The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1899-05-16

ns fn name, where, in company with
mJ boyhood's boon companion, Plato
= great ugly hrindle cur dog, as true
and faithful as dumb brute ever was
II have had many an exciting boyish
ronbp and ramble in the days long
gos4e.
One morning il the early fall of
1881, while Plato and 7 were out for
a !ybbit hunt in the upper end Of the
HOLY low, I had an experience which I
am lin no danger Of forgetting until
Life itself is forgotten. IT was my
fourteenth birthday, and my father
had presented me that morning with
q loig-coveted treasure in the form of
shotgun. 1t YVES single-barrel.
muzkle-ioader concern, and would
doubtless he considered quite anti:
qaat$d by boy friends OF this advanced
age & the breecnloader and the EaEn
merlkss. st all events, it was entirely
up td dete then, and I am able to re-
call 1ew proader, happier moments Of
my Life than when that gum have it
yet-Hrsi came into my possession.
On tie morning in question I had it
on NJ SHOULDER, feeling like a VERT
able Napoleon Bonaparte going forth
to conquer the world.
The rabbits must have heard the
news, however, for, hunt as he would,
old Plato could not start a single one
Of them. They were ordinarily plenti-
ful enough.
At tength, weary with walking, I
sat do @n at the very foot Of the
mountain, which formed an almost
perpendicular wall above my head.
Just tb the right Of me was the
dreaded "Danger Line" Of the noun
tain raSgs-s rocky, barren, desolats
stretch sor belt across the mountain,
with bel Re and there cave sunk in or
huge rock jutting out. When all
the rest of the mountain sides were
clad in the green garm eats Of spring
time, o,t the rUsset robes Of autumn,
this STRETCH Of sterile, untimbered
land shl lowed, naked and glaring, like
al ugly !frown on natures face. It
was SOME unpleasant freak in the con-
structio1a Of the mountains that never
knew the reason for, but I know that
'sDangerl' Line was universally
avoided, |by white and colored alike
the latter declaring that it was
''hanted,s and the former that there
were raTtlesnskes, and even worse
things, tp be encountered there. Ny
mother bad positively forbidden me
ever to g. into that part of the noun
tains, and hitherto I had seen it only
from g distance, curiously.
I had sat there under the shadow
Of the mbuntain in the sweet autumn
stiffness for perhaps ten minutes,
tired, hals dreaming, half wishing my
self at home, when I was suddenly
aroused tt life and interest by furi-
Gus, excite I'D barking fars sup the cliff
above me and slightly to my right.
At first I doubted my ears. T had
never known Plato to cross into
"Dapger Lime" by so much as one
step before, and so I WAS at loss to
account for it. And yet that was
Plato's we Unknown voice T heard;
there could be no mistaking it with
me. There was something strange,
romantic, about it all, and I was burn
ing with desire to see what manner Of
game he lid have freed up there.
I remembe,j| led n y mothers warning
and falterea. It has been my expert
anee that " hen a boy falters in the
face OF dr.tE, disobedience has scored
point and trouble is 1ear at hand
There was my new gun, as yet un-
tried, except at lifeless targets, and.
after all, per haps it was only squir-
rel. II shoi 1T, my thirst for adventure
got the bette + of me, and my determ-
nation to follow Plato was fixed. The
next thing to be decided was how to
get there T could tell by his bark
that Plato " Ias considerable distance
above me, al I'D the height was we'll
nigh inacces bible. But was young,
strong and ;active, as mountain boys
are apt to bet and [ have sometimes
thought tina if a fourteen-year-old
boy deaermii ned to climb sunbeam
he could sla aost accomplish the task.
The mountann-side was covered with
small undere8 8owth, and with .Asreid
Of this I determined tsa@eEe the
ascent. Hol9ing the seae