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diff --git a/old/61908-0.txt b/old/61908-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b14863b..0000000 --- a/old/61908-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6144 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Scott Burton in the Blue Ridge, by Edward G. -(Edward Gheen) Cheyney - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Scott Burton in the Blue Ridge - - -Author: Edward G. (Edward Gheen) Cheyney - - - -Release Date: April 23, 2020 [eBook #61908] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCOTT BURTON IN THE BLUE RIDGE*** - - -E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive -(https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 61908-h.htm or 61908-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61908/61908-h/61908-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61908/61908-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/scottburtoninblu00chey - - - - - -SCOTT BURTON IN THE BLUE RIDGE - - - * * * * * * - - Stories by EDWARD G. CHEYNEY - - SCOTT BURTON, FORESTER - SCOTT BURTON ON THE RANGE - SCOTT BURTON AND THE TIMBER THIEVES - SCOTT BURTON, LOGGER - SCOTT BURTON IN THE BLUE RIDGE - - * * * * * * - - -[Illustration: JIMMY TRIED DESPERATELY TO STAY HIS TEAM.] - - -SCOTT BURTON IN THE BLUE RIDGE - -by - -E. G. CHEYNEY - -Author of “Scott Burton, Forester,” -“Scott Burton, Logger,” etc. - - - - - - -D. Appleton and Company -New York :: 1924 :: London - -Copyright, 1924, by -D. Appleton and Company - -Printed in the United States of America - - - - - CONTENTS - - I. Off to a New Job - II. The Mystery of the Two Stores - III. The Old Man’s Story - IV. Old Jarred - V. Hopwood - VI. Scott Talks with the Agent - VII. Scott Receives “Aid” from His Boss - VIII. Scott Loses His Neutrality - IX. Scott Makes Another Rescue - X. Scott Meets Jarred - XI. A Visit to Jarred’s Cabin - XII. Scott Asks for Bids - XIII. Foster Wait Demands the Contract - XIV. Scott Makes a Trip to Washington - XV. Scott Hears Some Rumblings of the Old Feud - XVI. Scott Has an Interview with Sewall - XVII. Hopwood Takes a Trip - XVIII. Dick Turns Gentleman - XIX. Hopwood Throws Away His Iron Hat - XX. An Attempt at Arson - XXI. Scott Finds the Still - XXII. Hopwood Gets Jarred’s Promise - XXIII. A Close Call - XXIV. Scott Goes after the Marshal - XXV. Hopwood Sends Foster a Message - XXVI. Foster Revives the Feud - XXVII. Scott Arrives at the Village - XXVIII. The End of the Feud - XXIX. Jarred and Sewall Meet - - - - - SCOTT BURTON IN THE BLUE RIDGE - - - - - CHAPTER I - - OFF TO A NEW JOB - - -The ticking of the old grandfather clock in the neat little New England -house was the only sound to break the stillness. So still it was that -any one approaching the house could have heard the clock distinctly and -would certainly have overlooked the silent figure in the old -rocking-chair. But a man was sitting there, nevertheless, completely -absorbed in his own thoughts. - -An old gentleman appeared in the doorway and stood there for an instant -before he saw him. Then his face lighted up. - -“Hello, Scott! I thought you had gone out and I wanted to talk to you -about your new assignment. Mother tells me that you have your sailing -orders now.” - -The son looked at him with a smile, but his face still wore a puzzled -frown. - -“Yes,” he said, “I have my sailing orders, but—” - -“Good or bad?” his father interrupted anxiously. “You don’t look -overjoyed with them.” The old man was really worried. - -“I don’t know just what to think of them,” Scott frowned once more and -opened the letter for the hundredth time. “They have assigned me to a -timber sales job in the North Carolina mountains.” - -“Well, that sounds good enough. They say that is a beautiful country and -it is a place I have always wanted to see.” - -“Oh, the country is all right,” Scott said brightening, “and I am crazy -to go there, only I had my mind set on going back to my old place in the -southwest.” And again he frowned. “It is not the country but the job -that I am afraid of. Sometimes I am almost sorry that I caught those -range thieves out there in Arizona.” - -“Why, Scottie boy! If it had not been for that you would never be where -you are in the Service to-day,” his father remonstrated proudly. - -“Oh, I know that it made me solid with the Forest Service and gave me a -chance at a supervisor’s job years before I would ordinarily have had -one, but they have been using me as a sort of detective ever since. I -was lucky enough to catch those timber thieves in Florida, but I am no -sleuth and I’ll fall down on that job sooner or later.” - -“But, Scott, I don’t believe this is detective work. I expect they have -heard what a tremendous success you made of your own logging job last -winter and want you to look after the logging work down there.” - -“Yes,” Scott admitted, “I think you are partly right. But why transfer -me down there when there are local men who understand those methods? -Logging in New Hampshire and logging in North Carolina are very -different propositions.” - -“Maybe the local men cannot handle it and they know you can,” his father -suggested proudly. - -“Of course that’s what you think, dad,” Scott said affectionately, “and -it may be what they think, but I am afraid that there is something else -wrong.” - -This rather gloomy conversation was broken up by Mrs. Burton, who had -come to the doorway unnoticed. “Well, well, why worry over something you -don’t either of you know anything about? Maybe we do not know what you -are going to do in North Carolina, but we do know that you have to leave -us in the morning and we don’t want to waste what time we have left -worrying. Come on in to supper.” - -Scott laughed. “All right, mother, you always say the sensible thing. -I’ll bet there is nothing wrong with the supper no matter what may be -the matter with the new job.” - -So they went in to supper cheerfully enough and all three spent the -evening poring very busily over the atlas, and trying to see what they -could find out about the new country. Caspar, the little town where the -headquarters were located, was not shown on the old map, but they found -out a great deal about the country in general, and it was bedtime before -they knew it. - -“There,” Mrs. Burton exclaimed cheerfully as they said good night, “I am -satisfied. I’d be willing to go to that country on any old kind of a -job.” - -Scott was not ordinarily given to worrying much and by the time his -train pulled out of the quiet little Massachusetts village the next -morning he was looking forward eagerly to seeing this new country and -had forgotten all the imaginary troubles which the new work might bring. - -His orders were to report direct to Caspar, but he had half a day -between trains in Washington and took the opportunity to visit the -Forest Service offices. He met a few friends and became personally -acquainted with a number of men who had before that been to him only a -name attached to the end of an official letter, but he learned nothing -definite in regard to his new work. The chief of the particular branch -in which Scott was employed was out of the office and the inspector who -was to meet him in Caspar had already gone to North Carolina. That -looked as though there must be something unusual there, but Scott -resolutely refused to worry about it any more and settled down in the -car seat to enjoy the scenery of Virginia, which was altogether new to -him. - -The little shanties scattered all through the country and the grinning -black faces which crowded one end of the platform at every station -reminded him of Florida, but the country itself was very different. -Instead of the flat sand-plains covered with dense stands of yellow pine -the train wound through rolling clay hills and hardwood forests until it -lost itself in the foothills of the mountains just as the sun went down. -Scott peered eagerly out of the car window until he could no longer see -even the telegraph poles beside the track. - -Morning found him at a junction point in the heart of the mountains. -These mountains were not like the Rocky Mountains as he had known them -in the southwest. There was none of that stark grandeur of the bare -rocky slopes and flat-top mesas, but there was a peaceful beauty about -them which reminded him more of the overgrown Massachusetts hills; soft -green slopes towering above the valley to a surprising height, -considering the low absolute altitude of the range. There was as much -difference between the valley and the mountain peak as there usually was -in the Rockies, but Scott remembered that the valleys in the Rockies -were as high as many of these peaks. - -A little branch line carried him down a narrow valley between what -appeared to be flat-topped, unbroken ridges clothed in every kind of -hardwood tree that Scott had ever heard of, and capped with a rim of -dark green spruce which fitted over it like a black cape. Here and there -a peak rose conspicuously above the level ridge. - -“It must be great in those forests,” Scott thought, “and the views from -those peaks ought to be worth seeing. I tell you there has got to be a -lot of trouble in this job if I can’t enjoy myself in this country.” - -He was trying to catch a glimpse of a particularly high peak which -showed itself every now and then above the dark spruce ridge when the -conductor called, “Caspar,” and Scott had to hurry to get his pack sack -and suit case off the train at his headquarters. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - THE MYSTERY OF THE TWO STORES - - -When the dinky little train pulled out and left Scott standing on the -platform, he realized why he had not seen the town of Caspar from the -car window. It consisted of a railroad station, two stores, four -dwelling houses and another large, decrepit-looking building which could -not easily be classified, and they were all on the other side of the -railroad track from Scott’s position in the car. From that side of the -train no one would have suspected the presence of a town anywhere in -that vicinity. The mountain slope came down almost to the railroad track -and the forest on that side was almost unbroken. - -The station agent seemed quite interested at the sight of a stranger. He -watched Scott for a minute and seemed to be studying him in his own slow -way. Finally he seemed to decide that it would be safe to speak. - -“Howdy! Stranger in these parts, be ye?” he drawled. - -“Yes,” Scott said, “is there a hotel here or any place where a man can -stay?” - -“Reckon you can stay at the hotel. Ain’t no place else you could stay in -this town and live.” - -Scott thought at the time that that was a rather peculiar remark for any -one to make, but when he found that the station agent also ran the hotel -he charged it up to professional pride. When he saw the hotel he -wondered how any one could have any professional pride in it. - -The hotel turned out to be the nondescript building which stood, or -rather sat, apart from the others at the end of the street. It was a -large, rambling, barn-like structure a story and a half high. Half a -dozen gables stuck up from the side of the roof. It looked very old and -its first coat of paint had never been renewed. The ground around it was -as bare as the weathered clapboarding. There was no sign of any attempt -at beautifying either grounds or building. A rough picket fence -separated it from the rest of the village, but just why no one could -tell, for the ground inside the fence was, if anything, more barren than -that outside. Altogether it was a forlorn-looking place. - -The proprietor led Scott upstairs into a room large enough for a banquet -hall. It looked even more desolate, if possible, than the outside of the -house. It contained a bed covered with an old patch-work quilt and two -boxes—one to serve as a chair and the other as a washstand (you could -tell which was the washstand by the old tin basin half full of dirty -water). - -Scott looked around the room in dismay, but he had made up his mind that -he would have to put up with it when he caught a sickening odor, as of a -dead mouse, that apparently came from the closet. That he could not -stand. He had heard of the touchiness of these people, and he did not -want to offend them, especially as he would probably have to make the -place his headquarters for some time. But he had to get out of there by -some means. - -“You haven’t any bedroom on the first floor, have you?” he asked, trying -to conceal the disgust he actually felt. “I may be here a long time, and -there may be a great many people coming to see me, and a ground-floor -room would be much more convenient.” - -“Shore, I reckon we can accommodate you,” the man said, and he led the -way apathetically downstairs again. - -He opened a door off the long back porch and stepped back to let Scott -enter. It was a palace compared with the upstairs room. The furniture -was old, but everything was there down to a rag carpet on the floor, -and, moreover, everything looked clean. - -“This will be fine,” Scott said as he glanced quickly about. “What time -do you have dinner?” - -“Twelve o’clock, most times, but there ain’t anything certain about it.” -He paused at the door on his way out. “It ain’t none of my business, but -you ain’t a U. S. marshal, be you?” - -“No,” Scott laughed, “nothing like that. Why, are there many moonshiners -around here?” - -“I ain’t saying anything about moonshiners,” the man replied in the same -dull tone. “I was just going to tell you that this was a mighty -unhealthy country around here for the U. S. marshal.” - -Scott did not know whether this was meant as a friendly warning or as a -threat, and before he could ask anything more about it the man was gone. -As he was not in any way connected with the United States marshal, he -thought no more about it. - -Left to himself, he began to examine the room more closely. It was clean -all right, but the general effect of it was most grotesque. The high, -carved head-board of the old walnut bed might have had a place in a -medieval museum, but here in this room it looked out of place like -everything else in it. When Scott’s eyes fell on the wall paper, he -stood aghast. He counted thirty-seven different patterns, each a small -square evidently taken from a country storekeeper’s sample book, and -only a third of the wall was covered. The east window was heavily -curtained with portières, lace curtains and a shade. Scott peeped out. -It opened almost into the mountainside and no human habitation was in -sight. The glass door opening on to the back porch—which was by far the -most frequented part of the house—was not curtained at all. It was a -queer place, but Scott had been in worse, and he decided that it would -have to do. - -He had been so interested in finding a place to stay that he had -forgotten all about the man from the Washington office who was to meet -him here. He went out to inquire for him. The dining room opened on to -the porch next to his room and the kitchen was next to that. - -The man was nowhere to be seen, but there were three women in the -kitchen and they were feverishly discussing Scott’s probable business. -Complete silence fell on them all when he appeared in the doorway. - -“Pardon me,” he said. “Do you know whether Mr. Reynolds of the Forest -Service has been here?” - -The women looked at each other as though an important problem had been -solved before any one answered. - -Then one of the women answered with a question: “Are you Mr. Burton?” - -“Yes,” Scott said. - -“Mr. Reynolds left here this morning. He said that if Mr. Burton, the -new supervisor, came to tell him he would be back to-night or to-morrow -morning. I was looking for a much older man,” she added looking at him -curiously. - -“Well,” Scott laughed, “time will correct that.” - -Scott noticed that these women were all sizing him up just as the -station agent had done a little while before. He went back to his room, -and looked in the glass to see what could be wrong. He could see nothing -to attract attention. He tried to forget the occurrence and went out to -see the town and surrounding country. - -He wandered down the street, if the road between the two stores could be -called a street, and wondered why there should be two stores in such a -place. Judging from the unbroken forests on the mountain slopes he did -not see where enough people could possibly come from to support any -store at all. - -On the porch of each store there was a small group of idlers holding -down the dry-goods boxes, and Scott saw that they were sizing him up -just as the women had done. Moreover, the stare of these men seemed to -be distinctly unfriendly. It made him feel uneasy. He was glad when he -had run the gauntlet of unfriendly stares, and was out in the open road -with only the railroad station and the mountains before him. But he had -one more examination to stand. The station agent was watching him from -the corner of the platform. In fact, Scott caught him squatting down to -get a better view of him even before he came out in the open. He -resented this officious spying on his movements and turned aside into a -mountain road which wound its way up a timber-covered slope. - -“Heh!” Scott turned to see the man coming towards him at what was an -unusual gait for him. “Didn’t buy anything at the store, did you?” - -Scott looked at him indignantly for an instant, but he remembered again -that he had to live with these people, probably for a long time, and did -not want to offend them. “No,” he replied as pleasantly as he could. -“Why?” - -“I just wanted to know,” the man replied frankly. “But if you haven’t -done it, don’t.” The man had evidently noticed that Scott had resented -his interference and he walked away with considerable dignity without -making any further explanation. - -Scott started to call him back but changed his mind and continued his -walk up the road. He wanted to get away from these inquisitive people -for a while, and try to think things over. Fate, however, seemed to have -decided otherwise. He had gone a little more than a quarter of a mile up -the winding road through the heavy hardwood timber when he came to a -little cabin set back only a few feet from the road behind the -inevitable picket fence. An old man was sitting on the porch, and he -sized Scott up with the same all-consuming curiosity, but his gaze -seemed to be wholly friendly. There was none of that furtive animosity -he had felt rather than seen in the groups down at the store. - -“Howdy, stranger?” the old man greeted him pleasantly. “Be you the new -supervisor?” - -The old man’s manner was so evidently friendly, and his curiosity so -frank that Scott warmed up to him at once. - -“Yes,” he admitted cheerfully, “I’m the new supervisor.” - -“Haven’t bought anything at the store yet, have you?” the old man -continued in his friendly way. - -There was that same question about the store and Scott stiffened for an -instant, but he thought better of it. Maybe he could learn something -from this old man. - -“No,” Scott said, “I have not bought anything from the store. Tell me, -why does everybody ask me that? I have not been in this town much more -than half an hour and two people have already asked me if I have bought -anything at the store. What is the meaning of it?” - -The old man looked at him thoughtfully for a minute as though hesitating -to answer the question. Then he answered slowly as though pronouncing -final judgment: - -“Because when you do buy anything from one of those stores, you might as -well leave the town for all the good you’ll ever be able to do in this -country,” and he turned as though to enter the house. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - THE OLD MAN’S STORY - - -The old man’s statement seemed so ridiculous that Scott hesitated to -believe it. He thought that the man must be making fun of him, but he -recalled the station agent’s warning. There must be something in it. The -whole community could not be conspiring just to play a joke on him. -Before the old man reached the door he called him back. - -“Just a minute, please. You are the second man to warn me not to buy -anything at that store. Why shouldn’t I? What has buying at the store -got to do with running a national forest? I can’t see the connection.” - -The old man looked at him and smiled sarcastically. “Neither could the -other two men who came here before you, and they both had to leave.” - -Scott’s curiosity was now thoroughly aroused, and he determined to pump -an explanation out of this man. He smiled winningly. “Then tell me the -secret so that I shall not have to follow them.” - -At his change of tone the old man’s sarcasm disappeared immediately. -“Well, if that’s the way you look at it,” he said with all his old -friendliness, “why, maybe I’ll try to tell you. You couldn’t tell those -other fellows anything.” - -“I would certainly appreciate it,” Scott said, as he settled himself -down on the fence to listen. “I have come here to run this forest, and -if that store down there has anything to do with it, I want to know -about it.” - -“Come in, come in,” the old man repeated hospitably. “It’s a long story, -and you might as well sit down to listen to it.” - -Scott gladly stepped inside the fence, and took a seat opposite his host -on the porch. “By the way,” he said, “I thought I saw two stores down -there in the village. Which one do you mean?” - -“That’s just the point. If there was only one store there you could buy -all you pleased, but if you buy anything from one of those stores now, -the fellow who owns the other one would sure get you.” - -“But can’t a man buy where he pleases in this country?” Scott asked -indignantly. His spirit rebelled at any one dictating to him the way he -should run what he considered to be his own business. - -“Not and live in peace,” the old man answered sadly. “I’ll tell you the -story, and then you can do as you please. - -“You see the people here in the mountains don’t move around much. When a -man gets used to these mountains he never wants to live anywhere else. -The children don’t marry, and go off somewhere else to live; they just -put up another shanty, and live close to home. The families stick close -together, and form a kind of settlement. Most everybody in the -settlement is kin to somebody else. - -“The Morgans live in the settlement up on this side of the valley, and -the Waits over there on the other side. They were good friends and -getting along fine till the railroad come down the valley. They called -old Zeb Morgan and old Foster Wait together to decide where the station -ought to be. They got into a row over it somehow, and before anybody -could interfere Foster had pulled a gun and shot Zeb through the heart. -That was forty years ago. Well, it was a murder all right, and no excuse -for it except Foster’s notorious temper. The sheriff took Foster off to -jail, and that ought to have ended it. Would have ended it, too, if it -had not been for Zeb’s half-witted brother Jim. Everybody knew Jim -wasn’t exactly right in his head, but he worshiped Zeb, and when Zeb was -shot he went plumb crazy, disappeared and nobody saw or heard of him for -a week. Next thing anybody knew Jim had turned up in the middle of the -Wait settlement and shot two of Foster’s brothers. - -“Well, they should not have held the Morgans responsible for the actions -of a crazy man, but they did, and the fight was on. The dead line was -drawn down the middle of the village street, and every time a Wait -stepped over that dead line, he had to duck Morgan lead, and the Waits -were just as quick on the trigger on the other side. Every once in a -while some one on one side or the other would get drunk and shoot across -the line. - -“It got pretty bad. All the kin folks got mixed up in it, and there was -a funeral every two or three months. There has not been much shooting -for the past five years. The Morgans got the worst of the scrap in the -early days, and there’s only old Jarred and his two sons left of the -direct descendants of Zeb. Unless you count his little granddaughter -Vic. She’s the fightenest little wildcat in the whole bunch. Of course -there are lots of relatives, but they had cooled off pretty much till -this national forest business came along to stir them up again. - -“But I most forgot the store. You see old Tom Wait had a store in the -village before the trouble began, and it was all that was needed, maybe -a little more, but of course after the trouble no Morgan would deal -there. Been shot if he’d tried it. So Jarred’s boys had to start a store -on the other side. That’s where the two stores come from. Buy anything -from one of them, and you have all the other side of the mountain down -on you. Now maybe you can see why I warned you.” - -Scott sat in silence for a moment while the old man watched him -curiously. He was dazed by what seemed to him an impossible situation. -How could such a horrible state of affairs exist in the heart of a -civilized country? - -“Isn’t there any way of bringing the two families together and stopping -this senseless fight?” Scott asked earnestly. “Surely they must see how -it is hurting them both. Has any one ever tried to stop it?” - -The old man shook his head sadly. “The Morgan boys might quit if they -could find any way to do it. They know it is only a question of time -till they will be killed. Three Morgans can’t hold out forever against a -dozen Waits, and that is what it means because their kin folk are not -going to stick by them much longer.” - -“It would not be possible to persuade this man Jarred to give up the -feud?” Scott asked. - -The old man smiled sadly. “It’s clear you ain’t seen him, stranger. Old -Jarred would give away anything he’s got except his pride, but it takes -only one look at him to see that he’d never give up to an enemy.” - -Scott sat for some minutes pondering this extraordinary situation, and -the old man continued to watch him rather wistfully. Would he try to -make peace between these warring factions, or would he ignore them, and -be run out of the country as the other two had been? - -When Scott looked up he smiled at the old man gratefully. “I don’t know -what I can do to stop this thing. It is pitiful to think of that old man -eaten up by his hatred, and holding out in his pride against the world. -Maybe I cannot do anything to stop it, but I certainly do not want to do -anything to stir it up. