on the other side with the muzzle of his +Winchester down. Raines raised both hands then and imperiously called on +every man who had a weapon to come forward and give it up. Like children +they came, Marcums and Braytons, piling their arms on the rock before +him, shaking hands right and left, and sitting together on the mourner's +bench. + +Old Brayton was humbled thereafter. He wanted to shake hands with Steve +Marcum and make friends. But Steve grinned, and said, "Not yit," and +went off into the bushes. A few days later he went to Hazlan of his own +accord and gave up his gun to Raines. He wouldn't shake hands with old +Brayton, he said, nor with any other man who would hire another man +to do his "killin';" but he promised to fight no more, and he kept his +word. + +A flood followed on New Year's day. Old Gabe's canoe--his second +canoe--was gone, and a Marcum and a Brayton worked side by side at the +mill hollowing out another. The miller sat at the door whittling. + +"'Pears like folks is havin' bad luck with thar dugouts." said Brayton. +"Some trifin' cuss took old Steve Brayton's jes to cross the river, +without the grace to tie it to the bank, let 'lone takin' it back. I've +heard ez how Aunt Sally Day's boy Ben, who was a-fishin' that evenin, +says ez how he seed Isom's harnt a-floatin' across the river in it, +without techin' a paddle." + +The Marcum laughed. "Idgits is thick over hyeh," he said. "Ben's +a-gittin' wuss sence Isom was killed. Yes, I recollect Gabe hyeh lost a +canoe jus' atter a flood more'n a year ago, when Rome Stetson 'n' Marthy +Lewallen went a-gallivantin' out' n the mountains together. Hyeh's +another flood, 'n' old Gabe's dugout gone agin." The miller raised +a covert glance of suspicion from under his hat, but the Marcum was +laughing. "Ye oughter put a trace-chain on this un," he added. "A rope +gits rotten in the water, 'n' a tide is mighty apt to break it." + +Old Gabe said that "mebbe that wus so," but he had no chain to waste; he +reckoned a rope was strong enough, and he started home. + +"Old Gabe don't seem to keer much now 'bout Isom," said the Brayton. +"Folks say he tuk on so awful at fust that hit looked like he wus goin' +crazy. He's gittin' downright peert again. Hello!" + +Bud Vickers was carrying a piece of news down to Hazlan, and he pulled +up his horse to deliver it. Aunt Sally Day's dog had been seen playing +in the Breathitt road with the frame of a human foot. Some boys had +found not far away, behind a withered "blind," a heap of rags and bones. +Eli Crump had not been seen in Hazlan since the night of the Marcum +raid. + +"Well, ef hit was Eli," said the Brayton, waggishly, "we're all goin' to +be saved. Eli's case 'll come fust, an' ef thar's only one Jedgment Day, +the Lord 'll nuver git to us." + +The three chuckled, while old Gabe sat dreaming at his gate. The boy had +lain quiet during the weeks of his getting well, absorbed in one aim--to +keep hidden until he was strong enough to get to Rome. On the last night +the miller had raised one of the old hearth-stones and had given him the +hire of many years. At daybreak the lad drifted away. Now old Gabe was +following him down the river and on to the dim mountain line, where the +boy's figure was plain for a moment against the sky, and then was lost. + +The clouds in the west had turned gray and the crescent had broken +the gloom of the woods into shadows when the miller rose. One star was +coming over Black Mountain from the east. It was the Star of Bethlehem +to old Gabe; and, starlike on both sides of the Cumberland, answering +fires from cabin hearths were giving back its message at last. + +"Thar hain't nothin' to hender Rome 'n' Marthy now. I nuver knowed +anybody to stay 'way from these mount'ins ef he could git back; 'n' Isom +said he'd fetch 'em. Thar hain't nothin' to hender--nothin' now." + +On the stoop of the cabin the miller turned to look again, and then on +the last Stetson the door was closed. + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Stetson, by John Fox Jr. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST STETSON *** + +***** This file should be named 3024.txt or 3024.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3024/ + +Produced by David Reed + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Inside the mill Steve Marcum +lay in one dark corner with a slouched hat over his face. The boy +Isom was emptying a sack of corn into the hopper. Old Gabe was +speaking his mind. + +Always the miller had been a man of peace; and there was one +time when he thought the old Stetson-Lewallen feud was done. +That was when Rome Stetson, the last but one of his name, and +Jasper Lewallen, the last but one of his, put their guns down and +fought with bare fists on a high ledge above old Gabe's mill one +morning at daybreak. The man who was beaten was to leave the +mountains; the other was to stay at home and have peace. Steve +Marcum, a Stetson, heard the sworn terms and saw the fight. +Jasper was fairly whipped; and when Rome let him up he proved +treacherous and ran for his gun. Rome ran too, but stumbled and +fell. Jasper whirled with his Winchester and was about to kill +Rome where he lay, when a bullet came from somewhere and +dropped him back to the ledge again. Both Steve Marcum and +Rome Stetson said they had not fired the shot; neither would say +who had. Some thought one man was lying, some thought the +other was, and Jasper's death lay between the two. State troops +came then, under the Governor 's order, from the Blue Grass, and +Rome had to drift down the river one night in old Gabe's canoe and +on Out of the mountains for good. Martha Lewallen, who, though +Jasper's sister, and the last of the name, loved and believed Rome, +went with him. Marcums and Braytons who had taken sides in the +fight hid in the bushes around Hazlan, or climbed over into +Virginia. A railroad started up the Cumberland. "Furriners came +in to buy wild lands and get out timber. Civilization began to press +over the mountains and down on Hazlan, as it had pressed in on +Breathitt, the seat of another feud, in another county. In Breathitt +the feud was long past, and with good reason old Gabe thought +that it was done in Hazlan. + +But that autumn a panic started over from England. It stopped the +railroad far down the Cumberland; it sent the "furriners" home, +and drove civilization back. Marcums and Braytons came in from +hiding, and drifted one by one to the old fighting-ground. In time +they took up the old quarrel, and with Steve Marcum and Steve +Brayton as leaders, the old Stetson-Lewallen feud went on, though +but one soul was left in the mountains of either name. That was +Isom, a pale little fellow whom Rome had left in old Gabe's care; +and he, though a Stetson and a half-brother to Rome, was not +counted, because he was only a boy and a foundling, and because +his ways were queer. + +There was no open rupture, no organized division-that might +happen no more. The mischief was individual now, and +ambushing was more common. Certain men were looking for +each other, and it