The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1894-01-19

matter OF real entertainments, and,
while she did not care for him, che
felt extremely sorry for the treatment
10 received at her fathers hands. She
had to confess, however, on thinking
il over, that il was q queer place for a
man to come whose only occupation
was pleasure. The hunting was poor,
the WOODS damp and gloomy, and the
ledge in the distance inhabited mostly
by snakes.
Hayes WAS m ordinary looking man
oi about five feet ton, hair brown,
oycs blue, and rather quick and ner-
vous In his speech. 1t was suspicion
OF embarrassment in the latter respect
when questioned as to his business
chat first led Mosby to observe his ac-
lions, and his preference for the old
quarry road, which was rough and
,wampy and led through tangled
growth of under erbrush, seemed evil
dence enough that he belonged to
those who prefer darkness rather than
light.
These suspicious made Mosby, natu-
rally a hospitable man, cold and satir-
ical, and many an arrow of sarcasm
was plumed for his victims breast,
but Hayes usually seemed perfectly
oblivious of their meaning, a fact
which only further determined Mosby
in the belief that he was bad one.
The season had been exceedingly
dry; for nearly a month not drop OF
rain had fallen. The sand lay in drifts
in the middle Of the road and blew
away from the roots of the trees
During the previous weeks a great
fire had been raging to the northward,
several towns being razed to the
ground and wids stretch of timber
ruined. The ledge of rocks referred
to ran in crescent and acted as n bar
rier to the flames, so that the country
over which Mosby presided was left
unharmed, but the smoke spread its
mantle of gloom over many miles OF
contiguous territory.
This great northern section, how.
ever, where the fire had been SO de.
structive, was inhabited by wolves,
which now, goaded by fire and hunger,
sought safety to the southward. Mosby
saw them frequently. and their baying
could be heard Mt night while prowl.
ing through the woods in search of
food, but they were cowardly lot
that ran at the sight of n man, and no
one experienced any uneasiness.
! "tcr MccJJy went on une tramp he
invariably took his rifle with him,
hoping to obtain enough pelts during
the season for robe.
Evolves. he used TO sAy to Hayes,
care about all the game you will find
about these quarters, but if you want
to kill ary you'd better throw away
all the things are good for is to kill
men, and l reckon the people around
here are peaceable lot.
| ''Of course it might be a good thing
if one wanted to escape from a con.
stable, but we are presuming that you
want to kill animals" But his argu.
ments rs to the relative merits and
nses of the two weapons had little eff
| feet on Hayes, who still continued to
| carry the pistols and make excursions
not into the woods where Mosby vasn
tured, "there might be o.. stray deer i
one happened to ssee it," but TOWARD
the quarry end the hills.
| Whethef Mosby wanted to keel
watch of his strange boarder's action
that day, or whether his business lee
in that direction, we cannot say, bu
he spent the afternoon exploring tn,
timber abutting the highlands. Hi
observations were quite minute, ant
the sun was beginning to redden the
clouds in the west when he started fol
home, and by the time he reached the
road it had become quite dark. HI
had about eight miles to cover, bu
the way was SO rough that he made
slow progress.
Here and there moonbeam glis
tened on sandy opening, but for the
greater part of the time the foliage o
the trees entirely obscured the light
SO he slumped wearily along, musine
upon the events of the previous weeks
and wondering where Hayes had gon,
to spend the night.
A warm breeze swayed the tops o
the huge pines; this and the stick
which crackled under his feet were al
that broke the silence of the night
all until from the distance came sud
denly to his ears the hoarse baying o
a wolf From time to time 1t was re
| Dchtt'i ultll, iIolll
arose an answering howl, prolonged
and mournful.
Mosby plodded along, giving little
heed except wishing that he could get
sight on one of the "varmints" in &
bright spot of moonlight. The
bowling of the wolves gradually be
came more frequent and began t,
sound nearer and nearer. MosbS
came to halt and examined the con
dition of his gun, and then, although
feeling that the rifle insured hi'
safety, began to hasten his steps. BY
the time he he'd covered another hal
mile lie knew that there was danger
behind, for the weird sounds had in.
creased into din and an uproar
They were evidently on his trail ant
rapidly approaching, dozens of them
perhaps, courageous, at last, from the
strength of numbers
He realized that there would bt
scant time for reloading gun after
once firing, and looked about for &
tree which he could climb and nick