The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-06-04

quilts covered me, and before l could
throw them off strong hands were at
the corners. It seemed as If a ton
weight had fallen upon me and doubled
me up NV head was bent so close
upon my breast that I thought my neck
would break. Ny breath@came short
and fast.
With frantic struggle I cooked my
pistol and placing the muzzle close
against the quilt 1 pulled the trigger.
fired at random, trusting that fate
might guide the ball into the heart or
head of some one of my cowardly
assailants. The conclusion was awful
in thatnarrow space. The smoke filed
my eyes, nose and ears; the shot rang
through my brain; I felt that my last
hour had come. My God, how I suf-
feredl I remember a derisiYe laugh
that seemed to come from another
world, then something heavy struck
me on the head. When I recovered
consciousness l was lying on my back
in a jolting wagon, with my hands and
feet securely bound. The pale blue
of the sky above me and the hazy out
lines of the treetOps reaching overhead
told me that day was breaking.
oval, Kurnel, air ye come roun' all
rightp" said deep voice at my head.
Raising my eyes, | saw leaning over
me the grizzly face of the outlaw, Cap
Hawkins. He broke into a wild laugh
at my look of astOnishment.
"Didn't 'spect ter see me this morn
in, did We, KurnelP" he said, taunting-
| ". ''Whar air yer dogsP-hai hal-an'
yer horses?-he! hel-an' yer-haw!
hawl ho!-an' yer repytationP Aw,
| Lordyl Say, Kurnel, whar air ye
a-takin' me this mornin'? Air ye
a-goin' ter lock old Cap Hawkins up
aginp"
His laughter echoed through the
woods and sounded fiendish as it came
/ back from the mountain side. I knew
Cap Hawkins well. Lawless as he
was, there was in his composition a
certain wild chivalry peculiar to these
men of the mountains. Brave as a
| lion, he had an unbOunded admiration
| for courage in others; cunning as q
| fox, he respected a man who could out
/ do him in craftiness. Knowing this,
| determined to assume n bold air and
affect a supreme Indifference to my
| fate, whatever that was to be.
go, Cap, dry up" l began, winking
slyly at him. Don't brighten the rev.
enue men; they'll be after you again. -
Again he roared as if he would split
his sides over the joke. He was i'm
mensely tickled.
"Say your prayers, Cap" I contin-
ued. eth be a long time before you
see daylight again"
"Whut air We adrivin' at, KurnelP'
he asked, seriously. casting his eyes
about him. Ny shot had missed, but I
kept firing.
"Well, you see, Hawkins, now that
I've got you in my power I'm going to
put you out of the way for good. You
come along with me to the Cove.
There's a warm hole in the side of the
mountain in which you can spend the
winter, board and lodging free. Come,
brace up, Cap; when you see how com
Portable it is in there you'll want to
lease the place for life. -
The outlaw made no response to my
random talk. nor did he laugh as be-
fore. Something seemed seemed to
worry him, for he fdgeted about,
| scratched his uncombed head and ran
his bony fingers through his grizzled,
tangled beard.
"Look a-hyar, Kurnel," said the
moonshiner, leaning close to me and
boring into me with his black eyes,
''air We ever been tharP"
''ThereP Where, CapP''
THAT thar hole We air a-goin' on
about"
''Why, of course, don't I know every
hole and crag in the Cohuttas?"
''Then that settles it, I lowed We
war jokin'. Waw Patsy, waw Suck,
wawp."
He refined up his horses and stopped
the wagon. Taking up an axe he
handed it to some person on the
l. I
did not understand. l tried to raise
myself to look out, but fell back help
| less, full of sharp, shooting pains. My
| joints refused to bend, my neck creaked
when l tried to turn my head, and the
struggle of the night came back to me
| like a horrible apparition. At the first
sound of the axe Cap Hawkins put his
arm under my back and forced me to
| sit upright.
"Cobe air a-cuttin' yer tombstone,
Kurnel, an lowed ye'd like ter git a
| last look"
To the right of the wagon stood a
/ giant poplar lifting its shaggy top
| three hundred feet above the road. In
its trunk were three gaping wounds,
and a moonshiner in broad hat and big
boots was cutting a fourth. Two i'll
| looking men stood near, their guns in
| their hands
"Kurnel," continued my guard, edo
| We want ter write yer epertaphP" The
men laughed at their chief. Them
other three Revies didn't git nary
| chance ter write theirn. BOYS, air
any o. We got a PencilP"
Too well knew the meaning of that
notch from which the sappy chips
were flying. My heart quivered as the
axe ate its way into the soft wood.
My face must have reflected my
thought, for the outlaw, giving me a
| gentle push, sent me on my back.
Lay down, Kurnel, an don't git so
alfred skeered, " he said. That air
mighty conf table hole up in the hills
board an lodgin' free. And quot
| ing my own words, he fairly made the
welkin ring with his coarse laughter.
Surely you don't intend to murder
me, CapP"
THAT air ies about it, / reckon,
| Kurnel. Ye air cross the dead line,
| an yer epertaph air done been writ. -
Before 1 could say more his three
! companions climbed into the wagon
I beside me. Clucking to his horses he
| drove on at a trot through the pass,
and as the sun rose over the mountain
we entered the precincts of Sleepy
| Cove. 1t must have been after ten
O'Clock, yet into that lonesome spot
the sun was just beginning to pour his
rays. By two p. m. he would disap-
pear behind the jagged cliff that
formed the western Boundary of the
retreat, and the long twilight would
set in with its spectral shadows chas-
ing each other in the dark wood.
/ Often had 1 heard the country folk
| talk with bated breath of the horrors
Of Sleepy Cove. COLLINS, they said,
dwelt in the mountain caves, coming