was a question of "draw-in' quick 'n' shootin' +quick" when the two met by accident, or of getting the advantage +"from the bresh." + +In time Steve Marcum had come face to face with old Steve +Brayton in Hazlan, and the two Steves, as they were known, drew +promptly. Marcum was in the dust when the smoke cleared away; +and now, after three months in bed, he was just out again. He had +come down to the mill to see Isom. This was the miller's first +chance for remonstrance, and, as usual, he began to lay it down +that every man who had taken a human life must sooner or later +pay for it with his own. It was an old story to Isom, and, with a +shake of impatience, he turned out the door of the mill, and left old +Gabe droning on under his dusty hat to Steve, who, being heavy +with "moonshine," dropped asleep. + +Outside the sun was warm, the flood was calling from the dam, +and the boy's petulance was gone at once. For a moment he stood +on the rude platform watching the tide; then he let one bare foot +into the water, and, with a shiver of delight, dropped from the +boards. In a moment his clothes were on the ground behind a +laurel thicket, and his slim white body was flashing like a faun +through the reeds and bushes up stream. A hundred yards away +the creek made a great loop about a wet thicket of pine and +rhododendron, and he turned across the bushy neck. Creeping +through the gnarled bodies of rhododendron, he dropped suddenly +behind the pine, and lay flat in the black earth. Ten yards through +the dusk before him was the half-bent figure of a man letting an +old army haversack slip from one shoulder; and Isom watched him +hide it with a rifle under a bush, and go noiselessly on towards the +road. It was Crump, Eli Crump, who had been a spy for the +Lewallens in the old feud and who was spying now for old Steve +Brayton. It was the second time Isom had seen him lurking about, +and the boy's impulse was to hurry back to the mill. But it was still +peace, and without his gun Crump was not dangerous; so Isom +rose and ran on, and, splashing into the angry little stream, shot +away like a roll of birch bark through the tawny crest of a big +wave. He had done the feat a hundred times; he knew every rock +and eddy in flood-time, and he floated through them and slipped +like an eel into the mill-pond. Old Gabe was waiting for him. + +"Whut ye mean, boy," he said, sharply, reskin' the fever an' ager +this way? No wonder folks thinks ye air half crazy. Git inter them +clothes now 'n' come in hyeh. You'll ketch yer death o' cold +swimmin' this way atter a fresh." + +The boy was shivering when he took his seat at the funnel, but he +did not mind that; some day he meant to swim over that dam. +Steve still lay motionless in the corner near him, and Isom lifted +the slouched hat and began tickling his lips with a straw. Steve +was beyond the point of tickling, and Isom dropped the hat back +and turned to tell the miller what he had seen in the thicket. The +dim interior darkened just then, and Crump stood in the door. Old +Gabe stared hard at him without a word of welcome, but Crump +shuffled to a chair unasked, and sat like a toad astride it, with his +knees close up under his arms, and his wizened face in his hands. + +Meeting Isom's angry glance, he shifted his own uneasily. + +Seed the new preacher comm' 'long today?" he asked. Drawing +one dirty finger across his forehead, " Got a long scar 'cross hyeh." + +The miller shook his head. + +Well, he's a-comm'. I've been waitin' fer him up the road, but I +reckon I got to git 'cross the river purty soon now." + +Crump had been living over in Breathitt since the old feud. He +had been "convicted" over there by Sherd Raines, a preacher from +the Jellico Hills, and he had grown pious. Indeed, he had been +trailing after Raines from place to place, and he was following the +circuit-rider now to the scene of his own deviltry-Hazlan. + +"Reckon you folks don't know I got the cirkit-rider to come over +hyeh, do ye?" he went on. "Ef he can't preach! Well, I'd tell a +man! He kin jus' draw the heart out'n a holler log! He ' convicted ' +me fust night, over thar in Breathitt. He come up thar, ye know, to +stop the feud, he said; 'n' thar was laughin' from one eendo' +Breathitt to t'other; but thar was the whoppinest crowd thar I ever +see when he did come. The meetin'-house wasn't big enough to +hold 'em, so he goes out on the aidge o' town, n' climbs on to a +stump. He hed a woman with him from the settlemints-she's +a-waitin' at Hazlan fer him now-'n' she had a cur'us little box, 'n' he +put her 'n' the box on a big rock, 'n' started in a callin' 'em his +bretherin' 'n' sisteren, 'n' folks seed mighty soon thet he meant it, +too. He's always mighty easylike, tell he gits to the blood-penalty." + +At the word, Crump's listeners paid sudden heed. Old Gabe's knife +stopped short in the heart of the stick he was whittling; the boy +looked sharply up from the running meal into Crump's face and sat +still. + +Well, he jes prayed to the Almighty as though he was a-talkin' to +him face to face, 'n' then the woman put her hands on that box, 'n' +the sweetes' sound anybody thar ever heerd come outen it. Then +she got to singin'. Hit wusn't nuthin' anybody thar'd ever heerd; but +some o' the women folks was a snifflin' 'fore she got through. He +pitched right into the feud, as he calls hit, 'n' the sin o' sheddin' +human blood, I tell ye; 'n' 'twixt him and the soldiers I reckon thar +won't be no more fightin' in Breathitt. He says, 'n' he always says it +mighty loud "-Crump raised his own voice-" thet the man as kills +his feller-critter hev some day got ter give up his own blood, sartin +'n' shore." + +It was old Gabe's pet theory, and he was nodding approval. The +boy's parted lips shook with a spasm of fear, and were as quickly +shut tight with suspicion. Steve raised his head as though he too +had heard the voice, and looked stupidly about him. + +I tol' him," Crump went on, " thet things was already a-gettin' kind +o' frolicsome round hyeh agin; thet the Marcums 'n' Braytons was +a-takin' up the ole war, 'n' would be a-plunkin' one 'nother every +time they got together, 'n' a-gittin' the whole country in fear 'n' +tremblin' -now thet Steve Marcum had come back." + +Steve began to scowl and a vixenish smile hovered at Isom's lips. + +He knows mighty well-fer I tol' him-thet thar hain't a wuss man in +all these mountains than thet very Steve-" The name ended in a +gasp, and the wizened gossip was caught by the throat and tossed, +chair and all, into a corner of the mill. + +None o' that, Steve! " called the miller, sternly. "Not hyeh. Don't +hurt him now! + +Crump's face stiffened with such terror that Steve broke into a +laugh. + +Well, ye air a skeery critter! " he said, contemptuously. "I hain't +goin' to hurt him, Uncl' Gabe, but he must be a plumb idgit, +a-talkin' 'bout folks to thar face, 'n' him so puny an' spindlin'! You +git! + +Crump picked himself up trembling-"Don't ye ever let me see ye +on this side o' the river agin, now "-and shuffled out, giving +Marcum one look of fear and unearthly hate. + +Convicted '! " snorted Steve. " I heerd old Steve Brayton had hired +him to waylay me, 'n' I swar I believe hit's so." + +"Well, he won't hev to give him more'n a chaw o' tobaccer now," +said Gabe. " He'll come purty near doin' hit hisseif, I reckon, ef he +gits the chance." + +Well, he kin git the chance ef I gits my leetle account settled with +ole Steve Brayton fust. 