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. They were all on their feet now. John Moreland gripped Dale's arm. "Over thar aside o* the chlmbley, Bill 1** he ordered, his native drawl for the moment absent "Out, Addle, honey I Luke, bring my rifle and hat? jump keen 1 Cale, bring water and drownd this here Are!" It was done. Moreland took his hat and the repeater and went alone Into the night. When some fifteen minutes had passed, there came to Dale's ears the sound of shooting. There were ten shots In such rapid succession that they made almost a continuous roar. Then came echoes and Reverberations, and then silence. Soon John Moreland let himself Into the dark room. His wife's voice was low and filled with anxiety: "What happened, JohnT" A dull thud came through the darkness as her husband's rifle-butt struck the floor. "This is what happened, Addle: As I passed the cawner o' the house, 1 got down that thar old oxwhlp to take along. I went acrost the road and Into the meadow, and thar I seen Adam Ball a-comln'. I hid, and when Adam was about to pass me, I Jumped up and Jerked his rifle from him and busted It ag'ln a rock. Then I lights In and thrashes him with the oxwhlp ontel he broke and run. And 'en this here happened. Addle: "I was a-watchln' to see ef Adam had reely went off. when I seed n mnn a-comln' toward me fast. I thought It was Ball, o' course. So I up and tells him to show me how fast lu^cun run and commences a-shootln' over his head to skeer him. But It didn't happen to be Adam Bnll?it was Ben Llttleford I lie was a-follerin' Babe to see what she was up to. o' course." "How do ye know It was Bon, pap?" Caleb asked. now do 1 know?*' growled John Moreland. "When I got through ashootln', he hollers at me and says: Tomorrow, John Moreland,' he says, we'll have a little Gettysburg o' our awn 1' And 1 might mind ye, Cale, 'at he keeps his word the same as I do." "And Llttleford meant a?" began Dale. "That the*ll be a big fight tomnr row," said Moreland. "Bill Dale, In a-mnkin' this land yore lund and these people yore people. I'm a-feard ye're a-gols* t? git more'n ye expected, mebb? more'n ye can handle. Do ye want to back out of It and let the coal got r are ye one o' these fellevs who Chaws what they bites oft ef It's a boss's head?" "I'll stick." Dale's voice came Armr ly In the darkness. "I'll stick." CHAPTER IV The Mystery of the Rifles. An hour after John Moreland had sent his ten ride bullets whining over the head of Ben Llttleford, every llorelaiu] and every Llttleford Id the alley knew of the declaration of war. And each man of them oiled his weapons and pet them In better working e order. When Dale went to bed, there was too mach on his mind to render sleeping easy for him. Tomorrow he wouia have to help In the light against the Littlefords, kinsmen of the young woman who had saved htm, without doubt, from death by the murderous rifle of the mountaineer Oollath?or break his word flatly. It was a poor return for such a favor I The longer he thought over the dilemma, the more perplexed he became. He thought, too, o^the everlasting wonder, the tall of John Moreland's bedtime prayer. How a man could go down on his knees and ask the blessings of the Almighty upon men whom he meant to light the next day was a thing that BUI Dale could not understand. It was after midnight before he slept Ho woke at the break of day, arose and dressed himself, and went out. Going toward the flower-fllled front yard, he found himself facing a very angry John Moreland. