The Spectator., 1916-01-04

l ic ahSWtl "do q bGllOW Ol rage Old Milt McBriar threw forward his rifle
 Anse looked up and spoke slowly: T reckon it wouldn't profit ye much to harm us, Milt. We ain't armed, an 1t would bring on heap of trouble
 Outside rose an angry chorus of voices. The news that the jail was empty had gone through the crowd
 For time the McBriar stood there debating his next step The town seemed at his mercy. Seemed! That word gave him pause. The way home lay through Havey territory. which might mean twenty miles of solid ambush. Anse Havey sat too quietly for Milts ease of mind. Was he bait ing some fresh trap?
 The old intriguer felt bafled and at sea. He had grown accustomed to weighing and calculating with guilefu deliberaton. He baked at swift and impulsive action. Moreover. if he de bated long, he might not be able to control his men. He looked up-to see little Milt, who was fighting back the crowd at the door and locking them out. Beyond the panels could be heard loud swearing and the impa tient shuffling of many feet.
 What shall we do. son?" inquired the older man of the younger. His voice had a note of appeal and break ing power.
 When Young Milt had ridden out of Peril no feudist in the hills had borne heart fuller of hatred and hunger for vengeance, but that was because of his father. Now his father was free. For Luke Thixton he had a profound contempt He saw in the situation only a game of wits in which Anse Havey was winner.
 Well" he replied with a grin he could not repress, Init looks right smart ter me like thar hain't nothin to do but ride on back home an try again next time"
 That counsel in the end prevailed. Outside there had been a short. sharp struggle with mutinous spirit. These men had come for action and they did not want to ride back foled but the word of Old Milt had stood unchal ienged too long to fail now. Yet he led back grumbling following and bore a discounted power. They could not forget that a Havey had worsted him.
 So the spirit of the men who had come to fight vented itself in the yell and the random shots to which there was no reply. and again a train of horsemen were on their way into the hills.
 When 1t was all over and Juanita sat there in her empty school she was realizing that, after all, the desperate moment had only been deferred and must come with absolute certainty. Christmas was only two days off and her gun-rack was empty. When she had come home there had not been a single weapon there.
 There would be no Christmas tree now! The beribboned packages lay in useless pile. Had school been in ses- sion. she knew that the desks would have been as empty as the gun-rack The whole turtlelike life had drawn in it's head and the countryside lay as though besieged.
 On Anse Havey's book shelves were new volumes, for Juanita was feeding his scant supply, and softer type of poetry was being added to his frugal and stern repertoire. A number of men left the mountains and went into exile elsewhere. These were the wit nesses who must testify against Luke ThiXton and whose lives would not have been worth a nickel had they stayed at home.
 Then came Christmas day itself bleak and soggy with the thaw that had set in and the moody dreariness of the sky. The sun seemed to have despaired and made its course spirit lessly from dawn to twilight. crawling dimly across it's daily arc.
 Brother Anse Talbott came over to the school and found both women sit ting alphabetically by an untrimmed fir tree amid a litter of forgotten pack ages. The children of Tribulation were having the sort of Christmas they had always had-a day of terror and empty cheerlessness.
 Hit seems like a right smart pity fer them children ter be plumb tee totally disappinted." unused the old preacher. "S'pose now ye put names on them gewgaws an let me jest sorter ride round an scatter 'em." You dear old saint" cried Juanita. suddenly reused out of her apathy. But you'll freeze to death an get drowned in some ford"
 "Thet's all right" the preacher an swered briefly. Il reckon l kin go ther route."
 It took Good Anse Talbott three days of battle with quicksand and mire to finish that mission At each house he told them that Juanita Hol- land had sent him. and the girl was canonized afresh in hearts old and young. back in roadless coves and on bleak hillsides.