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you -have told me. To whom am I indebted for this information and advice?” - -“My name is Sanders. ‘Old man’ Sanders they call me.” - -“And I take it that you are not mixed up in this feud on either side. -Who else is not in it?” - -“The station agent. He has to be neutral.” - -“And how did you happen to keep out of it?” Scott asked. - -“Because I am a Quaker,” the old man answered proudly, “and do not -believe in fighting. And now,” he added with the same sad smile Scott -had noticed several times before, “one of my daughters has married a -Wait and the other a Morgan.” - -Scott rose to go. “Well, Mr. Sanders,” he said earnestly, “I have almost -as good a reason as you have for keeping neutral. I am certainly obliged -to you for your advice, and I may need your help again. In the meanwhile -I shall keep away from those stores, and try not to stir anything up.” - -Scott walked slowly on up the mountain road with bent head, and when the -old man had watched him out of sight he continued to gaze dreamily at -the turn of the road where the young man had disappeared. - -“He’s not a fool like the others, anyway,” he said aloud, “and I think -he’ll stay here.” - -Scott wandered on. He wanted to find a place where he could be alone and -think. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - OLD JARRED - - -Two miles farther up that same road a little log cabin stood back from -the road about fifty feet behind its weather-beaten picket fence. The -little yard, like most of the yards in that section of the country, was -perfectly bare, and at first glance it seemed to be deserted. But if a -member of the Wait settlement had tried to enter the yard, he would -instantly have been aware of a very real presence. - -Seated on the doorstep of the cabin, and so motionless that he might -have been a part of it, was a man clad in a black sateen shirt and -homespun trousers tucked into heavy Congress boots. Judging from the -silvery whiteness of his hair he might have been eighty-five, but from -the strong, stern lines of his thin, smooth-shaven face he might have -been forty-five. There was no sign of nervousness. Not a finger moved -and his eyes rested unwaveringly on a small clearing half a mile down -the mountain where he could catch a glimpse of the road to the village. - -A white flag waved for an instant in the clearing and the lines of his -face relaxed. The sternness had given way to an expression of -anticipation. The man’s eyes shifted from the clearing to the bend in -the road just below the cabin. Other than that there was no movement. It -would have taken a careful student to have discovered that an -all-consuming curiosity was gnawing at this man’s heart. He seemed to be -without a care in the world. Certainly no one could have guessed that he -was suffering from a suspense which was almost unbearable. - -Suddenly a slip of a girl, not more than thirteen years old, and small -for her age, came running around the bend in the road. The brown of her -sunburned legs twinkled in the patches of sunlight that came through the -trees, and her blue-checked calico dress fluttered in the wind as she -ran with unfaltering stride. It was not an impatient burst of speed at -the end of a journey. She had been running steadily all the way from the -village, almost two and a half miles away and nearly a thousand feet -below. - -At the sight of her the man arose and stretched his gaunt form to its -full height. The coming of the child meant much to him, but he showed no -sign of curiosity. She stopped before him with chest heaving and dark -eyes aflame. - -“He went to Wait’s,” she panted. - -The lines in the old man’s face tightened, and he seemed to grow taller, -but he made no answer. - -“That was the man who came yesterday,” she continued furiously. “He -bought a sack of tobacco at Wait’s this morning, and went up on the -other mountain. The other one who came this morning didn’t go in -nowhere. He ain’t much more than a boy.” - -“Where is he?” the man asked sternly. “At the hotel?” - -“No, he went there, but he only stayed a few minutes. Then he walked -right through the village and started up this way. I passed him just out -on the road.” - -“Did he see you?” - -“No,” she answered contemptuously. “I was in the brush, but he would not -have seen me if I had run right by him. He was looking at the ground and -frowning.” - -The man turned the news slowly over in his mind before he answered. - -“So the new supervisor is a young lad, is he?” - -She nodded. - -“And he did not go in anywhere,” the man continued meditatively. “What -sort of looking man is he?” - -“He’s two inches shorter than you are, grandpa, but he is heavy and -strong,” she said confidently, with the air of one who is accustomed to -gauge the physical builds of men. “He’s wearing one of them uniforms, -and he’s dark and good looking.” - -He gave the girl a quick, searching glance. “Well, don’t make friends -with him yet, Vic. He has not gone into Wait’s, but he has not been in -our store either. Let’s wait till we see what he is going to do.” - -“Me make friends with one of those government men,” she burst out -contemptuously. “They all of them side with the Waits. I’d spit in his -face if he spoke to me.” - -Her grandfather smiled approvingly. “Oh, I would not do that, Vic, not -till he gives you some reason to. This one may turn out to be all -right.” - -“Then let him keep away from the Waits, if I have to be polite to him,” -she snapped. - -The old man took the girl tenderly by the shoulders, and looked at her -earnestly. “You’re the best Morgan in the bunch, Vic, and we’ll have to -stick together. The boys may stick by me, but they would give the whole -thing up if they saw a good way out. You and old Jarred are the only -ones left to uphold the honor of the family.” - -The child shook the mass of black hair back from her face, and looked -squarely into the old man’s eyes. The concentrated hatred and fury of -three generations gave her the appearance of a witch. “Don’t you worry, -grandpa. Let daddy and uncle Bob give up if they want to, but no Wait -will ever cross the line while I am here to help you.” - -Her grandfather patted her head proudly. “That’s the girl. I knew I -could count on you, Vic. Now go in the house, and get some lunch. Then -we’ll go down to the village again. I want to get a look at that -handsome young man myself.” - -Vic glared at him angrily. “I had to say that to tell you what he looked -like. Let him go into the Wait’s store, and I’ll show you what I think -of his looks.” She tossed her head defiantly and stalked into the house -with great dignity. - -The old man watched her go with a twinkle of pride in his eye and smiled -affectionately. Then he turned away and looked sadly down into the -valley. These were indeed sad times when the honor of the Morgans rested -on a girl of thirteen, and an old man past sixty, but his gaunt frame -straightened unconsciously at the thought, and his chin set all the -harder. If the Waits thought that they could walk over him because he -was old they were surely reckoning without their host. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - HOPWOOD - - -While the old man and the child were pledging their everlasting hatred -to the Waits, Scott Burton, with puzzled frown, was slowly climbing the -mountain road to their cabin. He did not know the location of old Jarred -Morgan’s cabin, and probably would have avoided it if he had, for he -wanted to think this feud business over before he talked to any of them. -Ignorant of how close he was to them, he turned into the woods less than -a quarter of a mile below them and sat down with his back against the -trunk of a great, wide-spreading beech tree. He was out of sight of the -road, and he had purposely chosen the spot in the deep woods to be free -from interruption. - -So this was the simple little job which the Service had given him to -complete before he went back to his old home in the southwest? Why did -they always pick him out to unravel some mess? He had never had a job -where he could really show what he could do. Always there had been some -complication, something outside of the regular line of duty that had -taken his whole time and attention. Never had he found himself in a -position where he could devote himself to his technical work and show -what he knew. Even when he had logged his own land he had found his -operations hindered by the bully of the country who had tried to ruin -him. His first impulse now was to write to the Service that he did not -care to mix up in this mess at all. If they wanted him to go back to his -old post, all right; otherwise, he would resign. He had made enough to -live on out of his own logging operations, and he could make more the -same way. He did not have to worry over these miserable feuds. Two men -had already lost their reputations on this job and been run out of the -country and.... - -Right there Scott lost all interest in that line of thought. Was he -going to let them run him out of the country? His jaw set at the mere -thought of it, and he knew that he would never leave till he had been -completely beaten or was carried out in a wooden box. He dropped all -idea of giving up the job and settled down to look it squarely in the -face. - -Just what was this problem anyway? The government owned a big tract of -land here, and there was timber on it that was ready to be cut, and it -was up to him as supervisor to sell it. It was located on both sides of -the valley, part in Wait territory and part in Morgan. Two other men had -already tried it, and had failed utterly before they had ever started -because they had become involved in this everlasting feud between the -Waits and the Morgans. - -When he really thought about it, it did not seem to be such an -impossible task. Why should he mix up in this feud at all? It looked as -though old Foster Wait was to blame for starting it years ago, but it -did not matter now who was originally to blame, they were both equally -to blame for keeping it up all these years. He would put it up to them -squarely that they had to forget the feud, and come together or he would -have nothing to do with either of them. Just what could they have to do -with it in any event? He did not think, from what he had seen of the -country people there, that either family could scrape together enough -money to buy the timber on a single acre. He did not see how they could -influence the sale one way or the other, and he was not going to let -them do it if they could. - -When Scott had come to that somewhat Irish decision he felt better. It -seemed almost as if the problem had been solved and he began to look -about him. His eyes had been fixed absently on the ground all the time -and his first upward glance revealed a sight that sent a cold shiver up -his back. - -A man was sitting on a log not six feet from him, and was staring at him -with bright blue eyes. It was startling enough to find any one sitting -so close to him when he had thought himself entirely alone, but it was -really alarming when the man had a gun in his hand and a large piece of -sheet iron on top of his head. At first Scott thought that he must be -dreaming, and he blinked his eyes two or three times to try to dispel -the illusion, but it would not dispel. - -This was really a man. He looked much as other men save for a queer, -dreamy look in his eyes, and he was dressed like other men except for -his strange head gear. Instead of a hat he was wearing a strange -contraption of wood and iron. On the bottom of a sheet of heavy iron -about eighteen inches long and a foot wide he had nailed four pieces of -wood in the form of a square. This he was wearing on his head like a -senior’s mortar board. - -All during Scott’s astonished examination, the newcomer sat staring at -him without the slightest expression on his weather-beaten face. He was -so still that he might have been a statue and his unwavering pose added -to Scott’s feeling of his unreality. He finally, after several minutes -of astonished silence, recovered sufficiently from the spell to exclaim -“Hello.” He said it in a rather startled tone. It did not sound in the -least like a friendly greeting, but it seemed to be altogether -satisfactory to his visitor. The man’s face relaxed, and a friendly -smile lighted it up. Scott was in hopes that he would remove the iron -hat, but he did not. - -“So you are the new supervisor,” the stranger remarked in a low, -pleasing voice. - -“Yes,” Scott replied a little stiffly, for he had not entirely recovered -from his astonishment, and could not keep his eyes off the iron hat, -“I’m the new supervisor. And who may you be?” - -“I might be almost anybody,” the man smiled, “but I happen to be -Hopwood.” - -“Well, I’m sure I don’t know where you came from, Mr. Hopwood. You just -seemed to appear on that log as if by magic, but I am glad to know you, -all the same.” - -“Not Mr. Hopwood,” the man said solemnly, “just Hopwood. Hopwood Wait.” - -Scott looked at him with a new interest. So this was one of the Waits, -the first one he had seen, and he wondered if the iron hat were a part -of the family armor. It might have protected him from an airplane -attack, but would have been of little use for anything else. He had -understood that the Waits did not come over on this side of the valley. -Could this man be scouting in enemy territory or had he come in hope of -getting a pot shot at a Morgan? He decided to risk a question. - -“Aren’t you in dangerous territory here?” - -Hopwood shook his head slowly. “No, they all think I am crazy, but I -have more sense than anybody else in the family. I can eat lunch with -Jarred Morgan and supper with Foster Wait, and that’s more than anybody -else can do,” he replied proudly. - -“Then you don’t believe in this family feud?” Scott inquired eagerly. - -Again Hopwood shook his head. “Why should I? They will all be killed if -they keep it up. The cemetery is full of them now.” - -“Do you think that they would give it up if they had a good chance?” - -Hopwood nodded. - -“What makes you think so?” This man might be able to give him some -useful information even if he was crazy. - -“Because they are scared,” Hopwood answered promptly. “Every one of them -is scared except old Jarred and Vic. They don’t pay any attention to me -and I hear them talk.” - -“Then why don’t they give it up?” - -“Because they are more scared to quit than they are to go on. If they -should quit, old Jarred would kill them all, both Morgans and Waits.” - -Scott thought for a moment. Old Jarred Morgan seemed to be the key to -the situation if this man knew what he was talking about. - -“Where could I find you if I should need you some time?” Scott asked. He -thought he could see how this man might be very useful to him. - -“Almost anywhere,” was Hopwood’s unsatisfactory answer. - -Scott looked thoughtfully off through the woods a moment wondering what -other useful information he could get out of this man, and when he -looked back the man was gone. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - SCOTT TALKS WITH THE AGENT - - -The disappearance of Hopwood had been so silent and so unexpected that -Scott hardly knew whether it had not been a dream after all. He sat -still for a moment to see whether he would come back, but, when he did -not, he arose leisurely, and began to glance cautiously about him. He -did not want to search because he thought that Hopwood must be behind a -tree somewhere waiting to have the laugh on him. After all what -difference did it make what had become of Hopwood? Scott felt that he -had learned all that he could get out of him just now, and he had made -up his mind what he wanted to do. - -He glanced at his watch. It was a quarter of twelve, and he would be -late for his dinner if he did not hurry. He was curious to know how -Hopwood had disappeared so suddenly and where he had gone, but he struck -out for the road without looking to the right or the left. Just as he -reached it he saw the man of the iron hat stroll leisurely around a bend -a little way up the mountain, apparently unconscious that he had acted -peculiarly, and without a backward glance. The sight of him reminded -Scott that he had not found out why this man wore his strange iron hat, -and he made up his mind to ask some one the first chance he had. - -When Scott reached the hotel after again running the gauntlet of stares -in the village there were no signs of a meal in the very near future. -The women were talking in the kitchen, but there was no sign of any -hurry in spite of the fact that it was already fifteen minutes after the -time they had announced for dinner. He went to his room and found it -just as he had left it. Either he was expected to make his own bed or -the women did not make them till afternoon. He decided to wait and see -what would happen. - -When the dinner bell finally rang, it was a quarter past one. Scott -found himself alone with the station agent. The meal was about the worst -he had ever seen. Great cubes of salt pork fat three inches square, -boiled and transparent, that might have made an Eskimo’s mouth water, -but were impossible for the uninitiated. Corn bread as dry as powder, a -sickly looking gravy, and some gluey rice. At first Scott thought that -he could not eat any of it, but what was he going to do? This was -probably what he would have to eat for several weeks. There was no place -to look for anything better. With a desperate look around the table to -make sure that he had not overlooked any possibilities, he resolutely -helped himself to the rice and the corn bread and waded in. He could -swallow these things if he had to, but he could not bring himself even -to try the salt pork. - -He had been so disgusted with the meal that he had forgotten all about -the station agent. Now he recalled that the gentleman had been rather -offended at his actions in the morning, and that he had better try to -make his peace with him now. - -“Mr. Roberts, you probably thought me very ungrateful this morning, but -I knew absolutely nothing of this feud here, and could not imagine what -you meant.” - -The agent answered rather stiffly. “None of the government men who have -been here seem to want to know anything about it, but they all learn -something about it sooner or later.” - -“Well, I want to know all I can about it. Up the road this morning I met -Mr. Sanders, and when he asked me that same question about buying at the -stores I asked him to explain. He told me all he could about it, and -then I realized what you meant. I really appreciate your kindness very -much, and want to thank you for trying to warn me. I don’t believe there -are many people around here who would have done it.” - -The agent was evidently pleased with the apology and melted immediately. -“No, I reckon there ain’t,” he said rather proudly. “Old man Sanders and -I are about the only ones. The others are all in it up to their necks.” - -“Now that I know about it, I am not going to get mixed up with either -side. They will have to give up their feud and work together like other -people if they want to get in the game.” - -“They will never do that as long as old Jarred lives,” the agent -answered confidently. - -That familiar phrase reminded Scott of the strange man with the iron -hat. “By the way,” he asked, “who is this man Hopwood?” - -“He’s Foster Wait’s nephew. Foster’s father is the man who started the -feud, you know. He had an awful bad temper, and they tell me that, when -Hopwood was a little kid, old Foster hit him in the head with his cane -and he’s been crazy as a loon ever since. Did you meet him at Sanders’ -place?” - -“No,” Scott replied, “I met him up in the woods.” - -“Thought you might have met him at Sanders’,” the agent said. “His -mother was old Sanders’ daughter. What did you think of his hat?” - -“I was just going to ask you why he wears that thing,” Scott said with -renewed curiosity. - -“He thinks it will keep the devil away.” The agent was delighted with -the opportunity to tell some one of the strange gossip of the country -that he had collected in his ten years of residence. “You see when he -grew up he saw that he was not like other people, and they had to give -him some reason for it, so they told him there was a devil in him. He -went right out and built that iron hat and has worn it ever since. Says -he’s going to wear it till they give up the feud.” - -“Doesn’t wear it at night, does he?” Scott asked. It was ridiculous, but -it was so pathetic that he hated to laugh at it. - -“No,” the agent answered seriously, “he doesn’t wear it at night, but he -sleeps on his back with that thing on his chest.” - -“He looked queer,” Scott said, “but he seemed to talk reasonably enough. -He said just as you do that they will never drop the feud as long as old -Jarred Morgan lives, but he says the others are all scared and would -drop it if they could.” - -“Sometimes I think he isn’t as crazy as they make out. They talk about -him and in front of him as though he couldn’t understand anything, but -he can tell you every word that they have said for the past five years.” - -Scott thought for a minute. “Do you think it would be safe for me to -make use of him or would that be considered as taking part with the -Waits?” - -“No, that would not tie you up with the Waits. Everybody talks to him, -even old Jarred Morgan. They do not seem to consider him as belonging to -the family, somehow. But you don’t want to be too sure about using him. -If he happened to take a liking to you he will do anything for you, but -if he did not like you this morning you’ll probably never see him -again.” - -“I don’t know whether he liked me or not,” Scott said thoughtfully. “He -appeared on a log in front of me so suddenly that I did not see where he -came from, and he got away again in the same way.” - -“Oh, he moves like a shadow in the woods,” the agent exclaimed -enthusiastically. “He has any Indian I have ever seen beaten three ways -for woodcraft. He moves about so fast and so silently that a lot of -folks around here think he is a spirit.” It was easy to see from the -agent’s manner that he was not altogether clear on that point himself. - -“Well,” Scott said, “I hope he likes me because it looks as though I -won’t have very many friends around here.” - -“You sure will not,” the agent remarked with decision. “You can make -friends with half the people easy enough, but sure as you do the other -half will hate you. If you don’t take up with either side, as you are -planning on doing, likely as not they will all hate you.” - -Scott sat for a moment dreamy eyed, considering this disagreeable -dilemma. When he looked up Hopwood was standing in the doorway, calmly -looking at him over the agent’s head. For a moment Scott was too -astonished to speak. He wondered if Hopwood had been outside listening, -and he thought of what the agent had said about this strange man being a -spirit. - -“Hello, Hopwood!” he exclaimed, and the agent almost jumped out of his -chair. - -Hopwood smiled an answer. “Is that red-headed man who came on the train -yesterday your boss?” he asked, as though they had been talking for some -time. - -“Yes,” Scott admitted, “he is, in a way.” - -“Well, _he’s_ joined the Waits,” Hopwood remarked. - -The announcement almost stunned Scott. He stared wildly at Hopwood for -an instant and then at the agent. “What makes you think so?” he asked -dully. - -There was no answer, and he found Hopwood had disappeared as suddenly as -he had come. - -The agent tiptoed to the door and looked cautiously up and down the -porch. Hopwood was nowhere to be seen. He looked back at Scott and shook -his head. “Gone completely. Well, whether he is man or devil, I reckon -he is a friend of yours all right.” - -“I guess he is,” Scott replied with a sickly smile, “but it does not -look as though my boss thought much of me.” - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - SCOTT RECEIVES “AID” FROM HIS BOSS - - -Mr. Roberts went back to his office soon after Hopwood’s visit, and was -evidently glad of the opportunity to get away. He had spoken derisively -of those who thought that Hopwood was a spirit, but he had looked behind -him nervously till he was well away from the house. - -Scott scarcely noticed that he had gone. He sat with his chin dropped -dejectedly on his chest, and stared across the table with unseeing eyes. -If what Hopwood had said was true, his troubles there would be greatly -increased even if his plans were not completely ruined. It seemed as -though some evil genius had brought him to this place, and if he had he -certainly must be laughing at the pickle his victim was in. - -Scott was so disappointed that he felt almost ready to cry. With -considerable difficulty, and the help of old man Sanders and the station -agent, he had succeeded in posting himself fairly well on the ins and -outs of this feud. After carefully considering the possibility of an -alliance with one side or the other he had come to the conclusion that -the only safe thing to do was to remain absolutely neutral. He felt -confident that if he could keep away from any entangling alliance