, 1922-09-06
The Strengtho Of the Pines

aAi4 ~ ' dAa III lltt.
There's no s~oftness. There's no mid
die ground" She smiled grimly.
I've lived with death, and I've
heard of it, and I've seer it all my
life. If there hadn't been any other
way, 1 would have seer it in the dra-
mas of the wild creatures that go on
around me all the time. You'll get
down to cases here, Bruce-or else
you'll run away. These men said
they'd do worse things to me than
kill me-and l didn't dare take the
risk.
"But once or twice l was able to
get word TO old Elmira-the only ally
| had left. She was of the true breed,
Bruce. You'll call her a bag, but
she's a woman to be reckoned with.
She could hate too-worse than a
she-rattlesnake hates the man that
killed her mate-and hating is all
that's. kept her alive. You shrink
then l say the word. Maybe you
won't shrink when I'm done.
This old woman tried to get in
communication with every stranger
that visited the hills. You see, Bruce,
she couldn't write, herself. And the
one time / managed to get a yA.itten
message down to her, telling her to
give it to- the first stranger TO mall
one of my enemies got it away from
her. l expected to die that night. 1
wasn't going to be alive when the
clan came. The only reason l didn't
was because Simon-the greatest of
fhnnn a n ~ f14 l.,~ 7 1-s- -
kept his clan from coming. He had
his own reasons.
From then oil she had to depend
on word of mouth. But at last-just
a few weeks ago-she found a man
that knew you. And 1t Is your story
from now on
They were still a little while. Bruce
arose and threw more wood on the
fire.
IT'S only the beginning" he said.
"And you want me to tell you ALP
she asked heStantly.
"Of curse. Why did / come here?''
You won't believe me when I saw
that I'm almost sorry / SEM for you"
She spoke almost b~reathlessly. 81
didn't know that 1t would be like this.
That you would come with a smile on
your face and a light in your eyes.
looking for happiness. And instead
of happiness-to find all this ="
She stretched out her arms to the
forests. Bruce understood her per
fectly. She did not mean the woods
in the literal sense. She meant the
primal emotions that were their spirit.
I know the rest, you've got to go
back a whole generation. Bruce, have
you heard of the terrible blood-feuds
that the mountain families sometimes
have?"
Q course. Many times
"These mountains of Trails End
have been the scene of as deadly n
blood-feud as was ever known in the
West. And for once, the wrong was
all OIL one side.
"A few miles from here there is n
wonderful valley. where a stream
flows. There is not much tillable land
In these mountains, Bruce. but there,
along that little stream. there are al
most five sections-three thousand
acres-of Is rich land as was ever
plowed. That tract of land was ac-
quired long ago by a family named
Ross, and they got 1t through some
kind of grant. / can't be definite as
to the legal aspects of all this story.
They don't matter anyway-only the
results remain.
"These Ross men were frontiersmen
of the first order. They were virtuous
men t~oo-trusting every one, and oh
what strength they hadi with their
own hands they cleared away the for
est and put the land into rich pasture
and hay and grain. They raised great
herds of cattle and had focks of sheep
too.
ut was then that lark days began
to come. Another family-headed by
the father of the man l call Simon
migrated here from the mountain dis
tricts of Oklahoma. But they were
not so ignorant as many mountain
people, and they were killers Per-
haps that's a word you don't know.
Perhaps you didn't know 1t existed. A
killer is a man that has killed other
men. 1t isn't a hard thing to do at
all, Bruce, after you are used to Ii.
These people were used to IL. And
because they wanted these great lands
my own fathers home-they began
to kill the Rosses. e
AT first they made no war on the
Folgers. The Folgers. you must know,
were good people, too. honest to the
last penny. They were connected, by
marriage only, to the Ross family.
They were on u side clear through.
At the beginning of the feud the head
Of the Folger family was just n young
man, newly married. And he he'd a
son after a while.
1.-THE newcomers called 1t a feud.
But 1t wasn't a feud-it was simply
murder. oh, yes, we killed some of
them. Folger and my father and all