The Princeton union., 1900-04-05
CHAPTER vi.

One morning in the month of July,
when Ronald returned from his to-
Il bacco field, he found score OF more
mountaineers in the front yard. They
were discussing an awful crime that
had been committed about dawn that
day. Mrs. Telplay, a widow who lived
alone in a cottage at the foot of the
mountain, was found brutally muir
dered. |, had been generally known
that she kept quite sum of money
in an old hair trunk under her bed,
having always refused to take the ad-
vice of her friends to put her savings
in q more secure place. The trunk
was found to have been split open by
the bloody ak which had killed the
owner, and the money was gone.
Sydney Hart tall, raw-boned
young man, with sharp black eyes and
a big mustache dyed to match, sat
astride his fine horse and told what he
knew of the affair. AS he talked he
famed his aquiline face with his
sombrero. >
GAS soon as JEFF, that's her nigger
house boy, came in to make the fires, -
he was saying as Ronald approached,
'he seed what had happened, an run
out to give the alarm
Didn't nobody suspicion Jef?"
| queried old Fanshaw, who sat on the
steps IN his stockings.
Don't be so blamed fast" snarled
the narrator, with frown. He could
not abide interruption. He was a sort
of leader of moonshiners, though it
had never been proven against him,
and he was accustomed to more re-
spect than he deserved.
"Well, go on,' grunted Fanshaw,
you are about as good at tellin' a
thing as a one-legged man is at a
kickin' bee. You. no sooner make a
start than you kick the end O. yore
spine up in the ground an thar you
are.'
The crowd laughed impulsively, but
the fierce glare of sgd Hart's eyes
soon put an end to the merriment.
"You must a-had razor soup fur
breakfast, "he grunted; letting his eyes
rest on Fanshaw, and then he began to
smile. "Thar wasn't no use g. sus-
picionin' jeff" he proceeded; eur as
soon as the news got out Thad Will
liams straddled his mare an notified
the sheriff. Ratcliff is quick on trig-
ger, an he tuck Thad's mare an made
fur the spot armed to the teeth''
"Well, did he ketch the one that
did it?" broke in Dave Fanshaw, i'm
patiently, and anyone could have seen
from his face that he was not one of
Harris followers.
| sgd bent his eyes on Dawes face and
sneered. "You are like yore daddy"
he observed, "you want yore hog fore
it's barbecued. Yes, you bet he
ketched i'm; that's what he was out
after. About half a; mile from the
widows house he run across a young
stranger a-hidin' in a barn nigh the
tale mines. He was too good thing
to be missed, so Ratcliff arrested i'm
then an thar an made i'm turn is
pockets wrong side out. He had
fifty dollars in hard cash, an, more
over, his hands was red in streaks, an
he had, blood on his handkerchief an
shirt-sleeves. He was a young fellow,
an cried like baby; he said he hadn' t
killed nobody, nur stole nobody's
money, but Ratcliff tuck i'm in tow.
He was sech little fellow that Rat
cliff lowed folks I'D get the laugh on
i'm if he roped or handcuffed i'm, so
he started on with i'm jest so. They
made it all right till they got back
heer a piece to the beginnin' O. Col.
Hasbrooke's swamp. Thar, at Swiff's S
cabin. Ratcliff stopped to git a light
fur his cigar Nobody ever heerd tell
o him takin' q prisoner to Jail with
out he had cigar stuck in his jaw.
He don spend dollar "a, yeer fur ci-
gars. but he has to smoke one when he
jugs man. It makes him look i'm
portant. He had jest called fur a
chunk O. fire, an Miz Swift was fetchin'
it out to i'm, when 10 an behold, the
little stranger showed he was up to
snuff. He lodged off behind a hay
stack before Ratcliff could draw his
gun an was off into the swamp
like a skeered rabbit. A hoss ain't
wuth a tinker's dam in swampy land
an cane brakes, an Ratcliff amt as
timber as he wuz twenty yeer back.
And" the speaker broke off with a
laugh: "the little skunk's in the
swamp yit. Me an these fellows is to
watch this road, an Ratcliff's gone
round t'other side to stir up the peo-
pie: They'll drive i'm this way before
long, an then the fun will begin.'
"What do you mean by the fun?"
broke in Ronald sharply.
| The gaunt giant on the horse
shrugged his shoulders and bent a
critical. half-aggressive glance on the
questioner.
"Oh, reckon the boys won't want
to wait fur them blamed thievish law
yers in town to get Il whack at i'm an
finally git i'm turned loose. We hain't
got much book l'arnin', but we know
when a mans guilty, an we know
what lawyers is" =,
A murmur Of approval rose from the
group, even Mrs. Fanshaw, who sat
rocking between her two daughters on
the porch, grunted as if sgd Hart had
furnished the key to q problem which