The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-07-15


benefit to their sons. Even Mrs. Dale,
on whom the hunter had made most
agreeable impression, smiled and said
she would already be willing to trust
her son with their new guest any
where.
4 shall take good care of him,
madam" said Dave with a bow.
Colonel Dale, too, was greatly taken
with the stranger, and he asked many
questions of the new land beyond the
mountains. There was dancing again
that night, and the hunter, towering
a head above them all, looked on with
smiling interest He even took part
In a square dance with Miss Jane VIII
loughby, handling his great bulk with
astonishing grace and lightness OF
foot. Then the elder gentlemen went
into the drawing room to their port
and pipes, and the boy Erskine slipped
after them and listened enthralled to
the talk of the coming war.
Colonel Dale had been In Hanover
ten years before, when one Patrick
Henry voiced the first intimation Of
independence In Virginia; Henry,
country storekeeper - bankrupt;
farmer-bankrupt; storekeeper again,
and bankrupt again; an fdler, hunter,
fisher, and story-teller-even a bar
keeper" as Mr.. Jefferson once dubbed
him, because Henry had once helped
his father-in-law to keep tavern. That
far back Colonel Dale had heard
Henry denounce the clergy, stigmatize
the king as tyrant who had forfeit
ed all claim to obedience, and had
seen the orator caught up on the
shoulders of the crowd and amidst
shouts of applause borne around the
courthouse green. He had seen the
same Henry ride into Richmond two
years later on a lean horse with pa
pers in his saddle-pockets, his ex-
preston grim, his tall figure stoop-
ing, a peculiar twinkle In his small
blue eyes, his brown wig without pow
der, his coat peach-blossom In color,
his knee-breeches of leather. and his
stockings of yarn. The speaker OF
the Burgesses was on a dais under
a red canopy supported by gilded rods,
mace on the table before him, but
Henry cried for liberty or death, and
| the shouts of treason failed then and
there to save Virginia for the king.
| The lads brain whirled. What did
all this mean? Who was this king and
what had he done? He had known
but the one from whom he had run
hn 10 hn
would learn and learn and learn
everything. And then the young
people came quietly in and sat down
quietly and Colonel Dale, divining
what they wanted, got Dave started
on stories Of the wild wilderness that
| was his hOme-the first chapter In the
| Iliad of Kentucky-the land of dark
forests and cane thickets that sepa-
| rated Catawbas Greeks and Chero-
KEGS on the south from Delawares,
| Wyandottes and Shawnees on the
north, who fought one another, and
all of whom the whites must fight.
| How the first fort was built, and the
first women stood on the banks of the
| Kentucky river. He told of the perilS
/ and hardships of the first Journeys
! thither-fights with wild beasts and
bats, escapes and massacres - and
only the breathing of his listeners
could be heard, save the sound of his
own voice And he came finally to
| the story of the attack on the fort,
the raising of small hand above the
cane, palm outward, and the swift
dash Of a slender brown body into the
turn scarlet, he did not tell how that
same lad had slipped back into the
woods even while the fight was going
on, and slipped back with the bloody
scalp Of his enemy, but ended with
the timely coming Of the Virginians,
led by the lads father, who got his
death-wound at the very gate. The
tense breathing of his listeners cul-
minated now In one general deep
breath.
Colonel Dale rose and turned to
General Willoughby.
| "And that's where he wants to take
our boys"
ooh. it's much safer now" said the
hunter "We have had no trouble for
some time, and there's no danger in
side the fort"
81 can imagine you keeping those
boys inside the fort when there's so
much going on outside. Still
Colonel Dale stopped and the two
boys took heart again.
Colonel Dale escorted the boy and
Dave to their room Mr.. Yandell must
60 with them to the fair at Williams
burg next morning, and Mr.. Yandell
would go gladly. They would spend
| the night there and go to the COVER
nors ball. The next day there was q
county fair, and perhaps Mr.. Henry
would speak again. Then Mr.. Yandell
must come hack with them to Red
Oaks and pay them a visit-nO, the
colonel would accept no excuse what
ever.
The boy piled Dave with questions
about the people In the wilderness ant
passed to sleep. Dave lay awake 6
long time thinking that war was sure
to come. They were Americans now
said Colonel Dale not Virginians
just as nearly a century later the
same people were to say:
1--WE are not Americans nOw-we
are Virginians."
Continued Monday