People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1899-08-10
d Question
Of COURAGE
BY FRANCIS LYNDE
Copyright, 1895, by J. B. LippincOtt Co.
BY FRANCIS LYNDE
Copyright, 1895, by J. B. Lippincott Co.


the colonePs interference, and Hester
sitting unmoved through it all. What
was the meaning of this warlike episode?
Were such things of so little moment
in the daily life of the south that they
could be passed over without comment?
1t would appear so, since his hosts had
Immediately ignoRd the incident as
though it had never been. Even Hester
had been able to take up the thread Of
inconsequent conversation again with
no visible sign of perturbation or EN-
barrassment. What was the reason for
Henry's sudden and savage wrath!
Could the intruder have been a common
marauder of chicken-coops, or was he
a sneak thief hoping to find the house
unoccupied because there were nc
lights?
The sinister meaning in Henry's care
less reply answered these questions be-
fore they had taken shape. Could it
be possible that the Latimers were in
volved in one of the cruel vendettas
about which he had heard and read?-
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: II
he should enter the family, would ne
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, ard yet Ringbrand
grew uncomfortably warm as the in
eyitable conclusion placed itself like
gigantic exclamation point at the end
of his theories. The possession OF
physical courage in his own proper per-
son is not necessary qualification for
the writer of stories. 1t is true that he
must recognize its existence, and he
must be upon sufficiently intimate terms
with its outward presentments to be
able to Undue his heroes with a 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 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
sntagonism-that 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 that a contempt for mere
physical courage was 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 fne-spur
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
foran example; 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 rife.
After that, his thoughts kept him but
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 determination to ask his
friend for an explanation of the Incl.
dent at 1.-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
the Bynums," he said; though why he
should risk his skin at such close quar-.
tiers l can't imagine. They're bad lot
though-equal to almost anything, I'm
afraid"
who are the Bynums, and why
But don't make me pull it out of you by
Titles; tell me the whole std g."
rs it possible that you've been in Ire
garthen all this time and haven't We
heard of the Latimer-Bynum feud?"
Its more than possible; it's fact.
"Well, it's long story, but I'll con
dense it for you. Old Squire Latimer
the coloners father, was instrumental
in bringing one Ola former generation
of the Bynums to justice for the muir
der of a revenue officer. Since that tim
there's been running fight betweei
the two families; the squire had hi
house burned, and subsequently lost hi
life, presumably at the hands of the ia
Their of the present family of Bynum:
l qualify because there seems to be
little doubt about the murder part, now
although the squirds neighbors weT
Y well enough satisfied to hang John By
4 mum by the summary process of lyme
8 law. OF course the row couldn't b
4 expected TO erG With single .yRcAinl
\ and when the boys grew up they bega
On the colonel. believe he hors'
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