Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1921-08-11


at the downtown sycamore. and at
the last Of it BY Heck Strengthened
proudly.
II be dadjimmed eff ! hadn't ha'
| pumped him so full o. lead at the
couldn't Enough o men got around
him to tote of his corpst eff ne hadn't
fhss drapped~ the towards gum" BY
Heck declared as fiercely as he could.
sCausa, NAV she seed in the cup at
Bill Dale was a-goin' to be right
pa'tickler friend O. mine, igod, and /
has a ~habit o'@takin' keer al my
friends. Now thar was my Uncle Bill,
him what could jump sixteen-rail
| fence"
st was q mineral fence, By I'M
patiently cut In John Moreand.
you've done told that so much at
it's dang nigh wore out. S'posen We
go back thar to the orchard ahind O.
the house and see what Gale and
Luke's a-doin': hey. Byf"
Heck. nodded and went toward the
orchard. He knew they didn't want
him to overhear what they were going
to say, but 1t didn't offend him. It
wasn't easy to offend the good-natured
Heck.
Moreland turned to Dale. "WellY'
Dale turned to Hayes.
"Were going to begin the building
of the little railroad at the earliest
possible moment. And because | don't
know anything about the work, I'm
going to ask you to take the lead. Now,
there may be some fighting. | don't
want you to go into this thing blind
ly, you see. IL you're going to with.
draw at all, do 1t now"
I'm not stranger to fighting"
Hayes replied smilingly "rve been
through half a dozen coal strikes. |
think you may count on me, Mr. Dale"
"Then lay out plan for immedi-
ate action"
"Id suggest" acquiesced Hayes
the lowland for supply CT picks and
shovels, axes and saws, hammers,
drills, and explosives. In the mean
time, you and can stake out the
way for the track"
1t sounded buslnesslike, Dale
thought
Within the hour John Moreland and
his son Caleb started for Gainesville
OH foot, and in the older mans pocket
was money sufficient to buy the things
that were needed.
Dale and Hayes SET g,at for the north
end Of David Moreland's mountain,
and each Of them carried a hand-ax
for making stakes.
1t was not often that the quiet Hayes
| permitted himself to 60 into raptures
over anything; however he went In
TO faptures over the Moreiand coal.
It was, he declared, one Of the best
propositions he had ever seen. 1t
was no wonder that Henderson Cor
was determined to get possession of
1t, he said.
Then they went to work.
by shutdown two days later they had
chosen the route for the narrow gauge
railroad and set stakes accordingly.
Hayes told his general manager that
with good force of men the last rail
could be put down within two months.
During those two days they had
several times seen Henderson Goff In
company with Black Adam Ball and
some OF his relatives. Once they had
come upon Golf talking earnestly with
Saul Littleford,. the big bearded, gaunt
brother OF the Littleford chief. Hayes
reminded Dale of this, and said to
him further:
Golf will have the Littlefords on
his side the first thing you know
Maybe some Of the Littlefords, as we'll
as some OF the Balls, knew about this
coal before David Moreland got his
mountain by states grant at few cents
per acre. Ii you'll take my advice. MIR.
Dale, you'll make friends OF these two
sets just as quick as you can"
Dale thrust his hand-ax inside his
belt and turned to the mining expert.
"D'you know. was thinking of that
same thing when you spoke" he re-
piled. And l believe can manage Ii.
now that Miss Littlefords accidental
Wounding has given the old feud such
II big blow. I'm fairly sure can man
age 1t SO far as Ben Littleford is con-
cerned; It's John that's going to be
hard to bring to taw. He should. be
home this evening, II he's had good
luck, and Ill tackle him as soon as he
comes"
Together they started across David
Moreland's mountain. walking rapidly,
with Dale leading.
Darkness came down on them when
they had covered half the distance.
The great hemlocks and poplars
doomed spectral and gaunt In the early
starlight. The almost Impenetrable
thickets of laurel and Ivy whispered
uncanny things, and their seas OF pink