Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1912-06-20

meaning perfectly apparent. II was
the unyielding hate of savugery. long
brooding over past wrongs. lnvoiun-
tarily glanced about into the fringe
of woods.
sis Donald about here then?"
who. big Jem Donald? Sure.
hain't We never heard O. himy'
shook my head. hoping thus to
lead him on to his story.
What is the special trouble between
you and this Big Donald Daniels?"
Darn ii know whar it started" he
acknowledged. as though the thought
came to him almost as n surprise 1T
was fore my dads time. | reckon. an.
seems ter me it was over a lot O. hawgs
tibet got rootin' up some corn down on
Rock crick Thet's whar Their Dau-
ielSes an Donalds lived in them DAYS
but blame II know which one owned
Their corn an which owned ther hawgs.
Their Donalds' in them days he'd fine
plantation. with big house on it. an
maybe hundred slaves Their Dan.
telses was alters pore, but thar was a
monstrous lot o. US scattered long Rock
crick, an when they went gunnin' fer
ther Donalds they gin'rally got 'em.
All ! know is tibet when come long,
bout hundred years later. Their Don:
aids was Twin in a log shack back o.
Bald mountain an Their fight was still
goin' on. My dad was shot down at
Milliken Bend by one. o. ther crowd
when was eight year old; then my
brother got Oh man Donald somewhar
on ther trail an filled him full o.
buckshot Their next thing they set
fire to our house when nobody but
man was to hum. She shot into ther
bunch and got away with broken
arm, hidin' out In ther bush fer a
week. Then Their Danielses rode over
ter Bald mountain. an we come pretty
near putin Their Donald tribe outer
business. until gang o. 'em ambus.
,caded us one night in Their bottoms.
got two bullets In tibet fracas. an my
brother was killed.
Bout tibet time Their war broke out.
Darned If l keered which side licked
III Their war. but Jem Donald come out
fer Their Confeds. an so went in fer
Their Union. Waal. we fought it out yere
fer maybe six months. but Their odds
was all with his outfit; thar wasn't
many Danielses left able ter tote q
gun. an finally skipped out and fined
Buell."
"The secession sentiment was strong
through this section. suppose?"
''Waal, l don't know bout tibet. Their
mountain men mostly didn't care
much; mighty few o 'em owned any
niggers. But ther gentry was with
ther secessionists, an Big Donald alters
kinder naturally belonged to thetbunch.
I've heern tell as how Jem Donald's
wife was Denslow."
This mention of the name Of Dens-
low brought up before me instantly
the face of the young girl whom had
left a few hours before. So she also
was. in a way. connected with this
fierce mountain feud that had cost so
many lives. had reason to know she
was Of fighting blood.
Coulter's Landing was apparently
deserted Of all inhabitants. Back
along the opposite shore we could see
the dust cloud rising above the col
umn of advancing cavalry. A few
brief orders scattered my nondescript
command to right and left, Daniels
and riding alone along the road lead.
ing up toward the ridge, watchful that
the others covered thoroughly the
country on either side of us. We were
mile in advance when Wilson'S men
first began taking water at the ford.
The knowledge OF what our rapid
movement meant gave zest to this adj
vance scouting. observed how old
Daniels eyes narrowed like those of
cat as he scanned the hills. For the
first time he became revealed to me
as savage. living merely for revenge.
merciless and unforgiving. To him
the war was only u greater feud. bring
ing with it long sought opportunity
for vengeance against his enemies.
His keen eyes first observed the sig
nal OF some discovery waved back
from scout far away to the left, who
suddenly tipped a distant ridge. a
mere black dot among the rocks.
what is it. Daniels?"
Ether Teller out thar is wavin' us
over. Hes run up agin something
that's made him need help. reckon
We rode straight across the upland.
side by side. 4 squirting cruelty to keep
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