The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, December 29, 1915, Image 3

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cIhe Battte-Cty By CHARLES NEVILLE BUCK Author of Tba Cal oi ?M CumbexUnda" MiMrrthr* by C. D. RWm (Copyright by Charles Neville Buck.) Then he crossed the ridge until h^ eame to a point where tho thicket grew down close and tangled to the road. He had seen Young Milt going west along that road this morning and by nightfall he would be riding back. The gods of chance were playing into his hands. So he lay down, closely hugging tho earth, and cocked his rifle. For hours he crouched there with unspeakable patience, while his muscles cramped and his feet and hands grew cold un? der the pelting of a rain which was strangely raw and chilling for the sea son. Tho sun sank in an angry bank of thunder-heads and the west grew lurid. The drenching downpour blind? ed him and trickled down his spine un der his clothes, but at last he saw the figure he awaited riding a horse ho knew. It was the same roan marc that Bad Also had restored to Milt Mo Briar. When young Milt rode slowly by. fifty yards away, with his mount at a walk and his reins hanging, he was untroubled by any anxiety, because he was In his own terrltorv and was at heart fearless. The older boy from Tribulation felt his temples throb and the rifle came slowly up and tho one eye which was not closed lookeu point blank across Immovable sights and along a steady barrel into the placid face of his Intended victim. He could see the white of Milt's eye and the ragged lock of hair under the hat brim which looked like a smudge ot soot across his brow. Then slowly Jeb McNash shook his head. A spasm of battle weit through him and shook him like a convulsion to the soles ot his feet. Ho nad but to crook his fln to appease his blood-lust?and his pledge. 1 done give Anse my hand ter bide my time Vvell I war dead sartain," ho told himself. "I hain't quite dead sar? tain." he told himself. "I hain't quite dead sartain ylt. 1 reckon I've got ter wait a spell." He uncocked the rifle and the oihnr boy rode cn. but young Jen folded nis arms on the wet earth ana burled his face *n them ana sobbed, and it was The Rifle Came Slowly Up. an hour later that he stumbled to bb feet and went groggily back, drunk with bitterness and emotion, toward the house of Anse Havey. Vet when he arrived after nightfall his tongue told nothing and his features told less, a a a a a a a Juanlta. living In the cabin she had built with the girl who had become hci companion and satellite, making fre quent hard Journeys to some house, which the shadow of Illness had ir. vaded, found It hard to believe that this lifo had been hers oniy a few months. Suspense seemed to sti weeks to years, and she awoke each new day braced to hear the news of some fresh outbreak, and wondered why she did not. A few nelghboi hood children were already learning | rudiments, and plans for more build Ings were going forward. Sometimes Jeb came over from the brick house to see his sister, and Ofl the boy's fsce was always a dark cloud of settled resolve. If Juanita nevet questioned him on the topic that she knew was nearest his heart It was be cause she PMltfe4 that to do so would be the surest way to estrange his friendship and confidence. In one thing she had gained a point 8he had bought as much property a she should nee 1 Bai k somewh? re be hind Ike veil of mysteries Anso Havey hsd pressed a button or spoken a word and all the hindr mo that had lain across her path straightway evapor-it ed. Men 1.1 come to her, wl'h no further solicitation on her part, and now it isesasd i ny wore animat? ed by a u\ sire to turn an hotioqt pcqny by tho sale of land, in every convey? ance that was drawn?deeds of ninety nine-year lep.se instead of sale?she read a thrifty and careful knowledge j of land laws and reservation of nun- | eral and timber rights which she ] iraced to the head of the clan. As suinmer spent itself there wa.i opportunity for felling t Tiber, and the little sawraUl dewn in the valley sent j up its drone and wblne in proclama? tion that her trees were being turned into squared timbers for her buildings, j Once, when Milt McBriar rode up to tne sawmill, he found the girl sitting there, her hands clasped on her knees, ptizing dreamily across the sawdust and eonfus'on of tho place. "Vo'ro right smart interested In thet thar woodpile, hain't ye, ma'am?' he inquired with a