The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-09-24

proportion.
We will leave Bud on the plank
above the loom for awhile and go IN
side. These ruthless invaders were
playing high jinks, breaking open bu-
reau drawers and emptying trunks Of
their contents. The old cupboard was
riddled. One OF the Yankees : took
the feather beds out of doors and
ripped them open. while another
spilled the straw ticks out Oh the
floor, hunting for gold. All these peo-
pie of Dutch Fork had gold, but Tena
was too sharp for the intruders. At
last one of these Yankees entered the
back piazza, whert the piece Of cloth
was still upon the loorn. That was a
fatal step, especially as Solomon lay
50 near.
"Hello. boys! Here is good truck
for saddle blankets. the very thing
live been wanting."
And the guilelesS Federal soldier
pulled forth a pocket knife, and was
in the very act Of cutting out length
or two of Tena 5 cloth. Now, right
there all dates cross. Time has been
reckoned back and forth from this
instant. Only Solomon 5 version has
been handed down TO posteritv. But.
anyway. just as the Yankee was in the
act Of cutting this treasured cloth.
something WAS showed into his face,
with an exclamation:
"U-m. don't YOU do that;
Right then all records cease. 1t has
been a disputed point from that day
to this, not only in the Fundelwinder
household, but in all the neighbor-
hood and throughout the whole OF
Dutch Fork. Whether Bud leaned
too far over. and the planks tilted up,
or whether he, in the stress Of excite
ment, fired, on seeing his red jacket
about to be cut. twill never be
known. Some say one way, and some
say another No nicer problem could
ever be devised for a fight than to
advance either theory and attempt to
maintain it. Anyhow, just as the
knife was about to enter the cloth,
a report came. Tena said afterwards
she thought Saint Domingo had sunk.
But. great grief! what noise! Pans
and tin plates danced jig on the ta-
BILE. the old peacock began his shrill
pea-hoy! pea-hoy. chairs and tables
ratified. Polly gave one long heart
rending groan, and Tena uttered her
time-honored. ''for the love Of Heav-
en-, Bud!"
Iena remembered she had seen
Bud just as she entered the house,
and, somehow, she connected that re-
port with Bud, and that's why she
pinched Polly and cried out: "Tht
Christ jimmy, the house is falling. "
But it wasn't. What that Yankee saw
was plenty. Arms and legs waving
overhead, like some moving machine,
the earth trembling and the whole
house swaying back and forth, then a
great shout of a blood-thirsty rebel
not two feet from him, his eyes blood
shot and guilty, with a pistol! On! 1t
turned his blood to ice. Then that
report! The sinking of Reelfoot Lake
was not a circumstance! But and all
the planks were atop of him, and
then oblivion. The Yankees in the
yard and the women in the house,
Tena says, stood as stock still as II
old Hundwindle Settler had put
spell upon them. Then shrek came
from the back piazza. No, it WASH t a
shried, it was more Of moan. Polly
swore she thought it was Ben
Schmitt's ghost. But the three men
reached for their horses, and the
fourth came forth with limp bye and
bye. The last horse was hltched to
the corner post, and before his rider
could unite, his companions vert fly
inc madly down the road. This last
man had left his hat, his knife, and
his cloth. but when ne did leap into
the saddle he didn't reach for the
bride reins. The stirrups flew up and
down. The soldier sat as a knot on
his horse, and was making lightning
speed to overtake his comrades. Just
as the squad was passing old Gunner
lander's where old man Andrew
George, Record, and Henry kunkie
had congregated, one Of the men call
ed back to his comrade:
"Say. John, who in the hell fired
that camon?">