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Matter enough." clipped the mountaineer. "BUI Dale, I'm a-goln' to ax you a question, and I want the truth. Will I git itr "You'll get the 'ruth If you get anything. Shoot the question." "All right What do you know about my gun?" "About as much as you know of the lo/f Klnil D^n /<?.o>4a? VII Uiuv VT IICVI VI L?OU liU> o V1JUA ?vv? What's wrong with It?" Moreland's eyes were steady and cold. He thrust his hands Into the pockets of his corduroy trousers. Then his face softened n trifle. "1 reckon 1 ought to ax yore pardon," he said In a low voice. "Ye see. my gun's plumb gone I" "You had It only last night," Dale sold. "Did it dlsuppeai^?" "Whilst I slept," cut In the hlllman. "Both o' my guns Is gone. And Luke's repeater Is gone, and so Is Cale's, and we hain't got nothin' at all to fight thero d-?d Llttlefords with I" "(lone J" Dale exclaimed wondering, ly and?It seemed to him?aslulnely. "It must ha' been the Llttlefords, I guess," frowned Morelnnd. "Fo" because who else would ha' done It? But to save the life o' me I caln't see how they got In-and took my rifle without wakln' me up, Bill Dale. 1 slept twlcet as light as a sick mouse." Within ten more mlnuteo, every man f the Morelands was gathered there at the house of their chief?and every ~ 'T: lapibu^Liebe ? IUttfitaitons by r If win My e fy^SS ight by DoubUday , Poqt t C-o. John Morelnnd called Dnie aside and said to hlin: "You're high on ^ie good side o* them thar trillln' Hecks, and, so fer as they know, you ain't Int'rested In the feud. I wlsht you'd go down thar ! and see By aud his mother, and see ef ye can find out whar our rifles went." When Dale had gone off down the dusty oxwagon road, Caleb Morelnnd climbed a tall ash that grew behind his father's cabin and kept a watch toward the Llttleford side of the river. He saw a group of men standing la Beu Littteford'8 cabin yard, and unfiling else. A little more than a quarter of an hour after Hale left John Morelnnd be entered hy the gsteless gateway at the" cabin of the Hecks. It was u dilapidated place, and It stood not far from the river. By sat In the front doorway; he was lazily cutting a new midday sun mark In the place of the worn old one. Behind htm sat his mother, who was busily knitting a gray yarn stocking. The moonshiner looked up and started qt.l'--.iy to his feet. "til, uiar, Mill, old boy!" he greeted cordially. "My gosh, but ye've com* at the ilull! time, shore. We're it-goU*' to have young squirrels fo* dinner, and b'iled hauishnnk with string beuus, and eawnbreud made with the yeller o' hen wigs. Live whilst ye do live, says I. Come right In, Bill, old boy." "La, lu, la!" cried Cranny lieck, looking over the bruss rims of her Bpeelacles. "How glad 1 am to see ye, Mr. Bill! Come right In aud tell us the news." Bill Dale crossed the threshold aud accepted a creuking chair. His eyes took in at a sweeping glance the homemade dining table with its cover of red oilcloth, the broken cast-Iron stove, the strings of dried peppers hanging on the log walls, the broken stlllworm lying in the corner. . "Tlie Llttlefords," said Done, "have declared war." "bakes i" laughed the old womun. "We kuowed that last night when we beered them teu shots." "And all the Morelund rifles are missing." Dale wutched the effect of his words. "What I" the Llecke cried In one voice. Their surprise seemed genuine. Dule pressed the subject further aud ieurued only thut if they knew anything C'oucerulug the disappearance of the rifles they were not going to tell. Then he started homeward by way of the pool above the blown-down sycamore. There was a chance that Ben Littleford's daughter would be there flshiug, Dale told himself, aud It was barely possible thut she could throw some llglit on the mystery of the rllles. lie crossed the river by means of the prostrate tree. Babe was there; she sat on the stone on which she hud been sitting the morning before; her back was to him, and her bare feet were In the water to her ankles. Dale went up close, stopped and gathered a handful of violets and dropped them over her shoulder and Into her lap. Babe looked around and smiled. "What luck, Miss Llttleford?" "Nctfcln'. ! don't much want to ketch anything," she said slowly, a spirit of sadness In her musical voice. "I?1 Jest come off down here to be whar it's quiet. You ought to hear the noise 'at pap and the rest of 'em is a-maklnl" Dale