slow, benevolent smile. His kindliness of guise Invited confi? dence, and there was no one else with? in earshot, so the girl looked up, her eyes a little misty and her voice im? pulsive. ?'Mr. McBriar," she said, "every one of those timbers means part of a dream to me, and with every one of them that is set in place will go a hope and a prayer." He nodded sympathetically. "I reck? on," he said, "ye kin do right smart ^'ood. too." "Mr. McBriar," she flashed at him In point-blank questioning, "since I came here I have tried to be of use in a very simple and ineffective fashion. I have done what little I could for the sick and distressed, yet I am constant? ly being warned that I'm not allowed to carry on my work. Do you know of any reason why I shouldn't go ahead?" He gazeu at her for a moment, quiz? zically, then shook his head. "Oh, pshaw!" he exclaimed, "I wouldn't let no sich talk es thet fret me none. Folks round hyar hain't got much ter do except ter gossip 'round. Nobody hain't a-goin' ter hinder ye. We hain't such bad people, after all." After that she felt that from the Mc Briars she had gained official sanction, and her resentment against A sn Ha ^oy grew because olJ his scor :tul un? graciousness. The last weeks of the summer were weeks of drought and plague. Ordi? narily, in the hills storms brew swiftly and frequently and spend themselves In violent outpourings and cannonad ing of thunder, but that year the clouds seemed to have dried up, and down in the tablelands of the Blue Grass the crops were burned to worth? less stalk and shrunken ear. Even up here, in the birthplace ot waters, the corn was brown and sapless, so that when a breeze strayed over the hill side fields they sent up^a thirsty, dying rasp of rattling whisper. It was not only in the famished forests and seared fields that the not breath of the plague breathed, cum? in e aeat>. in it6 fetid nostrils. Back in the cabins ot the "branch-water folks,' where little springs dimiLiahcd and be came polluted, all those who were no! strong enough to throw off the toucr of the specter's finger sickened and died, and typhoid went in and oaf. ol Havey shack and McBriar cabin whis pering, "a pest on both your houses.' Tho widow McN'ash had not been herself since tho death of Fletch. She who had once been bo strong over hei drudgery, sat day lor.g on the doorster of her brother's hovel and, in tho la*1 gvage of hor people, "Jost sickened an pined away." So, as .Juanita Holland and Good An3e Talbott rode sweating muloa about the hills, leceivlug calls for help faster than they could answer them, they were not astonished to hear that tho widow was among the stricken. Though they fought for her life, ahe refused to fight herself, and once again the Eastern girl Btood with Dawn in the brier-choked "buryin' ground," and once more across an open grave she met the eyes of the man who stood for the old order. But now she had learned to set a lock on her lips and hold her counsel. So. when she met Anse and Jeb after? ward, she asked without rancor: "May 1 take little Jesse back with roe, too? He's too young." she added, with just a heartsick trace of her old defiance, "to be useful to you, Mr. Havey, and I'd liko to teach him what I can." Anse and Jeb conferred, and tt f elder man came back and nodded h l head. "Jesse can go back with ye," he said "I'm still aimin' to give ye all the rope ye wants. When ye'vo had enough an' quits, let me know, an' I'll take care of Fletch's children." And on her farm, as folks called Juanita's place, that September saw many changes. Near the original cabin was springing up a new struc? ture, larger than any other house in that neighborhood, except, pos=sibly, the strongholds of the chiefs, and ;>a It grew and began to take form it im? parted an air of ordered tlimnesi to the countryside about it. It was fash? ioned in such style as should be in keeping with Its surroundings and not give too emphatic a note of alien strangeness. Juanita wished that her cabin could house more occupants, for the plague had left many motherless families, and many children might have come Into her fold. As It was. she had sev? eral besides the McNashes as her nu clous, and while tho weather held good she was rushing her work ol timber-felling and building which tho wluter would halt. CHAPTER XII. On? day In early October young AI 111 McBriar happened upon Dawn and Juanlta walking in the woods. The gallant colors und the into' y mists