with -either side, he could successfully carry on his work in spite of the -feud and might even be able to get these old enemies to patch up their -differences. He had still considered that a possibility even though -every one said that the feud would never be dropped as long as old -Jarred Morgan lived. - -And now his superior officer had taken sides with the Waits and spoiled -everything. - -Scott determined to find Hopwood, learn where Mr. Reynolds was, and know -the worst as soon as possible. One of them was right and the other -wrong. They must at least get together and agree on a common policy. - -So Scott started out in search of Hopwood. He felt sure that he could -tell him where to find Mr. Reynolds. The iron hat was nowhere in sight, -but Scott felt that he could not be very far away. Surely he would not -have come to make such a statement as that and then disappear without -waiting to give any explanation of it. Possibly he had gone to one of -the stores. - -He had started down the village street to investigate when he noticed a -motionless figure sitting back of a pile of cordwood a little way back -from the street. He instantly recognized Hopwood. Was he hiding from him -and would he run away? Scott approached him rather cautiously, but -Hopwood watched him calmly and showed no sign of retreating. He rather -appeared to be waiting for him. - -“Thanks for the warning you gave me,” Scott said as soon as he was near -enough to him. - -“I thought that you would be looking for me,” Hopwood replied with his -usual disregard of preliminaries. - -“What made you think that I would find you in this out-of-the-way -place?” Scott laughed. “Why didn’t you stay at the hotel? I would have -been glad to have had a visit from you.” - -“The more people see me with you the less I’ll hear,” Hopwood answered -cunningly. - -Scott started at the flash of wisdom from a half-wit. “I guess you are -right,” he replied earnestly. “Do you think we are safe here?” - -“Oh, yes,” Hopwood replied confidently. “No one can see us here except -from that one place, and no one else will go along that street for half -an hour.” - -Scott did not waste any time trying to find out how Hopwood knew that. -There was something else that he was anxious to know. “Then maybe you -can tell me, Hopwood, what makes you think Mr. Reynolds has joined the -Waits?” - -“He’s been up at the Waits’ nearly all day, and has just about promised -them that you will give them the logging contract.” - -“How do you know he did?” Scott asked incredulously. “You were with me -part of the morning, and went up the other mountain when you left me,” -he protested. - -Hopwood only smiled. - -“Where is he now?” Scott continued. He could not believe that Hopwood -knew what he was talking about. Maybe he was mistaken. He hoped so. - -“He is on his way down the mountain with Foster Wait,” Hopwood replied -promptly. “He’ll be down here at the store in less than half an hour,” -he added, as though he had noticed the doubt in Scott’s face. - -“Then I guess I’ll wait here till he comes,” Scott said. “I don’t want -to be seen now traipsing around the country with Foster Wait. - -“He’ll have some job to make me give a logging contract to either of -those gangs,” Scott muttered defiantly. Then, after a minute’s silence, -“Do you think that either the Morgans or the Waits could carry out a -logging contract if they did get it, Hopwood? Have they the money to do -it?” - -But there was no answer. Hopwood had disappeared again in his usual -silent and mysterious fashion. Scott knew better now than to waste his -time looking for him. He fell to brooding over this phase of the -problem, and when he looked at his watch it was already ten minutes -after the time which Hopwood had predicted for Mr. Reynolds’ arrival. -Scott jumped to his feet and hurried out into the open. He was delighted -to see Mr. Reynolds coming up the street alone and walked down to meet -him. - -Mr. Reynolds was a rather effeminate-looking man, over neatly dressed in -the very latest cut of riding suit. He affected a rather bored manner. -He waved an indolent greeting to Scott. - -“Hello, there, Burton! I sure am glad to see you. I thought I was going -to have to eat another meal in this beastly hole. Now I can probably -finish up with you in time to catch the afternoon train.” - -Scott wished that he had caught the train the day before but he did not -dare to say so. Instead he said, “Think how long I shall have to eat -here. Better stay awhile. Misery loves company, you know.” - -“Well, I hope you get all the company you want, but it sure will not be -mine if I can help it.” - -“By the way,” Scott asked suddenly, “where did you get that cigarette?” - -“Pardon me,” Mr. Reynolds exclaimed, as he fumbled apologetically in his -pocket for the package, “but I was under the impression that you never -smoked.” - -“I don’t,” Scott replied. “I was only wondering where you bought them.” - -“Oh, here at the store. They carry them, but they are a pretty bum -brand.” - -“Which store?” Scott insisted. - -“The one on the left there. Hadn’t noticed there were two. What’s the -big idea? You rooting for one of them?” - -Scott knew that it would be useless to argue with this man. He evidently -had no conception of the situation in the village and Scott did not -think it worth while to try to explain. “No,” he replied, “I was just -wondering which one I ought to deal with,” which was true enough. - -“Well, if everything they sell is as rotten as their cigarettes you’d -better try the other one. But come on up to the hotel so that I can go -over things with you in time to catch that train. I think that I have -things lined up here for you in pretty good shape.” - -“How is that?” Scott asked. In spite of the harm this man had done him -he could not help smiling at his unbounded conceit. - -“Oh, I had a long talk with Foster Wait this afternoon, and fixed it up -with him so that the Waits will take over the logging contract. There is -a big family of them and the labor problem will be settled. No use in -scouring the country the way those other fellows did when it can be -handled so easily locally.” - -“Didn’t sign them up, did you?” Scott asked the question as carelessly -as he could, but he really waited breathlessly for the answer. - -“No,” Mr. Reynolds answered pompously, “I could not very well go into -all those details because I did not have the necessary forms with me. I -only smoothed the way for you a little. Now that I have talked to them -it will be no trick at all for you to get them to sign up and arrange -all the details.” - -“And,” Scott thought, “the details would have to include the hiring of -an undertaker to sweep up the remains.” But to Mr. Reynolds he said -nothing. The more he let this man talk the more certain he would be of -getting rid of him on the afternoon train, and that was Scott’s one -ambition now—to get rid of this man at the earliest possible moment. - -They walked on up to the hotel and when they came out two hours later -Scott was more than ever anxious to see him go. If this man had had -anything to do with the business when the two previous supervisors had -been run out of the country he could understand perfectly well how it -happened. Scott had listened attentively and talked hardly at all. - -As they approached the stores Scott saw a good-sized delegation -assembled on the porch of each. The Waits looked smilingly elated. The -Morgans glared angrily from across the way. - -“Come on up and I’ll introduce you to these people now if I have the -time.” - -Scott was determined to avoid this but he did now know how to do it. If -he refused, Mr. Reynolds would undoubtedly start an argument which the -spectators could not help but understand. Fortunately the train was on -time, something which rarely happened, and it whistled just in the nick -of time. - -As the train pulled out of the station, Scott watched it with a feeling -of profound relief, but at the same time he half wished that he was on -it. He was rid of Mr. Reynolds, but would he ever be able to get out of -the mess into which this man had drawn him? - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - SCOTT LOSES HIS NEUTRALITY - - -When the train had disappeared Scott turned to find the station agent -close behind him waiting for an opportunity to speak. - -“I reckon Hopwood was right,” he said with his slow drawl. - -“What makes you think so?” Scott asked, for he knew that Mr. Reynolds -had not told him. - -“Three of the Waits have already told me that they are going to get the -logging contract,” he replied. - -“Oh, they did, did they?” he exclaimed indignantly. Either Mr. Reynolds -must have talked to a gathering of the whole clan or the news had spread -like wild fire over the face of the mountain. “Well, they haven’t got it -yet,” he snapped. “I guess I’ll have something to say about who gets -that logging contract.” - -“I asked them if you had told them and they said no, but your boss had, -and you would have to do as he said.” - -Scott’s teeth came together with a vicious snap. “They’ll see whether I -have to or not.” He turned abruptly and walked across the tracks toward -the Wait country. “No pair of whipcord riding breeches is going to tell -me where to let a logging contract,” he muttered angrily to himself. - -He did not know exactly why he had come in that direction. Possibly it -was his natural tendency to go straight for his enemy. He did not even -realize where he was going; he only realized that he was mad clear -through and that he had better walk some of it off before he talked to -anybody. - -The forest came close down to the edge of the valley on this side and -the road was arched over with the beautiful hardwood trees. Scott would -have marveled at their size and beauty if he had not been too angry to -notice them. The quiet solitude of the steep mountain road was well -fitted to smooth a man’s ruffled temper and make him forget his -troubles. Everywhere the gray squirrels were chasing each other around -the trees in a never ending game of tag, and the birds were singing all -over the woods. - -Before Scott had gone very far he met two men riding down the mountain -on horseback. They wore the regular uniform of that section, rough -homespun trousers and a black sateen shirt, and carried long -muzzle-loading rifles balanced across their saddle bows. They both -grinned condescendingly at Scott and gave him a careless, “Howdy.” - -He did not think it strange that he should meet two men, but when he met -two more a little farther up and they greeted him in the same way he -began to comprehend. These were the triumphant Waits on their way to -town to celebrate their victory, and they were all laughing at him, -laughing because they had overreached him and made terms with the boss -that he would have to accept. - -The thought maddened him, and by the time he had passed eight more he -was so angry that he could hardly see the big fellow who brought up the -rear of the last group of four. It would never do to start a row with -them now before he was really ready, and yet it was all he could do to -hide his fury and return their greetings casually. - -The big fellow who had just passed turned in his saddle and looked at -him inquiringly. “Weren’t looking for me, were you, sonny?” he called -insolently in a rather thick voice. - -Scott’s blood boiled at the tone and wording of the question. He did not -dare look at the man and it almost choked him to answer calmly, “Not -to-day.” - -“Well, to-morrow will do,” the man called insolently. “You can find me -home most any day.” And the others laughed at the retort. - -Scott saw red for a minute and half turned, but he caught himself in -time. He would not make much headway in handling this timber sale if he -began with a fight in the public road on a somewhat doubtful pretext. If -he did fight he ought to have a little better cause than that. - -He did not meet any more of the offensive Waits and was beginning to -cool off a little so that he could think calmly. Suddenly he stopped -with a jerk and turned his startled gaze down the road in the direction -all the bands had been traveling. What would be the outcome of this -meeting in the village? He had met twelve men on the road and he had -noticed eight more at the store when he came by. They were all armed and -most likely there would be much drinking. Would they take this -opportunity to wipe out the remnant of the Morgans? - -He had never seen old Jarred Morgan nor had he ever spoken to any of the -family, but right now his sympathy was with them. The picture which old -man Sanders had drawn of that lonely old man and a slip of a girl -holding the Morgan fort almost alone appealed to him. But what could -they do against a gang of twenty? No matter how brave they were, they -would be helpless. - -Scott’s sense of fair play sent his fighting blood bounding through his -veins. He turned resolutely and hurried down the mountain. He thought -that he might be able to prevent that crime. He would help to protect -that plucky pair if he possibly could, and he would not care what -anybody thought about it. He did not admit it to himself, but probably -the greatest incentive was the opportunity to fight these insolent -Waits. He hurried on without a thought of the possible effects it might -have on his plans. Every minute he half expected to hear the shot which -would announce the beginning of the fight. - -When he came out of the forest at the foot of the mountain, he was -relieved to see that everything looked peaceful in the village. The -station agent saw him coming and lounged out to the end of the platform -to meet him. - -“Well, they are all in town to celebrate,” he drawled. - -“I guess they are, judging from the procession I met coming down the -mountain,” Scott growled bitterly. “Do you think there will be any -trouble?” - -The agent looked at him curiously. “Oh, I don’t believe they will bother -you any now. They think that you are their friend.” - -Scott glared at the man indignantly. “I am not talking about myself. Do -you suppose I care what that gang thinks of me? But it occurred to me -that they might take this opportunity to catch the Morgans unprepared -and clean up what is left of them.” - -“Oh, you mean that kind of trouble?” and the agent seemed greatly -relieved to find it out. “There won’t be any fight unless old Jarred -comes to town.” - -“There will not be any at all if I can prevent it,” Scott replied -resolutely. “If there is any fight it will be a fair one and not a -murder of one old man by a gang like that. I wish I could find Hopwood. -You have not seen him, have you?” - -The agent looked cautiously behind him and shook his head. “No, I -haven’t seen him since noon, but that is no reason why he may not be -sitting right here somewhere staring at us.” - -Scott turned away. “Well, maybe I’ll run on to him. He seems to turn up -somehow when he is wanted.” - -He dreaded passing that crowd at the store and yet he would not have -gone home any other way this afternoon for a hundred dollars. There -would almost certainly be some impudent remarks and Scott was almost -afraid to trust himself, but he made up his mind that he would not fight -with them no matter what happened till he had tried to persuade them to -drop the feud. - -Purposely he kept out of sight behind some trees till he was not more -than fifty yards from the store. Then bracing himself for the coming -trial he walked casually out of the shadow. His eye took in the -situation at a glance, but he could not understand it. - -Two lonely men sat silent and sullen on the porch of the Morgan store. -At least twenty crowded the porch of the store across the street, -laughing and gibing at a burly giant who was dragging a young girl -across the street by the hair. The girl’s head was bent down so that -Scott could not see her face, but he could imagine her expression. She -was not uttering a sound, but she was fighting with the fury of a -wildcat. - -Scott’s blood boiled at the sight of a man mistreating a girl in this -way. Moreover, he recognized the man as the big fellow who had spoken to -him so insolently up on the mountain. Even before he realized what he -was doing he had covered the short distance and grabbed the man by the -arm. He had been a boxer all his life and had won the heavyweight -championship at college. He was calm now, as calm as he had ever been -when he stepped into the ring. This man was almost twice his size, but -he did not even notice it. - -“Let go of that girl,” Scott commanded, and as he spoke he let go of the -man’s arm. He had grabbed it only to attract the man’s attention. He -knew that he could not hold this man in any such way and he was too good -a fighter to hold on and be jerked off his balance. The steely ring in -his voice was enough to hold any one’s attention now. - -The man turned upon him furiously, but he did not let go of the girl. -Evidently he had expected to see a Morgan, for when his eyes fell on -Scott his mouth dropped open for a moment and he stared blankly. - -“Did you hear what I said?” Scott insisted with suppressed fury. - -A cunning leer came over the man’s sodden face. The spectators at the -two stores listened breathlessly. - -“Quick work to get sweet on her so soon. Get out of the way, sonny, and -go get the papers ready for that logging contract.” - -Quick as a flash Scott caught the big fellow a tremendous blow on the -jaw with the flat of his hand. If the man had been sober he would have -hit him with his fist, but he did not want to slug him when he was in -that helpless condition, much as he deserved it. Even as it was, the -slap was enough. The big man let go of the girl, stumbled, lost his -balance and sprawled his length on the ground, where he lay groping -helplessly for his gun and muttering curses. - -The girl shook her long hair from her face and cast a look of furious -hatred at the fallen foe. Her chest was heaving from the desperate, but -futile, struggle. Turning slowly she swept a contemptuous glance over -the spectators on both porches. “Cowards!” she snapped with all the -concentrated contempt she could muster. She turned and walked slowly -down the street with all the dignity of a queen. - -Much to Scott’s astonishment not a man had moved a hand to interfere -with him. He looked them over slowly to see if they were going to mob -him, but nobody moved or spoke. When he had stood there long enough to -avoid any appearance of running away, he cast a curious glance at the -retreating figure of the girl who had so completely ignored her rescuer, -and walked slowly away toward the hotel, trying to figure out what it -could all mean. - -As he turned the corner of the hotel he almost laughed aloud. He was -thinking what the Waits must think of his friendship now. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - SCOTT MAKES ANOTHER RESCUE - - -When Scott entered the hotel he was still thinking what it could all -mean. Why were the men of both factions quietly looking on while a big -burly drunkard dragged a child around the street by the hair? If the -girl was a Morgan why had the Morgans let such an act go unchallenged? -If she was a Wait why had not the rest of the gang protected her? He -started. Perhaps it was the man’s own child. No matter. No man had a -right to drag his own child around by the hair. Well, when the station -agent came to supper he could probably explain things. - -But the station agent did not come to supper and Scott ate the atrocious -food in lonely state still trying to solve this mystery. In any event he -had shown the Waits just how much they could count on his friendship and -that was worth something. It was also some satisfaction to know that -they were probably as much troubled as he was. - -Alone in his room he pondered the problem for an hour without coming any -nearer to a solution. Finally the suspense became unbearable. He -determined to go to old man Sanders and see if he could offer any -explanation. It was growing dusk when he went out and objects seemed a -little indistinct in the distance. He glanced toward the place where -Hopwood had been waiting for him in the afternoon, but there was no -trace of him now. - -Both stores apparently were deserted. Scott had not seen a soul when he -turned into the road which led up to Sanders’ little cabin. He thought -that he had never known the woods to be so silent. It seemed as though -every living thing must have left the country. But there was a light in -Sanders’ cabin. The full moon peeped at him over the trees behind the -house. He knocked on the door and heard the old man shuffling across the -floor to open it. - -“Good evening,” Scott said as the door swung wide. “You see I have come -back to you for advice pretty quick.” - -“Come in, come in,” the old man said cordially. “Glad to see you.” He -motioned Scott to one of the old-fashioned chairs. When they were -comfortably seated he spoke again. - -“You said you came here for advice. Let me give you a little before I -forget it. It happens to be perfectly safe for any one to knock on my -door at any time of the day or night, but don’t try it anywhere else. -You would probably find yourself looking down the barrel of a gun if the -dogs did not chew you up first. It is the custom in this country to -stand outside the gate and shout.” - -“Thanks,” Scott replied gratefully. “I am very anxious to learn the -customs of this country. There seem to be some customs here I do not -understand. That is what brought me up here to-night. What does it mean -when a big bully of a man hauls a girl around the street by the hair -while twenty others look on and do nothing?” - -The old man straightened up in his chair. “What’s all this?” he asked -sharply. - -Scott explained as fully as he could and the old man listened -breathlessly to every word. When Scott had finished his story the old -fellow sank back in his chair with wrinkled brow. - -“So that was how it happened,” he muttered to himself. “The girl has -more sense than I thought she had.” Then he spoke aloud to Scott. “I -heard a little something of this but I did not know that you had -anything to do with it. It’s a wonder to me that you are here to tell -it.” - -Scott misunderstood him. “I admit it was a little hasty,” he replied -with dignity, “but I am not ashamed of it.” - -The old man laughed aloud. “No, no, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I -am only surprised that Foster has not killed you before this. Be on your -guard, for he will certainly try it.” - -“Tell me about it,” Scott said. “What was going on? I could not make -head or tail of it.” - -Mr. Sanders thought for a moment. “Must have seemed queer to you. Would -to anybody. You see Foster Wait, he was the big fellow, was drunk as he -usually is when he has any excuse for it at all. He happened to see Vic -Morgan there in the village and could not help poking some fun at her -about the logging contract. They all love to tease her just to see her -spit fire. She flew into a tantrum just as she always does, ran out to -the middle of the street, which is the dividing line between Morgan and -Wait territory, and told him what she thought of him and the whole Wait -tribe. She said herself that she cursed Foster pretty bad. - -“You see she felt safe because the Waits never come past the middle of -the street. But, as I said, Foster was drunk and he reached over the -line and grabbed her. Probably just wanted to spank the kid for a joke. -Vic could not see the joke and bit his thumb. Hurt him pretty bad, I -reckon, and made him mad. He has a terrible temper like his father. He -grabbed her by the hair for a safe hold and then you came along.” - -“But how could those men there at the Morgan store see a Wait treat a -member of their family in any such way as that?” Scott protested. - -“Because Jim don’t believe in keeping up the feud, and it makes him mad -every time Vic stirs things up that way. Probably thought it served her -right.” - -“So that child is Vic. And she is the only supporter old Jarred has. Who -is she, anyway?” Scott asked. - -“She is the daughter of Jim Morgan there at the store, but she spends -most of her time up on the mountain with her grandfather. She and the -old man are great chums.” - -“Just one more question,” Scott said, “or rather two more and then I’ll -let you go to bed. Why didn’t any of the Waits interfere when I knocked -their leader down? I did not know who he was or I might have been -scared.” - -“Because they don’t like him. He is a regular bully, and they were -probably glad to see somebody stand up to him. Besides, they are -expecting a good deal from you.” - -Scott ignored the last remark. “And my last question. How did you find -out about it so quickly?” - -The old man hesitated an instant. “That is the part that puzzled me. Vic -stopped in here and told me about it herself. That would not have -surprised me because she usually tells me everything, but she asked me -not to let her grandfather hear about it if I could help it. That is -what astonished me. Ordinarily she would have gone to her grandfather on -the run and wanted him to kill the whole tribe. He’ll try to do it too -if he ever hears about this and his own tribe, too, for letting it -happen. I think Vic must have realized that. Didn’t know the kid had so -much judgment. She did not say anything about your rescuing her, -either,” he mused. - -Scott was thoughtful a minute. “Well, I certainly appreciate your help, -Mr. Sanders. I think I understand it a little better now, but,” he added -slowly, “I don’t think I shall ever understand how a father could sit -still and see a drunken man treat his daughter like that.” And he arose -to take his leave. - -“Old Jarred wouldn’t understand it, either,” Mr. Sanders said, as he -rose to show his guest to the door. “I