Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1924-03-27

hedNS utdlt on MS ample stock of eff
fusive ordinations, and finally fun
hled the ivory-handled slx-gun out Of
its holster.
He committed the blunder of cock
ing it with both thumbs-a bit OF over
acting that did not escape the man
backing Graylock in apparent stolid-
ness.
After deal of coaching from Texie,
the preacher poked She revolver for
ward and pulled the trigger. There
was nothing to indicate that the bull
let even came near the target. He
threw his head back and exploded his
raucous laugh. Rex had stood firm
under the shot; he SHE'D at the laugh.
The preacher brought the horse
back alongside of Brownie and fired
again-the bullet smacked somewhere
against the opposite BLUM, but appar-
emily did not even fan q walnut. He
studied the revolver moment, fixed
his spectacles tighter on his nose, and
settled seriously to the task; held the
weapon in both hands, and aimed
long time-result the same.
Then the girl threw up her revolver
and fired again. The bullet cur a nick
in the rotted outer hull Of a walnut.
and she turned to the woodsman.
Nov, Jack, it's your turn
saw, | couldn't hit one of 'em."
I "Come on she eoaxed, ~ amt seer
y'u shoot none since--let's see-'way
b'fore corn plantin"
He looked at her curiously. and
shifted In his saddle. The preacher
had half turned and watched him mar
irowfy.
! suddenly the revolver leaped from
1.-THE woodsman's side and tlarted about
FOYER the blighted limb. Three shots
.iraag out; three walnuts dew nto frag.
ments ana erumbled down upon the
leaves
THE preacher had Strengthened In
the saddle and sat watching the won
derful craftsmanship with ain eye that
suddenly Eindied to flint and dame;
but as The third walnut shattered to
dust ana crumbs the st0op came back
to his shoulders, the air of tired studl-
BUSINESS to his face.
The girl turned to the woodsman,
her fine eyes alive.
you could a got three morel"
The light in the brown eyes kindled
a response in the gray; slow smile
crawled across his bold features.
"Its agin the law O. woods t be
caught with an empty gum he said,
with a seriousness that set her won
dering, us he felt for the powder
flask and bullets in his pouch.
In the dusk OF the evening, as they
rode back to the village, the girl
stopped her horse in front of the old
cabin, deserted and gloomy, that
.squatted against the side-hill few
yards back from the Eagle Hollow
road---the uncanny howell that the
woodsman had gazed down upon from
the top Of the bluff that morning
while watching the swallows dart in
and out Of it's ruined chimney.
THAT place is enough to give one
the-creeps," was the preachers com
ment as he refined in Rex beside
Brownie.
The girl turned In her saddle and
sat for some time looking the place
over-the gate now long unused, Its
hinges black with rust; the rank
weeds and sprouts growing close up
to the sagging door; the single small
front window now yellow with clay
that the rains had washed from be
tween the logs; the rude clapboards
Of the roof warped, loosened, dis
placed--the crumbling remnants of
what had once been home. now des-
olate and forsaken under Its somber
canopy Of trees.
ITS the cabin Of dead Henry Spen-
cer," she said. where he murdered his
wife and infant daughter with 10 NJ
one bitter cold night when e was
drunk, and then wandered out and
froze T. death in tho snow"
I've heard the story-from your
ah--brother-and 80 this is the placer"
This II the place"
But not ell the story"
He glanced around at her quiz.
ideally.
"No, not all"--she spoke slowly |
her words half Question-"they say
becomes back"
The preachers teeth cleaned white
through his heavily bearded lips; his
sarcastic exclamation point of laugh
Jared the silence of the placid valley.
"Why, Miss Texie, this is the Nine
teenth century, not the Fourteenth"
"Yes,"-in red embarrassment
but that's what they say"
He looked around at her again, with
that same half-cynical expression that
came so easily to his face, as he gath
cred up the reins.
With the mountain girls hurried
warning still fresh in his mind, the
woodsman glanced coyertly about him
as they rode on-something he had
been constantly doing since first en- !