American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1921-12-16

heavily and crossed his legs. Dale.
too, sat down.
"rhe mountain you had to come
over TO come here, Mr.. Dale" More
land began, his big voice filled with
an old, old sorrow, lis knowed as Da-
vid Morelend's mountain mostly be-
cause David MorelanG is buried in the
very highest place on top of IL, him
and his wife. He was my brother, and
was the best brother n man ever had.
Ii was allus the talk o the neighbor-
hood how much we liked each other.
Up ontel the time he was married I
went with him whar he went, and he
went with me whar l went. I'd fight
TO him, and he'd fight To- me. It's
hard TO tell, even after this hong
time. -.
David, he was a %strappin' big man,
like all O. the Morelands. He was
about yore size, and grey-eyed like
you, and he had brown hair like you.
When you walked up TO the gate, 1t
made me think o. him the day he was
married; he was all dressed up in
dark blue like you. Then David
he went up here one summer and
found this vein o. coal. He got law
full p'session o. the mountain, and
moved his wife up here. The rest of
us lived over in the Laurel Fork coun-
try then.
zone day / got a letter from David,
which said that a man named John X.
Carlyle was a-goln' TO buy his noun
tain and the coal, and said that his
wife was pow'ful sick. A week later
she died, and left a baby which died,
too. accordin' to a old Injun by the
name o. Cherokee Joe, who knowed
my pap and knowed David. And a
month later we was all dragged from
our beds by this same Cherokee Joe,
tellin' us that Carlyle had shot David.
Carlyle, Cherokee Joe said, was
a-drinkin' hard. The Injun seed the
shootin' through a window.
1T was might nigh to three days
later when we got here and found
pore David a-layin' whar he'd fell.
We secured the mountains TO miles
and miles around In a s'arch To- the
dawg who killed him, but we never
found him. The land up here
locked purity, and II belonged to us
by Dayld's death; so we all moved up
here to live, and built MS cabins.
major Bradley found ont about the
end o. my brother, and he wanted us
to put the case in the hands o. the
law. But we wouldn't do It. A More.
land never goes to law about anything.
lie pays his own debts, and he collects
what Is his due"
John Moreland arose and paced the
porch floor, which creaked under his
weight. He stopped before Dale, and
went on sadly:
Now ven know why | was so much
tore up when | heered yore name, the
Carlyle part. John X. Carlyle killed
the best nan at ever lived. And meb-
be ven understand why we amt never
Ind the conscience TO sell the coal,
which cost Brother David his life"
Morelnn,ls guest SIT sfHri Z absent.
~ toward n hroWti-',in gcl butterfly
that was industriously slipping honey
from the heart of n h~oneysuckle
bloom. He gave no sign hat he had
heard anything out of the ordinary,
but In an odd, persistent way his mind
seemed to connect his father, John X.
Dale, with the story he had just heard.
John X. Dale had come originally
from West Virginia, and he had fatty
refused, time upon time, TO make any
investigation Of the Moreland coal
property.
The hillman interrupted young
Dale's thinking:
"Addie, she's a-goin' to have dinner
ready purity soon. Would We like TO
wash, Mr.. Dale?'
Yes" was the answer, and In the
tones Of Bill Dale's quiet voice there
was a shade Of meaning that More
land did not catch. "Yes, I'D like to
wash"