of autumn wrapped the for*1 and brooded In the sky. An eli went Into the blood with e tch dot \> df??? JbrealU uua ?vt to gUuiug fei gotten or hitherto unawaker.rd emo? tions. And in this heady atmosphere of quickened pulses the McBriar boy halted and gazed at the Havey girl. Juanita saw Young Milt's eyes flash with an awakened spirit. She saw a look in his face which she was woman enough to interpret even before he himself dreamed whp.t Its meaning I might be. Dawn was standing with her head | up and her lids half closed looking across the valley to the Indian sum? mer haze that slept in smoky purple on the ridges. She wore a dress of red calico, and sho had thmst in her belt a few crimson leaves from a gum tree and a few yellow ones from a pop? lar. Juanita Holland did not marvel at the fascinated, almost rapt look that came into Young Milt's eyes, and Young Milt, too, as he stood there in the autumn woods, was himself no mean figure. His lean body was quick of movement and strong, and his bronzed faco wore the straight looking eyes that carried an assurance of fearless honesty. Ho had been away to Lexington to college and was going back. The keen intelligence of his face was marred by no note of meanness, and now, as he looked at the girl of the enemy, his shoulders came unconsciously erect with some? thing of the pride that shows in men of wild blood when they feel in their veins the strain of the chieftains. But Dawn, after her first bluth, dropped her lids a little and tilted her chin, and without a word snubbed him with the air of a Havcy looking down on a McBriar. Milt met that gaze with a steady | one of his own and banteringly said: "Dawn, 'pears like ye mought 'a' got tangled up with a rainbow." Her voice was cool as she retorted: "I reckon that's better than gitting mixed up with some other things." "1 was Jest a-thinkin', es 1 looked at ye," went on the boy gravely, "tbet hit's better then gittin* mixed up with anything else." Dawn turned away and went stalk? ing along the woodland path without a backward glance, and Milt followed at her heels, with Juanita, much amused, bringing up the rear. The easterner thought that these two young folks made a splendid pair, specimens of the best of the mountains, as yet unbroken by heavy harness. Then, as the younger girl passed under a swinging rope of wild grapevine, stooping low, a tendril caught in her hair. Without a word Young Milt bent for? ward and was freeing it, tingling through bia pulses as his lingers touched the heavy black mass, but aB soon as she was loose the girl sprang away and wheeled, her eyes blazing. "How dast ye tech me?" she de? manded, panting with wrath. "How dast ye?" The boy laughed easily. "I dast dc anything 1 wants," he told her. For a moment they stood looking at oach other, then the girl dropped her eyes, but the anger had died out of them, and Juanita saw that, despite her condescending air, she was not displeased. Juanita, of course, knew nothing of Job's suspicions that had led him into ?he laurel, but even without that in? formation, when Young Milt met them more often than could be attributed to chance on their walks and fell into the habit of strolling back with them, strong forebodings began to trouble her. And one morning these forebodings were verified in crisis for, while the youthful McBriar lounged near the porch of Juanita's cabin talking with ; Dawn, another shadow fell across the innllght: the shadow of Jeb McNash. ile had como silently, and it was only , n3 Young Milt, whose back had been turned, shifted his position, that the two boys recognized each other. Juanita saw the start with which Jeb*8 ligure stiffened and grew taut. She saw his hands clench themselves and his face turn white as chalk; saw his chest rise and fall under heavy breathing that hissed through clenched teeth, and her own heart pounded with wild anxiety. | But Milt McBrlar's face showed nothing. His father's masklike calm? ness of feature had come down to him, and as he read the meaning of the other boy's attitude he merely nodded and said casually: "Howdy, Jeb." Jeb did not answer. He could not answer. He was training and punish? ing every fiber cruelly simply in standing where he was and keeping his hands at his sides. For a time he remained stiff and white, breathing | spasmodically; then, without a word, he turned and stalked away. That moon a horse..uin brought a noto across the ridge, und as Juanita Holland read it she