The Huttig news., 1915-03-13

1 of. Elf this boy goes ter town he won't never git into no cote. He'll be murdered"
 The officer held out his hand.
 As man to man." he said, T pledge 1 you my word that no one shall take him except by process of law Pm not working for the Holmans or the Pur- vys. I know their breed"
 For a space old South looked into the soldiers eyes and the soldier looked back
 "Ill take yore handshake on thet bargain" said the mountaineer, grave ly. "Tam'rack," he added, in a voice of finality, we've got ter go.'
 The officer had meant what he said. He marched his prisoner into Hixon at the center of hollow square, with muskets at the ready. And yet, as the boy passed into the courthouse yard, with soldier rubbing elbows on each side, a cleanly aimed shot sounded from somewhere. The smokeless pow der told no tale. and with blue shirts and army hats circling him, Tamarack fell and died
 That afternoon one of Hollman's henchmen was found lying in the road with his lifeless face in the water of the creek. The next day, as old Spicer South stood at the doer of his cabin, a rife parked from the hillside, and he fell, shot through the left shoulder by bullet intended for his heart All this while the troops were helplessly camped at HiXon. They had power and inclination to go out and get men, but there was no man to get.
 The Hollmans had used the soldiers as far as they wished; they had made them pull the chestnuts out of the fire and Tamarack Spicer out of his stronghold They now refused to swear out additional warrants.
 A detail had rushed into Hollman's store an instant after the shot which killed Tamarack was fired Except for woman buying 9 card of buttons and a fair-haired clerk waiting on her, they found the building empty.
 l. Back beyond, tie hills were impene- trable, and answered no questions.
 Old Spicer South would ten years ago have put a bandage on his wound and gone about his business, but now 1 he tossed under his patchwork quilt and Brother Spencer expressed grave doubts for his recovery. With his ! counsel unavailab ble Vile McCager, by common consent, assumed something like the powers of regent and took upon himself the duties to which Sam son should have succeeded.
 That Holman should have been able to elude the pickets and penetrate the heart of South territory to Spicer Souths cabin was both astounding and alarming. The war was on without question now, and there must be coun cil. Vile McCager had sent out sum. mons for the family heads to meet that afternoon at his mill. It was Sat urday-"mill day''-and in accordance with ancient custom the lanes would be more travelled than usual.
 Those men who came by the wagon road afforded no unusual spectacle, for behind each saddle sagged a sack of grain. Their faces bore no stamp of unwonted excitement. but every man balanced a rife across his pom mel None the less, their purpose was grim, and their talk when they had gathered was to the point.
 Old McCager, himself sorely per plexed, voiced the sentiment that the others had been too courteous to ex- press. With Spieer South bed-ridden and Samson a renegade they had no adequate leader. McCager was solid man of intrepid courage and honesty, but grinding grist was his vocation, not strategy and tactics. The enemy had such masters of intrigue as Purvy and Judge Holman.
 Then a lean sorrel mare came jog ging into view, switching her fiy-bitten tail, and on the mares back, urging i him with a long, leafy switch, sat a woman. Behind her sagged the two l loaded ends of a corn sack. She was 1.-the and slim, and her violet eyes were profoundly serious, and her lips were as resolutely set as Joan of Arcs might have been, for Sally Miller had come only ostensibly to have her corn ground to meal. She had really come to speak for the absent chief, and she knew that she would be met with deri- sion. The years had sobered the girl but her beauty had increased, though it was now chastened type, which gave her strange and rather exalted refinement of expression.
 Vile McCager came to the mill door as she rode up and lifted the sack from her horse.
 "Howdy. Sally" he greeted.
 "Tolable, thank ye," said Sally I'm goin ter get off.
 As she entered the great half-lighted room, where the mill stones creaked on their cumbersome shafts, the hum of discussion sank to silence The girl nodded to the mountaineers gath cred in conclave, then, turning to the miller, she announced:
 Pm going to send for Samson"
 The statement was at first met with dead silence, then came a rumble of indignant dissent, but for that the