narrowed his eyes. "Are they? er, making a noise? And what about?" "My goodness gracious alive I You'd think so ef ye could hear 'em 1 Y'ought to hear pap cuss John Morelund I" She shrugged her pretty shoulders, lifted the small end of her rod to Its pr per place, and went on, "I never did see pap half as mad as he was when he got home last night from a-follerln* me." "Mad at you?" asked Dale. JttllllUHIIIIIf?1? ^I JE\i "\lKl "Mad at You?" Asked Dal*. "No; bat be would ha* been ef he hadn't ha' had all his randneaa turned ng'ln them Morelands. You Itnowed about pap's trouble on jran side o' the rlYer last uightT" K , j "Yea. I knew shook that," Dale anI tWAfid slowly "HIM John Mortltti thoSShf yotrf father tras "my antagonist of yesteray." "An?antagonist?" Babe mattered inquiringly. "What's that?" "I mean Adam Ball, y'know." "Oh. That's what 1 told pap. But D8D he wouldn't hellov? i? ? won't never believe It?'cause he don't want to believe It. 1 told blin 'at John Moreland wasn't a-shootln* to hit, and he wouldn't believe that, neither. Pap's as hard-headed as a brlndle cow, when he gits a fool notion on htm. What? what did them Morelands say about their guns a-beln' gone?" Dale straightened. "How did you Und that out?" "Don't matter howl" She smiled almost saucily. "1 Itnowed about It afore you did, Mr. Bill Dale. Don't you think whoever done It done a kind thing?" "To disarm the Morelands so -that when the enemy comes they will have nothing with which to defend themselves?" Dale didn't know much ? about these hill feuds. "No. Miss LitI tteford. I can't say that 1 think It was i a kind thing to do." . " Miss Llttieford arose and faced Dale. Her cheeks were flushed. "Has the Inemy come?" she demanded Idly. "No, but? " "All right." the young woman broks in sha^iy. * If the Inemy hain't come, what're you .a-klckln' about?" ller brown eyes were fall of Ore, T'u'y defied, and they withered, and 1'. II Dale suddenly felt that be was , smaller and of less account In the I s. heme of things than that uneducatI ed, wildly superb creature that stood b. fore blm. | "I beg pardon," Dale said evenly. "1 didn't mean to ottend, y'know." I His quick contrition struck the girl. Iter mouth quivered. She dropped 1. r tlshlng-rod, and began to toy abt ntly with the end of her long, thick plait of brown hair. "I've seed so much o' this llghtln'," she murmured tremulously, "that It makes me go to pieces. 1 ought to beg yore pardon, mebbe, and 1 d-do. . . . I've seed a good many tine, strong men brought home dead or a-dylu' ftom the Moreland hnllets. And thn J.ittlefords has killed Morelands, too. One side about as many as t'other, i reckon. I'd be glad to. give my life to stop Itl" "I'll help you, If 1 can," Dale told her. "Ferhnps we can make friends of the Morelands and your people." "You don't know what a hard thing It'd be," she replied tearfully. "The two sets hns hated each other ever ! 1 sence 1 can rlckollect. And you won't j be here very long, i reckon." ! | "1 may be here for the rest of my 1 life," said Dale. j , "is It the coal?" Inquired Babe. ! "Partly?yes, It's the coal. I'm going to develop It for tli'e Morelands." Babe looked at him with a tiny herald of hope In her eyes. Before she could speuk again there came from somewhere back in the meadow the 6onnd of her father's voice? "Babe! O-oh. Babel" "Coiuin' I" cried the girl, half turning. "We'll try to make 'em friends; we'll try. Old Mnjor Bradley, he'll be up here afore long to spend the summer, and he'll help us. Be's a mighty good man; you're shore to like him. ' Be gen'ully stays with us when he's here. You go eusy with John Moreland 1 But when ye git him, ye'll have 'em all. I'll work ou pap. The' ain't no danger o' trouble right now. any- ' ways. Qoodby, Bill Dale!" "One moment, Miss Llttleford," and he took a step after her. "Are you sure there's no dunger right now?" Buhe halted, faced about uervously, and smiled u little. "Don't call me 'Miss' no more," said she. "It makes me feel old. Cull me what everybody else calls me, et ye don't mind. Why, every one ?' tho uHuciviuB iusi ineir rmeK last tilgnt | the same as the Morelnnds <lld! Meet ( ine here at sundown, and I'll tell ye ? about It Uoodby, Bill L)alel" a "Uoodby, Babel" he sinilecL CHAPTER V. 3 e At the River Again. 