The age-herald., 1901-03-08
HIS CLOSE CALL. z s1os7 s1Sy5


Well, the closest call I ever had was among the wild peaks and crags of Sand mountaIn," said Deputy Marshal John Hale. We drew our chairs nearer the blazing logs and settled ourselves com fortably for the treat we knew was com ing. for we knew his yarns of old. Halo was considered at once the bravest and most daring man on the force
 Tt happened last summer he contin- ued. "The chief sent for me and told me he had received reliable information about the leader of gang of moonshdners who had been operating extensively in these same mountainous regions, and thereby causing a great deal of trouble.
 Heretofore we had been unable to spot n single one of them. This fellow was a desperate devil and not unknown to us. However, I undertook the trip to bring him in dead or alive. After leaving the train l knew I would have to drive about twenty-five miles through as wild and lonely a bit of country as you will find in a days Journey. l was fortunate enough to get a team and started out. The road wound through scenery that was truly picturesque; the clear running streams dashing, sparkling and gurgling down the preoipitous mountain side; the bluffs crowned with the sturdy mountain laurel; the magnificent timber and green fertile valleys. All this beauty 1 enjoyed hugely, but as each moment brought me nearer my destination, and the more I thought of boarding the Hon in his den we'll hanged if I didn't feel curious! 1 was about five miles from the place when I was startled by long. loud blast from a horn near at hand. The echoes caught it up and threw 1t from crag to orag with vivid distinctness until 1t finally died away in the distance, when another clear peal broke the stiffness farther on Then another and another caught the refrain, until I thought the whole blooming coun- tryside must be fairly alive with horns. I knew by this my presence had been discovered. This was their warning, and meant revenue officers are coming; get out of the way I whipped up my tired team and drove resolutely on, determined to do or die.
 T soon reached the house, a wide log affair with patches of tobacco and pota- toes on either side. and lady fingers and prince feathers in rank profusion grow ing up to the very door, Everything, with the exception of the wild barking of a yellow cur was as still and silent as the grave. I went to the door, with that blasted dog growing ana SnarllnB at my heels. Still no sign of human being. I cautiously lifted the latch, opened the door a bit and peeped in. At first, owing to the semi darkness of the poorly light ed room, I could see nothing. Then I made out a woman, one of the kind those regions seem to produce-gaunt haggard and old before her time, with her hay colored hair pulled painfully back from her sallow face and coiled in a knot at the nape of her neck, caught with a sin gle tucl1ing comb, and the escaped ends Imply struggling down. She was busily engaged with something in one corner of the room, which proved to be my man. He was dll. She was trying to get him dressed and out of the way before could get there. When she saw 1t was no go- for I was already on the scene-she sprang quickly to the wide-rnouthed fire place, grabbed a long, shining horn that hung at one side and with her faded eyes fairly blazing, blew a loud, shrill blast. The man had fallen back with a. 9roan but now he looked up with some thing like hope. did not know what was coming next, but told the woman to go on with his toilet for he was my prisoner, and I would have to take him back with me. She made no answer, but soon had him dressed
 By this time I knew what that call