wish you would help me to keep -him from finding it out. The kid does not want him to know, and I like -her.” - -“So do I,” Scott replied. “She fought like a wildcat. I admire nerve in -anybody. I admire the old man, too, for holding out alone against that -big gang, and I am going to protect him all I can.” - -He was out on the porch now, and the old man was standing in the -doorway. “Good night, and thank you again.” - -“Good night, and be careful,” the old man warned him. “Foster Wait is a -dangerous man and he’ll never be satisfied till he gets his revenge for -this insult. He won’t stop at anything and you must be on your guard all -the time.” - -“I’ll try to watch him,” Scott replied simply. - -“Do that,” the old man called. “I’ve taken a fancy to you and I don’t -want to see you shot for nothing.” - -The door closed before Scott could reply and left him alone in the -moonlight. He felt his loneliness then in that unfriendly country and -was grateful to the old man for his help and his friendship. With a sigh -he turned down the mountain road pondering on the strange story he had -heard. He could see how the news of this encounter might mean the -disruption of the whole Morgan faction if it were ever revealed to old -Jarred, and the girl must have seen it too. - -He was walking along slowly in this thoughtful mood when he was startled -by the sight of an old white horse standing in a patch of moonlight in -the middle of the road. He wore a bridle but no saddle, and his head was -hanging low as though he were exhausted from hard riding. - -Scott’s mind flashed to the old man’s warning against Foster Wait and he -jumped behind a point in the bank beside the road. He was not a coward -but he did not mean to be shot down by a madman without a struggle. He -peeped cautiously through the bushes. At first he could see nothing, but -as his eyes became more accustomed to the uncertain light he thought he -recognized the body of a person lying under the horse’s muzzle. He -watched it carefully for a moment. There was no sign of motion. Surely -any one lying in wait for him would not have chosen such a peculiar form -of strategy. He threw his caution to the winds and stepped out into the -road. - -The old horse raised his head and nickered. The raising of the horse’s -head let the moonlight fall on the figure in the road and Scott clearly -recognized it as a woman. He ran forward and there was Vic Morgan lying -unconscious in the road. A small bundle of clothes lay beside her. -Evidently she had fallen from the horse, but Scott could not tell how it -happened. The faithful old horse was standing guard over her unconscious -form; it would hardly have been his fault. - -Scott felt her pulse. She wasn’t dead. One leg was twisted under her in -an unnatural position. He straightened it out and the bone did not seem -to be broken. He was uncertain whether to take her back to Sanders’ -cabin or home to her father. It was not much farther to the village and -he decided to take her there. He tied the bundle of clothes on his belt -and led the horse over to the bank where he could get on. - -When he started to pick the girl up she groaned and moved uneasily. He -gathered the slight form in his arms and carried her over to the bank. -Just as he slipped on to the back of the docile old horse with his -clumsy burden the girl opened her eyes. She looked at him sleepily at -first, but as consciousness came to her she started up with a violent -jerk and stared at him wildly. She evidently did not realize what had -happened or just where she was. - -“Let go of me,” she commanded sternly, and before Scott realized what -she was doing she had boxed his ears till they rang. - -He held the wildly struggling little figure as best he could and tried -to explain. “Listen, I found you unconscious in the road and I’m only -trying to take you home.” - -“Don’t you dare hold me,” she snapped angrily, and redoubled her -struggles. “I don’t want you to take me home. I’d rather die here than -have you touch me.” - -Scott was so taken back and so indignant that he felt like dropping her -in the road and leaving her, but he could not do that. He gritted his -teeth and held her the more firmly. “Well, I am going to take you home, -young lady, whether you like it or not, so you might as well stop -struggling. You can go back in the road and die afterwards if you want -to.” - -After an even more violent struggle than before the child’s form -suddenly collapsed, and she began to cry. This worried Scott far more -than her struggles. - -“Don’t cry,” he begged her. “Where are you hurt and how did it happen?” - -For a while she was silent save for her sobbing and when she spoke it -was not to answer his question. “If you’ve got to take me somewhere,” -she said in an uncertain voice, “take me to grandpa.” - -Scott stopped the horse and looked at her doubtfully. “Why?” he asked. - -“Because I ran away from home and never want to see my father again,” -she retorted defiantly. “And it’s none of your business,” she added -promptly. - -Scott hesitated but he remembered what Mr. Sanders had said about her -spending most of her time with her grandfather, and after the events of -the afternoon he did not blame her for wanting to run away from her -father. “Where does your grandfather live?” he asked. - -“Up the mountain,” she replied. - -Scott turned the old horse around and he plodded slowly upward. The -light was already out when they passed Mr. Sanders’ cabin and all was -still. The girl did not deign to speak and Scott maintained a dignified -silence. They had traveled almost a mile when the girl spoke suddenly. - -“If you say anything to granddad about that fight this afternoon, I’ll -kill you.” - -Scott had already promised Mr. Sanders not to tell but there was -something he wanted to know. “How were you hurt this evening?” he asked -again. - -“None of your business,” the child snapped. - -“Then it may not be my business to keep your secret,” he retorted. - -She was silent for a moment as though thinking it over. “The horse shied -at a hound on the bank and I fell off,” she replied reluctantly. - -“How did it hurt you?” Scott insisted. - -Again there was a pause as though she was struggling with herself. “I -have a knot on my head and my leg hurts,” she answered grudgingly. - -Scott had found out what he wanted to know. “I promise not to tell,” he -said. - -She did not thank him. A hound barked on the left-hand side of the road. -The horse stopped. She called to the hound and he stopped barking -instantly. - -“Let me down from here,” she commanded. - -Scott could see no reason for holding her longer. He balanced her on the -horse’s withers and slipped to the ground. He reached up to help her. -She tried to avoid him but he caught her and it was well that he did, -for when her foot touched the ground she uttered a sharp gasp and sank -limply. He thought for a second that she had fainted. - -“Call granddad,” she commanded in a voice pinched with pain. - -“Hello, there,” Scott called. - -There was a noise as of some one cautiously opening a door. - -“Grandpa,” the child called weakly. - -The door swung wide and the old man strode hurriedly across the yard. -Scott was about to meet old Jarred Morgan. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - SCOTT MEETS JARRED - - -Scott let the girl sit on the ground with her back against his knees and -watched the famous old man coming to protect his own. He presented a -striking figure striding along through the moonlight with hurried -dignity. His tall, gaunt form was as erect as that of a man of twenty, -and his step as springy. His ever present rifle hung comfortably across -the hollow of his arm. He cast one keen glance of suspicion at Scott and -knelt beside the girl. - -“What is it, Vic?” he asked tenderly. - -“I fell off old Dan,” she confessed sheepishly. - -“Are you hurt?” he insisted anxiously. - -“I have a knot on my head, and I twisted my leg,” she said. - -“How under the sun did you come to fall off old Dan?” her grandfather -asked, as he laid down his long rifle and gathered her tenderly in his -arms. Scott stepped back a pace or two out of earshot. - -“I was sitting on him sideways and he shied at a hound on top of the -bank down below Sanders’.” - -“And this gentleman?” he asked, looking Scott squarely in the eye. - -“He found me in the road and brought me home,” she replied shortly. - -The old man straightened up with his burden and bowed solemnly to Scott. -“I thank you, sir.” - -“I certainly am glad to have been of service to you,” Scott replied -cordially. “I hope to have the pleasure of calling on you in a day or so -if I may, so I will not intrude on you any longer at present.” - -Jarred frankly looked him over from head to foot. “If you will be so -kind as to wait till I have taken the girl in the house I would like to -speak to you for a moment.” - -“Certainly,” Scott answered politely. He liked the old man’s frank, -straightforward gaze, but it did not seem to him that steady eye looked -on him with much favor. Perhaps he was no more grateful than his -granddaughter. In less than five minutes he came out again to join -Scott. He came straight to the point. - -“Sir, I am sorry that I could not invite you in, and I regret that I -have to appear discourteous to a man who has rendered me the service you -have.” Scott listened in silent astonishment and the old man continued. -“I owe you a debt which I can never repay for the kindness you have -shown my grandchild, but any man who aids my enemies can never be more -to me than a creditor, as much as I would like to have it otherwise.” - -Scott was astonished at the old man’s courtly manner and fine English. -He did not learn till later that many of these mountaineers were -descendants of the old Huguenot families who were driven out of France -and had retained a wonderful purity of speech. He answered as earnestly -as he could. - -“I do not know what you mean, Mr. Morgan, unless you refer to the rumor -that I am going to let the logging contract to the Waits.” - -“You call it a rumor,” Jarred replied a little doubtfully. “It was -reported to me as a fact, apparently a very widely known fact,” he added -bitterly. - -“I assure you that it is nothing more than a rumor and a false rumor at -that. I have not spoken more than half a dozen words to a Wait since I -came here.” - -“That may all be true enough but did not your superior officer make the -promise for you?” Jarred asked with a slight sneer. - -The sneer angered Scott but he knew that it was justified under the -circumstances. - -“I, too, Mr. Morgan, have heard that Mr. Reynolds very rashly made some -informal promises to the Waits in regard to that contract. All I can say -is that he did it without conferring with me. I am entirely responsible -for letting that contract and I do not feel myself in any way bound by -what he may have said. I can assure you that there will be no contract -let to either the Waits or the Morgans unless they will agree to forget -their feud and take the contract together.” - -Old Jarred looked him squarely in the eye for a minute before he -replied. Then he held out his hand. “I beg your pardon,” he said with -dignity. “You must charge my discourtesy to a mistake. I appreciate your -frankness and I want to be equally frank. Under those conditions there -will be no logging contract let here. Won’t you come in, sir?” - -Scott had grasped the proffered hand eagerly. “Thank you, sir. I will -not come in now because it is late and you will be busy with the little -girl, but I would like to come up and talk things over with you -to-morrow.” - -“We’ll be glad to see you any time,” Jarred answered cordially. - -“Good night, sir. I hope the little girl’s injuries are not serious.” - -“She’ll be all right to-morrow, I think. And thank you again for helping -her. Good night, sir.” - -Scott turned down the mountain and left the old man standing in the -moonlight looking after him. He liked old Jarred; he was a man and a -gentleman. He did not wonder that he held the Waits at bay almost -unaided. One man like that could overawe a whole tribe of cowards such -as the Waits appeared to be. - -And when Scott paused outside the hotel for a moment before going in, he -glanced admiringly up at the silvered mountainside where that staunch -old man was nursing his hate with such undaunted courage. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - A VISIT TO JARRED’S CABIN - - -After breakfast the next morning Scott started back up the mountain. It -was a beautiful morning. A light haze still lay like a blanket over the -valley but the mountain ridges glistened in the sunshine. The woods -seemed alive with birds everywhere he looked and many of them were new -to him. It was the kind of morning that made a man feel as though he -would never get tired, and Scott walked with a light step. The gloom of -the night before had left him and everything seemed as bright as the -mountain tops. He felt as though everything must come out all right. - -As he passed the Sanders’ cabin the old man was sweeping off his little -front porch. “Morning,” he called cheerfully, “going up to beard the -lion in his den, are you?” - -“Yes,” Scott said, “and I am not a bit scared either. I met him last -night and I liked him. He seems like a real man.” - -“Last night?” the old man repeated doubtfully. - -“Yes, your little friend Vic fell off her horse down below here and hurt -herself a little and I took her home.” - -“Oh!” Mr. Sanders exclaimed as though some mystery had been solved. -“That’s how it happened. I was wondering how you got into old Jarred’s -house at night. Vic was not hurt bad, was she?” - -“Not so bad but what she almost tore me up before I got her home,” Scott -replied. And he told the old man what had happened. - -“Sounds like Vic. So she was running away from home, was she? She’ll -never go back either. I thought something would come of that row -yesterday.” - -Scott was puzzled. “How is that?” he asked. - -“Jim let Foster grab her. She’ll never forgive him for that.” - -“I see,” Scott said. “I can’t say that I blame her much, either.” - -“Well,” the old man sighed, “it may be wrong to back the girl against -her father, but I like Vic and there is no denying she is twice the man -Jim is. She is just like her grandfather.” - -“I liked him,” Scott exclaimed. “He told me right away last night that -he never would give up the feud, but I liked him all the same.” - -The old man opened his mouth as though to speak but changed his mind and -closed it again. Then after a pause, “Well, stop in when you come down -and tell me how Vic is. I’ll be anxious about her.” - -Scott hurried on. At the Morgan gate he remembered Mr. Sanders’ advice -and shouted before he entered. Old Jarred appeared almost instantly in -the doorway. When he saw who it was, he stood the long rifle against the -corner beside the door and called to Scott to come in. He met him -halfway to the gate with extended hand. - -“Come in, sir, come in, sir,” he repeated hospitably. “Vic is a little -shy but I reckon she’ll be glad to see you.” - -“She seemed anything but glad to see me when I picked her up last -night,” Scott laughed. “I thought she was going to tear me up before I -could get her home.” - -Old Jarred chuckled. “Vic’s a fighter, she is. You see she had heard -that rumor about the logging contract and she hates the Waits worse than -I do. She feels right ashamed of herself this morning.” - -“Well, she needn’t,” Scott said. “I understood why it was and admired -her nerve.” - -“If the Morgan men had half Vic’s nerve this feud might end,” old Jarred -remarked bitterly. - -“Why not drop it, anyway?” Scott asked. “I’ll wager there is not one of -your worst enemies who would not admit that you did not do it because -you were afraid. It seems such a pity to have it go on. It can end in -only one way some day.” - -Old Jarred stopped in the doorway and looked at him for a moment. Scott -had not intended to broach the subject so suddenly and he half expected -a burst of anger, but it did not come. - -“Yes,” the old man answered sadly, “it can have only one ending. They -will get me some day. But as I told you last night I shall never give it -up; so let’s not discuss it.” He saw the disappointment in Scott’s face -and laid a friendly hand on his shoulder. “I am sorry, my boy, for I -know that you mean well. I suppose it does look to you like a wholly -unreasonable thing, but you don’t know all the story. You are asking -something that it is utterly impossible for me to do. So it is better to -drop it.” - -Scott could not hide his disappointment but he bowed his respect for the -old man’s request. “I hope Vic was not badly hurt last night?” he asked. - -Jarred smiled his gratitude. “No, no. Sprained her knee a little, but -she is hobbling around this morning and will be all right in a day or -so.” - -The cabin into which Jarred led the way was a plain oblong structure -built of logs. There was but one room which served as bedroom, dining -room, living room and kitchen, but it was clean and everything seemed to -be in order. - -“Pretty neat for an old man’s den,” Jarred chuckled with evident pride. -“Vic did that for me this morning in spite of her crippled knee.” - -There was an uncertain thump on the back step and Scott turned to see -Vic hopping in on one foot. She certainly looked like a different girl -from the one he had struggled with the night before. She hopped toward -him without embarrassment and held out her hand. - -“I am sorry I acted so badly last night,” she said frankly. “I hope that -you will forget it. I would have been in a pickle without you.” - -Could this be the little wildcat he had picked up in the road the night -before? Scott stared at her open-mouthed for a moment before he could -find his tongue. - -“I could not very well expect anything else when I picked you up and -carried you off against your will,” he laughed, when he had finally -recovered from his astonishment. - -“She says she is going to stay with me now,” Jarred said. “Says she has -had a row with her father and is not going back. I don’t know what the -trouble is and I’m afraid to look it up for fear I might have to send -her back.” - -He put his arm affectionately around the child and it was plain to see -where he would put the blame. She cast an apprehensive glance at Scott -and he knew she was worrying about the promise she had extracted from -him the night before. He relieved her mind at once. - -“There are one or two things I would like to know before I go on with -this timber sale, Mr. Morgan, and I think you can probably answer my -questions better than any one else if you will.” - -Jarred nodded. “I’ll be glad to help you all I can.” - -“I have already told you,” Scott proceeded, “that I am not willing to -give the contract to either the Waits or the Morgans unless they will -take it jointly. I have heard—and heard it so often that I think it must -be true—that Mr. Reynolds promised this contract to the Waits. Of course -either of you has a right to bid on it if you want to, and I can’t stop -you. I could turn either of you down even though you were the high -bidder, but you can easily see in what a disagreeable position that -would place me and I don’t want to do it.” - -Jarred nodded his comprehension. - -“Could either faction put up a bond of fifty thousand dollars as a -guaranty?” Scott asked. - -Jarred smiled sourly. “Five thousand would strain either of us -considerable.” - -“Then it will be simple enough,” Scott said. “The law requires that -guaranty. But I want to be perfectly certain that it cannot be met.” - -“You need not worry about that,” Jarred replied. “It would be altogether -impossible.” - -Scott felt relieved. Here would be an easy way to get out of the promise -Mr. Reynolds had made the Waits. Probably he had not told them anything -about the necessity for a bond. - -“Then my next question, Mr. Morgan, is this. If an outsider takes that -contract will the Waits and the Morgans work for him on the same job?” - -“They will not,” Jarred replied decisively, and Vic bristled visibly at -the mere thought of it. “Moreover,” Jarred continued, “no outsider will -take the contract.” - -“Why not?” Scott asked sharply. He had taken this as a threat and it -made him bristle a little on his own part. - -“Because none of them will touch it for fear of getting mixed up in this -feud. They have tried that and no one would risk it.” - -“It’s a wonder Mr. Reynolds would not tell me about that!” Scott -exclaimed indignantly. - -“You would not need to know it if you had followed his plan,” Jarred -remarked ironically. - -“Then I have one last question. Would the people here interfere with an -outsider if he brought his own crew in here?” - -“I would not,” Jarred replied promptly, “and I don’t think any of our -people would. I can’t answer for the others.” - -Scott rose to go. “I certainly appreciate your help, Mr. Morgan, and I -feel that I can rely on what you say.” - -“Don’t leave a man much chance to do anything,” Jarred said -sympathetically. - -“Not much,” Scott admitted, “but I am going to get that stuff logged if -I have to do it myself.” - -“Maybe you won’t always have this trouble,” Jarred said with a twinkle -in his cold gray eye and a wink toward the child. “When I’m gone the -rest of them will all let the feud drop.” - -The child straightened suddenly and the blood rushed to her cheeks, but -she caught sight of the twinkle and subsided again with exactly the same -twinkle in her own. - -Scott took his leave and when he rounded the turn in the road that shut -off the view of the Morgan cabin the old man was still standing at the -gate with his arm around the girl’s shoulders. To Scott they represented -the last link which was holding the old feud together. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - SCOTT ASKS FOR BIDS - - -The next morning a wave of astonishment quickly followed by another of -indignation spread over the west mountain with almost incredible -rapidity, and a corresponding feeling of relief and satisfaction settled -on the family of the Morgans. Quite the reverse of the situation of the -day before. - -The sole cause of this momentous change was a small sign posted on the -village bulletin board. It was couched in somewhat intricate legal -language, but it said in effect that bids were now open for the logging -contract and any one desiring to submit one must place it in the hands -of the supervisor, along with a bond for fifty thousand dollars, within -ten days. No one had seen either a Wait or a Morgan read it, but their -knowledge of it was universal. - -Single horsemen threaded their way along by-roads and paths on the west -slope to meet others at cabins scattered here and there over the -mountainside, and all these little groups finally assembled at the home -of Foster Wait. That worthy gentleman was half intoxicated, as usual, -and greeted each sullen new arrival with a detailed blustering account -of what he was going to do to the man who had double-crossed him. They -did not seem to take much stock in what he said (it looked as though -they had perhaps heard that same kind of bluster from him many times -before) and their apparent indifference drove him to wilder boasts. - -Hopwood sat on the corner of the porch whittling a stick and apparently -oblivious to all that was going on around him. He glanced occasionally -from one of the group to another but the blank expression on his face -never changed. The others paid no attention to him at all except when -they wanted to know something. They seemed to be strangely inconsistent. -They treated him as an idiot except when they wanted news, but they put -implicit confidence in what he said. - -“Where did you find this out, Hop?” one of the newcomers asked. It was -Sewall Wait, the real leader of the Wait faction. Foster was the nominal -ruler by inheritance, but Sewall furnished the brains which Foster -lacked. He had to repeat the question before Hopwood seemed to -understand. - -“It is on the bulletin board in the village,” Hopwood answered in an -expressionless tone. - -“What did it say?” - -Hopwood repeated the gist of the notice. - -“Who read it to you?” - -Hopwood seemed offended at the string of questions. He did not answer at -once but seemed to think better of it. “Mr. Roberts,” he answered in the -same dull tone. - -Sewall turned towards Foster but came back again to Hopwood. “Where’s -that man Reynolds?” he asked. - -“Left on the train yesterday,” Hopwood answered promptly. - -Sewall walked over to where Foster was raving for the benefit of two -late comers. “What’s the use of bawling like a spanked kid?” he asked in -a disgusted tone. “That is a formal request for bids posted in regular -form by the U. S. Government, and if Hopwood has the lingo right it’s -according to law. That man Reynolds is the fellow who made a sucker of -you and he went home yesterday. I’m going home myself.” - -“Going home?” Foster raved. “And let that little squirt of a supervisor -rob us of the contract and probably give it to old Jarred Morgan? No, -sir, we’ll go down there and teach him that he can’t trifle with the -Waits. That contract is ours and I am going to make him give it to us.” - -“And get your ears boxed for your trouble,” Sewall sneered as he walked -to his horse. “Fighting the Morgans is one thing, but fighting the U. S. -Government is something else.” - -Foster was furious at the reference to his boxed ears and started after -him with waving fists, but Sewall rode slowly out of the yard without so -much as looking at him, and his three sons followed him. - -Foster bawled threats and objurgations after them till they were far out -of earshot and then returned to rail at the others. “Hopwood!” he -shouted. - -They all looked at the place where Hopwood had been sitting. It