The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-24
THF BOY BEHIND THE ROCK.
CIV N. Quad.l

(By NJ. Quad.)
A hollow eyed. gaunt faced woman
of sixty, her hair thin and gray, her
/ hands large and bony and her neck
hardly more than skin and muscle lay
on a bed Of straw in a shacklety old
/ cabin among the hills Of Tennessee
/ She had been slowly dying for a year
I past and she realized it. She would
have died months before but for her
/ will power. She was determined not
4 to die until a certain event occurred.
! Day and night she fought off the grim
/ monster and battled like a savage ami
( few hours away from her on this day,
but she was fighting yet.
| BY and by boy of fourteen entered.
He had rife under his arm and
/ string of squirrels over his shoulder
He was long haired and unkempt and
I understood for his age, but there was
/ CLINT in his eye and a look around his
mouth that told Of courage and deter
mination.
Danny, I was waiting for you-un,
said the mother as the boy unbur-
dened himself and stood looking at her
without sign of emotion in his face.
"Huh?" -s--.
You are fourteen years old TO-DAY.
It is the day we have been waitin' for.
Danny, do you know what your pop
did on his fourteenth birthday?''
KILLED man"
yes Danny, dear. he killed man.
j
zone of the Huylers.'
$50 it was, Danny, so it was. What
did he-un kill one of the Huylers for %
''Kase the Huylers was KILN we
uns.'
That's right We-uns has been
KILN they-unsfor fftyyears. and they
uns has always had a little the best Of
it. There was always more OF 'em.
Danny, do you know I'M goin' to die p
What for ?" stOlidly asked the boy.
7 n Whom
the sun goes down tonight you won't
have no NOM"
The boy moved his feet unsteadily
and looked around, but made no reply.
I'D have died months ago. Danny,
but I was waitin' for today. Today
you are IA years old. Do you-un know
what that means2"
i've got to do as pop did,
That's it, Danny-that's it for shore.
The day your pop was IA he killed Tom
Huyler. Thar's two Huylers left-Bil
and Sam. Bill went by with a grist TO
the mill about two hours ago. He'll
be comm back about 5 o'clock. You-un
VIII do as your pop did, Danny-you-
IN will kill him. When you-un come
home and tell me it's done I'll die hap
by. You-un aren't afeared?"
"Of co'se not"
mo, of co'se not. Whoever knowed a
JimpsOn to be afeared2 'Tain't in the
blood. Mebbe I kin git Jpn skin and
cook them squirrels and mebbe I can't.
II Try my pest, UuL QSabn IS a nara
thing to fight. YOu-un VIII git Bill
Huyler today and arter I'm gone per-
haps yOu-un will git Sam. It would
make me happy up in heaven to hear
it. Sam would be the last of EN-. and
you'd be left to crow over the old Wo
man and the gals. You-un viii trot
right along now, won't you, Danny?"
4 reckon
"You-un will go down the road to the
big rock and hide in the laurel on top
and shoot from there He'll hh q fair
mark as he comes back with the con
meal. YOu-un hain't gOin' to shake and
SILVER when you draw bead on him,
are you, Danny? YOu-un never killed
a man yet, but you hain't gOin to shake
and SILVER and make a clean miss of
1t or only wound him?"
I've shot bars" answered Danny, IN
indignant protest.
$50 you have, and men amt no mo-
to skeer you than bars. No, you won't
shake and shiver. You-un will aim true,
and you-un will leave he-un Whar he
falls and come to tell me. Danny, I'm
dependin on you. I've jest been fight
in off death to see this day"
I'm shore to get he-Un," said the
boy as he touched one of the dead
squirrels on the floor with his bare
toes and pushed the body along a few
inches.
"Of co'se you wilI-of co'se. Bound
to do it. The Huylers have killed
your grandfather, your pop and your
| brother John, and you-un hain't one
to stand that. It's time to be goin'.
and mebbe you-un would like to kiss
nom befO' yo' co.
The boy hesitated and looked down
on the floor, and with the big toe of
| his right foot he drew a circle in the
dirt. After a long minute he slowly
advanced and printed a cold kiss on
her pale forehead. She smiled family
and said:
Il cant remember when before.
Mebbe it's sorter foolish, but I'm
feelin' mighty weak and womanish to-
day. Now run along. I'll be lookin
for you when the sun gifts down to the
top of the big chestnut. Lived right
we're and locked at that big chestnut
every day for the last fifty years. Don't
shake and shiver, Danny. Your nom
wouldn't never own you for son If
yoU did"
The rifle was leaning against the
wall. The boy reached out for it. and
leaving the squirrels where he had
dumped them down. and without an
other look at the woman on the bed,
| he turned and walked away. He went
out to the rough highway and then
walked down to the rock she had
spoken of. The people had no name
I I0r It. but It should have been called
The Rock OF Blood. -Four men had
been killed from ambush right there.
In three minutes Danny was hidden in
\ the thicket on its top and was peering
| down the highway. An hour later,
4 when Bill Huyler strapped his corn
meal on the back of his mule at the
mill, three miles away and made ready
( to return home, the miller loosely said
/ to him:
Better be on the watch. Bill
who for?''
They say that young cub of a limp
/ son is CROWN up
To he'll with the babyY'
He-un kin ambush"
80 kin a rabbit"
For two hours Danny waited. He
was cool and calm and he smiled at the
idea of his shaking and shiverire. He
was no more excited than as If beating
up the woods for squirrels. He heard
/ every noise about him in the forest-he
saw chipmunks crossing the road rods
/ away, but there was one thing he missed.
! a rhLInda.- sto.-.,,