1 John Moreland met Dale at the gate. , "What did ye tind out?" "1 learned," was the answer, "that the Ltttlefords all lost their guns Just f as the Morelands did." "The devil 1" The mountaineers began to crowd about Dale. "/nd who," asked their leader, "do : ye think done It?" j Bill Dale shook his head slowly and threw out hlg hands. ' j "How should I know?" He went ( on: "Babe told me uhout the Llttleford guns disappearing. 1 saw her down ? at the river; she was fishing." j "Did she say anything," pursued j John Moreland, "'at sounded like she knowed whar them guns went to?" "She told me," said Dale, "she would give her life to stop the lighting. She seemed rather badly worked up over It." From the cabin's front doorway came a woman's sorrowful voice: "And me, too; I'd give my life to stop this here tlghtin*. I had a boy, 1 a big, strappln' boy?" John Moreland frowned toward his wife and Interrupted, "Now. Addle, honey, don't do that." , It ended the talk. Mrs. Moreland dried her eyes on a 1 corner of her freshly Ironed gingham apron, and announced the noonday , meal. The mountaineers dispersed. Grnndpup Moreland went away clawing at his long white beard and grumbling over the loss of his beloved old Lancaster. An hour later Dale cornered thp Morelnnd lender on the vine-hung . front porch and suggested that they j look over the coal property that after' noon, lie was eager to go to work. 1 eager to be doing something worth while, he told Moreland. The hlllman stood very still for whnt seemed to the other a very long time, und had no word to say. Kvldentl.v the feud had all his mind now. Whrti he did speak, be said simply: -All right. Ulll." After half an hour of tlghtlng their way through thickets of blooming laurel and Ivy, they drew up before an old and mildewed cabin at the north end of l>avld Moreland's mountain. Moreland led the way In and pointed to a spot under a small, paneless window. "Thar," said he, "la whar wo found I toy brother David." The two men turned (or Hie point * fill OrL _ sealed in by toasting light or day. Dale picked up a piece of the shining bluck stuff. Judging by the little he knew and the great amount of description he had beard, the vein was very large and the coal Itsilf of the Unest grade. "It was a big dnd," he told his companion, "a big find. It was a pity to let It lie here untouched Tor so long; and yet It's worth more today thau It was ever worth before." tils enthusiasm ran warm, and Moreland caught It quickly. Together they | dustily planned oat the little railroad thai .v ? to wind Its way through che wilds mid connect with the big rail* roau ui ilie Halfway switch. "I Unow I'm a-doln' right ubout It," the mountaineer said twice for the benefit of his conscience. "1 know pore David he woald want me to do this ef he could know." "I'm sure of It," agreed Dale. "I'll start for Cincinnati tomorrow. I've got enough money to take me there and back. I have a very wealthy Trlend there?his name Is Harris; 1 think 1 can borrow enough from him to tlnance the beginning of this thing. And I'll buy a locomotive and cars,' ind all the other necessary machinery, J while I'm In Cincinnati?unless 1 fall to get the money from Harris. When 1 get back, which should be within ilght days, we'll start the work. At i guess, I'd say we'll need twenty uen. Can we get them?" "Shore," nodded the mountaineer. 