was -vacant. Hopwood had disappeared in his usual sudden manner. - -One by one the others tired of Foster’s futile raving and rode away till -the hereditary leader of the family was left alone. The frenzy into -which he had worked himself had sobered him and he looked after the last -of his departing followers with anxious humiliation. He knew the -trouble; it had happened before. He had talked too much and done too -little. He would have to do something to reinstate himself and he owed -the supervisor something anyway. This would be a good chance to kill two -birds with one stone. He would have preferred some company but there was -no chance of that now, and he prepared to go alone. - -In the meanwhile Scott was sitting down in the hotel waiting. He knew -that nothing could come of this advertisement either on the bulletin -board or in the local papers where he had sent it, and he wanted to be -about his business. He knew what he was going to do now and he was -anxious to be at it, but he knew what a hubbub the news would make among -the Waits and he did not want to appear to run away. He had to wait at -least till he had seen Foster Wait. It would never do for them to come -down and find that he had left the country as soon as he had posted the -notice. His duty did not require him to stay there, but his pride did. - -He sat on the front porch, from which point of vantage he could bring -the whole village under his surveillance at once. He could see the -little white square of his posted notice on the bulletin board at the -other end of the street, and he watched it curiously to see if any one -would read it. He saw two or three from the east slope stop there, and -come on to the Morgan store in apparent good humor. No one at all came -down from the Wait territory, and Scott was disappointed because they -were the ones on whom he was anxious to note the effect. - -One hour crawled slowly after another and he patiently watched the -lights and shadows creeping over the mountain slopes as the sun rose -higher in the heavens. It was after ten o’clock when Scott happened to -glance to his right and started to find Hopwood sitting in an -inconspicuous place on the end of the porch. - -“Where under the sun did you come from, Hopwood?” he exclaimed. - -Hopwood spread his hands in both directions as he always did to indicate -that he came from everywhere. - -“Foster is pretty mad,” he remarked casually. - -“Have you seen him?” Scott asked anxiously. - -Hopwood nodded. “I saw them all.” - -“I suppose they were holding a big family powwow over it and will all be -swarming down here after a while to find out what it means.” Scott -chuckled at the discomfiture he was causing the Waits, for he had taken -a distinct dislike to the whole tribe with the exception of Hopwood. - -“No,” Hopwood remarked quietly, “they are not coming, but maybe Foster -will get up the nerve to come down alone. He’ll pretty near have to or -he will be done for.” - -“What do you mean?” Scott asked. “I thought they always went in a gang.” - -Hopwood shook his head. “Sewall would not back him up.” - -“Who is Sewall?” Scott had never heard of him and he had gathered from -what he had heard that Foster was the leader of the Waits. - -“He’s the only Wait who has any brains,” Hopwood answered, and added -naïvely, “except me.” - -Scott glanced at him keenly but saw only the usual blank expression. “By -George, Hopwood!” he exclaimed, “I believe you really have more brains -than any of them. But what do you mean by saying that Foster will have -to come?” - -“He’s been saying so much about what he is going to do to you that he -will have to do it or they will quit him,” Hopwood explained. - -Scott rubbed his hands with satisfaction at the prospect of a meeting -with Foster Wait alone. - -“Are you sure he will come, Hopwood?” - -Hopwood was silent a moment as though waiting for a message. “Yes,” he -said confidently. “He’ll be here in about an hour. Don’t let him scare -you. He’s a coward.” - -“Going to try to scare me into it, is he?” Scott asked, but Hopwood had -disappeared and left him to plan alone for his meeting with Foster Wait. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - FOSTER WAIT DEMANDS THE CONTRACT - - -The news that Foster Wait had been boasting among his followers of the -terrible things he was going to do to the supervisor and the possibility -of his coming down alone to make good his threats gave Scott a new -interest in the meeting. He had taken an instinctive dislike to the man -at first sight, and everything he had seen and heard of him since had -only served to intensify that feeling. - -Foster was a much larger man than Scott, but Scott had not needed -Hopwood’s warning to tell him that the giant was a coward. He had seen -it and felt it. Probably his followers knew it, too, and maybe that was -the reason they had refused to back him up. That was one of the things -he had wanted to ask Hopwood, but the man of the iron hat always -disappeared before he found out half that he wanted to know. - -A man appeared suddenly at the end of the village and Scott watched him -eagerly, but it proved to be only the mail carrier who had stopped to -read the notice. A new notice on the Caspar bulletin board was in itself -an event. The time dragged slowly by and still the expected visitor did -not arrive. Could Hopwood have failed in his prophecy? He had the -reputation of being infallible. - -Things always happen when they are least expected, and Foster Wait had -ridden his white horse halfway up the village street before Scott saw -him. But even then the suspense was not over for the rider stopped at -the store instead of coming straight to the hotel as Scott had hoped. -Probably he had dropped in there to bolster up his nerve with a little -more bragging, Scott thought. If so, he must have had a great deal of -bragging to do, for ten minutes elapsed and he had not come out. - -Finally some one came out of the store and started for the hotel. Scott -was disappointed to see that it was not Foster but one of the boys who -stayed at the store. The boy shuffled along slowly looking everywhere -except at Scott, and plainly showing that his errand was not to his -liking. He headed for the corner of the house as though he were going -around to the back door but changed his course suddenly and edged along -the front of the porch. His actions were so peculiar that Scott watched -him keenly. - -The boy finally came to a halt about ten feet away and looked the front -of the house over carefully as though he had come to estimate the cost -of a new coat of paint. - -“Foster says he wants to see you at the store right away,” the boy -gulped suddenly without looking at Scott. - -Scott was so amused at the boy’s embarrassment that he almost forgot to -be indignant at Foster’s message, but he stiffened a little as he -realized the impertinence of the command. - -“Tell Mr. Wait that I am at the hotel and will be glad to see him any -time he cares to come,” Scott said with forced dignity. - -“That’s what I told him,” the boy said, as he looked at Scott for the -first time. And he seemed very much relieved. He hopped out of the gate -and whistled all the way to the store. - -Scott waited anxiously for the result of his message. He did not have to -wait so long this time. Foster’s angry roar when he heard the boy’s -message reached Scott at the hotel, and the next minute Foster lunged -out of the door. Three men followed him out on to the store porch, but -they stopped there and watched him clamber on to his big white horse. -Another small group gathered in front of the Morgan store to see the -show. - -It was not over seventy yards from the store to the hotel and it would -have been easier for Foster to walk, but he was not used to walking and -he felt that he would be more impressive on his horse. He started from -the store at a gallop but before he had covered the short distance he -had slowed down to a walk. He drew up at the gate and scowled at Scott -fiercely. - -“When I tell people to come to me they come,” he blustered. He knew when -he said it that it was the wrong thing to say but he could not help it. - -Scott looked at him calmly. “It must be very convenient to have them so -well trained,” he remarked. - -“You will be trained, too, before I am through with you,” Foster -blustered. “That’s what I came for.” - -“Then maybe you better come in and have a seat, for it will probably -take some time.” Scott pushed forward a chair and smiled at him -tauntingly. - -Foster hesitated. He felt that he was decidedly getting the worst of it -and he was uncertain just how to proceed. He might force him down to the -store at the point of his rifle, but he was a coward at heart and he -feared the consequences. He slowly dismounted and swaggered up to the -porch with all the braggadocio he could muster. Scott rose to meet him. -Foster climbed the two steps to the porch and glared down at Scott from -his superior height. - -“I want to know what you mean by not giving us that logging contract?” -he blustered fiercely. - -“Won’t you be seated?” Scott said quietly, as he offered him a chair. - -“I did not come here to sit down,” Foster growled angrily. “I came here -to find out why you did not give us that logging contract.” - -“Oh,” Scott said as though puzzled, “I understood you to say that you -came to train me to come when you called.” - -“I’ll do that, too, before I’m through with you,” Foster exclaimed, -furiously. “Are you going to answer my question or will I have to beat -it out of you?” - -Scott looked him calmly in the eye a moment and smiled contemptuously. -“You want to know why I did not give this contract to ‘us’? Just whom do -you mean? Who is ‘us’? You forget that you are a stranger to me.” - -Foster stared at him open-mouthed. Then the blood rushed to his already -purple face, his neck swelled and his whole frame shook with the fury of -his passion. His words were almost inarticulate. “You know me, you -insolent hound. Everybody knows Foster Wait and a lot of ’em to their -sorrow. Answer that question before I send you after old Jarred Morgan. -I’ll teach you to insult a Wait!” - -Scott knew of Foster’s furious temper and he had been doing his best to -arouse it. He wanted him to fight and he knew that he would not do it -except in a fit of passion. He knew his danger and he watched the man’s -every move as he gave his temper one more prod. - -“Talk sense, Mr. Wait, if you want an answer from me,” he sneered. -“Threats do not scare me any more than they do old Jarred Morgan.” - -Foster gave a roar of rage and threw forward his long rifle. He would -undoubtedly have shot Scott as he had shot several other men when worked -up to an uncontrollable passion, but Scott had been watching for just -such a move. - -He had already grasped hold of a short piece of pipe which he had leaned -up against a pillar of the porch in case of emergency, and when Foster -threw forward his rifle he struck the barrel with all his might. The -unexpected blow knocked the weapon out of Foster’s hands, and the bullet -went through the roof of the porch. - -The suddenness of it all bewildered Foster for a moment and before he -had fully recovered, Scott struck him a crushing blow on the jaw. The -blow staggered him, but he quickly recovered his balance and threw -himself upon Scott with the fury of a wild animal. He was usually a -coward but now he was a crazy man, blinded by his passion, and did not -realize what he was doing. - -His enormous size and great reach gave him a decided advantage in one -way but it was partially offset by Scott’s skill and coolness. If he -should succeed in landing one of his terrific but wild swings or in -grappling his opponent the fight could have but one ending. Scott’s only -chance was to keep out of his reach and hammer him into submission. -Foster fought with all the wild fury of a madman; Scott, with the -coolness of a boxing master. - -Again and again Scott landed blows which would have felled a smaller -man. Some of them staggered this giant a little but most of them seemed -to have no effect at all. Scott was handicapped by the necessity of -keeping entirely out of his reach. A grazing blow on the side of his -head warned him that if one of them should land squarely he would be -done for. - -In attempting to avoid one of Foster’s mad rushes Scott stepped off the -edge of the porch and fell on his back on the ground. Instantly Foster -jumped for his head with both hobnailed boots. For the fraction of a -second Scott, stunned by the fall, saw this demon hovering over him, and -the sight almost sickened him. But he recovered just in time to roll -suddenly over out of reach and spring to his feet. Foster, dazed by the -escape of his victim, tripped and fell. Scott could have jumped on the -lumbering giant there on the ground but he had been taught to play the -game fair. Moreover, he did not want this man to have any excuse. He -wanted to thrash him as he had never been thrashed before and make him -acknowledge it. - -The men from both stores had edged up to the fence and almost forgotten -the dead line in their excitement. - -Scott let the giant scramble to his feet unmolested, and paid dear for -his chivalry. He had counted on this man’s dissipation sapping his -endurance. It was beginning to tell on him. His breath was coming in -great choking gasps but his mountain training had made him tough. -Moreover, he realized that his strength was waning, and with that -knowledge his blind fury gave way to craft. - -Scott had always boxed according to the rules of the ring, and he was -taken entirely off his guard when Foster suddenly sprang some lumberjack -tactics and landed his hobnailed boot squarely in his stomach. For a -second everything turned black before him and he staggered like a -drunken man. As in a haze he saw the giant spring forward to finish him -off. With the instinct of the fighter, he side-stepped and the instant’s -reprieve brought back his wandering senses and his wind. - -When he saw the slight effect of his blows earlier in the fight he had -devoted himself almost entirely to defense and saved his strength till -Foster should be tired out. Now he took the offensive with all his -power. He rained blow after blow on the gasping giant with bewildering -rapidity and finally, seeing the man was almost exhausted, he threw -every ounce of strength into a blow square on the point of his chin. - -The big fellow staggered an instant and sank limply in a lifeless heap. -Scott leaned panting against the fence. He was almost exhausted. Foster -moved uneasily and raised himself groaning on one elbow. - -“Are you through training me to come when you call?” Scott asked between -his gasps for breath. - -Foster rose slowly and wobbled towards the gate without a word. Not a -word of sympathy came from his friends and they watched him clamber -painfully on to his horse without offering any assistance. He rode -slowly down the village street with drooping head, a thoroughly beaten -man. - -The two groups of men walked silently back to the stores and left Scott -still leaning against the fence, weak and sick, but filled with a -feeling of intense satisfaction. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - SCOTT MAKES A TRIP TO WASHINGTON - - -Scott leaned wearily on the picket fence for a long time after the old -white horse had carried Foster out of sight up the mountain road. He did -not bear any trace of the fight on his face, but his body was sore and -he was very nearly exhausted. He could not but smile as he stood there -with heaving chest to think how far he had departed from the policy of -strict neutrality which he had laid down for himself. But from the -remarks which Hopwood had dropped that morning he doubted whether it -would make very much difference to the Waits. - -Well, it was done now, anyway, no matter what the Waits might think. He -had shown them that he had no intention of running away, and he felt -that he could now go about his own business without running the risk of -being called a coward. As he turned toward the hotel he saw Hopwood -leaning on the corner of the fence. - -“Well, Hopwood, did you see the big fight?” he asked smilingly. - -“That was a good job,” Hopwood replied soberly. - -“Shall I have to fight all of the rest of the Waits now, Hopwood?” Scott -asked a little anxiously. He did not want to waste any more time waiting -for these people or fighting them. - -Hopwood shook his head. “Sewall told him he would get his ears boxed -again. They will be glad of it.” - -“Listen, Hopwood. Is Sewall going to try to take the contract?” Scott -asked earnestly. - -“No,” Hopwood replied emphatically. “How could he? There is not that -much money in the whole country.” - -“I did not think there was myself but I wanted to make sure of it. Could -you deliver a message for me, Hopwood?” - -Hopwood looked up eagerly. Collecting news and carrying messages were -things he liked best to do. He did not have to speak. Scott could see -that he was more than willing. - -“I have some business I want to attend to, Hopwood,” Scott continued, -“and I’ll have to go away for a couple of days. If I go now it will look -as though I have thrashed Foster and then run away. I want you to tell -Foster Wait, or maybe it would be better to tell Sewall, if he is the -real head of the family, that I am going away for three days but will be -back here Saturday. You can tell the same thing to Jarred, too, so that -they will all know it. Do you think that you have it straight now?” - -Hopwood nodded gravely. “I always get messages straight,” he replied -proudly. “You are sure you will be back Saturday?” He had taken a -strange liking to this man who had treated him like a rational being and -thrashed his surly uncle. - -“Yes, Hopwood, I’ll certainly be here Saturday without fail, and,” he -added, for he could see how the friendship pleased Hopwood, “I would -like to see you again pretty soon after I get back.” - -He might as well have saved himself the trouble, for Hopwood had gone to -deliver his precious message. Scott sighed when he saw that the man was -gone. He could not get used to his unexpected movements. He wasted no -more thoughts on it now. The dinner bell rang, on time for once, and the -station agent came in the gate. - -“Hear you beat up Foster Wait,” he grinned. - -“Yes,” Scott admitted. “He forced it on me but I was glad of the -opportunity. Who told you?” - -“One of the Wait boys told me, but that would have been unnecessary -after I saw Foster.” - -“I wonder what the Waits will think of it?” Scott asked. He was anxious -to have some one back up Hopwood’s opinion. - -“They are as tickled as you are,” the agent answered confidently. “He is -always bragging, and none of them like him. He’ll probably have to quit -the country after this.” - -Scott was glad to hear it. That would leave him free to carry out his -plans. He told the agent of the trip he was going to make, and spent the -afternoon busily working over a bunch of legal-looking papers. Four -o’clock found him on the afternoon train headed north, an impatient -traveler. - -Scott had not told any one where he was going. If he had said that he -was going to Washington, they would have thought that he was running -away as the other fellows had done. But he was going to Washington, and -when he got there he lost no time in going to the Forest Service office -and to the chief of his division. - -Mr. Johns seemed very much surprised to see him back so soon. “Well, -Burton,” he laughed, “I didn’t think that they could put the run on you, -not so soon, anyway.” He laughed, but at the same time it was plain that -he was disappointed. - -“Well, they have,” Scott replied, “but I am going back.” - -Mr Johns brightened at once. “That sounds better,” he said heartily. - -“There are one or two things about that logging contract I want to make -sure of,” Scott said. “As I understand it, those logs have been sold and -we have contracted to have them delivered at a certain time.” - -“That’s right,” Mr. Johns agreed. “It is rather an unusual thing to do, -but we were forced to it in this instance or we could not have bought -that piece of land for the forest at all.” - -“And now,” Scott continued, “we are responsible for the delivery, and no -one will take the logging contract.” - -Mr. Johns frowned. “I thought that man Reynolds told me that he had -arranged for the logging contract before he left.” - -“Maybe he thought he had,” Scott replied bitterly, “but he hadn’t.” - -“Don’t be bashful in saying what you think about him,” Mr. Johns urged. -“He was a man we took on temporarily, and we’ve let him out again.” - -“It is a good thing,” Scott said. “I think I should have killed him -myself if he had stayed there. Do you know the situation down there, Mr. -Johns?” - -“No,” Mr. Johns replied, “I am beginning to think that I do not. Two men -were sent there before you were. Both of them seemed to be getting along -fine according to their reports, but one suddenly resigned and the other -asked for a transfer. Neither of them gave a very satisfactory reason.” - -Scott grinned. “I can tell you the reason. There is an A1 feud down -there. Those fellows tied up with one party, and the other one ran them -out of the country.” - -Mr. Johns was intensely interested and insisted on knowing all the -details. “But why not ignore both factions and give the contract to an -outsider? That is altogether possible.” - -“That’s what I thought,” Scott said, “but everybody knows of that feud, -and no one will touch the contract for fear of getting mixed up in it.” - -Mr. Johns rubbed his forehead in perplexity. “And unless we can deliver -those logs on time we’ll lose our option on that piece of land. What are -you going to do about it?” He looked at Scott helplessly. - -“Resign like the rest of them,” Scott grinned. - -“Oh, come now, Burton,” Mr. Johns remonstrated. “I did not expect that -of you. You have the reputation of being resourceful and a fighter. You -are not going to resign and let yourself be run out of the country at -the first sign of trouble, are you?” - -“Yes,” Scott replied firmly, “I’m going to resign but I’m not going to -be run out of the country. I want to resign and take that logging -contract myself.” - -Mr. Johns looked at him a moment in open-mouthed astonishment. “Do you -mean that?” he asked eagerly. - -Scott nodded. “If it will be all right with you. I am going to put in my -bid. I had some experience logging my own timber last winter, you know, -and I’d be willing to spend my last dollar to beat that feud down -there.” - -His chief thought a moment. “It’s a bit irregular, and I’ll have to take -it up with the forester, but under the circumstances I believe it can be -done.” - -The upshot of the matter was that Scott started back for North Carolina -the next day with the assurance that if no one else made a satisfactory -bid, his resignation would be accepted and he would be awarded the -contract. - -Three days before he had been hoping for some one to bid on that same -contract; now he was praying with all his heart that no one would. