The Savannah morning news., 1903-09-06

HaskinS' house, whose gray roof she
could see agleam in the shifting light;
then turned sharply TO the right and
lifting a swinging curtain of vines sped
up the face of the cliff along a path
that only the blind could have trodden
fear1essly. Far beneath the blue river
ran, and she heard the birds uttering
their night calls in the tree tops be-
low as she stopped beneath the arch
of the cave mouth. All was dark along
the winding labyrinth and the girl felt
her way, her hands touching the stone
walls on either side: then a sudden
turn and the red light famed from an
open fire, around which were gathered
two men and woman. Back in the
shadows stood mass of pipes and
the faintish odor of new Whiskey filled
| the cave. The woman screamed shril-
ly and young. Jack sprang for his rifle
but stood paralyzed as he saw who it
was that stood before him, her red
| curis tossed back. her brave blue eyes
seeing none but him as she gasped
| out: Molly Janesons bringing the
| ReVnooS. They're comm at midnight,
en- its most that now: but jest couldn't
| GIT here no sooner.
Scatter the frebrands!" Old Jack
Haskins commenced to trample them
as he spoke, but his wife, erept forward
and peered, into the girls face. "Who
| NC SQ0 she Satus2 d1lu tHGn nef voice
rose to a shrek. TURNER'S Bess!-My
| Gawd. gal!--en my eboy!' The mother
looked from one to another, the present
| danger forgotten in the horror of the
| truth she instinctively grasped. The
| old man stood stock still.
Bess broke the silence. Theirs no
time ter lose. I tell yer they're COM
| in" and with a movement that carried
conviction she half lifted, half dragged
the old woman out of the cave. Twen-
| ty minutes later all traces of the still
were out of sight. and they were max
ing their way to the Haskins cabin.
The old people had crossed the thres-
| hold when Bess stopped and laid her
| hand on young Jacks arm. Here's
| where l got to turn back. Pap would
Kill me eff he knob whar be tonight"
Until then young Jack had not ques-
| toned her, but he suddenly realized
| that the girl had xentured into forbid
| den territory. had risked life itself to
| save her blood enemies-to save him.
| He thought of the prison walls. with
never watt of laurel, the light of the
stars on the Irvine. hills, or a sight of
Bess. lie thought of his old father and
| mother, who must have suffered, too;
and then-as the moon went behind a
| cloud--in lieu of the unready words he
gathered the 1.-THE figure against his
breast, snnothering his kisses into the
red curls, sought and found with his
| own the quivering lips of Turner'S
| Bess."
There was a restless time on the
| mountain. There was much talk of the
| revenue men, and the story Of Molly
-Jameson's treachery to her people had
been whispered and was loudly discuss
| ed, when Molly unable to front their
| scoru, fled to, the city. Haskins' Jack
toiled on with his desultory farming
| They had not dared to resume the still,
but nevertheless. in a sheltered nook
below the old cabin a new one was go
ing up between the intervals of crop
gathering and the fall hunting.
The ridge reared its line against the
sky as tncom premisingly as ever, but
[ the whispering pines could have told
of a stalwart figure that boldly crossed
1t in the sunset glow, and another,
| whose red curls came flashing up to
meet it. All! the woods are full of
whispering voices-7it may be that the
| red squirrel chartered too loudly to
the bluejay; but one evening, as ''Tur-
| ner's BessH came up the trail, and the
| Winchester lay on the ground while
| the. red curls~'were spihowed on the
i homespun jacket two other figures
stepped from the, covert of laurels.
Old man Turner and 9ofd man Haskihs
stood face to face, rifles in hand. and
between them young dack,. with his
arm thrown around thet waist of "Tur4
| ner's Bess." y n ..s
/ No sound, save the lark that greeted
| the sunset and the whirr of the falling
leaves, then old man Haskins spoke
to old man Turner:
"Silas Turner, your pap en- mine
/ wuZ debtors all their lives for the
/ blood shed by their daddies oyer a.
measly thirty poun' slote; en- YOU en-
me has been a totin' our guns fer each
other ever since We WIZ knee ter katy
dids.sen neither dassa't climb ther ridge
thout riskiff}-w bullet at Their top.
|. Theirs graves down yander by the old
cabin, graves of your peoples maxim
en- over thar where the cedars is the
| tallest, is folks nofs gourn what my kin
| planted; enc NOW there's no young
Haskins but him. en- there hain't no
young Turner's but her-en look at
| ,em. He paused a long moment
| P'Silas Turner. there's an end ter all
things, en- when your gal saved my
ioie woman from that ther prison down
/ 5at Louisville 1 Itflcocked my gun" and
hhe threw down the old hintIock and
iEstood, head barred and shoulders back.
a fair target. = -
III Crash! sSilas Turner's rifle Law be-
| side it, and the old men turned to the
two who waited there in the gathering
4 shadows, and the horny hands met for
/ the first time in two long lives as old
i Silas laid the other ehand on the red
/ curls: '-Bes, my gel, you wuz ther
| nrSt ter cross the ridge, en- / reckon
4 fks1~4sC 81,