felt that all her dreams were crumbling?that the soul of them was paralyzed. It was a brief note, written in a copybook hand, and it ran: I'll have to ask you to send the MeNaph children over to mg house. Jeb doesn't want them to be consorting with the Mc Brlars, and i i???.n't blame him, Ho is the head of his family. Respectfully, AXSE HAVEY. A stronger thing to Juanita Holland than the personal disappointment which had driven her to this work was now her eager, fiery interest in the undertaking itself. In these months i she had disabused herself of many prejudices. There remained that lin-, gering one against the man with whom sho had not made friends. The thing she bad set out to do was a hundredfold more vital now than it had been when it stood for carrying out a dead grandfather's wish. She had been with these people in child? birth and death, in sickness and want; she bad seen summer go from its ten der beginning to a vagabond end with 1 its tattered "banners ol ripened corn; autumn had blazed and flared into high carnival. As young Jeb had turned on his heel ' and stalked away, even before the com? ing of the noto she knew what would | happen, and what would happen not only In this instance, but in others like it. This would not be just losing Down, bad as that was. It would be paralysis and death to tho school; it would mean the leaving of everj Ha vey boy and girl. So she stood there, and afterward said cuietly: "Milt. I guess you'd bet? ter go," and Milt had gone gravely and unquestioningly, but with that in his eye which did not arguo brightly for | restoration of peace between his house and tnat of his enemy. When tho two girls had gone to? gether into the cabin Dawn stood with a face that blanched as sho began to realize what it all meant, then slowly 3he stiffened and her hands, too, clenched and her eyes kindled. She came across to the chair into which the older girl had dropped list? lessly and, falling to her knees, seized both Juanita's hands. She seized them tightly and liercely, and her eyes were blazing and her voice broke from her lips in turgid vehemence. "I hain't a-goin' ter leave ye!" cried Dawn. "I hain't a-goin' ter do it." No word had been spoken of her leaving, but in this life they both knew that certain things bring certain re-' suits, and thoy wero expecting a note from Bad Ar.se. "I hope not, dear," said Juanita, but without conviction. Then the mountain girl sprang up and became transformed. With her ! rigid figure and blazing eyes she seemed a torch burning with all the pent-Up heritage of her past. "I tells ye I ain't a-goin' ter leave ye!'' she protested, and her utterance swelled to fiery determination. "Es fer Milt McBriar, I wouldn't spit en him. I hates him. I hates his mur- j derin' breed. I hates 'em like?" she paused a moment, then finished tu multuously "?like all hell. I reckon I'm e3 good a Havey as Job. I hain't seen Jeo do nothln' yit." Again she paused, panting with pas? sionate rage, then swept on while Jua? nita looked at her sudden metamor? phosis into a fury and shuddered. "When I wasn't nothin' but a baby I fotched victuals ter my kinfolks a hidin' out from revenuers. I passed right through men thet war a-trailin' 'em. I've done served my kinfolks afore, an' I'd do hit ergin, but I reckon I hain't a-goin' ter let em take me away from ye." Juanita could think of only one step to take, so she sent Jerry Everson for Brother Talbott, whom she had seen riding toward the shack hamlet in the valley. "T!iar hain't but one thing thet ye kin do," said Good Anse slowly when be and Juanita sat alone over the prob? lem with the note of Havey command lying between them. "An' I hain't no? ways sartain thet hit'll come ter nothin'. Ye'vo got ter go over thar an' have speech with Anse." Juanita drew back with a start of distaste and repulsion. Yet she had known tuis all along. "Ye see," she heard the missionary saying, "thar's jest one way Anse kin handle Jeb, an' nobodv else kain't handle him at all. He thinks he's rignt. I reckon ef ye kin persuade Anse ter reason with him ye'U ho* ter promise that Young Milt hain't a-t in' ter hang round hyar." "I'd promise alnosi anything. I can't give them up?I can't?I can't I" "Ef Anse didn't pertect little Dawn from the MeBriars, Jeb would, ter a God's certainty kill Young Milt," went on the preacher, and the sirl nodded miserably. "I don't 'lc^ tor blame ye none," he said slowly, almost apologetically, "but I've got