Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1907-07-18

cowardly sneak of a Doctor hadn't"
"Stop!" The eyes that could fill
with tears could also flash with quick
resentment. There isn't man in the
state who deserves that less than Doc
tor Hearst, and you know it. He came
here and went practicing his profess
sion when the mountain guns were
kissing like rattlesnakes, and when the
feuds are on their threats fail to keep
him from caring for both sides alike.
He doesn't back his bravery with
whiskey and pistols, either, for every
body in Breathitt county knows that
he never even carries a pocket knife.
It's the man In him that goes quietly
where others have to shoot their way
through
The good and the bad-the two ele-
ments that were forever waging war
in Daw Simpleton's heart-suddenly
fought to finish.
"Ken, are you quite sure you are
going to marry him? may not be
much of fortune teller, but predict
that instead Of marrying him you will
II.
The girl laughed low, happy laugh.
'Why not say the mountains will be
leveled into valleys in the same length
of time, while you are about It? One
is quite as likely to happen as the
other"
We'll, it all depends on how much
of the mountain spirit you've got. 1t
has been Ben Garrettsons boast for
years that his daughter is the best
shot IN the country, and that she stood
as ready as son to defend him-to
kill the man who injured her father"
She nodded her head. 1T is true.
When my mother died, daddy quit the
feuds, destroyed his stills. and has
tried to live right ever since He is
old now, and not able to defend him.
self, but his daughter is both able and
willing, and the man who raises his
hand against him must answer to her
for it,
mo one, looking into the earnest
young face, could have doubted the
genuine grit that backed her assertion.
HE doesn't like Hearst?"
mo; that is my one sorrow. 1 have
often seen Harry's face go white at
the jeering things daddy sometimes
says to him, but he has promised me
he will never quarrel with my father"
Daw Simpleton's supreme hour had
come.
Your idol can break his promise
&C nfh ho oh ~
Ben Garrettson dead not more than
twenty minutes ago."
A sharp pain made its way through
the depths of the mans degradation
as he saw the small brown hands grasp
a snowy whiteness steal over the
pretty face.
Charlie Garrettson, a delicate blue.
eyed boy who had crept into the en-
brace of his sisters arm, looked up
into her face with quick apprehension.
He petted the hand on the gate for q
moment with his own wee ones, than
went back to the house with hop,
skip and jump that spells boy the
| world over.
! Kentucky's voice was quite steady
when she AIDED: "Where and what
for?"
1t was characteristic Of the man that
she no more doubted his word than she
would have doubted the evidence OF
her own eyes. His faults were many
but 1t had always been said of Daw
Simpleton that nothing would induce
him to lie.
''At Gontier's saw-mill-he called
Hearst a coward
Good by Daw. You must go now
I've got man to kill, and my father
to bury-quite enough work for one
small woman in one day, is it not?'
All the soft gentleness seemed to have
fallen from her. Her step was firm
and her head thrown proudly erec
as she walked back to the house.
Charlie watched her with anxious
eyes as she picked up a pistol lyins
on the table and examined it.
| why, Charlie, my pistol is not. lead
ed. l didn't think you ever failed t
keep it in trim
"Must I load it now, sis?" Their
was note of agony in the boys voice
"No, my Winchester will do as well
maybe better--it's sure"