Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1921-08-18

Goff stepped out Of the trail, smiled
and spoke with apparent good humor.
Dale passed him without word.
Then the shyster coal man called
out, Ready to sell yeti"
The Moreland Coal company's man.
ager halted and faced about with
puckering Of his brows.
For fair price, yes"
"Just what would you call fair
price?" 80
"Oh, sosarwhere between two and
three hundNd thousand" promptly.
Goff shifted, and the corners Of his
mouth came down.
"You don't want much. You won't
get 1t from mel"
II don't want II from you"
Dale turned and went on. He was
sorry that he had stopped to talk with
the fellow.
That afternoon he again met Goff
in the trail. The bare sight Of the
shyster made him very angry now, and
his right hand fell upon the butt of
the big revolver on his hip. Goff was
about to sidestep In the laurels, when
Dale caught him roughly by the arm.
See here" he said sharply. you've
about cut your little swath. We've
had enough Of you. You can't get this
coal at any price, and the sooner you
get yourself out of this country the
better and safer it will be for you.
To be plain, I'm pretty apt to thrash
you the very next time see you. Now
move on!"
Goff went Off laughing wickedly.
"Oh, all right, Dale; go ahead and
build the little road for me !" he said.
Late that night every sleeper in the
valley of the Doe was awakened by
great, rumbllng explosion, which was
followed almost Immediately by an
other great, rumbling explosion. Be
fore the reyerberations had died
away, Bill Dale had dres sed himself
and was standing on the vine-hung
front porch, and he was only few
seconds ahead Of John Moreland.
Then there came the tearing sound
Of heavy explosion miles to the east
ward.
do We know what 1t lisp inquired
the mountaineer.
They've stolen our dynamite from
the tobacco-barn, and blown up the Of
fee and supplies building and the COM
missary building; also they've blown
up the big trestle near the siding"
Dale answered.
"At's my guess. too" said More
land.
Within the next half hour Dale and
Hayes, Major Bradley, and the mem
folk Of the Morelands and the Little
fords had gathered around the wreck
Of the two big, unfinished frame build
ings. Dale blamed himself much for
having, left dynamite unguarded In the
tobacco-barn--but nobody else blamed
him for II.
tits time to let the law In" he said
when he had viewed the jumbled mass
Of broken planks and timbers by the
light of lanterns. He turned to stall
wart Luke Moreland. I
"You get on my horse and ride to
Gainesville for the sheriff. Tell him
he can get the best posse In the world
right here, IL he needs one. It's the
proper thing, isn't it. major?"
"Yes," said Major Bradley ITS the
proper thing. You've got real griev-
ance now. But fancy Con had moth
Ing to do with this; he Is shrewd
enough to know that thing like this
would cook his goose. Goff has been
playing a bluff game all along, you
know. Some Balls or some Torreys.
perhaps mixture of both, have done
this without COTS knowing anything
about It. I'd have Sheriff Flowers ar
rest several of the Balls and several
Of the Torreys, and try to scare them
into turning states evidence to save
themselves"
The major finished In low tone,
because Of the probability for caves
choppers, and In this he was wise.
"We'Il do that" Dale decided.
He faced Hayes, his right-hand man,
and began to give orders like vet
eran general manager. The men were
to take their rifles with them to work
in the morning, but they were to fire
no shot unless 1t was In defense OF
life or property. In the morning every
available wagon In the valley was to
be sent to the little sawmill that was
In operation ten miles toward the low
land for more building material.
BY Heck joined them then. He
guessed just what had happened,
plucked at Dale's sleeve and whis.
pered:
"Sposen takes sneak or two to-
ward them lowdown. walnut-eyed,
knock -knped dadhlampd Rails md