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - SCOTT HEARS SOME RUMBLINGS OF THE OLD FEUD - - -Scott stopped for a day in Asheville to make some business arrangements -for starting the logging operations in case he was awarded the contract -and then hurried back to Caspar. He found Hopwood, who had constituted -himself his faithful follower, waiting for him in the corner of the -hotel yard. - -“I knew you’d come back,” Hopwood remarked in a tone of extreme -satisfaction. - -“Why?” Scott asked. “Did any one think that I was not coming back?” - -Hopwood nodded. “They all said you had run away like all the others, and -Foster has been taking most of the credit for it.” - -Scott ground his teeth. “I suppose that will set him up in business -again with the rest of the family.” - -“A lot of them believed it, but now that you have come back he will -probably have to leave the country himself. None of them will believe -him now.” - -“Well, tell them that I have come back, Hopwood, and I’ve come back to -stay. They will find out before I am through that I am not very badly -scared after all.” - -“Has any one taken the logging contract?” Hopwood asked eagerly. “It -would help me if I could predict it right,” he added wistfully. - -Scott looked at him curiously a moment. The more he saw of Hopwood the -harder it was for him to believe him an idiot. In any event it was -perfectly clear that he was devoted to him and he decided to make him -his confidant. It could not do him much harm if the man of the iron hat -did not keep faith in this and it might make him a closer friend. - -“Yes, Hopwood, some one has bid on it. You can safely predict that the -logging will begin in ten days, for—but you must not publish this part -of it—if no one else takes the job I am going to resign and take it -myself.” - -“Oh!” Hopwood exclaimed with a gasp of satisfaction. “I won’t tell them -but you don’t know how much good it will do me to know that.” And -without waiting to make his usual mysterious disappearance he walked -quickly into the woods to carry the news of Scott’s return. - -Scott was not surprised to find that no one had responded to his call -for bids. He had found out in Asheville that there was practically no -chance of any one showing any interest in it. He hoped no one would. He -had to confide his plans to the station agent because he had to send a -number of telegrams. Probably Caspar had never done such a business in -telegrams before in all its existence, even when the feud was at its -height. - -For the next week Scott devoted all his time to a careful study of the -area which was to be logged. From breakfast till supper-time every day -he hiked over the mountains, running out the boundary lines, sketching -the topography and tentatively locating the logging roads. This work led -him through the territory and by the cabins of many of the Waits but he -did not see any of them. They seemed to be sulking in their tents. - -It seemed to Scott to be a strange country. Long straight slopes -stretched unbroken to the high, level ridges. They were grooved every -quarter mile or less with shallow draws and not far below the ridge in -these draws were springs which sent tiny, crystal-clear streams of -ice-cold water trickling down into the valley. The low places and also -many of the higher slopes were covered with a solid mat of rhododendron -and laurel, so thick that a man was obliged to break or cut his way -through it. It was the densest growth he had ever seen outside of the -cane brakes of Florida. The great masses of white flowers made a -wonderful sight, but after he had tried to run a line through the stuff -for a couple of days he could no longer see the flowers. - -But the ridges were the strangest of all. They were narrow but straight -and level, so level that the old Indian trails followed them rather than -the valleys. And the big red oaks came right up to the top. Only at long -intervals did the ridges dip to a low pass; otherwise, they stretched -for miles as level as the floor and were clear of underbrush. - -It was on one of these level, open trails that Scott had the scare of -his life. He had been familiar with razorback hogs in Florida. He had -seen one tear a hound to pieces one day and had learned to fear the -animals as he feared nothing else in the forest. Tall, thin and capable -of great speed, they were entirely different from any hogs he had ever -seen at home. Their heads were half as long as their bodies, with large -tusks and powerful jaws, and they were fearless. Once they had made up -their minds to charge, nothing would turn them. One had to kill them or -get out of the way. - -One morning as Scott was going out to work he saw an old sow with a -litter of very small pigs in a clump of bushes beside the trail, and he -gave her a wide berth. That evening on the way home he had forgotten all -about her. He was absorbed in his plans for the logging job and wholly -oblivious of his surroundings. The razorback never entered his head. - -A large red oak three feet in diameter had fallen across the trail and -Scott vaulted it mechanically, hardly knowing what he was doing. His -feet had scarcely struck the ground when he heard a vicious “woof,” and -the old sow darted out from under the other end of the log headed -straight for him under a full head of steam. - -Scott was frightened as he had never been frightened before. With one -terrified spring he vaulted back over the log. That would have been -sufficient protection from an ordinary pig, but a fallen tree meant -nothing to a razorback. She cleared the tree without the slightest -hesitation and was close behind him. - -This unexpected jump so terrified Scott that he bolted like a frightened -horse. He had never been a very fast runner but now he turned straight -down the side of the mountain and made a new life record. It seemed to -him that his feet were hitting the ground only about every thirty feet. -Below him he saw a stream with high, steep banks, and at one point a -tree had fallen across it. He made madly for that spot, somehow managed -to stay on the log, tripped and fell in a heap on the other side. He -scrambled to his feet expecting to find those ugly tusks at his very -throat only to find instead that the old sow was fully satisfied with -his retreat and was already trotting back up the slope to her babies. - -Scott could not help laughing as he thought what a great show it would -have been for a spectator. The conqueror of Foster Wait breaking the -world’s record in his endeavors to get away from an angry pig. And yet -it might have been serious, and he knew that he would run as fast or -faster next time. - -He was getting himself together for the climb back up the ridge when he -noticed a deeply worn trail along the edge of the little creek. He -thought at first that it was made by the razorbacks and the cattle which -roamed around the mountains in considerable numbers, but he was -surprised to find that the tracks were made by men, and some of them -very recently. - -Where could such a well-worn path as that lead to away up there on the -mountainside? It might be a short cut over the ridge into the Tennessee -valley, but why should so many people be traveling that way on foot? -These people always rode horseback whenever they were going any -considerable distance. He determined to follow it up and find out for -himself. It was on the forest and it was his business to know about it. - -The trail run obliquely upward across the face of the mountain and in -the next draw it ducked into a dense patch of rhododendron. There it was -very evident that the trail had been built for a purpose. It was cut out -clear two feet wide and had been used so long that the stubs had all -been worn down smooth. - -While he was examining it he was startled by the sound of approaching -voices, raised high in argument if not in an actual quarrel. At first -the voices were too distant for the words to be distinguished. Scott had -no reason to avoid these people whoever they might be, and it never -occurred to him to hide till he caught a sentence distinctly. - -“I tell you, Foster, it won’t do. You were licked and you are done for, -and that is all there is about it.” - -Scott did not recognize the voice, but he had every reason to believe -that they were talking about him and he wanted to hear the rest of it. -He slipped back of a big oak tree beside the trail and listened. The -voices came nearer till he could distinguish both sides of the -conversation. - -“I know it would work.” It was Foster speaking now, and his voice was -thick and sullen. “Why wouldn’t it work? If I started a fight, the -Morgans would have to fight; and if they fought, the Waits would have to -fight, and then we would clean them up. It’s time they were cleaned up. -They kept us from getting that logging contract and they’ll keep us from -getting anything else. I’m for cleaning them up, I tell you.” - -“And I’m telling you that it won’t work,” the other voice answered -curtly. - -“Why won’t it?” Foster persisted. “Are you afraid of them?” - -“Afraid of them?” the other exclaimed contemptuously. “No, but I am not -fool enough to fall for your scheme. And neither will the others. You’re -down and out. You know it and you think you can get back on your feet by -starting a fight. Well, you can’t.” - -Scott peeped around the tree and saw them standing at the entrance of -the tunnel into the rhododendron. One, as he already knew, was Foster -Wait. The other was a short man of medium build, and rather clean-cut -features. He seemed wide awake and altogether different from the other -Waits he had seen. Instinctively he felt from what Hopwood had said that -this man must be Sewall Wait, the brains of the family. - -The smaller man was staring silently at Foster with a manner showing -both domination and disgust. Foster shifted uneasily from one foot to -the other and looked uncertainly about him. He was unable to look Sewall -steadily in the eye, but his braggart habit finally came to his rescue. - -“Well, it doesn’t matter so much what you think. It is up to me to -decide and if I say fight, you will have to fight,” and he swaggered off -down the trail up which Scott had come. - -Sewall looked after him contemptuously for a moment, shrugged his -shoulders, and turned into a faint trail which led straight down the -mountain. - -When they were both out of sight Scott came out of his hiding place. He -decided to investigate the trail at some other time, and climbed back to -the ridge. What he had just heard gave him something to think about. He -knew now that there was nothing neutral about him. His sympathies were -all with old Jarred and he hurried home to warn him of his danger. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - SCOTT HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH SEWALL - - -The next day Scott was still worrying over what he had overheard on the -mountain the evening before. He did not know what to do. At first he had -determined to carry a warning straight to old Jarred Morgan, but what -good would that do? Jarred could not stop the Waits from starting a -fight even if he tried, and no one had ever heard of his trying. - -He wanted to see Hopwood and ask his advice but for once Hopwood did not -show up when he was wanted. He wasted all the forenoon watching for him. -Then he suddenly remembered what Hopwood had said about Sewall being the -real leader of the Waits and determined to go and see him at once. He -had two reasons for going. He wanted to see where he stood on the -question of the feud, and he wanted to know if it was he who was talking -to Foster the day before. - -Immediately after lunch he started for the cabin which the agent pointed -out to him as a speck up on the mountainside. On the way up he saw -Foster approaching on his white horse, but Foster evidently did not care -to meet the man who had given him such a thrashing and turned off into -the woods. He had his rifle with him and Scott did not feel comfortable -till he was well past the spot. He half expected to hear a shot and had -an uncomfortable feeling that some one was aiming at a spot between his -shoulder blades. - -When he came in sight of the cabin he was surprised at its appearance. -All the Wait cabins he had seen were slovenly and seedy-looking, as -though no one had taken any interest whatever in them since they were -first built. This one was very different. The inevitable picket fence, -which Scott had now learned was to keep out the wandering razorbacks, -was neatly whitewashed. The house was newly painted and the roof had -recently been shingled. There was real sod in the yard and there was a -bed of gorgeous flowers beside the porch. - -Scott stopped at the gate and shouted. A middle-aged woman came to the -door and looked surprised at the sight of a stranger. Scott’s surprise -was even greater. Instead of the regulation Mother Hubbard which all the -women in that country seemed to wear, this woman was neatly dressed in a -blue house dress and a white apron. She quickly recovered from her -surprise and smiled pleasantly. - -“Won’t you come in?” she said sweetly. “This is one house,” she -explained, “where you don’t have to stand outside and shout.” - -Scott thought at first that she was criticizing his manners, but he saw -from the way she said it that she was stating this only as a matter of -pride. - -“I am glad to know there is one such place,” Scott said. “I was told -that it is always safer to shout, and they did not tell me that there -were any exceptions. Does Mr. Sewall Wait live here?” - -“Yes,” she replied offering him a chair. “Please have a seat and I’ll -call him. It is such a beautiful day that I am sure you will find it -pleasanter here on the porch than inside.” - -Scott was a little disappointed for he would have liked to see what the -inside of this house was like, but he thanked her and took the offered -chair. He did not have long to wait. He heard quick footsteps inside the -house, and the man he had seen with Foster stepped briskly out on to the -porch. - -Scott arose. “Mr. Wait, my name is Burton, and I am the new supervisor -at Caspar.” - -Sewall had sized him up at a single glance and extended his hand. “Glad -to know you, Mr. Burton,” he smiled mischievously. “I have heard of you -before from my cousin Foster.” - -Scott blushed like a schoolgirl. “I regret that I was forced into a -quarrel with your cousin, but I assure you, Mr. Wait, that it was not of -my seeking.” - -“Pshaw!” Sewall exclaimed heartily. “Don’t let that worry you. Everybody -around here knows Foster, and I for one am glad that you thrashed him.” - -“I am glad that the rest of you feel that way,” Scott said. “But it was -a shame that I had to do it when I was trying so hard to be absolutely -neutral. When I heard of this feud, Mr. Wait, I determined not to get -mixed up in it as the others had done. Unfortunately, Mr. Reynolds was -ignorant of both the feud and the regulations, and he made promises to -your family which the law would not permit me to keep. It is illegal to -let a contract without submitting it to bids and requiring a bond. I -admit frankly that I was glad of it, because I did not want to see -either party get it as long as this feud exists.” - -“I don’t blame you,” Sewall agreed sadly. “It would just add to the mess -that already exists.” - -“That is the reason I came to see you, Mr. Wait,” Scott exclaimed -quickly. “It seems to me a pity for this feud to continue indefinitely. -I heard that you had some influence with your family and I want to see -if we can’t figure out some way to bring it to an end.” - -Sewall shook his head sadly. “Did you ever see old Jarred Morgan?” he -asked hopelessly. - -“Yes,” Scott said. “I have met him and I admit that he turned my -proposition down cold.” - -“That’s the trouble,” Sewall interrupted a little impatiently. “He will -never give up. He and that little vixen of a Vic nurse the feud like an -only child.” - -“That’s true enough,” Scott admitted. “But they are in the minority and -I cannot blame them much. I cannot help but admire the old man’s -gameness in a way. I thought possibly the larger party could afford to -make the overture. You are an educated man, Mr. Wait, and you must see -the futility of it.” - -“See it? Why, of course, I see it,” Sewall exclaimed bitterly. “I am the -only one of the Waits who had the ambition to drag myself out of the -Middle Ages in which the rest of them are living, and I’d make them drop -that feud to-morrow if I could. Foster is the only one on this side who -wants to keep it up. The rest would drop it quick enough if old Jarred -would let them, but as long as he holds out, their pride will not let -them give it up. And what would be the use of our quitting if Jarred did -not?” - -“That’s true,” Scott sighed, “but I have not given up hope if you are -willing. I want to try again to persuade Jarred.” - -“Go to it,” Sewall replied gloomily, “but you will not succeed.” - -“Maybe not,” Scott said, “but I want to try. Can I count on you to avoid -any new outbreaks while I am trying?” - -“There will never be any more outbreaks if I can prevent it, Mr. Burton. -And,” he added confidently, “I can prevent it unless Foster runs wild, -and I doubt if he has the courage for that.” - -“Well,” Scott said, as he rose to go, “I certainly shall appreciate your -help, and if I can ever be of any service to you, please let me know.” - -He left with the feeling that there was at least one man in the Wait -tribe, and he marveled all the way home to think how this one individual -had raised himself so far above all the others in spite of his -surroundings. It made his own accomplishments seem small. - -Then he thought of the lonely old man on the other mountain, just as -good a man and just as intelligent as Sewall. With the leadership in the -hands of two such men there surely ought to be a reasonable way out. He -determined to try once more in spite of the old man’s request not to -mention it. - -When he came to the Morgan cabin it was unnecessary to shout. Jarred was -sitting on the front steps and rose to welcome him. He even came part -way to the gate. - -“Well,” he said with a smile, “I see you found a way to keep the -contract out of the hands of the feudists even if you had to thrash one -of them to do it.” - -Scott laughed at the old man’s humor. “It does seem like a strange way -to keep neutral,” he admitted, “but it was forced on me.” - -The smile left Jarred’s face and he looked at Scott gravely. “Yes, I -know it was, and let me give you a warning. Keep your eyes open from now -on. That fellow will shoot you in the back if he gets a chance.” - -“I believe he would,” Scott agreed, “but I was talking to one of the -Waits this morning who seemed to be altogether different.” - -“Sewall?” Jarred asked quietly. - -“Yes, I heard that he was the brains of the party and I went up to see -him.” - -Jarred nodded. “Yes, Sewall is different. If all the Waits were like -Sewall there would not be any feud.” - -Scott took advantage of the old man’s calm mood. “You asked me not to -say anything more about dropping the feud, but I want to say something -about it just once more if you will let me.” - -Old Jarred’s face turned dark with sudden anger and Scott saw that he -was going to be ordered out with little ceremony. But the order did not -come. For a moment there was intense silence. Then the old man spoke, -and his voice was quiet and rather sad. - -“I know what you would say, but go ahead.” - -Scott was so surprised that he could scarcely find the words now that he -had the opportunity. Then he blurted out his words like a schoolboy. - -“It is only this, Mr. Morgan. I could not help thinking when I found out -what sort of men you two were, what a pity it was for you to hold out as -a matter of pride till one of you is killed, and Mr. Wait said that he -would be glad to drop the whole thing if you would. Is there no way out -of it?” - -Again Jarred’s face darkened but the wave of temper passed as the other -had done. - -“I suppose that is the way it looks to a stranger,” he said slowly. “I -suppose I seem like a stubborn old fool, all pride and nothing to back -it up, keeping the whole country in arms for the fun of it.” - -“No, it’s not quite as bad as that,” Scott interrupted quickly. - -“Maybe you would not say it in those words,” Jarred replied quietly, -“but it must be about what you think. If any one else had tried to tell -me what you have I would have ordered him off the place, but I like you -and I am deep in your debt. I am going to tell you something that I have -not mentioned before in fifteen years.” He paused as though it were a -great effort to break his prolonged silence. Then he continued with -enforced calm: - -“Foster Wait shot my daughter in cold blood just fifteen years ago, shot -her just to keep the feud from dying out. He brought it to life again,” -he concluded grimly. “Now it will live till one of us dies.” - -They both sat motionless for a minute staring at the opposite mountain -in silence. The old man was choked with his own suppressed fury. Scott -was awed by the significance this statement gave to the conversation -which he had overheard in the woods the day before. What if this -cold-blooded murderer should shoot Vic this time to keep the feud alive? - -He knew that he dared say nothing more to Jarred. In fact, he could -think of little more to say. “Thank you for your confidence in me, Mr. -Morgan,” he said sincerely. “I promise not to mention the matter again.” - -Jarred did not seem to hear him. His eyes were still fixed on the -opposite mountain, and when Scott looked back from the turn in the road -he had not moved. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - HOPWOOD TAKES A TRIP - - -For the next few days Scott was too busy to think anything of Foster -Wait’s possible revenge. In fact he almost forgot the feud altogether. -The time for the return of bids had come and he had been awarded the -contract. He had wired in his resignation to Washington and was once -more in the thick of a logging job. - -He wired to Asheville where he had already made his preliminary -arrangements, and in two days carloads of men, lumber and supplies began -to arrive. He had hired a friend of his old foreman to boss the job, -another Scotchman, MacAndrews, who knew the country and the logging -methods. Camp buildings of rough lumber sprang up like mushrooms in the -valley near the railroad tracks, and the skid roads began to creep -slowly up the mountain in the shallow draws toward the ridge. - -The log chute was of particular interest to Scott because he had never -seen one. In that particular place there was a small side valley, larger -than most of the shallow draws, and the log chute was built along the -little stream in the bottom of it. It consisted of two strings of logs -laid side by side on short ties and hewed flat on the inside to form a -rough trough. The logs were peeled and rolled into it far up on the -mountain and gravity brought them down with the speed of a toboggan. - -Near the bottom of it they built a contraption which they called a bear -trap to break the speed of the logs before they came out on to the pile. -It was a heavy log, one end of which was raised on a tripod over the -chute while the heavy butt end rested in the chute. Scott never tired of -watching the great logs rushing down at tremendous speed only to butt -this big swinging log high in the air and slide gently out of the chute, -their force all spent. - -Every now and then the silence of the valley was broken by a dull boom -as the long saws chewed their way steadily through the great trunks and -the majestic monarchs of the forest plunged headlong down the side of -the mountain over which they had stood guard for centuries. And down the -steep skid roads in the shallow draws the teams were hauling long trains -of logs chained end to end. - -Everything was running as smoothly as a watch under MacAndrews’ -efficient management, and Scott would have been serenely happy but for -one thing. He had not seen Hopwood for three weeks. Not since the first -day of his return from Washington. And he had come to rely on Hopwood -more than he realized. There was no one else who could keep him posted. -The agent told him what little he heard, and he visited old man Sanders -one evening. But without Hopwood they were almost as much in the dark as -he was. - -One evening Sewall came to see him at the hotel which was considered -neutral ground. He, too, was worrying about Hopwood. - -“So you have not seen him, either,” he said, as he was preparing to -leave. “I do not know what to make of it. He never disappeared this way -before. I have searched for him everywhere on this side of the mountain -but no one has seen him. No one has seen him on the other side.” - -“Have you any suspicions about it?” Scott asked. - -Sewall hesitated a moment. “He seems to have taken quite a shine to you -and I thought maybe you had sent him on an errand somewhere. I wanted to -find out before I said anything else.” - -“Now what are you going to do?” Scott asked anxiously. - -Again Sewall hesitated. - -“This is not mere curiosity on my part,” Scott added. “I look upon -Hopwood as a good friend of mine, and I am as anxious to find him as you -are. If you have any theory and I can do anything to help I want to do -it.” - -Sewall still hesitated. “I don’t see how you can help me just now and I -have not told any one my suspicions, but if you are a friend of his I -might as well tell you what I am thinking. I can’t lower your opinion of -Foster much. I have no basis for my suspicions, but I can’t help -wondering if Foster has anything to do with it. He knows that Hopwood -does not like him and he may have got him out of the way to keep him -from working against him. I suppose you know how Hopwood came to be -crazy?” - -Scott nodded. “I heard about it,” he said. “But surely Foster would not -do him any farther injury when he is already responsible for that.” - -“Foster is desperate now,” Sewall replied, “and he would do anything. By -the way, you want to keep on your guard yourself. He’ll never forgive -you for thrashing him.” - -“I am watching him the best I can,” Scott replied. “I wish you would let -me know what you find out about Hopwood, and I’ll send him right to you -if I find him.” - -Sewall left and Scott sat pondering over the depths of Foster’s -villainy. It did not seem possible that any one could do such a thing as -that in cold blood, or that a man who had such a reputation could be -left at large. He glanced up impatiently and saw Hopwood sitting on a -chair near the door. - -“Why, Hopwood,” Scott exclaimed as he jumped forward joyously to greet -him, “where have you been all this time?” - -Hopwood’s face beamed with pleasure as he recognized the sincerity of -Scott’s greeting, and he spread out his hands in his old characteristic -gesture. - -“Sewall was just here looking for you. He has searched all that side of -the mountain, and I have been inquiring for you on this side. You’ve had -us worried.” - -“I saw him,” Hopwood replied laconically. - -“Did you tell him where you had been?” - -“No,” Hopwood said, “he did not see me.” - -“You should have spoken to him, Hopwood. He is putting in all his time -looking for you.” - -“I did not know that he cared that much about me,” Hopwood replied -rather wistfully. “I’ll go right to him.” - -“You should,” Scott urged him earnestly, “for he cares a great deal -about you, and so do I. You ought not to scare us that way.” - -Hopwood looked a little hurt. “I was trying to do something for you. -That was why I went away.” - -“For me!” Scott exclaimed in astonishment. “How is that?” - -“Foster will shoot you if he gets a chance,” Hopwood replied -confidently. “I went over to the county seat to try to get him arrested. -If he was in jail it would be safer around here. It will never be safe -while he is here.” - -“But you can’t get a man arrested for what you think he is going to do, -Hopwood,” Scott remonstrated. - -“No, not for what he _has_ done, either,” Hopwood replied bitterly. “He -killed a little girl here years ago, Jarred’s daughter. It was not a -fight, just plain murder. It was for that I wanted them to arrest him.” - -Scott looked at him wonderingly. “What did they say?” - -“They laughed at me,” Hopwood replied angrily. “Said they could not -arrest any one on the word of a crazy man.” - -“Did you have on your iron hat?” Scott asked, a little amused in spite -of himself. - -A rare smile came over Hopwood’s face. “There’s where I made my -mistake,” he replied. “I forgot that I had it on.” - -“Why do you wear it, Hopwood?” Scott asked, his curiosity getting the -better of him. - -Hopwood looked at him thoughtfully. “I’ll tell you some day. I’m not -quite ready yet. What did Sewall think?” he asked shrewdly. - -“He thought that I might have sent you on an errand or that Foster might -have done something to you.” - -An angry scowl spread over Hopwood’s brow. It was the first time Scott -had ever seen such an expression there. “Foster will never do anything -to me. If I did not have more sense than they think I have, it would be -I who would do something to Foster.” It did not sound to Scott much like -the speech of a half-wit. - -“Well, you’d better go see Sewall now. It will relieve his mind.” - -Hopwood started for the door without comment. - -Scott had not expected him to go so suddenly and called after him, “I -certainly appreciate what you tried to do for me, Hopwood, and I would -like to see you to-morrow if you get a chance. I have not had any news -since you left.” - -It was pathetic to see how grateful Hopwood was for any appreciation. He -stopped a moment in confusion. “I’ll be here,” he blurted with evident -embarrassment and hurried out. - -“He may be crazy,” Scott thought, “but if he is, it is a pity that there -are not more crazy people in the world. If it were not for that iron hat -I would not believe it for a minute.