ter say hit. Hit's a pity ye've seen fit ter say so many bitter things ter Anse. Mountain folks air mighty a Little Weakly. easy hurt in their pride, an' no one hain't mi vor dared tor cross him afore." "No." she cried bitterly, "he will wel como the chance to humiliate and to refuse my plea. He has been waiting foi this; to Bee me come to him a sup pliant on bended knee, and then to laugh at me and tuen me away." Sin paused and added brokenly: "And yet I've got to go to him in surrender?to be refused- but I'll go." CORN CLUB BOYS JO 6R0WBERRIES New Work Undertaken by Some of State's Alert Young Farmers. SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS Clemson College Has Sent Boys Direc? tions For Strawberry Culture That Will Be Useful to Adult Farmen and Surburban Dwellers as Well.? Advice on All Steps, From Prepaiv ing Soil to Packing Crates. Eighty South Carolina corn cluo' boys, eighty of the best in the State/; are adding strawberry culturo tcj their work. These are the boys whc| by their corn club work last year, won scholarships to Clemson College j for the summer course. During the course they were promised that in j structions for growing strawberries would be sent to them In the fall and the boys expressed themselves as eager to try small patches of the luscious fruit as part of their club work. F. J. Crider, associate professor ol horticulture at Clemson College, hat prepared and sent the boys a set ol instructions for strawberry culture j These Instructions are simple and brief, but cover the subject in all im j portant branches. They will be use ful to any who desire to grow straw berries and this should Include a large number of suburban dwellers as well as farmers. Prof. Crider's direction! j are as follows: I Soil for Strawberries. Any kinc except bottom land and stiff clay. Preparation of Land. Break deep ly, smooth the surface well, and laj off rows as for cotton. When ready to plant, knock the bed down to s level. Fertilizing. Fertilize heavily witli stable manure, either broadcast or in the furrow, before planting. Each fall, just before mulching, appl> broadcast a mixture of about 25C pounds cottonseed meal, 400 pound* kainit, and 250 pounds acid phosphate these being the amounts per acre. Setting Plants. Set plants it str light line, 18 inches apart in row Place plants in rather large holet with roots spread apart and pack soil firmly about them. Keep roots ol plants moist until planting. Place name of variety on a stake at end ol row. Mulching. As soon as plants an set, cover ground all about plants witc heavy coating of pine needles or oal straw. This holds moisture and keeps berries clean in spring. Apply this mulch each year thereafter in September. Cultivating. Begin cultivation jusl after berries are gathered. Cultivate as for cotton, keeping a loose layei of soil on top and all weeds and grass removed. Treatment of Runners First 8um mer. Let runners take root along rows so as to get plants for a neu patch. Setting a New Patch. In Septembei use new plants in setting out a new patch, following same method as be fore. Treatment for Second Summer. Give same treatment as first summer, except that all runners must be cut off (unless more new plants are wanted). Repeat this the third sum mer. Treatment for Third Fall. Plow up your old strawberry patch. Straw* berry plants will not produce desir? able berries after the third crop. Gathering Fruit. Pinch berriei from stalks without bruising, leaving stems on. Go over patch every other day, sometimes every day. Pick ber* ries when they are red, while yet firm. Gather in standard quart straw* berry baskets. The basket is sold with the berries. Sorting. While picking, place the larger berries in one basket, the sec* ond size in another, and the smallest size (which should -not be marketed) in a third. This is very important. Naming the Grades. Name the first grade "Extra Fancy" and the second grade "Fancy." Write name of grade, variety, and your own name on each basket Use quart size strawberry baskets, 32 to the crate, and see to it that they are ueat and clean. Get prices on crates and baskets from manufacturers and have supplies reach you in ample time. Arrangement of Berries in Br.tket. Have every basket well filled and ar? range the berries on top in rows. Carry baskets to market in neatly packed crates. They will command attention and bring the highest prices. DRAGGING WITH AUTO A Western farm paper suggests that