Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 11, 2025
Sternly, however, though the Falins did not know the fact, Devil Judd continued to hold aloof in spite of the pleadings of young Dave, and so confident was the old man in the balance of power that lay with him that he sent June word that he was coming to take her home.
But Dave carried the story far and wide, and it spread as a story can only in the hills. So that the two people most talked about among the Tollivers and, through Loretta, among the Falins as well, were June and Hale, and at the Gap similar talk would come.
The boy told what he had heard while he lay over the road along which some of his enemies had passed and his father nodded. The Falins had learned in some way that the lad was going to the Gap that day and had sent men after him. Who was the spy? "You TOLD me you was a-goin' to the Gap," said old Dave. "Whar was ye?" "I didn't git that far," said the boy.
And so there was quiet for a while old Judd making ready for the day when Rufe should be brought back, and trying to find out who it was that had slain his brother Dave. The Falins denied the deed, but old Judd never questioned that one of them was the murderer, and he came out openly now and made no secret of the fact that he meant to have revenge.
I reckon he would come if he thought he oughter but I'm on this side of the state-line. If I was on his side, mebbe I'd stop." Young Dave stared, for things were surely coming to a pretty pass in Lonesome Cove. "An' I reckon," the old man went on, "hit 'ud be better grace in you to stop sayin' things agin' him; fer if it hadn't been fer him, you'd be laid out by them Falins by this time."
"I know it," she said quietly, "but I'm goin' to try to be." Dave rose then in impotent fury and pointed one finger at her. His black eyes gleamed like a demon's and his voice was hoarse with resolution and rage, but it was Tolliver against Tolliver now, and June answered him with contemptuous fearlessness. "An' he kept the Falins from killin' ye."
He knew that there would be no attempt at rescue until Rufe was led to the scaffold, and he knew that neither Falins nor Tollivers would come in a band, so the incoming tide found on the outskirts of the town and along every road boyish policemen who halted and disarmed every man who carried a weapon in sight, for thus John Hale would have against the pistols of the factions his own Winchesters and repeating shot-guns.
But that autumn, the effects of the dead boom became perceptible in the hills. There were no more coal lands bought, logging ceased, the factions were idle once more, moonshine stills flourished, quarrelling started, and at the county seat, one Court day, Devil Judd whipped three Falins with his bare fists.
She looked up suddenly. "You been a long time git gettin' over here." "Yes, and now you want to send me home before sundown." "I'm afeer I'm afraid for you. Have you got a gun?" Hale tapped his breast-pocket. "Always. What are you afraid of?" "The Falins." She clenched her hands. "I'd like to SEE one o' them Falins tech ye," she added fiercely, and then she gave a quick look at the sun.
From down the street came five horsemen, led by John Hale. Every man carried a double-barrelled shotgun, and the old man smiled and his respect for Hale rose higher, high as it already was, for nobody mountaineer or not has love for a hostile shotgun. The Falins, armed only with pistols, drew near. "Keep back!" he heard Hale say calmly, and they stopped young Buck alone going on.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking