The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-06-08

of comfort, which he knew to be mock,
cry, and which did not touch her nearly
so much as did the tears that poured
down his wrinkled face as he spoke.
In the course of these articles have
frequently referred to the fact that while
the southern mountaineers are to the
stranger shockingly profane in their Or
binary speech, the habit is simply the
survival in a vulgar form of the pious
expressions with which their Covenantel
forefathers interlarded their speech. AS
a matter of fact, their natures are pro-
foundly religious, and although it would
be impossible to formulate the canons Of
their faith there can be no mistaking
their profound trust in God, their intense
hope of immortality and their implicit
belief in the divine character of the
Master.
While the clergyman was praying,
Jack-poor fellow, his heart was in a
condition to be touched-interjected the
EXPLANATIONS he had learned in the camp
meetings up the mountains. "Hear
prayer, Lorv ''Send down gracew
''Tetch the hearts of we uns, o Godl"
s'Make fab in our breastsr' "Amen,
amen, and amen!' "Glory to Godw
'Hallelujah! hallelujahp' And all the
while he swayed his tall, 1.-THE form with
a rhythmic motion, to which the cadence
of the pastors voice kept time.
Shaking hands with the mother and
son, and promising to call again before
daylight on the morrow, the clergyman
left about ten o'clock, and the turnkey
would have taken Mrs. Hurd out had
not the man in charge of the prison put
in an appearance, and after hearing her
pleading consented to let her remain till
one o'clock. At her request he also
opened the door leading into the corri-
dor, for though the night was cold the
air within the cell was sitting.
When Mrs. Hurd was alone with her
son, the poor fellow groaned:
''Hit wouldn't be nigh so hard to bar
eff SO be Pike, he'd showed up; but amt
seed him sence I got the sentence L
wouldn't a shuk him so eff he wus in my
place."
"Pike amt shuk yo'," said the mother,
"'Tain't in the blood to go back on our
own kin. We uns amt that kind"
And then she went on to tell him of
the preparations Pike and other friends
were making for his release; and she
ended by adding, "Jest az shores God
Almighty sees we uns har, jest so shore
Pike1l show up, and he'll win or die
a-tryin."
Jack kissed his mother, and know
ing how very weary she was, made her
lie down on the cot, and then he loosen
ed the shoes on her poor swollen feet
| and sat down by her head and smoothed
back the loosened gray hair till the
noises died out and she drifted back
from the prison to her cabin in the noun
| tains.
And Jack Hurd sat there paying no
| heed to the coughing and the groaning
| OF the men in the surrounding cells; he
was intently listening for a sound from
outside that would indicate the coming
of the promised help He heard the
half hourly calls of the guards announc-
ing that all was well, and his brave
heart beat faster whenever the fall of a
distant footstep came to his ears.
Half past twelve was called out, he
had heard it passing from post to post.
| Tt seemed hours and hours, and he must
| have been doing when he was startled
by hearing the call of the first guard:
some o'clock! Post number one! Ais
well!'
Why did not the cry go on? Hereto
fore, when it died out on the lips Of one
guard, it was repeated from guard to
| guard till it ended in the distance with
'Post sixteen"
Amurmur, like that of the wind rising
in the mountains. Nearer and nearer it
came, till he could distinguish the in
| tense whispers of many men, accom-
panied by the fall of hurrying feet.
''Jack Hurd! Jack Hurd!"
It was Pixies voice ringing through
the prison. The mother sprang from
the cot to see half a score of men in the
corridor, all armed, and disguised with
strips of red flannel across the upper
| parts of their faces.
| The mountaineers were masters of the
| prison for the brief present.
There was no time for handshaking or
talk. Sam Mcneil and a number of
others carried sledge hammers, and he
shouted from the corridor:
''Whar is the Union men har?"
"Har! har! harp was the response
from all sides.
Instantly the sledge hammers were at
work and the doors were beaten in, and
men in butternut, with ashy faces, ran
out to the light.
"Quicker than it can be described" is
trite and convenient phrase, but shall
not attempt to give Mrs. Hurd's graphic
description of what followed.
The jail was nearly emptied, and some
men got out who were criminals, but
there was no time to discriminate. Mrs.
Hurd watched every move of the hurry
ing men, but she stood aloof, knowing
that every second was precious to her
condemned boy.
The instant he was in position to re-
sist Jack Hurd showed the stuff he was
made of. He took in the situation and
its necessities. Quickly buckling on the
| we'll filed heJts and seizinp the rnT1skat