'And ull Morelands at that." They turned homeward. At last Bill Dale was happy. He had something to do now?an aim In life. He lad difficulties to overcome, obstacles to remove, barriers to surmount?It j ivas his big chancel It was almost sundown when Dale eturued from his visit to the coal rein?Big Fine mountajn hid the sun it a little after three In the afternoon. ! tie borrowed a tlshlng rod and a mln-( low pall, which made his going to the lver seem proper enough to John Uoreland, and set out to meet Babe Llttleford. He was glad that nobody sxpressed a desire to accompany him. ne found Ben Llttleford's daughter: vhere he had found her twice before? lifting on a stone the size of a small mrrei. sne was nshing with an un)alted hook, which was equal to flshng not at all, and she seemed pleased vhen she saw him coming. He sat j lowu on the stone at her side. She noved over a little shyly, and tried to j *over her feet with her calico skirts. "Needn't bother to hide them," aughed Bill IJule. "They're pretty nough. Most feet, y'know, are necesinry evils, tike chimneys and ruinpouts 1" Babe Llttleford blushed. He went >n. to hide her confusion, "Tell me ihout the rltles." "You must shore keep It a secret," the told hlin. "1 promise." "Better put yore hook In, so's ef uny>ody comes along?" R. L. McMANUS Dentiat Cheraw, IS. C. Beginning June 1st, 1921, I will practice at Chesterfield Mondays anil' jn Wednesday evenings; at Pageland ; iuer.day, at Mt. C-oghnn, Wedneslay morning of each wees. At Che-! aw i hursd. y, Friday and Saturday. | Tired S jjB "I was weak and run-down," Kg H relates Mrs. Eula Burnett, of A Dalton, da. "I was thin and fc? Sj Just felt tired, all the time. V ^ 1 didn't rest well. I wasn't M i WA ever hungry. I knew, by W R this, I needed a tonic, and Bp ^9 as there Is none better than? ^ ICARDUU H The Woman's Tonic I fl . . , I began using Cardul," 'Jh continues Mrs. Burnett Rj "After my first bottle, I slept k<d better and ate better. I took Hj1 m four bottles. Now I'm well, RI SkV feel Just fine, eat and sleep, K my skin is clear and I have R gained and sure feel that 0 Cardul Is the best tonic ever R _ made." 05 Wk Thousands of other women M M have found Cardul Just as A R Mrs. Burnett did. It should R H help you. 'M S At all druggists. S LsanBsnel Now Sel Price Le I LUCAS Dale threw out an empty hook. "I want to tell ye some other things fust, so's ye'll onderstand better when I come to the part about the rifles," ? Babe began, looking thoughtfully across the water to where a kingfisher ?at In watchful waiting. She continued slowly, choosing her words carefully, "I was brought up to hate them Morehinds. but?1 don't think I do. My people Is Jest like the Morelands. The biggest difference ye can And Is that one side mostly has grey eyes like you and t'other side mostly has brown eyes like me. Ail but their everlastln' ugh tin', they're good people, B'ii i?nie. "Each side, ye see, Is brought up to bate t'other side. I'm ashamed to tell It, but?I onderstand the fust plain words my Uncle Saul Llttleford's Inst t baby said was these here: D?n John Moreland !' It started a long time ago,1 and It started over nothln'. Urandpap Llttleford and John Moreland's pap got In a dispute over whether Kaln-. tucky was In Vlrginny or Nawth Ca'-liner, and went to flghtln' about It. Purty soon my Uncle Saul and Abner Moreland happened along, and they went to tlghtln', too. Thank goodness, it was on Sunday, and none of 'em didn't have their rifles with 'em. Whatever else we are or ain't up here, Bill i rv- i-v - * ' ume, we g?n any respects tne isubbath day to keep It holy. . . "I see," Dale muttered sympathet-i Ically. "I've seen my own mother set down, In the floor and take her boy'a head In her lap?oh, such a big, One boy he wasl?while the blood run through her dress from a Moreland's bullet. He (Continued 071 Last Page) 666 curei a cold quickly. 40 ! Webster's i i ; New International j DICTIONARIES are in use by busi\ ness men, engineers, bankers, : ; judges, architects, physicians, : ] : farmers, teachers, librarians, clergymen, by Muccessful men and j women the world over. I ] Are You Equipped to Win J 1 The New International provides : 1 I the means to success. 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