Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-03-24
CHAPTER xxIl-continued.

ton and Winchester trading in cattle
and timber. made a journey through
the hills that spring. and was every
where received as home folks" Fol
him there were no bars Of distrust
and he was able for that reason to buy
land right and left. Though he had
paid for 1t a price above the average
1t wa a price far below the value Of
the coal and timber it contained
and Jim had picked his land.
: Anse Havey and his associates knew
that Jim Fletcher had been subsidized
that the money he spent so lavishly
was not his own money: and that he
came as a stalking-horse. but they did
not know that he had been to Louis.
Vile and had conferred there with Mr..
Trevor. Neither did they know at
once that he had visited the cabins o!
every malcontent among both the for.
mer factions. and that he was O mis-.
chiefmaker adroitly laying here in the
hills the foundations for a new feud.
Jim had a bland tongue and q per
suasive manner, and he talked to the
mountain men in their own speech.
but he was none the less the advance
agent OF the new enemy from down
below: the personal fulfllment OF
Juanita's prophecy to Roger Malcolm.
Juanita did not realize how much
she was leaning on the strength OF
Anse Hayey. how she depended on
him for counsel and encouragement,
which he gave not In behalf of the
school. but because he was the school
teachers slave. She saw the little
hospital rise on the hill and thought
OF what 1t would do, and she believed
that Anse Havey must be, in his heart,
converted, eve though his mountain
obstinacy would not let him say SO.
Then, while the hillsides we're Joy.
GUS with spring, came a squad of lads
with transit and chain, who began
running a tentative line through the
land that Jim Fletcher had bought.
Anse Havey watched them grimly
with folded arms, but said no word
until they reached the boundary OF his
own place.
There he met them at the border.
Boys" he said. I'VE mustn't cross
that fence. This is my land, an I for
bids ye."
Their foreman argued.
We only want to take the measure
ments necessary to complete our line,
Mr.. Havey. We won't work any in.
jury"
Anse shook his head.
Come in. boys, an eat with me an
make yourselves at home" he told
them. but leave your tools outside"
Men from the house patrolled the
boundary with rifles and the young
men were forced to turn back.
But later they drew near the house
of old Bob McGreegor, and he, steal.
ing down to the place In the thicket Of
rhodOdendron, saw them perilously
near the trickling stream which even
then bore on its surface little kernels
OF yellow corn. Deeply and violently
old Bob swore as he drank from his
little blue keg. and when one day he
saw them again he asked counsel of
no man. He went down and crept
close through the laurel, and when his
old rife spoke a %schoolboy from the
Blue Grass fell dead among the rocks
of the water course.
After that death, the first murder Of
an innocent outsider. the war which
Anse Havey had so long foreseen
broke furiously and brought the or.
ders Of upland and lowland to the
grip Of bitter animosity.
Old McGreegor's victim had been
young Roy Calvin. the son of Judge
Calvin of Lexington, and the name Of
Calvin in central Kentucky was one
associated with the states best ira
ciitions.
1t had run In q strong. bright thread
through the pattern Of Kentucky's
achievements. and when news of the
fwanton assassination came home, the
state awoke to a shock Of horror. The
Iinfamy of the hills was screamed in
echo to the mourning, and the name
II Bad Anse Havey was once more
| printed in large type.
I The men whose capital sought to
m,rest profit from the hills, and whose
employee had been slain, were quick
10 take advantage Of this hue and cry
bf calumny.
They hurled themselves into the
hight for gaining possession Of coveted
land and we're not particular as to
methods.
Jim Fletcher came and went cor
Itantly between the lowlands and
highlands. He was all things to all
hen, and in the hills he cursed the
bwlander, but In the lowland he
Iursed the hills. Milt and Jeb and
lnse rode constantly from cabin to
hbin in their efforts to circumvent
he adroit schemes of the mountain
midas who had sold his soul to the
bwland syndicate.
WFletcher sought a foothold for CAPT.
vi to pierce fields acquired at the
rice of undeveloped land and then
take the profit of development.
.nse sought to hold title until the