The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1921-08-11

at once. AZ once nrs vAs buf1t ofy
brushwood being used, and IN - I'D
ana fickerins siSpe the faces Of the
hillmen looked doubly DARK and doubly
wicked. Then the Judge begged q
chew Of tobacco and deliberately kept
the whole twist, and told the jury to
20 out and bring back, verdict with
out losing time. 4
The twelve mountaineers rose un-
steadily and went to the creek, and
there one Of them uncovered another
jug Of fiery new whisky that was alien
to q revenue stamp. They drank
heavily and returned to the walnut
tree court without mentioning the
trial.
The foreman was q Torrey, and q
particularly bad one. HIS swArthy
face. with It's high Cherokee cheek
bones and It's thin-lipped mouth. was
ultra-cruel, ultra-vicious He entered
the circle Of red and fiickering dreltght
slowly. smiling evilly, and the other
eleven crowded up close behind him.
He cleared his throat, spat between
two fingers at the fire. and turned to
the Judge.
"Genhemen o the jury" growled
the ruling Ball, "have ye reached q
verdictf'
1--WE have. yore honor" very prompt
ly answered the Torrey who was fore
man. "And we ha' found the pris'ner
guilty o. the wust kind o coldblooded,
premeditated mudder In the fust de-
gree, gore honor"
Old Ball leveled a knetty forennger
toward Bill Dale.
"Fo' the KILN O. my son ADAM"
he pronounced sentence. "you sh'll
hang by the neck ontet dead. from .
limb O. this here warnut tree. by gon-
nies, at sunrise In the mornin'."
Although he had well known what
the sentence would be, Dale went sud-
denly ashen. Then he took q arm
grip on himself and began to reason.
He could not hope, he decided, that
the Morelands and the Littlefords
would fnd him before the sun rose.
They would miss him. of course. and
they would suspect foul play and look
for him; but finding him In that Wild
erness-it was impossible. 1t became
plain to him that he would have to
believed his best chance lay In his
proving that he was anything but a
coward; the worst mountaineer. no
knew. admired brave man.
So he turned slightly toward the
self-appointed Judge and asked calm
ly:
"Is there anything really game
about your"
ashore, by gonniesl" quickly. "Im
all game. I'm the feller at showed
wildcats how to fight. What about
itf"
"rn see II you're all game" Dale
said, and he smiled when he spoke.
"Tll make you this proposition: ri
fight any ten Of you, two at D time.
with Hve minutes rest between fights;
II whip them all I 90 free. and II
don't @-s!I then, all I hang ifnmtdi.
ateiy. Al parties to be barehanded.
no guns and NO knives. Are rev that
gamer u,
Ordinarily, II would have been q
thing well nigh impossible to do, mach
a. Dale knew sf the pugilIstiS III.
great ab was his strength and endar.
ance. But now most Of those about
Dale were drunk and therefore weak
ened, and he believed he had q chance
II old Ball accepted.
But Judge Ball didn't accept. Doubt
less he remembered his son Adams
| eight with Dale.
"The' CANT be no nghtin' in cote"
he said. "You sh'll hang by the neck
| ontel dead, at sunrise In the paornin'."
There was humble Of approval
from the others. Doubtless they, too.
remembered that ths young man whom
they held a captive had ence whipped
Black Adam Ball. the mountaineef
Goliath. with his bare hands. They
| did not have the one good trait that
Dale had hoped they possessed; while
they must have admired him for his
courage, they were afraid to light him
without weapons. Dale recalled the
fact that the Balls were not. originally
hilifolk. but lowlandsrs who had taken
70 tue mountains In order to avoid
being forced to dght during the Civil
war. people without 4 principle.
The Cherokee Torreys. Of course. we're
even worse.
kitty. kitty. kittyi" Walt Turner
called tauntingiy xgain. he walked
into the trap like pore little kitty r.
plowline Of half-inch cotton rope
was produced. and the condemned
man was securely bound, standing On
his feet and facing outward, to the
big walnut, Desperate 40 was his
case. Dale couldn't help being q triiie
amused at that part Of II. II was
% very melodramatic. And yet II
was 80 grimly real, and his hopes
seemed so thin.
The Morelands and the Littlefords
would eventually learn the truth and
make the Balls and Torreys pay q
dear price, no doubt, but that-that
wouldn't give him back his lifeI
The men were divided into two
watches. The frst was to remain
awake and on guard until midnight.
anu the other was to 60 on duty from