Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1896-07-11
The sinister nearing in Henry's care

NC poSSlDlc tlldI tiic were IN
volved in one of the cruel vendettas
about which he had heard and read p
was that what Hester meant when she
said her own family had not escaped
And following closely upon the heels
of the latter question came another: If
he should enter the family, would he
be expected to bear part in any such
irregular warfare? No, that was not
quite the way to state it; say, rather,
could he reasonably hope to hold the re-
spect and affection of his wife upon any
other condition?
The night was cool, and the light air
sweeping up the side of the mountain
was grateful and refreshing after the
heat of the day, and yet Ringbrand
grew urcomfortably warm as the in
evitable conclusion placed itself like
gigantic exclamation point at the end
OF his theories. The possession O
| physical courage in his own proper FER
| son is not necessary qualification for
the writer of stories. 1t is true that he
must recognize it's existence, and he
must be upon sufficiently intimate terms
able to Undue his heroes with proper
degree of contempt for their personal
| safety; beyond this, the exigencies of
the art demand nothing, and the artist
| himself may be the most humble votary
of the goddess of common sense. Some
such thought as this came to Ringbrand
as he made his way down the mountain.
| The successive scenes of his uneventful
life passed in review like the pictures
of a retrospective panorama. Now that
he thought of it, he saw that all of his
lines of conduct had been drawn
well upon the hither side of personal
antagonism-tha he had always been
averse to anything approaching an ar
bitrament of force. With well-mean-
ing sophistry, he had argued himself
into the belief thata contempt for mere
physical courage was a part of the
thoughtful mans protest against bru-
tality and the unconvincing logic of
appeals to physical superiority; but he
remembered, with sharp little sting
of modification, that these fine-spun
theories had been swept aside like cob
webs on the few occasions when he had
been brought face to face with personal
danger. 1t was not necessary to go far
for an example; a flush of shame glowed
in his face when he recalled the small
fit of terror that had seized him but an
hour before, when he had stood help
lessly watching Henry trying to get
the lodging shadow within the range of
his rifle.
tHo+ Il Sc tel T. 1,,,4
Indifferent company for the rest Of his
walk, and he reached Tregarthen, and
his room at the Ludlows', without hav-
ing arrived at any more definite conclu-
sion than a determination to ask his
friend for an explanation of the Incl
dent at 'The Laurels," and to get there
with so much of the Latimer history as
Ludlow might be able to recite.
!, The latter enlightened him, cheerful.
! ly, on their way to the furnace the next
morning. "That was probably one Of
1 the Bynums," he said; though why he
g should risk his skin at such close quar-
Q tcrs l can't imagine. They're a bad lot
q though-equal to almost anything, In
+ afraid"
! ''Who are the -Bynums, and why
0 But don't make me pull it out of you b,
I Titles; tell me the whole story"
as it possible that you've been in Ire
: garthen all this time and haven't ye
heard of the Latimer-Bynum feud?"
"It's more than possible; it's a fact
"Well, it's a long story, but I'll con
dense it for you. Old Squire Latimer
, the colonel's father, was instrumental
r in bringing one of a former generation
of the Bynums to justice for the muir
der of a revenue officer. Since that time
. there's been a running fight between
the two families; the squire had his
: house burned, and subsequently lost his
) life, presumably at the hands of the ia
t Their of the present family of Bynums
3 l qualify because there seems to be 8
little doubt about the murder part, now
2 although the squire's neighbors were
well enough satisfied to hang John By.
/ mum by the summary process of Lynch
: law. OF course the row couldn't be
= expected to end with single lynching
e and when the boys grew up they began
, on the colonel. 1 believe he horse
f whipped one of them and got a broker
S arm for his pains; that was a good while
: ago, but the feud has lost none of its
e bitterness with age. It's been stirred
: up in my time by "a lawsuit over the Nc
: Nabb coal vein, which is situated OF
: Il part of the coloners estate, but was
e claimed by the family in the cove. OF
r course the colonel-or rather the com
pany, in this instance-won the law
suit, and that didn't help matters any
l We tried to open the coal vein after
Y wards, but it's my private opinion tina
e the Bynum boys destroyed the working
:, as fast as we developed it,"
I "What frightful story of lawless
a ness!"
1T is rather savage, when you conn
|. to think of it, isn't it? And we haven
/ seen the end Of it yet by several lives
I, I'm afraid"
), But won't the law protect tn
e colonel in the defense of his rights?"
/ "It-or public ndignation-woult
t avenge his death very promptly, but il
Il regard to the other, you'll remember
I that you must first catch your hare
d these fellows don't go around with
+; brass band announcing their inten
u TONS"
$ still, should think it would be cas-,