Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-02-02
CHAPTER XII-CoNU1NUED.

SI1AI En- -Sf(NS14NSHD'
The two companions now galloped
towards the higher ground of the ad-
jacent country.
By the time they had gained the
summit of a long hill that rose imme-
diately from the plain Of the river,
Robinson appraised Butler that they
were now in the vicinity Of Adairs s
dwelling. The sun had sunk below the
horizon, and the varied 'lustre Of early
twilight tinged the surrounding seem
cry with its own beautiful colors. The
road, as 1t wound upwards gradually
emerged from the forest upon tract
Of open country, giving signs Of one
of those original settlements which, at
that day, were sparsely sprinkled
through the great wilderness. The
space that had been snatched from the
ruggedness of nature, for the purpose
OF husbandry, comprehended some
three or four fields of thinly cultivated
land. These were yet spotted over
with stumps of trees that seemed to
leave but little freedom to the course
Of the ploughshare, and bespoke q
thriftless and slovenly tillage. A piece
Of half cleared ground, occupying the
side OF one Of the adjacent hills, pre-
sented to the eye of our travellers yet
more uncouth spectacle. This spot was
still clothed with the native trees Of
the forest, all of which had been death
stricken by the axe, and now heaved
up their withered and sapless branches
towards the heavens, without leaf or
spray. In the phrase Of the woodman,
they had been girdled some years be-
FORE and were destined to await the
slow decay Of time in their upright at
titude. It was a grove Of huge skele-
tons that had already been bleached
into an ashy hue by the sun, and
whose stiff and dry members ratified in
the breeze with a preternatural harsh
ness. Amongst the most hoary Of
these victims of the axe, the gales Of
winter had done their work and
thrown. them to the earth, where the
shattered boles and boughs lay as they
ldu IdNlcll, anu "cIS SlO"ly lSNCl Nli5
into their original dust. Others, whose
appointed time had not yet been full
filed, gave evidence Of their struggle
with the frequent storm. by their de-
clination from the perpendicular line.
Some had been caught in falling by the
boughs of a sturdier neighbor, and
still leaned their huge bulks upon
these supports. awakening the mind
of the spectator to the fancy that they
had sunk in some deadly paroxysm
into charitable and friendly arms, and
thus locked together, abided their tar
dy but irrevocable doom. 1t was a
field of the dead; and the more strik-
ing in it's imaginary from the contrast
which it furnished to the rich, ver-
durous, and lively forest that, with all
the joyousness of health, encompassed
this blighted spot Its aspect was one
Of unpleasant desolation; and the trav-
eler of the present day who visits our
western wilds where this slovenly prac-
tice is still in use, will never pass
through such a precinct without a
sense of disgust at the designation of
the landscape.
The field thus marred might have
contained some fifty acres, and it was
now occupied, in the intervals between
the lifeless trunks, with a feeble crop
of Indian corn, whose husky and
parched blades, as they fluttered In the
evening wind, added new and appro-
pirate feature to the ineXpressible
raggedness of the scene. The same
effect was further aided and preserved
by the cumbrous and unseemly worm
fence that shot forth it's stiff angles
around the tract.
On the very apex of the hill up which
our travellers were now clambering,
was an enclosure of some three or four
acres of land, in the middle of which,
under the shade of a tuft of trees stood
a group Of log cabins so situated as
to command a view of nearly every
part of the farm. The principal struc-
ture was supplied with a rude porch
that covered three Of it's sides; whilst
the smoke that curled upwards from a
wide -mouthed chimney, and the ac-
compartment Of bevy Of little ne
groes that were seen scattered
amongst the outhouses, gave an air of
habitation and life to the place that
contrasted we'll with the stiffness of the
neighboring wood. A well beaten path
led into a narrow ravine where might
be discerned, peeping forth from the
weeds, the roof Of spring house; and,
in the same neighborhood, a rough
garden was observable, in which a bed
of broad-leaved cabbages seemed to
have their ground disputed by plen-
tiful crop of burdock, thistles, and
other intruders upon a manured soil.
In this enclosure. also, the hollyhock
and sunflower, rival coxcombs of the
vegetable community, gave their broad
and garish tribute to the beautifying
of the spot.
The road approached within some
fifty PAGES of the front of the cabins,
where access was allowed. not by the
help of a gate. but only by a kind of
ladder or stile formed of rails. which
were so arranged as to furnish steps
across the barrier of the worm feHce
at four or five feet from the ground.
Are you sure of entertainment here
Galbraith?" inquired Butler as they
halted at the stile. This Wat Adair
is not likely to be churlish. l hope?"
II don't think l am in much humor
to be turned away" replied Robinson
ITS my opinion that a man who has
rode a whole day has a sort of right to
quarters wherever the night finds him
providing he pays for what he gets
But l have no doubt of Wat. major
Holloa! who's at home? Wat Adair!
Wat Adair! Travellers. man! Show
yourself"
who are you that keep such rack
ct at the fence there" demanded
female voice. What do you mean by
such doings before a peaceable house"
Keep your dogs silent, ma'am," re-
turned Horse Shoe. in blunt and louc
KEY. "and you will hear us. If yor
E