Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-06-17

4
would yo' do itY'
IF did 1 mought get killed myself
| by my own side"
WAL, mawnin' Yo' better keep out
o. this yere feud- Reckon it won't
stop till all the Hoskinses and all the
Greens are killed"
He was walking away when the girl
called to him:
Air yo' Jim GreenT'
What do yo' want to know To-?
Want to give me away"
Not exactly. Tom Hoskins was my
cousin"
The two stood looking at each other
for some time; then the man said:
'T didn't kill him."
"Yo' didn'tY'
"No."
"Who didT'
Reckon I won't tell that. Yo' Hos
kinses think done it, and I'm goin' to
let yo' go on thinkin' that way. least
ways all OF 'em except yo'."
81 don't see what yo' want to git yo'-
self killed 70 when yo' didn't do it"
"'Cause I don't want the one that
done it killed"
''Whar yo' hidin'?'
"Yo' don't want to put yo' people on
to me, do yo'?"
mo; L mought let yo' know If they
| find it OUT
He looked steadily In the girls eyes
for a few moments, then took her
hand in his, saying:
Little gal, I'm goin' to trust yo'. I'm
hidin' in the ravine up on Collins hill
I just come down TO- a bite to eat.
hain't had nothin' since yesterday
mawnin'."
"Yo' hain'tT'
mo"
'If yoIl stay yere I'll go to the house
and git yo' some corn pone and a slice
o. meat"
The hungry look on his face showed
how well he would like to have her
do what she proposed.
"Shore nobody III git on to it?' he
asked.
'TlI be keerful. Go into that thicket
thar and wait"
He went to the thicket. and she went
to the cabin in which she lived with
her parents and her brothers, the latter
all grown. She was the only girl of
the family and was treated with that
condition. Having purloined some
bles, which she hid in the back
of her sunbonnet, she took them to the
man in hiding.
I'm mighty glad to see that" he
said, land yo' too"
why me?"
"Waal, / trusted yo', but as soon as
yo'd gone reckoned yo' mought bring
some O. your people to kill me-"
81 s'pose ort to-" said the girl, with
a panied expression. EFF they'd ketch
me bringin' food to Jim Hoskins they
mought kill me-"
Don't yo' do it no mo-"
He ate what she had brought him,
and while he was doing so she stood
looking at him. She was half girl,
half woman. her dress reaching to her
bare ankles and her hair, cut square,
reaching nearly to her shoulders. Her
eyes were big black ones and were
fixed on this enemy of her kinsmen with
an intensity of interest In which pity
predominated, while now aud again
wave of fear swept over 1t when she
thought of the consequences OF dis
covery both to him and herself.
"Who was it," she asked. that call
ed Tom to his door in the middle of
the night and shot himP
Couldn't tell nobody that"
mot me?"
Again he took her hand and, looking |
at her with strong emotion. said:
"I'n tell you, little girl, if yo'n keep |
the secret"
II will"
ct was my young brother Sam"
There was silence, which the girl |
broke.
'iWhy don't he come out with it2'
Were tryin' to git him away befo'
it's found out. He don't know I'm
standin' in his place"
There was a look in her eyes that |
drew the young mans arm toward her |
and around her waist. A kiss sealed |
the compact between them, a compact
which If discovered would make her
an outcast from her people. Then.
hearing mems voices at the house be
low, they parted, she TO go to her home.
he TO his hiding place on Collins hill.
That night there was a meeting of
the HoskinseS at the house, and the girl,
Eliza Hoskins, listened TO all that was
said. They believed that Jim Green
was hiding in the neignborhood and
formed a plan To divide the territory
into a number of districts, each dis
trict to be thoroughly searched by per
sons designated for the purpose. The
hunt was to begin the next morning
at sunrise and continue till the sus-
pected region had been explored. If
Green was found he was TO be shot
down at once without word Having
laid their plan of campaign, those who
lived elsewhere went home and those
who lived in the house to bed.
When all were asleep Eliza reached
under her bed and. taking up a bun
die she had prepared. went TO her win
dow. The little space in which she
slept was simply partitioned off from
two other compartments, the cabin be
ing but one story. Eliza stepped
steaIthily out of the window and NOV
ed away. The moon was rising, but