The Dolores star., 1923-01-26
Nancy's
Hill-Billy
By JAMES P. MecRArH
Observation-Disclosures
%. 1889. WestsIn Nsxsua mar IInionl


The hill-billy rode slowly down the
decline toward the valley, his rife
across his shoulder. his hand gather
Ing the relns Of his scrubby nag into
loose bunch.
1t was very dark. and this was
we'll. for he was entering upon dan
gerous territory-tlte Tremletts'. The
Tremletts would not hesitate to shoot
at any hill-billy found prowling round
their preserves.
They had been hill.billies them
selves. until the race produced old
Abraham Tremlett, who went down
from the mountains, established his
hardware store in Jex Crossing. and
tecame a settled citizen and built
clapboarded house upon the outskirts.
A strange atavistic reversion to the
habits Of settled forbears in England.
about the time of the Pilgrims. The
offspring Of those sturdy rebels were
scattered In log cabins among hun
dred glens.
Each Of them. when he reached man.
hood, left the parental cabin and went
forth to a neighboring mountain.
cleared a little patch for corn, built
his log shack, set up his homeham-
mered still, and found wife some
where.
But wives were few and far be-
tween. So many Of the girls had gone
into the towns to work In the cotton
mills; they stayed there and married.
and what girl In the towns would look
at hill-billy7
The hill-billy was thinking of the
blue eyes of the girl he had seen a
month before in Jex Crossing. when
he had ridden In to trade corn for q
new saddle. He was proud Of his
saddle. 1t had great wooden stir
rups and shone like pigskin. though 1t
was only calf. The hill-billy had
built his home. set up his still.
He was thinking Of her. She had
smiled at him. where other girls turned
their heads scornfully aside. "Only
hill-billy." He had often heard the
phrase
There was bad blood between the
Tremletts and the hill-billies. They
knew the Tremletts had been Of their
own stock.
In her room in the Tremletts' house
Nancy Tremlett tossed restlessly and
thought Of the gray eyes Of the man
whom she had seen riding into Jex
Crossing.
She was only eighteen, but girls
marry young in the South, and two
men wanted her. She did not like
either Of them. but what is one to do?
Girls are expected to marry.
One was Cy Broome, the son of her
fathers partner in the hardware store
Her father favored him. The other
was Lew Kent, the sheriff, who had
sworn to drive the moonshine business
out of Jex county. He WAS tall,
lean man of forty. Her father was
not in favor Of him, but he was influ-
ential; in way 1t was bigger match
than with Cy Broome.
So Nancy tossed restlessly in her
bed and thought of the hill-billy. She
pictured the life in the hills, the wild.
the glory Of dawn and sunset, and
the man she loved beside her.
There was an atavistic element in
her blood, too. but 1t was the longing
for the wild her forbears had known.
A sound beneath her window sent
her covering to the shelter Of the
covers. When she looked UP again
she saw. framed in the window, the
face of the hill-billy.
With great effort she concealed
her fears. This man could mean her
no harm. "What is IT. Go awayr
II got a horse outside Ef you'll
come with me we kin make Parsons
Gap by daylight"
THE blood of thousand ances-
tresses. taken by capture stirred her.
"Wait q minute!" she said.
Fearfully she dressed herself and
went to the window. Beneath 1t the
hill-billy sat on his scrubby nag. He
looked up. stretched out his arms.
Nancy. like a hill-girl. went down
eh1