The Opelousas courier., 1892-01-30
MART D0DSONSS RISE.
By WILLIAM p. BROWN.

stained by the hematitic dust of his Datri-
monial acres. Lying at the foot of the
Chilhowec Mountains, the rocky fast
nesses behind them were long the con-
genial sphere of the moonshiner's hid
den toll and trouble.
Little Mart Dodson had peddled "wild-
cat whisky" from the time he became
able to take a t~hree-gallon keg along the
country roads after dark. He had been
arrested, bound over before commission
ers, tried, released or convicted SO many
times that the varied phases of Federal
justice or leniency had long lost the spice
and novelty, under a monotonous convic-
ton oftheir tyranny and general futility
as related to m%oonshining in general and
little Mart in particular.
But Ole summer there came a lady and
her daughter from Chattanooga to board
at Hawk Cliff, a ragged spur of the Chill
howees, where a mineral spring or two
dubbed out from beneath the preciplces.
Mrs. Baird needed some pure whisky
for medicinal purposes. Following the
instructions of the aWidder Gleen,"
with whom they boarded, Agnes, the
daughter of the former, left some money
one night in a cleft of a large rock. called
the "nevil's Anvil" On going back
the next morning, she found the money
gone and the bottle filled with "mount'inl
dew" /:
''Little Mart air always up ter time,"'
SAID Widow Green. "He gifts to that
thar rock every Chusd'y night ez regular
as clockwuk."
There was no society in a social sense
at Hawk Cliff, and Agnes, a lively girl
not yet out Of her teens. when not read
ing to or waiting upon her mother, found
herself at some loss to pass the time.
There was no one to dress for or firt with,
and the country folk, ever suspicious of
social superiority, were shy and evasive.
She sought solace in long rambles over
the mountains, and though warned
against the danger of getting lost, ven
tured farther and farther with feminine
perversity, until one day she found her
self IN that unenyiable predicanlent.
A thunder-c cloud had yelled the sun,
the blue sky vas vanishing, and the
very depths of the mountains seemed to
moan softly as though the earth was
feversh and in dread. Agnes stood at
the junction of several winding %ravines,
all equally wild and misleading, with
great forest trees frowning over her, and
without a definite idea as to her proper
course.
"Wal, miss. air you sure huff lost, OF
what air the matter2'
The sound of any human voice was
welcome in that solitude. Turning, she
saw before her a. short, stout, freckle-
faced young man, having a sack swung
over his shoulder with a keg in each end
of it. In a few hurried words she ex-
planned who she was and that she was
lost.
.Yore a good three mile from the
Wilder Green's" he said, I'm I was a.
goin the yuther way"
Agnes instantly suggested a pecuniary
inducement as a reason for guiding her
home. but the young fellow looked at
the clouds ard said hurriedly.
"You jes wait hyur a minute
Then he disappeared round a huge
bowlder before Agnes could demonstrate.
In two minutes he reappeard, minus his
sack and kegs, with the remark.
ssNow, miss. We mus hurry ter get
ter the Hangin' Rock afore that shower
vets u.s."
They plunged into a wild gorge-the
very one Agnes would not have taken if
left to herself-and soon came upon a
trail that wound here and there among
the ridges, over the rocks, through shad-
owy laurel brakes, and across several
small brooks. The rain approached, and
the guide kept increasing his speed. until
Agnes, painting and stumbling, was
about to ask him to go slower. But at
this junction a sudden turn around a
betting crag brought them out on a
rocky platform, fronting the valley lying
along the foot Of the mountain.
Overhead the cliffs projected, so that
they were sheltered from the drops al
ready falling. The young man brought
her a drink from a spring near by, and
she sat down to survey in security the
solld wall of gray rain nov sweeping
over the distant knobs and up the inter-
vening valley.
II don't believe I know your name,n
she remarked, as he stood awkwardly
gazing at her as upon a new revelation In
the line Of feminine loveliness.
Tim little Mart" he replied.
son, to be sure; your are the person
who put the whisky in mammals bot
tie.
wal, now, miss, Id be q purity fool
ter own up ter sech as that, he re-
turned, with, however, a very knowing
look.
III suppose YOU are afraid of detec.
tion; yet you need not fear me. But
don't you wish you were ia some nicer
business? Have you ever thought of the
trouble whisky brings upon pcopIe2s
BIart could not say that he had. vet
for the lrst lime he felt a vague shame
of his occupation, but said:
Pore folks has ter make 8 some
how 'thout stealth ii.
ssYes, but ! would rather make ii any
other way than By breaking the laws to
sell people that watch Injuries them
Somehow Mart felt that the usual ar.
currents ID favor IF mooashaning would
not nave much elect OH this refined.
delicate girl, whose presence now bearned
upon him almost like soEne angelic pres
enee from another world.
Still they chatted on, he with j grow
Ing sense OF discomfort and inferiority,
and Jet withal strangely fascinated. Hs