farmers keep up their roads by hitch? ing a drag to their automobiles. The idea is to take the drag along behind tho auto for a mile or two when on a trin to town, then to leave the drag by the roadside, to pick it up ou the! return trip and to drag the other Bide of the road. It has been tried with Buccest. WHITE HOME TO MOTHER. Don't go to a theatre, lecture or hall, But stay in your room tonight Denying yourself to the friends that call. And a good long letter write. Write to the sad old folks at home Who sit when the day is done With folded hands and downcast ey<?s, And think of their absent son. Don't selfishly scribble, excuse my Haste, I have hardly lime to write, Lest their brooding thought go won? dering Baek to many a bygone night, When they lost their needed sleep And rest, and every breath was a I i prayer That God would bring their son back To their love and care. Don't let them feel you no more need Their love and counsel advice, For the heart grows strongly sensitive When age has dimmed the sight. It might be well to let them believe You never forgot them quite That you deem it a pleasure when far away, Ixmg letters Home to write. Don't think that the girls and boys Who make your pastime gay, Have half the anxious thought for you That the old folks have today. For the sad old folks at home With locks fast turning white, Are thinking of their absent son, So give them a surprise and come home tonight. ?W. A. Murphy (Rags.) ONE TKEA1) FOR VEHICLES. Manufacturers Announce Fifty-six Inch as Standard to Be Used in the Future. Florence, Dec. 10.?The vehicle deal? ers of Florence are discussing the re? cent announcement, which has not so far as your correspondent has seen, been published in the daily papers, that after January the automobile, wagon and buggy manufacturers of the country are going to stop making vehicles with 60-inch tread. Every? thing, it is said, will after the stocks made up to the close of this year, will be made 56 or standard tread. This announcement gives a great deal of satisfaction to the dealers and to many users of vehicles who have considered the inconvenience of having two sizes of vehicles, and one of those sizes sold only in a small territory, part of Vir? ginia, the two Carolinas, Georgia, Ala? bama and a part of Mississippi. There have been so many threats that such a step would be taken in the past that dealers have been skeptical, but most of them are convinced that the change, so much desired, will be madegflpmu so much to be desired, will be made this year. The purchaers of vehicles in this section have had to pay for just that much more iron and wood than they needed, and in many instances have j had to bear the cost of the manufac? turer using two sets of machines, one to supply that small part of the South, and the other to supply the rest of the world. The change, if made, will be I welcomed, and while it will require some time for the conservative people of this section to get used to it, it will eventually be highly satisfactory to every' one. Florence dealers say that they have had notice of the proposed change and that they may expect it. SUMTER COTTON MARKB7T. Corrected Daily fey Ernest Field, Got* ton Bayer. Good Middling 11 3-8. Strict Middling 11 1-4. Middling 11 1-8. Strict Low Middling 10 5-8. Low Middling 10 1-8. ? Staple cotton 13 to 16c. ENDORSED AT HOME. Such Proof as Tills Should Convince Any Sumter Citizen. The public endorsement of a local citizen is the best proof that can be procured. None better, none stronger tan be had. When a man comes for? ward and testifies to his fellow citi? zens, addresses his friends and neigh? bors, you may be sure he is thorough? ly convinced or he would not do so. Telling one's experience when it is for the public good is an act of kindness that should be appreciated. The fol? lowing statement given by a resident of Sumter adds one more to the many enses of Home Endorsement which are being published about Doan's Kid? ney Pills. Bead it. J. A. Whitiemore. 14 Harby Ave., Sumter, says: "My kidneys got bad? ly disordered and my back ached. I also suffered from rheumatic pains in my limbs. The kidney secretions passed freely, too. Friends recom? mended Doan's Kidney Pills and I got some at Hearon's Pharmacy. They have done me a world of good." Price 50c, at all dealers. Don't simply ask for a kidney remedy?get Doan's Kidney Pills?the same that Mr. Whittemore had. Foster-Milburn Co., Props., Buffalo, N. Y. 16