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - DICK TURNS GENTLEMAN - - -These repeated warnings against Foster Wait began to get on Scott’s -nerves. And yet there was very little that he could do to protect -himself. He never carried a gun, and felt that he was safer without one. -He was obliged to travel around over the forest continuously inspecting -the logging job, and he could not devote all his time to watching for -Foster Wait. He tried to forget it and go about his business as though -Foster did not exist but he could not help thinking how many -opportunities there were for this man to shoot him down from ambush, and -it made him nervous. If Foster would only do something and show his -hand, he could do something himself but till then he could only wait. - -A few days later something happened which put him more than ever on his -guard. He was up near the ridge where they were making up the trains of -logs for the skid teams. There was an enormous red-oak log forty-five -inches in diameter lying in the skid road, and Jimmy Barnes, Scott’s -best teamster, was waiting there with a team of large blacks ready to -take it down. This particular team was untrained and very nervous. They -had been assigned to Jimmy because he was the only teamster in camp who -was willing and able to handle them. - -This one big oak log was in itself heavy enough for a load, but they -never hauled a single log for fear it would roll sideways and become -unmanageable. They always fastened a small log on behind to serve as a -rudder. Jimmy was waiting for them to attach the small log. His team was -getting so restless at the delay that he drove them around and hooked -the heavy logging tongs to the end of the oak log. Not that he had any -idea of trying to take it down alone, but just to give the team -something to do and stop them from fretting. - -He had hardly straightened up from hooking on the tongs when the bushes -beside the team were burst apart with a great commotion and Foster Wait -jumped down the low bank into the skid road. - -The team made one wild lunge which almost jerked Jimmy off his feet and -stopped trembling. The plunge turned the great log sideways on the -slope, and it balanced uncertainly for a second on the stub of a small -bush. Jimmy saw his chance, shouted wildly to the team and slapped them -with the lines. If he could give that log another jerk before it started -to roll he might be able to straighten it out. But the team balked. They -trembled and jerked nervously but they refused to move, in spite of -Jimmy’s efforts. - -Slowly the stub was bent down and the six-ton log was free. It rolled -slowly down on to the horses. It had not yet gathered much momentum, but -if it had been a smaller log it would have broken their legs. As it was, -it just shoved their hind legs out from under them and they suddenly -found themselves sitting on the revolving log with the heavy tongs and -the logging chains clanking beside them at every turn of the log. - -It was too much for any team to bear. For a few yards they sat on that -grinding log and ran with their front feet. Then with one mighty, -terrified effort they succeeded in jumping clear of the log and plunged -desperately down the skid road. But the tongs still held, and the big -log rolled sullenly from side to side and held them back. Jimmy tried -desperately to stay by his team, but an unexpected roll of the log threw -him into the brush, the lines were jerked out of his hands and the team -was completely out of control. The next instant the log struck a rock, -the tongs pulled loose, and the freed team tore wildly down the steep -skid road at breakneck speed. - -Scott took his eyes from the rapidly disappearing team long enough to -take a glance at Foster and he felt sure that he saw a gleam of -satisfaction on his face. When the team was out of sight and Jimmy had -dug himself out of the brush Foster suddenly found himself the object of -half a dozen pairs of angry eyes. He was frightened by the ugly looks of -these men, but he succeeded in holding himself in check long enough to -throw a bluff. - -“Some frisky team,” he remarked genially. “Any of you-all see a hound -dog go by this way?” - -“I seen _one_,” MacAndrews exclaimed with an angry glare, “but he ain’t -gone by yet.” - -The others snorted their amusement and Foster turned red. “I’ve lost -mine,” he mumbled as he apologetically backed into the brush. - -“Better keep him away from here,” Mac shouted after him. “We’ll tie a -can on him pretty quick.” - -Before Foster succeeded in breaking through the brush beside the road -his flush had changed to a deadly pallor. - -“Who is that cuss?” MacAndrews demanded with a vicious snap of his jaws. - -“That is Foster Wait,” Scott said. - -“Well, he is hanging around here more than is good for his health. He -scared that team on purpose.” - -“I thought so, too,” Scott exclaimed, and he added a little anxiously, -“did you say he had been around here before?” - -“Turns up somewhere around the job almost every day. He’ll come once too -often some day. I expect that team is ruined.” - -Scott had been so absorbed in Foster Wait that he had forgotten the team -for a moment. Now he found that Jimmy had run down the mountain in -search of them, and he followed as fast as he could run. - -Was Foster hanging around the logging operation trying to get a chance -at him or was he up to some other mischief? It did not seem likely that -he was looking for him. Why should he come there where there were so -many people when he could so very easily catch him out in the woods -alone? No, he must be up to something else. And Scott determined that he -would make it his business to find out what it was as soon as possible. - -He watched all along the road for traces of the runaway team. At each -turn in the road he expected to find them piled up against a tree or in -the ditch, but although the road was badly scratched up in places as -though they had stumbled or slipped badly they had evidently made it. - -Some of the men whom he passed told him that the team had passed safely -at that point and was going strong. When he came in sight of the landing -beside the railroad track he spied the big blacks standing in a little -bunch of men. Jimmy was rubbing them down and trying to soothe their -ruffled nerves. - -They were pretty well lathered up from the long run, and one of them had -an ugly cut in his side but otherwise they seemed to be all right. They -had left the road on the turn by the skidway and had run between two -trees. The space had not been wide enough for the double-tree, and the -sudden jerk had thrown one of the horses. Before they could untangle -themselves from the broken harness the men had caught them. - -“Better take them to the barn, Jimmy,” Scott said, when he had looked -them over carefully and noticed their violently heaving flanks and -trembling legs. - -“I’ll take them over and doctor that cut and the harness,” Jimmy -replied, “but I’ll have them out after lunch. If they had a run like -that every day for a couple of weeks they might get down to where a -fellow could handle them.” It was the second time they had run away with -Jimmy, and he was getting a little peevish. He was afraid that they -might endanger his reputation as the best teamster in the mountains. - -Scott knew what was the matter. “Never mind, Jimmy, you are doing fine. -Nobody else could handle them at all. Once you have trained them they -will be the best team on the job.” - -“They are that now,” Jimmy replied stoutly. “They have the record for -coming down that mountain, anyway. By the way, did you get that guy who -scared them?” - -“No, we hadn’t any proof that he did it on purpose so we let him go.” - -“I don’t need any proof,” Jimmy retorted angrily. “That’s the third time -he’s tried it, and if I ever catch him around here again I’m going to -lose a peavey in him.” - -Scott did not say anything, but he made a mental note of what Jimmy said -about it being Foster’s third attempt to scare the big black team. It -was the first link in the chain of evidence he intended to collect -against him. - -As long as he was down in the valley and it was so near noon Scott -decided to go in to dinner. He was still staying at the hotel, not -because he liked it, but it enabled him to keep in touch with local -gossip through the station agent and he thought it might give him a -better chance to see Hopwood. He was doubtful whether it would be a good -thing for Hopwood to come around camp with that strange iron hat. The -men would undoubtedly tease him, and he did not know how Hopwood would -take it. - -As he passed the bunk house he heard some one singing inside. It was not -usual for any one to be in the bunk house at that time of day, unless it -was the bull cook, and it did not sound like him. Scott stepped in and -found one of the swampers sprawled on a bench and crooning a maudlin -song. His first thought was that the man might have been hurt in the -runaway, but certainly some one would have mentioned it if he had. - -“Sick, Dick?” Scott asked. - -The man looked at him with bleary eyes and arose with a ludicrous -attempt at dignity. Scott saw at once that the man was drunk. - -“No, shur,” the man replied with an elaborate bow which almost upset -him. - -“Then why aren’t you at work?” Scott asked sharply. - -“Becaush I don’t have to work for anybody,” Dick replied with another -deep bow which brought him unexpectedly to his hands and knees on the -bench in front of him. “I’m a gentleman, I am,” he added as he -straightened himself with difficulty. - -Scott looked at him with disgust. “When Mac comes in tell him I said to -give you your time,” he exclaimed impatiently and turned to the door. - -“Time,” Dick exclaimed. “Give me my time. I’ve got all the time there -is. I’m a gentleman, I tell you.” - -Scott turned back with a new thought. “Where did you get that stuff?” he -asked sternly. - -Dick winked at him slowly and shook his head. “A gentleman would never -tell,” he replied knowingly. - -Scott slammed the door in disgust and left him still explaining his -gentility to the empty room. - -Here was another thing he had to investigate. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - HOPWOOD THROWS AWAY HIS IRON HAT - - -After dinner Scott stopped at the bunk house to see that his orders were -carried out in regard to Dick. Dick had not delivered the message, but -he did not have to. MacAndrews had spotted him shortly after Scott had -discovered him and had started him down the track before dinner. - -Scott decided to devote the afternoon to collecting news from his -friends in the hope that he could find out something which would throw -some light on Foster’s actions. The station agent had heard nothing and -he went up to see old man Sanders. The old man greeted him with his -usual cordiality. - -“Come in, come in,” he said. “I hear you have beaten up the ogre and are -succeeding in getting out the timber without his assistance. How did you -do it?” - -Scott sat down in the proffered chair a little wearily. “Every one seems -to be more interested in my fighting ability than in anything else. It’s -a fine reputation for a man who started out to be an angel of peace. -Things are going pretty well but there is something about it I do not -like. Foster Wait is hanging around the logging operation all the time, -and I can’t find out what he is up to. Haven’t heard anything about it, -have you?” - -Mr. Sanders shook his head. “No,” he replied, “I have not heard anything -at all. Hopwood seems to have deserted me, and Vic has not been down the -mountain since the night you took her home. I can’t get around much -myself and when those two desert me I don’t know much.” - -“I have not seen Hopwood for three or four days myself,” Scott said. “Do -you suppose he has disappeared again?” - -“It is hard to tell what he is up to. The last time I saw him he was -coming up the road there, but when he saw me he slipped into the woods. -It was not like him. He never avoided me before.” - -Scott saw that there was nothing to be learned from Mr. Sanders and he -rose to go. “Maybe he was just in a hurry and did not want to be -delayed. He seems to be very busy on some scheme of his own.” - -“Poor fellow!” the old man sighed, “a lot of good his schemes will ever -do anybody, but I suppose it gives him something to do.” - -Scott turned back from the gate. “Just what do you think of Hopwood, Mr. -Sanders?” - -Mr. Sanders looked at him with a little surprise. “I thought I told you -about him. He has never been right since Foster hit him in the head -years ago.” - -“Yes, I know,” Scott interrupted. “You told me about that, but I have -been wondering a good deal lately whether he is really as crazy as -people think.” - -Mr. Sanders shook his head sadly. “I wish you were right but there is no -chance. I have known him too long.” - -“Well, I think I’ll take a look for him, anyway. I like him, whatever he -is.” - -Scott crossed the valley and took the road up the other slope towards -Sewall Wait’s cabin. There were several other cabins along the road and -as Scott approached one of them he saw a man come out of the gate, stand -uncertainly for a minute and go back. The funny part of it was that he -thought he recognized Dick, the man who had been fired from the camp -that morning, but the distance was too great to be sure of it, and when -he passed the cabin there was no one in sight. There seldom was any one -in sight at any of these cabins. The children all ran away and hid at -the approach of a stranger. Sometimes he caught a glimpse of some one, -peeping out of the corner of a window, but that was all. It always made -him feel uneasy to go by one of them. - -Sewall was home and glad to see him. Scott told him what Foster had done -in the morning and how he was continually hanging around the camp. - -Sewall only shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t know what it is, but he -is up to something. He has avoided me for a month. I don’t like the way -he is chumming with some of the wilder of the young fellows. My boys -don’t like him any better than I do, and they have tried to find out -what he is doing but they can’t. I know his game but I can’t figure out -his next move.” - -“Just what is his game?” Scott asked anxiously. - -“He knows that the family has pretty much lost confidence in him as a -leader, and he thinks that if he starts some trouble they will have to -support him. That much is clear enough, but I can’t see how he can gain -anything by jimming your logging job.” - -“I thought that was probably just revenge for the thrashing I gave him,” -Scott said. “If that’s all it is I am not worried, for he can’t do very -much harm, but I was afraid there might be something else back of it.” - -Sewall shook his head. “He is too big a coward to risk very much just -for revenge. To shoot you in the back would be more like his methods. He -beat up poor Hopwood the other day. That’s about his size,” he added -bitterly. - -“That is what I really came up for,” Scott exclaimed quickly. “To find -out whether you knew anything about Hopwood. I have not seen him for -three or four days.” - -“I saw him this morning. Foster went after him with a club day before -yesterday, and if it had not been for that old iron hat I think he would -have killed him.” - -“The big bully. What was it about?” Scott asked eagerly. - -“He would not tell me, but I thought from the way he talked that it had -something to do with you.” - -“Where is he?” Scott asked. If Hopwood had taken up his fight he wanted -to know what it was so that he could take it up himself. - -“He is up in his cabin. I tried to bring him down here, but he would not -come. He’s funny that way. I have never known him to sleep in anybody -else’s cabin. If he can’t get home he sleeps out-of-doors.” - -“Where is his cabin?” Scott asked. “I must go and see him.” - -Sewall hesitated. “He does not usually like to have people come to his -cabin.” - -“But can’t you see that if he got into this trouble on my account I must -see him at once.” - -“Well,” Sewall admitted reluctantly. “I reckon he would not mind seeing -you. His cabin is away up there on top of Jones’ Knob. The trail turns -off this road about a half mile above here. It’s not very plain but I -guess you can find it.” - -Scott took a hasty leave of Sewall and started in search of the trail. -Sewall told the truth when he said that it was not very plain. Scott -looked for it closely, but he passed it and had to come back in his -search. He finally found a faint trace and followed it up over little -ridges and down into the draws for an hour, always drawing a little -closer to the peak. When he came out in the little flat opening on the -top there was no cabin to be seen. He had never been there before but he -knew that this was Jones’ Knob, and yet there was no cabin. - -Scott looked carefully around him and there on the edge of the clearing -he discovered a tiny cabin nestled back in the edge of the spruce -thicket. He hurried over to it and looked eagerly in the open door. -There was a man lying on the bed, but at first Scott did not recognize -him as Hopwood till he saw the iron hat lying on his chest. He appeared -to be asleep. - -It was the first time Scott had ever seen Hopwood without his iron hat, -and he took the opportunity to study him carefully. He was amazed at the -high, well-formed forehead and fine features. The blank expression which -he always wore when awake was entirely gone now. He seemed to feel that -some one was staring at him and moved uneasily. - -As Scott did not want Hopwood to discover him there and think that he -had been spying on him he knocked softly. - -Hopwood sat up suddenly at the first tap and hurriedly put on his iron -hat. He was very much displeased at the intrusion, but when he saw who -it was a radiant smile chased away his frown. Nor did the usual blank -expression take its accustomed place. - -“I went up to see if Sewall knew anything about you,” Scott explained, -“and he told me that you were hurt.” - -Hopwood’s face beamed when he heard that Scott had come in search of -him, but a shadow of hatred passed over it when his injury was -mentioned. It seemed as though a struggle were going on within him. The -next instant he was as calm as usual. - -“I am glad you found me,” he said simply. - -“Is it true as Sewall said that you were hurt on my account?” - -Hopwood hesitated. “Sewall does not know why I was hurt,” he answered -evasively. - -“But can’t you see, Hopwood, that if it had anything to do with me, I -ought to know about it?” - -Still Hopwood was silent. - -“Foster has been acting queerly,” Scott continued. “He has been hanging -around the camp all the time and this morning he scared one of the teams -and almost ruined it. I am almost sure that he did it on purpose.” - -“He did,” Hopwood exclaimed angrily. “That was what my trouble was all -about. He wanted me to set fire to the camps.” - -Scott gasped in astonishment. He had rather expected Foster to attempt -some personal revenge but it had never occurred to him that his -cowardice would ever drive him to use such an expedient as that. It was -a move too degraded for Scott to understand. - -“When I refused,” Hopwood continued, “he tried to kill me for fear I -would tell on him.” - -Scott was silent a moment. “I don’t suppose that will prevent him from -getting somebody else to do it,” he said gloomily. - -“I doubt it,” Hopwood said. “If it burns now, everybody will know who -did it.” - -“Could we have him arrested for assault?” Scott asked. - -Hopwood shook his head. “There were no witnesses except his own family -and they would swear to anything.” - -“Did he hurt you badly, Hopwood?” - -“No,” Hopwood answered, “not very, but if it had not been for my iron -hat he would have killed me. He hammered me with a heavy club, bruised -my shoulders and cut my face. I’m all right now.” - -Scott glanced questioningly at the bed. - -“Oh, I don’t have to stay there,” Hopwood replied with a laugh. “But -since he knocked me crazy the first time I am always careful when I get -hit on the head.” - -Certainly that did not sound like the talk of a crazy man, but Scott did -not question him. - -“Is there anything I can do for you, Hopwood?” - -“Oh, no!” Hopwood exclaimed. “I’m all right. Won’t you stay and have -supper with me?” he asked bashfully. - -“I wish I could,” Scott said, “but there are some things I have to -attend to down at the camp. I hope I can some day. This is a beautiful -place.” - -Hopwood came to the door with him, and they stood for a moment looking -in silence at the beautiful scene before them, or rather below them. - -Jones’ Knob was the highest peak in that section, and they looked down -upon a number of smaller mountains. The sun, setting rapidly over the -western ridge, sent ever changing shadows over the eastern slopes. The -evening mists were beginning to fill the valleys like a rising tide, and -even as they watched one of the lower peaks was submerged in the sea of -white. - -Scott roused himself. “It will be dark in the valley before I get down -there if I don’t hurry. Take care of yourself, Hopwood.” - -“I’ll be down to-morrow,” Hopwood replied confidently, and as Scott -disappeared down the winding trail he threw his iron hat far down the -side of the mountain. