Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1921-09-22
CHAPTER TX.
A Signal Victory.

The mining man Hayes, Tie ul;. Tor
and John MOreland were waiting at
tho gate when Dale, accompanied by
the moonshiner. returned to the cabin.
Dale was the first TO speak. He told
briefly Of that which had taken place
at the downtown sycamore. and at
the last Of II BY Heck Strengthened
proudly.
II be dadjimmed eff I hadn't ha'
pumped him SO full o. lead at the
couldn't enough o. men got around
him to tote OF his corpst, ef he hadn't
ha' drapped the towards gum" BY
Heck declared as hercely as he could.
cause NAV she seed In the cup at
Bin Dale was a-goIn' to be a right
pa'tickler friend o mine, igod, and
has n habit o. takin' keer o. my
friends. Now thar was my Uncle Bill.
him what could jump a sixteen-raiI
fence
cit was q nine-rail fence. By" I'm
patiently cut I'm John MOreland.
you've done told that so much at
it's dang nigh wore out. S'posen We
90 back thar TO the orchard ahind o.
the house and see what Gale and
Luke's a-doin'; hey, By?"
Heck nodded and went toward the
orchard. He knew they didn't want
him TO overhear what they were going
20 say. but Il didn't offend him. IL
wasn't easy TO offend the goOd-natured
Heck.
Moreland turned to Dale. "Wellr
Dale turned to Hayes.
"We're going to begin the building
OF the little railroad ut 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 so into this thing blind
~. you see. II you're going TO with
draw at all. do Il now"
I'm net o stranger to fighting"
Hayes replied smIlingly. i've heen
through half a dozen coal strikes. {
think you may count on me. Mr.. Dale"
Then lay out a plan for immedi-
ate action"
I'D suggest" acQulesced Hayes.
that We send TO the little town In
the lOwland for a supply OF picks and
shOvels. axes and saws. hammers.
drills. and explosives. In the mean
time, you and ! can stake out the
way for the track"
IL sounded busInesslike, Dale
thought.
Within the hour John Moreland and
his son Caleb started for Gainesville
On foot, and In the older mans pocket
was money sufficient to buy the things
that were needed.
Dale and Hayes set out for the north
end OF David Moreland's mountain.
and each OF them carried n hand-ax
for making stakes.
lt was not often that the quiet Hayes
permitted himself to go into raptures
over anything; however. he went in
TO raptures over the MoreIand coal.
II was. he declared. one OF the best
propositions he had ever seen. II
was no wonder that Henderson Con
was determined TO get possession of
&c. he said.
Then they went TO work.
BY shutdown two days later they had
chosen the route for the nSrrow-gauge
railroad and set stakes accordingly.
Hayes told his general manager that
with q good force 0f men tile last rail
could be put down within two months.
During tsaose two days they had
several times seen Henderson Con In
company with Black Adam Bail and
Seine or his relatives. once they had
come upon Con talking earnestly with
Saul Lttief0rd, the big. bearded, gaunt
brother Of the Littleford chief. Hayes
reminded Dale OF this. and said TO
him further:
'G0R will have the LittlefOrds on
his side the tirst thing you know
Maybe some OF the L-ittlefords. as well
~ some OF the Balls, knew about this
coal before David Moreland got his
mountain by states grant at a few cents
per acre. If yOu'Ilfa my advice, SIR.
Dale. you1l make friends OF these two
sets just as quick as you can"
Dale thrust his hand-ax inside his
belt and turned 20 the mining expert.
"D'you know. was thinking OF that
same thing when you spoke" he re-
piled. And believe l can manage IL,
now that Miss Attles0rds accidental
wounding has given the old feud such
big blow. I'm fairly sure can man.
egs IL 30 far as Ben LittIeford 4 CONF