The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1912-04-10

Pegloe promptly had a sinking spell.
He recalled the shutting Of tie can
dies by the judge, an extremely de-
pressing memory under the circuin-
stances; also the reckless and head
long disregard OF consequences which
had characterized so many OF that
gentleman's acts, and his plans
shaped themselves accordingly, with
this result; that when the judge took
occasion to call at the tavern, and the
hostile nature OF his visit was en-
phasized by the cautious manner of
his approach, he was greatly shocked
to discover that his intended victim
had sold his business overnight for a
small lump sum to Mr. Sauls brother
in-law, who had appeared most op-
portunely with an offer.
PegIoe's flight created something OF
a sensation, but it was dwarfed by
the sensation that developed a day or
so later when it became known that
Tom Ware and Colorel Fentress had
likewise fed the country. Still later,
Fentress' body, showing marks of vio-
lence, was washed ashore at a wood
yard below Girard. 1t was conjec-
tured that he and Ware had set out
from The Oaks to cross the river:
there was reason to believe that Fen
tress had in his possession at the
time considerable sum of money,
and it was supposed that his COM
panion had murdered and robbed him.
OF Wares subsequent career nothing
was ever known.
These were, after all, only episodes
in the collapse Of the Clan, sporific
manifestations Of the great work OF
disintegration that was going forward
and which the judge, more than any
other, perhaps, had brought about.
This was something no one ques-
toned, and he quickly passed to the
first phase Of that unique and peculiar
esteem in which he was ever after
held. His fame widened with the sue
ceeding suns; he had offers of help
which impressed him as so entirely
creditable to human nature that he
quite lacked the heart to refuse them,
especially as he felt that in the i'm
provement of his own condition the
world had bettered itself and was
moving nearer those sound and right
eous ideals of morality and patriotism
which had never lacked his hldorse-
ment, no matter how inexpedient it
had seemed for him to put them into
practice. But he was not diverted
from his ultimate purpose by the
glamour of a present popularity; he
was able to keep his bleared eyes
resolutely fixed on the main chance,
namely the Fentress estate and the
Quintard lands. 1t was highly i'm
portant that he should go east to
South Carolina to secure documentary
evidence that would establish his own
and Fentress' identity; to Kentucky,
where Fentress had lived prior to his
coming to Tennessee.
Early in November the judge set
out by stage on his journey east; he
was accompanied by Yancy and Han
nibal, from neither of whom could he
bring himself to be separated; and as
the woods, flaming now with the
torch of frost, engulfed the little
town, he turned in his seat and looked
back. He had entered it by that very
road, a beggar on foot and in rags; he
was leaving it in broadcloth and fine
linen, visible tokens of his altered
fortunes. More than this, he could
trust his hands deep down into his
once empty pockets and hear the
clink of gold and silver. The judge
slowly withdrew his eyes from the
last gray roof that showed among the
trees, and faced the east and the fu-
ture with a sereneIy confident ex-
preston.