The Southern herald., 1916-04-07
CHAPTER xxIl-contlnued.

the hills that spring, and was every
where received as home folks" FoI
him there were no bars Of distrust
and he was able for that reason to buv
land right and left. Though he had
paid for 1t price above the average
1t was 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 MI.
Trevor. Neither did they know at
once that he had visited the cabins OF
every malcontent among both the for
mer factions, and that he was a mis-.
chiefmaker adroltly laying here in the
hills the foundations for new feud.
jim had bland tongue and a 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 koger Malcolm.
Juanita did not realize how much
she was leaning ON the strength OF
Anse Havey, 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 it would do. and she believed
that Anse Havey must be, in his heart,
converted, even though his mountain
obstinacy would not let him say 80.
Then, while the hillsldes were 10y.
GUS with spring. came squad of lads
with transit and chain, who began
running tentative line through the
land that Jim Fletcher had bought.
Anse HaVey watched them grimIy
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, 'ye mustn't cross
that fence. This is my land, an / 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
rnododendron, 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 rifle spoke 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 I
associated with the states best ira
ditions. a
1t had run in a strong, bright thread !
through the pattern of Kentucky's /
achievements, and when news of the c
"anton assassination came home, the b
state awoke to a shock of horror The
lnfamy of the hills was screamed In b
echo to the mourning, and the name Il
Oh Bad Anse Havey was once more +
printed in large type. n
Ihe men whose capital sought to b
Wrest profit from the hills, and whose Il
employee had been slain, were quick
% take advantage of this hue and cry q
If calumny. =
Fhey hurled themselves into the {,
ight for gaining possession Of coveted Il
and and were not particular as to Il
Methods. +
Jim Fletcher came and went con- Il
'tantly between the lowlands and o.
highlands. He was all things to all t.
men, and In the hills he cursed the fs
oWlander, but in the lowland he Vi
'ursed the hills. Milt and Jeb and IL
Anse rode constantly from cabin to ia
aDin in their efforts to circumveut IL
ne adroit schemes of the mountain
uoas who had sold his soul to the a
owland syndicate. Ii
Fletcher sought foothold for CAM. SC
81 TO pierce fields acquired at the hI
rice OF undeveloped land and then U
take the profit of development 10
-nse sought to hold title until the sv
aies could be on a fairer basis, and m
the Issue was made up. til
Capitalists. like Malcolm, who sat in OF