The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1911-07-20
TALE or THE NlILDS
By 7. r. BARROWS.

for a motor car, but some miSunder-
standing, some misplaced cog In the
excellent arrangements made for the
transportation of the newspaper men,
compells them to ride in a agon-
etter, of ancient lineage, drawn by
good horses with the best driver in
the mountins. Being philosophers
the four friends, for Taylor, the Jehu.
soon satisfies the scribes of his rignt
to be admitted un~reserved1y to .lteir.
bosoms, find much consolation. in The
fact that they are seated in a
massively built albeit somewhat
springless conveyance. They ahree-
thatswhat it lacked IN
style is made up by solidity
and SO, stretching their tired legs as
far Is the rather close seats permit,
they give the word and r away to-
wards Blowing Rock, 400 feet high
er than the beach at Wrightsville.
The macadam road is an mutation
to fast travel, and Taylor, the Jehu,,
urges his sturdy horses forward. The
highway leads through a wide and
pleasant valley, made fertile by the
Yadkin. The Editorial Writer sug-
gests that this must be the Happy Val
ley whose barrier was cen from Hi
briten, but the driver gently %corrects
him. However, the Editor and the
Public Official agree between them
! selves that some day, they hopeful
ly sigh, they will relinquish politics
and newspapers and the world, and
make here their future home, they re-
peat the statement at some twenty
different points along the road before
reaching Blowing Rock, the Editorial
Writer mildly suggests that the final
selection of their homes may be a task
Of some magnitude.F
About halfway between Lenoir and
| Blowing Rock is; Patterson, mainly a
large mill for the weaving of cotton
and wooden cloths, and a general
store, where was purchased a lunch
| con of devilled ham and sweet cakes
Ia rare and unhappy combination
A fleeing glimpse of pretty, but not
pert girls at the mill windows, makes
more pleasant the next half>hourS
Journey as the stout horses settled
themselves to the long, steady climb
of the mountains. The valley, broad
and open to this point, gradually
changes it's asnect and becomes mar
row and ~forbidding. The mountains
on either side close in and at places
give ~grudgingly scant passageWay.
| At times only a black and forDldd1ng
wall OF monstrous height faces them
and no outlet seems possible. Inc
road twists and turns, and turns
twists, seeking its sinuous way De-
tween almost overhanging masses OF
granite. Finally, leaving q miles
wide amphitheatre, il leads through a
narrow defile, lark, and foam1ng
mountain torrent, far below, sharing
with the road the cant space OF the
PEI.
! r~e oou~try nee o becomes
~pe 'eascnt farm houses, many
cNi1- ou nd '0ne ~sen leaning on long
ri e. are eer A rabbit darts into
tho ~: ) >stitotes, jumps back into
he ~c~r'v Ct tho u~nderbush n rus
yes away. The Editor-ef-the-Best
! News~aner looks relieved and remarks
+Hat lad bunny crossed the road 10
the left he surely would have allgnted
from the wagonette, made a cross in
the middle of the road and spat in
r.an centre. Oh! no, he is not super
stitious-not in the least, but.
A waterfall tumbling down from the
far top of the m~ountatns1de, splash
ing and suffering its way underneath
me we'll Dul-I TGdu III dining
depths of the valley below is an in
viting spot for luncheon. The driv-
or saws it is Hershels Falls. The
information is received with no en-
thusiam and the waterfall is rechris-
! tened Minnehaha as being more In
keeping with it's joy-impelilng laugh
ter: The cans of potted han are op-
e.ed and t cir contents spread upon
A. -0o@ ooloc Tho unnSI1Ql com
bination tastes delicious, but the re-
suits are later sadly disastrous to at
least one member of the party. But
it is getting late and the narrow road
is dangerously close to the precipice
whose cheer walls r a thousand feet
high. The forest-coEeFed slopes OF
the mountains are dark, still, myster1-
GUS, and the exchange of thoughts
amongst the friends has ceased! The
5arkling rkr reflects the radiant at
terglow of. the sun, long since drop
ped behind some unknown peak, the
lengthening shadows of night are fall
ing over a sleeping world. A gllm-
re- CT light in q cabin resting on an
almost inaccoe~ible ledge in h shad-
ow-fiIled valley, and the timidly ap-
earring handles of the sky are warn
ing to Taylor, the Jehu, to haste7.
Night draws her sober mantle over the
tired earth and the scene is set for
the tale of the driver.
He tells of a black night when he
travelled the road alone, with a dead
man for companion. He points to the
dreadful abyss yawning below them
as he gives his story-and sh1vers
His sseng had been a ruthless
man q man who had DESTROYED an
other. 1t was at this turn in the mar
row road that he felt all was not vel
and as he recites his tale silence falls
heavily upon the little party. AT las
the Editorial Writer, intent on the
spIendor of the star strewn heavens
points out the radiant Northern Gross
and many less familiar consultations
of the heavenly bodies. His lecture
on the popular astronomy interests al
and fixes their attention until the sum
Il NIT of the mt is almost reached