'Pears like that old hog ain't satisfied +shootin' me hisself." Stretching his arms with a yawn, Steve +winked at Isom and moved to the door. The boy followed him +outside. + +"We're goin' fer ole Brayton about the dark o' the next moon, boy," +he said. "He's sort o' s'picious now, 'n' we'll give him a leetle time +to git tame. I'll have a bran'-new Winchester fer ye, Isom. Hit ull +be like ole times agin, when Rome was hyeh. Whut's the matter, +boy?" he asked, suddenly. Isom looked unresponsive, listless. + +Air ye gittin' sick agin? + +Well, I hain't feelin' much peert, Steve." + +Take keer o' yourself, boy. Don't git sick now. We'll have to +watch Eli Crump purty close. I don't know why I hain't killed thet +spyin' skunk long ago, 'ceptin' I never had a shore an' sartin reason +fer doin 'it. + +Isom started to speak then and stopped. He would learn more first; +and he let Steve go on home unwarned. + +The two kept silence after Marcum had gone. Isom turned away +from old Gabe, and stretched himself out on the platform. He +looked troubled. The miller, too, was worried. + +Jus' a hole in the groun'," he said, half to himself; "that's whut +we're all comm' to! 'Pears like we mought help one 'nother to keep +out'n hit, 'stid o' holpin' 'em in." + +Brown shadows were interlacing out in the mill-pond, where old +Gabe's eyes were intent. A current of cool air had started down the +creek to the river. A katydid began to chant. Twilight was +coming, and the miller rose. + +"Hit's a comfort to know you won't be mixed up in all this +devilment," he said; and then, as though he had found more light in +the gloom: "Hit's a comfort to know the new rider air shorely +a-preachin' the right doctrine, 'n' I want ye to go hear him. Blood +for blood-life fer a life! Your grandad shot ole Tom Lewallen in +Hazlan. Ole Jack Lewallen shot him from the bresh. Tom Stetson +killed ole Jack; ole Jass killed Tom, 'n' so hit comes down, fer back +as I can ricollect. I hev nuver knowed hit to fail." The lad had +risen on one elbow. His face was pale and uneasy, and he averted +it when the miller turned in the door. + +"You'd better stay hyeh, son, 'n' finish up the grist. Hit won't take +long. Hev ye got victuals fer yer supper? + +Isom nodded, without looking around, and when old Gabe was +gone he rose nervously and dropped helplessly back to the floor. + +"'Pears like old Gabe knows I killed Jass," he breathed, sullenly. +'Pears like all of 'em knows hit, 'n' air jus' a-tormentin' me." + +Nobody dreamed that the boy and his old gun had ended that fight +on the cliff; and without knowing it, old Gabe kept the lad in +constant torture with his talk of the blood-penalty. But Isom got +used to it in time, for he had shot to save his brother's life. Steve +Marcum treated him thereafter as an equal. Steve's friends, too, +changed in manner towards him because Steve had. And now, just +when he had reached the point of wondering whether, after all, +there might not be one thing that old Gabe did not know, Crump +had come along with the miller's story, which he had got from still +another, a circuit-rider, who must know the truth. The fact gave +him trouble. + +"Mebbe hit's goin' to happen when I goes with Steve atter ole +Brayton," he mumbled, and he sat thinking the matter over, until a +rattle and a whir inside the mill told him that the hopper was +empty. He arose to fill it, and coming out again, he heard +hoof-beats on the dirt road. A stranger rode around the +rhododendrons and shouted to him, asking the distance to Hazlan. +He took off his hat when Isom answered, to wipe the dust and +perspiration from his face, and the boy saw a white scar across his +forehead. A little awestricken, the lad walked towards him. + +"Air you the new rider whut's goin' to preach up to Hazlan? " he +asked. + +Raines smiled at the solemnity of the little fellow. " Yes," he said, +kindly. " Won't you come up and hear me?" + +"Yes, sir," he said, and his lips parted as though he wanted to say +something else, but Raines did not notice. + +"I wished I had axed him," he said, watching the preacher ride +away. " Uncle Gabe knows might' nigh ever'thing, 'n' he says so. +Crump said the rider said so; but Crump might 'a' been lyin'. He +'most al'ays is. I wished I had axed him." + +Mechanically the lad walked along the millrace, which was made +of hewn boards and hollow logs. In every crevice grass hung in +thick bunches to the ground or tipped wiry blades over the running +water. Tightening a prop where some silvery jet was getting too +large, he lifted the tail-gate a trifle and lay down again on the +platform near the old wheel. Out in the mill-pond the water would +break now and then into ripples about some unwary moth, and the +white belly of a fish would flash from the surface. It was the only +sharp accent on the air. The chant of the katydids had become a +chorus, and the hush of darkness was settling over the steady flow +of water and the low drone of the millstones. + +"I hain't afeerd," he kept saying to himself. "I hain't afeerd o' +nothin' nor no-body; but he lay brooding until his head throbbed, +until darkness filled the narrow gorge, and the strip of dark blue up +through the trees was pointed with faint stars. He was troubled +when he rose, and climbed on Rome's horse and rode homeward +-so troubled that he turned finally and started back in a gallop for +Hazlan. + +It was almost as Crump had said. There was no church in Hazlan, +and, as in Breathitt, the people had to follow Raines outside the +town, and he preached from the roadside. The rider's Master never +had a tabernacle more simple: overhead the stars and a low moon; +close about, the trees still and heavy with summer; a pine torch +over his head like a yellow plume; two tallow dips hung to a beech +on one side, and flicking to the other the shadows of the people +who sat under them. A few Marcums and Braytons were there, +one faction shadowed on Raines's right, one on his left. Between +them the rider stood straight, and prayed as though talking with +some one among the stars. Behind him the voice of the woman at +her tiny organ rose among the leaves. And then he spoke as he had +prayed; and from the first they listened like children, while in their +own homely speech he went on to tell them, just as he would have +told children, a story that some of them had never heard before. +"Forgive your enemies as He had forgiven his," that was his plea. +Marcums and Braytons began to press in from the darkness on +each side, forgetting each other as the rest of the people forgot +them. And when the story was quite done, Raines stood a full +minute without a word. No one was prepared for what followed. +Abruptly