, 1888-10-02
BEATING THE REVENUE.

BEATING THE REVENUE.
On the North Carolina side of Bald
Mountain, as l turned aside one day at
noon to eat my luncheon, l stumbled full
upon a new still which the mountaineers
were bringing up. On the day previouS
several men on horseback had passed me,
and l remembered that the family at the
cabin where l had passed the night seemed
to be restless and uneasy. The revenue
men had got track of the still and had
pressed the mountaineers SO closely that
they had hidden it among the rocks and
bushes at the wayside. That outfit rep
resented the combined capital of half a
dozen mountainous. If they lost it they
would lose their all. If Uncle Sam failed
to lay hands on it he would be no worse
off. Hooked the outfit over, making a
note of everything, ate my dinner, and
had only got back to the trail again when
o IL horsemen rode up. 1 sized them up
for revenue men at once, and it was plain
enough that they were in i'll humor. 1
don't know that l would have given them
any information had they been pleasant,
but the way they jumped on me for a send
off boiled me over.
"See here" said the leader as he glared
down at me, you're the Teller we saw
yesterday back here in the elbowl''
"Well, what of it?'
ga good deal of it. We are govern
ment ofjcialsl'
Yes; Ive seen 'em before. In fact l
used to own one"
"Look out, sirl l can make it very Sc
rious for you. You must know that a
still has been brought in this direction.
The are that you have met the
men with t."
""Well?"
well, we are here to find it."
Am l hindering your"
81 believe you know all about it, and 1
should be justified in arresting you"
Very well; I'll consider myself your
prisoner"
They drew apart and conferred together
for q few minutes, and then the leader
said:
Perhaps I was a little too rash, and 1
hope you'll excuse me. If you would
give us a pointer it would be q great
favor"
"What information do you want?"
About that still. We know that it
passed Lapham's, three miles back. We
know that it has not passed Harrison's,
two miles ahead. It's likely you saw the
men,"
about two hours ago2"
yes"
Had it packed on two mules2"
That's it."
-Four men and two mules?"
"Yes."
"They must ave left the main trail, or
you would have seen them"
yes"
Back here about twenty rods there's q
ravine to the right"
That's SOL remember"
"If l had been one of the men l should
have lodged in there with the party"
"Certainl A thousand thanks to YOU"
They were off on the gallop, and the
SOUND of their horses feet had not vet
died away when two men dropped out of
the rocks and bushes to my left. They
were mountaineers and moonshiners.
Both held up their hands as / jumped up
in alarm, and one of them said:
Stranger, that's the whitest thing 1
ever knew q man to do, and we ar a
crowd which won't forgit it,"
He uttered a shrill whistle, and two
other men, each leading amule, broke cover
from a thicket. That outfit was picked
up and packed and strapped in five min
utes, and l was invited to go long with
the party. We kept the main trail about
half a mile and then turned into a ravine
road to the right. One man was sent on
ahead as n scout, and as we slowly pro-
crossed the others asked where | was
from and what my errand was, and before
l had fully explained the leader, whose
name was Dawson. said:
Say, he's the very Teller we got word
about Put it thar, young Teller; an
right glad we ar to see you'll
We had progressed about a mile when
the scout came back with word that the
evenu gang had taken q half circle and
were coming back to the main road by
this very path. Just here O small ravine
ran to our right. deep and dark. The
men were badly ratified for the moment,
and seemed about to abandon the mules
and take flight down the gully, when 1
said:
Cant you all push down in there INT
leave it to ne againf"
Would you do it, stranger"
"Of course l will"
l saw them hidden and then sauntered
on for about 200 feet and sat down on a
rock. In five minutes the revenue men
came up. l asked what luck, and they
replied that they had missed the party
altogether.
After you went away said after a
bit, 81 saw two men and two mules in the
brush on the left of the road"
"You didT'
Eyes. You were gone then, and of
course l did not care to investigate alone"
'"Those are the men we want" shouted
the four In chorus, and away they went
with n great ~clatter. i've minute later
the moonshine party were out of the ra-
vine and Dawson came up to me, grasped
my hand and said:
Men, take a good look at himl You'll
all fetch (agree) with me that if airy man
In these yere hills ever considers to chit
ter him STOPS to question his right that
ere man has got to der
After proceeding about q mile and a
half we reached the spot where the mill
was to DO located. and half a mile away
was Dawson's cabin. His family con-