The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-11
The RaId.

From "rhe Moonshine," in Success Mag
 azizne.
 A half hour of silence and gray FOX trotted along the edge of the road' ano' as he came opposite the first match ne stopped and stiffened at the tresh oioou smell. and his brush went down between his legs as he nosed from match 'o match, anon throwing up his heao "ltn nostrils open and ears wide-Dointeo. All at once. for no perceptible reason and vi. m apparent effort, he sprang ike bent spring into the bushes ana dlsap- peared. and q second or two atterWaruS a. bobtailed, hairy pointed wild cat, the 'slvnx,' of the southern mountalheer' dropped softly in the same spot archeu bie hack and uttered q soft 'r-r-r-r-r as he scented the man-smell' ana then crouched and listened. Minutes passed before there came any strange souuu audible to human ears, and then IL was the strike of horse hoofs on stone-tar ostant. going away and rising again with the wind and the turns of the road, but steadily increasing at each break until there mingled also the croak and rustic of saddle and cloth, and the wild cat sidled into and became one Wltn the darkness of the bushes. as dozen men in single file rode gently up and halted.
 ."rhe mouth of the Gap s only about hundred feet further on. just around this little bend" was the whispered comment of the leader as the drew together "RiI. you're best at tracking, suppose you sIip down and see if you find any trace of our friend between here or at the NGap." Coon Billy appeared spectraily out of the shadows and reported, Not sign or any kind" The leader heayed sigh of relief as he said:
 Well I guess we've beat him so far, an now it's an even race in. I was go- ing to leave a couple of you here to hold him up, but I reckon it isn't needful, and I may need you all. Now. little slow and careful, for it's as dark as a pocket fin the Gap. and it's full of loose rock Readyy
 Three miles ahead of them man with ashen face gritted teeth and shortened breath. holding broken arm close to his side to keep it from swinging, stumbled up tre steps of cabin door while he kicked weakly at one or two dogs who threatened him. A few min utes afterward bright-faced youth swung out of the lane and into the road, riding bareback on a lively little mare an with shining rifle in his hands, and as he went, ike streamers from sl<yrocket braucufug and branching in every direction, went others, started by him until the whole Five Valley were awake and astir. And along deep ravines in sheltered wooded holIows. underneath i, sawmfIls and little water-turned grist- mills were men-and sometimes women and children putting out fires, dis rrantIing and hiding stills, scutttng mash tubs. or, more sinister still. were loophoIes in them-and one and all had rifles which they kept close beside them. For the ''pheeaII!' of raid was in the air-a great raid many .'Rev'noors" -some said fftyI-and the Five Valleys, long immune from such, harked back many years to the last one, when there was death and absence in many homes the older ones with bitter memories of loss and destFuction, the younger ones fired with the idea of revenge and re- prisaI or looking at it as froIic And all from the letter of q jealous woman!