his voice rose sternly-" Thou shalt not kill" ; and then +Satan took shape under the torch. The man was transformed, +swaying half crouched before them. The long black hair fell across +the white scar, and picture after picture leaped from his tongue +with such vividness that a low wail started through the audience, +and women sobbed in their bonnets. It was penalty for bloodshed +-not in this world: penalty eternal in the next; and one slight figure +under the dips staggered suddenly aside into the darkness. + +It was Isom; and no soul possessed of devils was ever more torn +than his, when he splashed through Troubled Fork and rode away +that night. Half a mile on he tried to keep his eyes on his horse's +neck, anywhere except on one high gray rock to which they were +raised against his will-the peak under which he had killed young +Jasper. There it was staring into the moon, but watching him as +he fled through the woods, shuddering at shadows, dodging +branches that caught at him as he passed, and on in a run, until he +drew rein and slipped from his saddle at the friendly old mill. +There was no terror for him there. There every bush was a friend; +every beech trunk a sentinel on guard for him in shining armor. + +It was the old struggle that he was starting through that night-the +old fight of humanity from savage to Christian; and the lad fought +it until, with the birth of his wavering soul, the premonitions of the +first dawn came on. The patches of moonlight shifted, paling. +The beech columns mottled slowly with gray and brown. A ruddy +streak was cleaving the east like a slow sword of fire. The chill air +began to pulse and the mists to stir. Moisture had gathered on the +boy's sleeve. His horse was stamping uneasily, and the lad rose +stiffly, his face gray but calm, and started home. At old Gabe's +gate he turned in his saddle to look where, under the last sinking +star, was once the home of his old enemies. Farther down, under +the crest, was old Steve Brayton, alive, and at that moment perhaps +asleep. + +"Forgive your enemies;" that was the rider's plea. Forgive old +Steve, who had mocked him, and had driven Rome from the +mountains; who had threatened old Gabe's life,. and had shot Steve +Marcum almost to death! The lad drew breath quickly, and +standing in his stirrups, stretched out his fist, and let it drop, +slowly. + +II + +OLD Gabe was just starting out when Isom' reached the cabin, and +the old man thought the boy had been at the mill all night. Isom +slept through the day, and spoke hardly a word when the miller +came home, though the latter had much to say of Raines, the two +Steves, and of the trouble possible. He gave some excuse for not +going with old Gabe the next day, and instead went into the woods +alone. + +Late in the middle of the afternoon he reached the mill. Old Gabe +sat smoking outside the door, and Isom stretched himself out on +the platform close to the water, shading his eyes from the rich +sunlight with one ragged sleeve. + +"Uncl' Gabe," he said, suddenly, " s'posin' Steve Brayton was to +step out'n the bushes thar some mawnin' 'n' pull down his +Winchester on ye, would ye say, ' Lawd, fergive him, fer he don't +know whut he do'?" + +Old Gabe had told him once about a Stetson and a Lewallen who +were heard half a mile away praying while they fought each other +to death with Winchesters. There was no use prayin' an' shootin'," +the miller declared. There was but one way for them to escape +damnation; that was to throw down their guns and make friends. +But the miller had forgotten, and his mood that morning was +whimsical. + +Well, I mought, Isom," he said, " ef I didn't happen to have a gun +handy." + +The humor was lost on Isom. His chin was moving up and down, +and his face was serious. That was just it. He could forgive +Jass-Jass was dead; he could forgive Crump, if he caught him in no +devilment; old Brayton even-after Steve's revenge was done. But +now- The boy rose, shaking his head. + +Uncl' Gabe," he said with sudden passion, "whut ye reckon Rome's +a-doin'?" + +The miller looked a little petulant. " Don't ye git tired axin' me +thet question, Isom? Rome's a-scratchin' right peert fer a livin', I +reckon, fer hisself 'n' Marthy. Yes, 'n' mebbe fer a young 'un too by +this time. Ef ye air honin' fer Rome, why don't ye rack out 'n' go to +him? Lawd knows I'd hate ter see ye go, but I tol' Rome I'd let ye +whenever ye got ready, 'n' so I will." + +Isom had no answer, and old Gabe was puzzled. It was always this +way. The boy longed for Rome, the miller could see. He spoke of +him sometimes with tears, and sometimes he seemed to be on the +point of going to him, but he shrank inexplicably when the time for +leaving came. + +Isom started into the mill now without a word, as usual. Old Gabe +noticed that his feet were unsteady, and with quick remorse began +to question him. + +" Kinder puny, hain't ye, Isom? + +" Well, I hain't feelin' much peert." + +" Hit was mighty keerless," old Gabe said, with kindly reproach, " +swimmin' the crick atter a fresh." + +Hit wasn't the swimmin'," he protested, dropping weakly at the +threshold. "Hit was settin' out n the woods. I was in Hazlan t'other +night, Und' Gabe, to hear the new rider." + +The miller looked around with quick interest. "I've been skeered +afore by riders a-tellin' 'bout the torments o' hell, but I never heerd +nothin' like his tellin' 'bout the Lord. He said the Lord was jes as +pore as anybody thar, and lived jes as rough; thet He made fences +and barns n' ox-yokes 'n' sech like, an' He couldn't write His own +name when He started out to save the worl'; an' when he come to +the p'int whar His enemies tuk hol' of Him, the rider jes crossed his +fingers up over his head 'n' axed us if we didn't know how it hurt to +run a splinter into a feller's hand when he's loggin' or a thorn into +yer foot when ye're goin' barefooted. + +Hit jes made me sick, Uncl' Gabe, hearin' him tell how they +stretched Him out on a cross o' wood, when He'd come down fer +nothin' but to save 'em, 'n' stuck a spear big as a co'n-knife into His +side, 'n' give Him vinegar, 'n' let Him hang thar 'n' die, with His +own mammy a-stand-in' down on the groun' a-cryin' 'n' watchin' +Him. Some folks thar never heerd sech afore. The women was +a-rockin', 'n' ole Granny Day axed right out ef thet tuk place a long +time ago; 'n' the rider said, 'Yes, a long time ago, mos two +thousand years.' Granny was a-cryin', Uncl' Gabe, 'n' she said, +sorter soft, ' Stranger, let's hope that hit hain't so ' ; 'n' the rider +says, But hit air so; n' He fergive em while they was doin' it.' +Thet's whut got me, Uncl' Gabe, 'n' when the woman got to singin', +somethin' kinder broke loose hyeh "-Isom passed his hand over his +thin chest-" 'n' I couldn't git breath. I was mos' afeerd to ride home. +I jes layed at the mill studyin', till I thought my head would bust. I +reckon hit was the spent a-work-in me. Looks like I was mos' +convicted, Uncl' Gabe." His voice trembled and he stopped. +Crump was a-lyin'," he cried, suddenly. "But hit's wuss, Und' Gabe; +hit's wuss! You say a life fer a life in this worl'; the rider says hit's +in the next, 'n' I'm mis'ble, Uncl' Gabe. Ef Rome-I wish Rome was +hyeh," he cried, helplessly. "I don't know whut to do." + +The miller rose and limped within the mill, and ran one hand +through the shifting corn. He stood in the doorway, looking long +and perplexedly towards Hazlan; he finally saw, he thought, just +what the lad's trouble was. He could give him some comfort, and +he got his chair and dragged it out to the door across the platform, +and sat down in silence. + +Isom," he said at last, "the Spent air shorely a-workin' ye, 'n' I'm +glad of it. But ye mus 'n t worry about the penalty a-fallin' on +Rome. Steve Marcum killed Jass-he can't fool me-'n' I've told +Steve he's got thet penalty to pay ef he gits up this trouble. I'm +glad the Spent's a-workin' ye, but ye mus'n' t worry 'bout Rome." + +Isom rose suddenly on one elbow, and with a moan lay back and +crossed his arms over his face. + +Old Gabe turned and left him. + +Git up, Isom." It was the miller's voice again, an hour later. "You +better go home now. Ride the hoss, boy," he and, kindly. + +Isom rose, and old Gabe helped him mount, and stood at the door. +The horse started, but the boy pulled him to a standstill again. + +"I want to ax ye jes one thing more, Uncl' Gabe," he said, slowly." +S'posin' Steve had a-killed Jass to keep him from killin' Rome, hev +he got to be damned fer it jes the same? Hev he got to give up +eternal life anyways? Hain't thar no way out'n it-no way?" + +There was need for close distinction now and the miller was +deliberate. + +Ef Steve shot Jass," he said, " jes to save Rome's life-he had the +right to shoot him. Thar hain't no doubt 'bout that. The law says +so. But "-there was a judicial pause-"I've heerd Steve say that he +hated Jass wuss' n anybody on earth, 'cept old Brayton; 'n' ef he +wus glad o' the chance o' killin' him, why-the Lord air merciful, +Isom; the Bible air true, 'n' hit says an ' eye fer an eye, a tooth fer a +tooth,' 'n' I never knowed hit to fail-but the Lord air merciful. Ef +Steve would only jes repent, 'n' ef, 'stid o' fightin' the Lord by takin' +human life, he'd fight fer Him by savin' it, I reckon the Lord would +fergive him. Fer ef ye lose yer life fer Him, He do say you'll find it +agin somewhar-sometime. + +Old Gabe did not see the sullen despair that came into the boy's +tense face. The subtlety of the answer had taken the old man back +to the days when he was magistrate, and his eyes were half closed. +Isom rode away without a word. From the dark of the mill old +Gabe turned to look after him again. + +"I'm afeerd he's a-gittin' feverish agin. Hit looks like he's +convicted; but "-he knew the wavering nature of the boy-" I don't +know-I don't know." + +Going home an hour later, the old man saw several mountaineers +climbing the path towards Steve Marcum's cabin; it meant the +brewing of mischief; and when he stopped at his own gate, he saw +at the bend of the road a figure creep from the bushes on one side +into the bushes on the other. + +It looked like Crump. + +III + +IT was Crump, and fifty yards behind him was Isom, slipping +through the brush after him -Isom's evil spirit-old Gabe, Raines, " +conviction," blood-penalty, forgotten, all lost in the passion of a +chase which has no parallel when the game is man. + +Straight up the ravine Crump went along a path which led to Steve +Marcum's cabin. There was a clump of rhododendron at the head +of the ravine, and near Steve's cabin. About this hour Marcum +would be chopping wood for supper, or sitting out in his porch in +easy range from the thicket. Crump's plan was plain: he was about +his revenge early, and Isom was exultant. + +"Oh, no, Eli, you won't git Steve this time. Oh, naw! + +The bushes were soon so thick that he could no longer follow +Crump by sight, and every few yards he had to stop to listen, and +then steal on like a mountain-cat towards the leaves rustling ahead +of him. Half-way up the ravine Crump turned to the right and +stopped. Puzzled, Isom pushed so close that the spy, standing +irresolute on the edge of the path, whirled around. The boy +sank to his face, and in a moment footsteps started and grew faint; +Crump had darted across the path, and was running through the +undergrowth up the spur. Isom rose and hurried after him; and +when, panting hard, he reached the top, the spy's skulking figure +was sliding from Steve's house and towards the Breathitt road; and +with a hot, puzzled face, the boy went down after it. + +On a little knob just over a sudden turn in the road Crump stopped, +and looking sharply about him, laid his gun down. Just in front of +him were two rocks, waist-high, with a crevice between them. +Drawing a long knife from his pocket, he climbed upon them, and +began to cut carefully away the spreading top of a bush that grew +on the other side. Isom crawled down towards him like a lizard, +from tree to tree. A moment later the spy was filling up the +crevice with stones, and Isom knew what he was about; he was +making a "blind" to waylay Steve, who, the boy knew, was going +to Breathitt by that road the next Sunday. How did Crump know +that-how did he know everything? The crevice filled, Crump cut +branches and stuck them between the rocks. Then he pushed his +rifle through the twigs, and taking aim several times, withdrew it. +When he turned away at last and started down to the road, he +looked back once more, and Isom saw him grinning. Almost +chuckling in answer, the lad slipped around the knob to the road +the other way, and Crump threw up his gun with a gasp of fright +when a figure rose out of the dusk before him. + +Hol' on, Eli ! " said Isom, easily. " Don't git skeered! Hit's nobody +but me. Whar ye been?" + +Crump laughed, so quick was he disarmed of suspicion. " Jes up +the river a piece to see Aunt Sally Day. She's a fust cousin o' mine +by marriage. + +Jsom's right hand was slipping back as if to rest on his hip. "D'you +say you'd been 'convicted,' Eli? + +Crump's answer was chantlike. "Yes, Lawd reckon I have." + +Goin' to stop all o' yer lyin', air ye, ' Isom went on, in the same +tone, and Crump twitched as though struck suddenly from behind, +"an' stealin' 'n' lay-wayin'?" + +"Look a-hyeh, boy-" he began, roughly, and mumbling a threat, +started on. + +Uh, Eli! " Even then the easy voice fooled him again, and he +turned. Isom had a big revolver on a line with his breast. " Drap +yer gun! " he said, tremulously. + +Crump tried to laugh, but his guilty face turned gray. "Take keer, +boy," he gasped; "yer gun's cocked. Take keer, I tell ye! + +Drap it, damn ye! " Isom called in sudden fury, " 'n' git clean away +from it! " Crump backed, and Isom came forward and stood with +one foot on the fallen Winchester. + +"I seed ye, Eli. Been makin' a blind fer Steve, hev ye? Coin' to +shoot him in the back, too, air ye? You're ketched at last, Eli. +You've done a heap o' devilmcnt. You're gittin' wuss all the time. +You oughter be dead, 'n' now-" + +Crump found voice in a cry of terror and a whine for mercy. The +boy looked at him, unable to speak his contempt. + +"Cit down thar! " he said, finally; and Crump, knowing what was +wanted, stretched himself in the road. Isom sat down on a stone, +the big pistol across one knee. + +"Roll over! " Crump rolled at full length. + +"Git up! " Isom laughed wickedly. "Ye don't look purty, Eli." He +lifted the pistol and nipped a cake of dirt from the road between +Crump's feet. With another cry of fear, the spy began a vigorous +dance. + +"Hol' on, Eli; I don't want ye to dance. Ye belong to the chu'ch +now, 'n' I wouldn't have ye go agin yer religion fer nothin'. Stan' +still! Another bullet and another cut between Crump's feet. "Pears +like ye don't think I kin shoot straight. Eli," he went on, reloading +the empty chambers, " some folks think I'm a idgit, +'n' I know 'em. Do you think I'm a idgit, Eli?" + +Actin' mighty nateral now." Isom was raising the pistol again. " +Oh, Lawdy! Don't shoot, boy-don't shoot! + +"Cit down on yer knees! Now I want ye to beg fer mercy thet ye +never showed-thet ye wouldn't 'a' showed Steve. . . Purty good," +he said, encouragingly. + +Mebbe ye kin pray a leetle, seem' ez ye air a chu'ch member. Pray +fer yer enemies, Eli; Uncl' Gabe says ye must love yer enemies. I +know how ye loves me, 'n' I want yer to pray fer me. The Lawd +mus' sot a powerful store by a good citizen like you. Ax him to +fergive me fer killin' ye." + +"Have mercy, O Lawd," prayed Crump, to command-and the +prayer was subtle-" on the murderer of this Thy servant. A life fer a +life, Thou hev said, O Lawd. Fer killin' me he will foller me, 'n' ef +Ye hev not mussy he is boun' fer the lowes' pit o' hell, O Lawd + +It was Isom's time to wince now, and Crum p's pious groan was cut +short. + +Shet up! " cried the boy, sharply, and he sat a moment silent. +"You've been a-spyin' on us sence I was borned, Eli," he said, +reflectively. + +"I believe ye lay-wayed dad. Y'u spied on Rome. Y'u told the +soldiers whar he was a-hidin' Y'u tried to shoot him from the +bresh. Y'u found out Steve was goin' to Breathitt on Sunday, 'n' +you've jes made a blind to shoot him in the back. I reckon thar's no +meanness ye hain't done. Dad's al'ays said ye sot a snare fer a +woman once-a woman! Y'u loaded a musket with slugs, 'n' tied a +string to the trigger, 'n' stretched hit 'cross the path, 'n' y'u got up on +a cliff 'n' whistled to make her slow up jes when she struck the +string. I reckon thet's yer wust-but I don't know." + +Several times Crump raised his hands in protest while his +arraignment was going on; several times he tried to speak, but his +lips refused utterance. The boy's voice was getting thicker and +thicker, and he was nervously working the cock of the big pistol up +and down. + +"Cit up," he said; and Crump rose with a spring. The lad's tone +meant release. + +"You hain't wuth the risk. I hain't goin' ter kill ye. I jus' wanted ter +banter ye 'n' make ye beg. You're a good beggar, Eli, 'n' a powerful +prayer. You'll be a shinin' light in the chu'ch, ef ye gits a chance ter +shine long. Fer lemme tell ye, nobody ever ketched ye afore. But +you're ketched now, an' I'm goin' to tell Steve. He'll be a-watchin' +fer ye, 'n' so 'll I. I tell ye in time, ef ye ever come over hyeh agin +as long as you live, you'll never git back alive. Turn roun'! Hev ye +got any balls? " he asked, feeling in Crump's pockets for cartridges. +" No; well -he picked up the Winchester and pumped the magazine +empty-" I'll keep these," he said, handing Crump the empty rifle. +"Now git away-an' git away quick! + +Crump's slouching footsteps went out of hearing, and Isom sat +where he was. His elbows dropped to his knees. His face dropped +slowly into his hands, and the nettles of remorse began to sting. +He took the back of one tremulous hand presently to wipe the +perspiration from his forehead, and he found it burning. A sharp +pain shot through his eyes. He knew what that meant, and feeling +dizzy, he rose and started a little blindly towards home. + +Old Gabe was waiting for him. He did not answer the old man's +querulous inquiry, but stumbled towards a bed. An hour later, +when the miller was rubbing his forehead, he opened his eyes, shut +them, and began to talk. + +"I reckon I hain't much better 'n Eli, Und' Gabe," he said, +plaintively. "I've been abusin' him down thar in the woods. I come +might' nigh killin' him onct." The old man stroked on, scarcely +heeding the boy's words, so much nonsense would he talk when ill. + +I've been lyin' to ye, Unci' Gabe, 'n' a-deceivin' of ye right along. +Steve's a-goin' atter ole Brayton-I'm goin' too-Steve didn't kill +Jass-hit wusn't Steve-hit wusn't Rome-hit was-" The last word +stopped behind his shaking lips; he rose suddenly in bed, looked +wildly into the miller's startled face, and dropping with a sob to the +bed, went sobbing to sleep. + +Old Gabe went back to his pipe, and while he smoked, his figure +shrank slowly in his chair. He went to bed finally, but sleep would +not come, and he rose again and built up the fire and sat by it, +waiting for day. His own doctrine, sternly taught for many a year, +had come home to him; and the miller's face when he opened his +door was gray as the breaking light. + +IV + +THERE was little peace for old Gabe that day at the mill. And +when he went home at night he found cause for the thousand +premonitions that had haunted him. The lad was gone. + +A faint light in the east was heralding the moon when Isom +reached Steve Marcum's gate. There were several horses hitched to +the fence, several dim forms seated in the porch, and the lad +halboed for Steve, whose shadow shot instantly from the door and +came towards him. + +Glad ter see ye, Isom," he called, jubilantly. I was jus' about to sen' +fer ye. How'd ye happen to come up?" + +Isom answered in a low voice with the news of Crump's "blind," +and Steve laughed and swore in the same breath. + +"Come hyeh!" he said, leading the way back; and at the porch he +had Isom tell the story again. + +Whut d' I tell ye, boys? " he asked, triumphantly. "Don't believe ye +more 'n half believed me." + +Three more horsemen rode up to the gate and came into the light. +Every man was armed, and at Isom's puzzled look, Steve caught +the lad by the arm and led him around the chimney-corner. He +was in high spirits. + +"'Pears like ole times, Isom. I'm a-goin' fer thet cussed ole Steve +Brayton this very night. He's behind Crump. I s'picioned it afore; +now I know it for sartain. He's a-goin' to give Eli a mule 'n' a +Winchester fer killin' me. We're goin' to s'prise him to-night. He +won't be look-in' fer us-I've fixed that. I wus jus' about to +sen' fer ye. I hain't fergot how ye kin handle a gun." Steve laughed +significantly. " Ye're a good frien' o' mine, 'n' I'm goin' to show ye +thet I'm a frien' o' yourn." + +Isom's paleness was unnoticed in the dark. The old throbbing +began to beat again at his temple; the old haze started from his +eyes. + +"Hyeh's yer gun, Isom," he heard Steve saying next. The fire was +blazing into his face. At the chimney-corner was the bent figure of +old Daddy Marcum, and across his lap shone a Winchester. Steve +was pointing at it, his grim face radiant; the old rnan's toothless +mouth was grinning, and his sharp black eyes were snapping up at +him. + +"Hit's yourn, I tell ye," said Steve again. I aimed jes to lend it to ye, +but ye've saved me frum gittin' killed, mebbe, 'n' hit's yourn +now-yourn, boy, fer keeps." + +Steve was holding the gun out to him now. The smooth cold touch +of the polished barrel thrilled him. It made everything for an +instant clear again, and feeling weak, Isom sat down on the bed, +gripping the treasure in both trembling hands. On one side of him +some one was repeating Steve's plan of attack. Old Brayton's +cabin was nearly opposite, but they would go up the river, cross +above the mill, and ride back. The night was cloudy, but they +would have the moonlight now and then for the climb up the +mountain. They would creep close, and when the moon was hid +they would run in and get old Brayton alive, if possible. Then-the +rest was with Steve. + +Across the room he could hear Steve telling the three new-comers, +with an occasional curse, about Crump's blind, and how he knew +that old Brayton was hiring Crump. + +Old Steve's meaner 'n Eli," he said to himself, and a flame of the +old hate surged up from the fire of temptation in his heart. Steve +Marcum was his best friend; Steve had shielded him. The boy had +promised to join him against old Brayton, and here was the +Winchester, brand-new, to bind his word. + +"Git ready, boys; git ready." + +It was Steve's voice, and in Isom's ears the preacher's voice rang +after it. Again that blinding mist before his eyes, and the boy +brushed at it irritably. He could see the men buckling +cartridge-belts, but he sat still. Two or three men were going out. +Daddy Marcum was leaning on a chair at the door, looking eagerly +at each man as he passed. + +Hain't ye goin', Isom? + +Somebody was standing before him twirling a rifle on its butt, a +boy near Isom's age. The whirling gun made him dizzy. + +Stop it! " he cried, angrily. Old Daddy Marcum was answering the +boy's question from the door. + +"Isom goin'?" he piped, proudly. "I reckon he air. Whar's yer belt, +boy? Git ready. Git ready." + +Isom rose then-he could not answer sitting down-and caught at a +bedpost with one hand, while he fumbled at his throat with the +other. + +"I hain't goin'." + +Steve heard at the door, and whirled around. Daddy Marcum was +tottering across the floor, with one bony hand uplifted. + +"You're a coward! " The name stilled every sound. Isom, with eyes +afire, sprang at the old man to strike, but somebody caught his arm +and forced him back to the bed. + +"Shet up, dad," said Steve, angrily, looking sharply into Isom's +face. " Don't ye see the boy's sick? He needn't go ef he don't want +to. Time to start, boys." + +The tramp of heavy boots started across the puncheon floor and +porch again. Isom could hear Steve's orders outside; the laughs +and jeers and curses of the men as they mounted their horses; he +heard the cavalcade pass through the gate, the old man's cackling +good-by; then the horses' hoofs going down the mountain, and +Daddy Marcum's hobbling step on the porch again. He was +standing in the middle of the floor, full in the firelight, when the +old man reached the threshold-standing in a trance, with a +cartridge-belt in his hand. + +"Good fer you, Isom + +The cry was apologetic, and stopped short. + +The critter's fersakcn," he quavered, and cowed by the boy's +strange look, the old man shrank away from him along the wall. +But Isom seemed neither to see nor hear. He caught up his rifle, +and, wavering an instant, tossed it with the belt on the bed and ran +out the door. The old man followed, dumb with amazement. + +Isom! " he called, getting his wits and his tongue at last. "Hyeh's +yer gun! Come back, I tell ye! You've fergot yer gun! Isom! Isom! + +The voice piped shrilly out into the darkness, and piped back +without answer. + +A steep path, dangerous even by day, ran snakelike from the cabin +down to the water's edge. It was called Isom's path after that tragic +night. No mountaineer went down it thereafter without a firm +faith that only by the direct help of Heaven could the boy, in his +flight down through the dark, have reached the river and the other +side alive. The path dropped from ledge to ledge, and ran the +brink of precipices and chasms. In a dozen places the boy crashed +through the undergrowth from one slippery fold to the next below, +catching at roots and stones, slipping past death a score of times, +and dropping on till a flood of yellow light lashed the gloom +before him. Just there the river was most narrow; the nose of a +cliff swerved the current sharply across, and on the other side an +eddy ran from it up stream. These earthly helps he had, and he +needed them. + +There had been a rain-storm, and the waves swept him away like +thistle-down, and beat back at him as he fought through them and +stood choked and panting on the other shore. He did not dare stop +to rest. The Marcums, too, had crossed the river up at the ford by +this time, and were galloping towards him; and Isom started on +and up. When he reached the first bench of the spur the moon was +swinging over Thunderstruck Knob. The clouds broke as he +clinibed; strips of radiant sky showed between the rolling masses, +and the mountain above was light and dark in quick succession. +He had no breath when he reached the ledge that ran below old +Steve's cabin, and flinging one arm above it, he fell through sheer +exhaustion. The cabin was dark as the clump of firs behind it; the +inmates were unsuspecting; and Steve Marcum and his men were +not far below. A rumbling started under him, while he lay there +and grew faint-the rumble of a stone knocked from the path by a +horse's hoof. Isom tried to halbo, but his voice stopped in a +whisper, and he painfully drew himself upon the rock, upright +under the bright moon. A quick oath of warning came then-it was +Crump's shrill voice in the Brayton cabin-and Isom stumbled +forward with both hands thrown up and a gasping cry at his lips. +One flash came through a port-hole of the cabin. A yell broke on +the night-Crump's cry again-and the boy swayed across the rock, +and falling at the brink, dropped with a limp struggle out of sight. + +V + +THE news of Isom's fate reached the miller by way of Hazlan +before the next noon. Several men in the Brayton cabin had +recognized the boy in the moonlight. At daybreak they found +bloodstains on the ledge and on a narrow shelf a few feet farther +down. Isom had slipped from one to the other, they said, and in +his last struggle had rolled over into Dead Creek, and had been +swept into the Cumberland. + +It was Crump who had warned the Braytons. Nobody ever knew +how he had learned Steve Marcum's purpose. And old Brayton on +his guard and in his own cabin was impregnable. So the Marcums, +after a harmless fusillade, had turned back cursing. Mocking +shouts followed after them, pistol-shots, even the scraping of a +fiddle and shuffling on the ledge. But they kept on, cursing across +the river and back to Daddy Marcum, who was standing in the +porch, peermg for them through the dawn, with a story to tell +about Isom. + +" The critter was teched in the head," the old man said, and this +was what the Braytons, too, believed. But Steve Marcum, going to +search for Isom's body next day, gave old Gabe another theory. He +told the miller how Daddy Marcum had called Isom a coward, and +Steve said the boy had gone ahead to prove he was no coward. + +"He had mighty leetle call to prove it to me. Think o' his takin' ole +Brayton all by hisself! he said, with a look at the yellow, heaving +Cumberland. "'N', Lord! think o' his swimmin' that river in the +dark! + +Old Gabe asked a question fiercely then and demanded the truth, +and Steve told him about the hand-to-hand fight on the +mountain-side, about young Jasper's treachery, and how the boy, +who was watching the fight, fired just in time to save Rome. It +made all plain at last-Rome's and Steve's denials, Isom's dinning +on that one theme,' and why the boy could not go to Rome and face +Martha, with her own blood on his hands. Isom's true motive, too, +was plain, and the miller told it brokenly to Steve, who rode away +with a low whistle to tell it broadcast, and left the old man rocking +his body like a woman. + +An hour later he rode back at a gallop to tell old Gabe to search the +river bank below the mill. He did not believe Isom dead. It was +just his feelin'," he said, and one fact, that nobody else thought +important - the Brayton canoe was gone. + +Ef he was jus' scamped by a ball," said Steve, "you kin bet he tuk +the boat, 'n' he's down thar in the bushes somewhar now waitin' fer +dark." + +And about dusk, sure enough, old Gabe, wandering hopefully +through the thicket below the mill, stumbled over the canoe +stranded in the bushes. In the new mud were the tracks of a boy's +bare feet leading into the thicket, and the miller made straight for +home. When he opened his door he began to shake as if with palsy. +A figure was seated on the hearth against the chimney, and the +firelight was playing over the face and hair. The lips were parted, +and the head hung limply to the breast. The clothes were torn to +rags, and one shoulder was bare. Through the upper flesh of it and +close to the nrck was an ugly burrow clotted with blood. The boy +was asleep. + +Three nights later, in Hazlan, Sherd Raines told the people of +Isom's flight down the mountain, across the river, and up the steep +to save his life by losing it. Before he was done, one gray-headed +figure pressed from the darkness on one side and stood trembling +under the dips. It was old Steve Brayton, who had fired from the +cabin at Isom, and dropping his Winchester, he stumbled forward +with the butt of his pistol held out to Raines. A Marcum appeared +on the other side with the muzzle of his Winchester down. Raines +raised both hands then and imperiously called on every man who +had a weapon to come forward and give it up. Like children they +came, Marcums and Braytons, piling their arms on the rock before +him, shaking hands right and left, and sitting together on the +mourner's bench. + +Old Brayton was humbled thereafter. He wanted to shake hands +with Steve Marcum and make friends. But Steve grinned, and +said, "Not yit," and went off into the bushes. A few days later he +went to Hazlan of his own accord and gave up his gun to Raines. +He wouldn't shake hands with old Brayton, he said, nor with any +other man who would hire another man to do his "killin';" but he +promised to fight no more, and he kept his word. + +A flood followed on New Year's day. Old Gabe's canoe-his +second canoe-was gone, and a Marcum and a Brayton worked side +by side at the mill hollowing out another. The miller sat at the +door whittling. + +"'Pears like folks is havin' bad luck with thar dugouts." said +Brayton. "Some trifin' cuss took old Steve Brayton's jes to cross +the river, without the grace to tie it to the bank, let 'lone takin' it +back. I've heard ez how Aunt Sally Day's boy Ben, who was +a-fishin' that evenin, says ez how he seed Isom's harnt a-floatin' +across the river in it, without techin' a paddle." + +The Marcum laughed. "Idgits is thick over hyeh," he said. " Ben's +a-gittin' wuss sence Isom was killed. Yes, I recollect Gabe hyeh +lost a canoe jus' atter a flood more'n a year ago, when Rome +Stetson 'n' Marthy Lewallen went a-gallivantin' out' n the +mountains together. Hyeh's another flood, 'n' old Gabe's dugout +gone agin." The miller raised a covert glance of suspicion from +under his hat, but the Marcum was laughing. "Ye oughter put a +trace-chain on this un," he added. "A rope gits rotten in the water, +'n' a tide is mighty apt to break it." + +Old Gabe said that "mebbe that wus so," but he had no chain to +waste; he reckoned a rope was strong enough, and he started home. + +"Old Gabe don't seem to keer much now 'bout Isom," said the +Brayton. " Folks say he tuk on so awful at fust that hit looked like +he wus goin' crazy. He's gittin' downright peert again. Hello! + +Bud Vickers was carrying a piece of news down to Hazlan, and he +pulled up his horse to deliver it. Aunt Sally Day's dog had been +seen playing in the Breathitt road with the frame of a human foot. +Some boys had found not far away, behind a withered" blind," a +heap of rags and bones. Eli Crump had not been seen in Hazlan +since the night of the Marcum raid. + +Well, ef hit was Eli," said the Brayton, waggishly, "we're all goin' +to be saved. Eli's case 'll come fust, an' ef thar's only one +Jedgment Day, the Lord 'll nuver git to us." + +The three chuckled, while old Gabe sat dreammg at his gate. The +boy had lain quiet during the weeks of his getting well, absorbed in +one aim-to keep hidden until he was strong enough to get to Rome. +On the last night the miller had raised one of the old hearth-stones +and had given him the hire of many years. At daybreak the lad +drifted away. Now old Gabe was following him down the river +and on to the dim mountain line, where the boy's figure was plain +for a moment against the sky, and then was lost. + +The clouds in the west had turned gray and the crescent had +broken the gloom of the woods into shadows when the miller rose. +One star was coming over Black Mountain from the east. It was +the Star of Bethlehem to old Gabe; and, starlike on both sides of +the Cumberland, answering fires from cabin hearths were giving +back its message at last. + +"Thar hain't nothin' to hender Rome 'n' Marthy now. I nuver +knowed anybody to stay 'way from these mount'ins ef he could git +back; 'n' Isom said he'd fetch 'em. Thar hain't notliin' to hender +-nothin' now." + +On the stoop of the cabin the miller turned to look again, and then +on the last Stetson the door was closed. + +THE END + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Last Stetson, by John Fox, Jr. + diff --git a/old/lastt10.zip b/old/lastt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..76f89ff --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lastt10.zip |