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - AN ATTEMPT AT ARSON - - -As Scott had predicted, it grew dark in the valleys long before he -reached home, and he lost the trail on the open ridge. He did not worry -because he knew that if he went downhill he would soon come out on a -road somewhere, but he was impatient of delay. He was anxious to get -back to the camps since he had heard of Foster’s proposal to burn them -up. Maybe he was trying it again now. - -It was awkward work going through the dense woods and brush in the dark, -but as he expected it was not so very long before he came out into a -road. He did not recognize the road at first but he knew that he must -turn to the left if he would find the road up which he had come. - -About a half a mile further down he came upon an unusually large house -and recognized it instantly as Foster Wait’s. There was a light in the -room downstairs but the shades were drawn down tight. Scott was looking -curiously at the house as he walked by when two silhouettes suddenly -appeared on the white shade. He was not surprised to recognize one of -them as Foster, but when he recognized the other he stopped short and -almost cried aloud. It was Dick. - -Ordinarily Scott would have considered it dishonorable to eavesdrop, but -he felt sure that the meeting of these two men had something to do with -him. What better would Foster want than to get hold of a drunken man who -was disgruntled over his treatment at the camp! Maybe that was his -purpose in hanging around there. - -Under the circumstances Scott had no scruples about attempting to hear -the conversation. He determined to crawl up to the window and listen. -Hardly had he taken a step in that direction when the loud baying of a -hound told him that it was hopeless. As much as he wanted to hear that -conversation he beat a hasty retreat. And he was none too soon. The echo -of the dog’s bark had hardly died away when he heard the door open and a -voice roughly scolding the hound. - -Scott hurried down the road while his imagination ran riot in vain -attempts to solve Foster’s plans. Foster Wait was not the man to take in -a drunken lumberjack unless he intended to make use of him, and Scott -felt sure that those plans had something to do with him. At one time he -thought of going to Sewall for help, but his pride prevented him. He had -protected himself before from smarter men than Foster and he would do it -again. - -It was long after supper-time when Scott reached the camp; in fact, many -of the men had already gone to bed. Fortunately the cook was up making -bread, and he went into the cook shack to get a handout. Scott was a -favorite with all the crew, and when the cook saw who it was he denied -himself the grouch he usually enjoyed when any one intruded into his -castle, and hunted up some coffee, ham, doughnuts and cookies—the -unvarying lumberjack handout—as though he enjoyed it. - -Scott was absorbed in his own thoughts and let the cook do most of the -talking, but as he was leaving a thought occurred to him. “By the way, -Ben, if Dick should come back here for a handout any time, keep him here -and send for me. I want to talk to him.” - -He went out through the bunk house and motioned to Mac to follow him. -When the foreman came out he led him over to a log a little way from the -bunk house and sat down. - -“Mac, I have seen and heard a couple of things to-day which have me -pretty badly worried.” - -Mac looked at him keenly in the dim starlight. “I’ll bet it’s got -something to do with that guy who scared the team this morning.” - -“You guessed right the first time.” - -“I knew it,” Mac exclaimed. “I’ve been thinking about him all day. What -is he up to now?” - -“Day before yesterday he tried to get a man to set fire to these camps.” - -“Set fire to ’em!” Mac almost shouted. “The dirty scoundrel!” - -“And to-night,” Scott continued, “I came by his house and happened to -see him talking to the man you fired this morning.” - -Mac gave an angry snort of disgust. “That’s a fine howdy-do. A man who -wants to find somebody to burn down the camp and a drunken lumberjack I -fired this morning. Couldn’t find a better combination than that in all -North Carolina.” - -“I came right on down here to warn you, because I thought you would want -to put on a guard,” Scott said. - -“Put on a guard nothing,” Mac exclaimed contemptuously. “We’ll go up -there and clean them out. The boys would enjoy it and I can have the -crew out in ten minutes.” - -“I know the men could do it, Mac, and would probably enjoy it, but it -would stir up too much of a row. If it were just those two it might be -all right, but he is a leader of a big gang and we would have to fight -all the people on that side of the mountain.” - -“Well, we can do that, too,” Mac answered doggedly. “Nobody ever burned -my camps yet and nobody’s going to.” - -“Just the same,” Scott insisted, “we’re not going to fight that gang. We -might do them up all right, but there would not be much logging done -around here for the next month or two, and I’m here to get those logs -out.” - -Mac sat for a while in sullen silence. “Well, what are you going to do -then, let them burn you up?” - -“No,” Scott cried impatiently. “I have no more notion of burning up than -you have, and if you cannot find a man here to keep watch at night I’ll -do it myself.” - -Again Mac sat for a while in silence. His stubborn Scotch blood was slow -to give in. The last voices had died away in the bunk house and Ben had -finished his work in the cook shack. There was not a sound save an -occasional snore and the scream of an owl far up on the mountain. - -Mac finally surrendered as he had known he would from the first, and was -about to speak when a crackling of twigs in the forest behind them -brought them both bolt upright with nerves a-tingle and eyes and ears -straining. They could see nothing, but it was evident that some one was -making his way slowly through the woods towards the bunk house and was -making a great deal of noise doing it. - -“If that fellow is sneaking up on us, he must think we’re dead,” Mac -whispered. - -There was a loud crash as though some one had fallen over a log. They -heard some mumbling but could not distinguish the words. After a few -seconds of silence the advance on the bunk house began again. A man -passed slowly within ten feet of them and made his slow way to the side -of the bunk house. They could hear him scraping together dead leaves and -brush. - -Scott and Mac crept silently up to where they could see what he was -doing, and Scott was not at all surprised to recognize Dick. He had -scraped together a big pile of leaves and heaped them against the side -of the bunk house. Scott gathered himself for a spring as he saw him -fumbling in his pocket for a match to set fire to the leaves. - -But instead of taking out a match Dick stuck both hands in his pockets -and swayed back and forth staring curiously at the bunk house. - -“Can’t burn that,” he mumbled. “Wouldn’t be gentlemanly to burn the bunk -house with all those men in it. Can’t get ’em out without wakin’ ’em -up.” - -He scratched his head in perplexity for a minute and then started toward -the barn. Scott punched Mac in the ribs and they both followed. At the -barn Dick repeated the performance. When his leaves were all piled he -remembered the horses. Again he stopped and scratched his head. “No -gentleman would burn a horse,” he mumbled. - -For a moment he stared helplessly about him. Then he seemed to get an -idea. He made his way uncertainly to the door of the barn and -disappeared inside. They watched to see that he did not strike a match, -but did not interfere with him. After a considerable time he stumbled -out leading two sleepy horses. He turned them loose outside and went -back for two more. The first pair, finding themselves free and having no -desire to go to work at that time of the night went back into the barn. -Dick stopped and looked at them wonderingly as he led out two more. - -Scott and Mac were almost in hysterics. “Let me handle him,” Scott -whispered. - -“Hello, Dick!” Scott exclaimed, suddenly, “what are you doing out here -at this time of night?” - -Dick dropped the halters of the horses he was leading and braced himself -as though he expected somebody to jump on him. - -“Why don’t you come inside and go to bed? It’s late,” Scott continued. - -Dick relaxed when he saw he was in no immediate danger of attack, and -winked at them knowingly. “Didn’t you give me my time?” he asked. - -“Give you your time!” Scott exclaimed. “Certainly we gave you your time, -but you were drunk then. You’re sober now. Why don’t you let Foster Wait -get somebody else to do his dirty work for him? No gentleman would want -to burn another man’s buildings.” - -Dick looked at him uncertainly for a minute and then straightened up -with painful dignity. - -“That’s right,” he said. “That’s what I was going to tell him. No -gentleman would burn a horse.” - -“Of course not,” Scott agreed. “Come on in.” - -He took Dick by the arm and led him into the bunk house. “There’s your -bunk. Crawl in.” - -Dick obeyed without a word but as he rolled over they heard him mumble, -“I’ll show him he can’t give me an ungentlemanly job.” - -“Going to call up the sheriff?” Mac asked when they were outside. - -“No,” Scott replied emphatically. “Arrest him, and when he gets out -he’ll join Foster again. Put him to work in the morning and he’ll be all -right.” - -“Reckon you’re right,” Mac admitted. “Good night.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - SCOTT FINDS THE STILL - - -Dick went cheerfully to work with the other men in the morning and -seemed to have forgotten all his troubles. Mac put on a guard to watch -the buildings at night and he kept a sharp lookout for Foster in the -daytime, but that gentleman seemed to have realized his danger and kept -out of sight. - -Scott had begun to think that Foster must have left the country when he -spied him one day sneaking through the woods a short distance from the -camp. But Foster evidently saw him and immediately disappeared in the -brush. - -Everything at the camp was in good working order now. The four felling -crews were hard at it, each one working up a narrow strip from the -valley to the ridge. Their progress was marked by the steady booming of -the falling trees. The skid teams followed each other in an almost -continuous procession with their train of logs, and the big steam jammer -loaded them on to the cars on the siding as fast as they came down. - -Over in the main draw other felling crews were cutting logs for the -chute and they were popping down so steadily that the old bear trap was -playing a regular tune. - -Scott used to stand on the railroad track or the hotel porch and look up -at the slope with pride. For he had marked that timber for cutting when -he was still supervisor and he had done it well. Instead of the barren, -blackened hillside which the logger usually leaves behind him there was -enough small timber left standing to make it look almost like a virgin -forest. Some one could log there again before so very many years. - -It looked as though the feud were practically dead. Sewall could report -no new developments. Hopwood had not shown up with any news for a long -time, not since Scott had visited him in his cabin, but he had sent him -word occasionally by Sewall. Scott thought that he was avoiding the -camps. - -One day Scott’s peace was rudely shattered. He had stayed at home that -morning to finish up some correspondence. Just before noon MacAndrews -came bursting into the room. He was so mad that there were tears in his -eyes and he was almost inarticulate. He strode up and down the full -length of the room twice, waving his arms wildly, before he could get a -word out of himself. - -Scott was pale with apprehension. “What under the sun is the matter, -Mac?” he asked anxiously. - -“Drunk,” Mac shouted savagely. “The whole blame crew’s drunk.” - -“Drunk?” Scott echoed in his astonishment, while Mac continued to walk -the floor. - -“Dead drunk,” Mac repeated in disgust. “In the middle of the morning, -and not a lick of work to be got out of any of them.” - -“Where did they get it?” Scott asked, for both he and Mac had exerted -every possible effort to keep whisky out of the camp. - -“Yes,” Mac roared, “that is the question. Where did they get it? I’ve -asked them all and beaten up half of them and not a word have I got out -of any one. Show me the man who brought it in, that’s all I ask.” - -Suddenly a new thought occurred to Scott. “Where are they, Mac?” - -“Lying all over the woods.” - -“I thought so. Round them up into the bunk house, Mac. This is something -that I think I can solve.” - -“You mean to say that you are not going to fire them?” Mac shouted in -amazement. - -“Certainly not,” Scott answered with decision. “Do you think I want the -whole crew added to Foster Wait’s gang? If I am not mistaken, that was -the purpose in getting them drunk. Round them up in the bunk house where -they can’t get any more, and I’ll see what I can do. Isn’t there any one -sober enough to help you?” - -“Ben and the bull cook seem to have been overlooked,” Mac growled. - -“They were in camp, that’s the reason. Get them to help you,” Scott -ordered, as he took his hat and started for the door. - -Mac, growling like a polar bear, went back to camp to carry out Scott’s -orders. He wanted to fire the whole crew and it went against his grain -to have to act as nursemaid to such a bunch, but orders were orders with -him, and he would carry them out to the letter. - -Scott started straight for the opposite mountain growling almost as -savagely as Mac at his own stupidity. Why hadn’t he guessed where Dick -had obtained his whisky? And why hadn’t he guessed why Foster had been -hanging around the camp? And why hadn’t it occurred to him what was at -the end of that well-beaten trail up there on the mountains? He had -certainly been a bonehead, but now he was determined to get to the -bottom of it, and the first thing to do was to follow out that trail. - -He was walking rapidly up the road, still grumbling at his stupidity, -when he saw a stranger sitting on a stump beside the road. He had almost -passed him when he realized with a start that it was Hopwood. His iron -hat was replaced with a soft felt such as all the mountaineers wore and -it changed his appearance completely. He laughed when he saw Scott’s -amazement. - -“I thought you must be coming this way,” he said in his usual quiet and -rather mysterious manner. - -“But what does this mean, Hopwood?” Scott asked in bewilderment. “I -heard that you had taken an oath to wear your iron hat till this feud -was settled.” - -Hopwood was serious at once. “I don’t need that old hunk of iron any -more. I’ll explain it to you soon, but I haven’t time now. Where are you -going?” - -“I suppose you know what has happened. I am going up there to find that -still. I ought to have done it long ago. I found the trail one day and I -don’t know why it never dawned on me what it was. I had heard there was -a big one somewhere, too. Of course, Foster gave those fellows that -whisky, didn’t he?” - -Hopwood nodded. “Yes, and I was just coming down to warn you to keep out -of his way. He has been celebrating his success and he’s crazy. He would -shoot you on sight.” - -“Where is he?” Scott asked sullenly. He did not like this business of -running away from a man, and yet he knew it was the only wise thing to -do. - -“He was up at the house a little while ago. Keep your eyes open and take -to the woods if you see him. I’ll come down to see you to-morrow if I -don’t have to go away for a day or two.” - -“I may have to go away for a day or two myself,” Scott replied. “By the -way, where have you been? I have not seen you for a long time.” - -“I’ve been too busy,” Hopwood replied lightly and disappeared in the -woods with a backward smile. - -Scott did not understand Hopwood. Some mysterious change seemed to have -come over him. But he did not have time to figure it out now. He was too -anxious to see that still. He had Hopwood’s assurance that it was there, -but he wanted to see it for himself. - -He did not know where the trail started so there was nothing for him to -do but to go up on the ridge to the place where the old pig had scared -him so badly. He found the place without any difficulty and looked -around a little nervously to make sure that the old sow was not still on -guard. She was nowhere in sight and he dropped down the slope unmolested -in search of the trail. He was surprised to see how far down it was. - -When he came to the tunnel into the laurel he found some fresh tracks -and listened anxiously. He was determined to see the still, but he did -not want any one to see him, partly because he knew that these men would -not hesitate to shoot any one they found spying around their still, and -partly because he did not want any one to know that he had found it. - -He could see nothing. He looked down the trail and made a careful survey -of the woods behind him. There was no one there who might cut off his -retreat. Everything seemed safe enough and he cautiously entered the -narrow tunnel. It was longer than he had imagined and the turns in it -gave him an uncomfortable feeling of being shut in. He stopped every two -feet to listen and then crawled slowly forward again. It seemed as -though he would never get to the end of it. - -When he did get to the end he saw something that astonished him even -more than the length of the tunnel. He found himself in a small opening -about four rods across, and in the middle of it was a tiny log cabin. He -had covered over half the distance to the cabin when a noise inside made -his heart stand still. - -Some one was fumbling with the latch on the inside. After the first -instant of paralysis Scott took in the situation at a glance. If he -tried to return to the tunnel he would be in direct line with the door -and would be in sight for some distance even after he had entered the -tunnel. This all passed through his mind like a flash. His only chance -was to hide around the corner of the cabin. He did not know how many -people there were in there or whether there were windows in the end, or -possibly another door, but it was his best chance. In two jumps he was -around the corner. - -The latch clicked up almost the instant he started, and long before he -reached the corner he heard the door swinging open on its rusty hinges. -A glance showed him that there were no windows in that end of the cabin. -He was hidden for the moment unless he had been discovered before he -reached there. - -He turned and peeped anxiously through a crack between the ends of the -logs. For what seemed to Scott like an age no one appeared. He looked -nervously behind him and half expected to see a rifle pointing at him -from the other corner of the cabin. But there was no one there. - -He was beginning to wonder whether he had really heard anything at all, -or just imagined it, when there was a knock against the log wall that -made him jump almost out of his skin, and Foster Wait staggered out of -the door with a big earthenware jug in one hand and his long rifle in -the other. He swayed uncertainly and took a step or two in Scott’s -direction. Scott shrank back against the wall and prepared to sneak -around the cabin, but Foster changed his course back toward the cabin -door. - -He stood there mumbling for an instant and seemed to be talking to some -one inside, but there was no answer. He laboriously turned again and -started for the tunnel. He had considerable trouble in getting the jug -and the rifle both into the opening, but finally succeeded. “They’ll -never do it, they’ll never do it,” he called back angrily over his -shoulder. - -Scott was sure then that there was some one else in the cabin. He had -visions of hiding there behind that corner till dark, for the door had -been left open and he would not dare try to sneak out in front of it. He -could still hear Foster fumbling and mumbling his way through the -tunnel, but he had not caught any sound from within. - -He placed his ear against the log wall and listened. The gnawing of a -mouse on the other side sounded to him like some one tearing off the -roof, and would have drowned out any other noises there might have been. -The mouse stopped and he held his breath to hear better. There was not a -sound. Minute after minute passed and still no sound. The mouse began -again. - -“Better be shot than have that mouse scare me to death,” Scott muttered -to himself, and he determined to have a look in the door. First he went -back to make sure that there was no door in the rear. There was only a -little square window on that side. Slowly he came back to his corner and -listened once more. All was still. - -With a glance at the tunnel he crawled cautiously toward the door. Inch -by inch he made his slow advance with his eyes glued on the opening and -his mind made up to jump on any one who might come out—for there was no -chance to escape now. - -At the very edge of the door he stopped to listen and peeped cautiously -around the doorframe. Just then a noise behind him brought him to his -feet with a bound, and he saw a man step out of the tunnel. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - HOPWOOD GETS JARRED’S PROMISE - - -In the meanwhile MacAndrews had carried out his distasteful duty of -rounding up the crew in the bunk house. Most of them were too far gone -to offer much resistance and went to bed without protest. He left Ben -and the bull cook to keep guard and see that no one escaped and no -outsiders came in. Then he went up in the woods to see if he could catch -any one looking for the men up there. - -He made his way to the top of one of the skid roads where he had found a -group of the swampers and road monkeys. If any attempt were made to -bring the men more whisky it would probably be there where the largest -group had been. He selected a well sheltered spot in the edge of the -brush and sat down on a log to wait. - -He did not have long to wait. Hardly five minutes had passed when the -bushes on the opposite side of the road were parted cautiously and a -boy’s face peeped out. It was Foster Wait’s son. Not seeing any one, he -came slowly out into the skid road and began peering about. He was -evidently disappointed and very nervous. It was like Foster to send his -son where he was afraid to go himself. - -Mac could not wait any longer. He was curious to see what the boy would -do but his desire to get his hands on him was too strong for him. He -tore from his hiding place and made a dive at the boy. But he was no -match for the badly scared boy. He eluded Mac’s grasp and sprang into -the brush like a rabbit. Mac tried to follow him, but he might as well -have tried to follow a weasel in a haystack. He soon gave it up and came -back to see if the boy had left anything behind him. As he expected he -found a large stone jug in the brush where the boy had first appeared. - -With a grunt of satisfaction Mac dumped the contents on the ground. -“Enough there to paralyze the whole crew for a week,” he mumbled. He -raised the big jug over his head and was about to smash it on a rock, -but his Scotch thrift stayed his arm and he took the jug back to camp. - -Mac felt that he had a victory in capturing the jug, but it would have -been far better if he had stayed in camp, for the boy was on his way -home to tell his father that he had been seen and probably recognized. - -Hopwood could easily have caught the boy for Mac. After his meeting with -Scott he had headed straight for the works to see if the men had been -taken in out of harm’s way. He had been close enough to hear the -crashing of the brush and the boy had passed within a few feet of him. -But what would have been the use? They could not do anything with the -boy after they had caught him, and it did not fit into his own plans to -line up openly against his family just yet. - -He followed Mac almost to camp to make sure that all the men were in, -but he did not go in himself. He turned into the brush without making -his presence known to Mac at all. A half hour later he turned in at the -gate of Jarred Morgan’s cottage. - -When Hopwood entered the cabin old Jarred sprang from his chair with the -agility of a cat. - -“You fooled me that time, Hopwood,” he admitted frankly. “It is a long -time since I have seen you without that iron hat. What is the meaning of -it? Is the feud ended, then?” he asked with a wry smile. - -Hopwood cast a quick glance around the cabin. - -Jarred answered the unspoken question. “She went out to the orchard.” - -“No,” Hopwood said soberly, “the feud is not exactly ended, but I think -I am beginning to see the end of it.” - -“You think I am going to cash in, do you?” - -“I am hoping that it will not end that way,” Hopwood replied earnestly. - -“There is only one other way that it can end,” Jarred answered, and his -jaw clenched tight. - -“That’s why I have come to see you. Would you drop this feud if Foster -were put out of the way for good?” Hopwood spoke with the tone of a man -exacting an oath. - -“I have never made a contract for a murder,” Jarred answered coldly, -“and I am too old to begin it now.” - -“Look at me, Jarred,” and Hopwood squared himself around in front of the -old man. “Do I look like a crazy man?” - -Jarred’s frown melted into an affectionate smile. “No, Hopwood, your old -iron hat has not fooled me for many years.” - -“Then listen to me,” Hopwood replied with a strange tone of confident -authority. “I am no more likely to take the contract for murdering a man -than you are. You have always said that you would not give up the feud -while Foster lived. Now I want to know if you would give it up if he -were otherwise disposed of so that he would never return to this -country?” - -Jarred walked to the door and gazed out across at the opposite mountain -in silence. It was five minutes before he turned back to Hopwood and his -face was haggard. - -“I could do it, Hopwood,” he said sadly. “I hate to think of that -scoundrel escaping my vengeance, but I could do it, and—would,” he added -after a short struggle. “But I was thinking of Vic. Would she? I have -trained her all her life to hate the Waits, and Vic is a good hater. -Would she give it up, or would she think me a traitor?” - -“I think she would give it up,” Hopwood replied confidently. - -Jarred turned quietly and faced him. “What makes you think so?” he asked -sharply. - -Hopwood blushed like a schoolgirl. He was silent a moment and then -looked Jarred squarely in the eye. “You know what I think of Vic and I -think she likes me. She never seems to think of me as being a Wait, but -if we should marry some day, it would end all thought of the feud.” - -Jarred looked at him thoughtfully. “If I thought that could be true, I -would agree to anything,” he said slowly. “I have been wondering lately -what would become of Vic. I am not as strong as I was and I cannot last -forever. She won’t give me any reason, but she says she will never go -back to her father, and I think she means it. She’ll be terribly alone -in the world when I am gone.” - -“I know why she won’t go back and I think she is right,” Hopwood replied -with a dark frown. “Would that be satisfactory to you then?” he asked -wistfully. - -Jarred placed his hand affectionately on Hopwood’s shoulder. “Hopwood, -as far as I know there are only two men in the world to whom I am -indebted—you and Mr. Burton. You have done me innumerable good services, -and he brought Vic to me the night she fell off her horse. Both of you -want me to give it up. I am going to do it and pay a part of both -debts.” - -Hopwood jumped to his feet and grasped the old man’s hand. “Now I can go -about my business. We’ll speak of the other some other time,” he added -with a blush. - -“No need to put it off,” Jarred said. “All I ask is that you wait till -Vic has grown up. If she will have you then, there is nothing in all the -world that would please me more.” - -Hopwood wrung his hand once more and ran out of the house. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - A CLOSE CALL - - -When Scott turned his head and saw that man standing just at the end of -the tunnel a great lump rose in his throat and his knees almost gave way -under him. He wanted to run but he could not move. The next instant he -recognized Hopwood and the reaction was so great that he sat down limply -in his tracks and stared helplessly. - -“You might as well kill a fellow as scare him to death, Hopwood,” he -exclaimed when he had recovered his breath. - -“And you might as well be dead as to be caught here,” Hopwood retorted. -“Did Foster see you? I just met him coming out and he was crazy drunk.” - -“Not quite,” Scott replied with a nervous laugh, “but I thought so for a -minute when I saw you,” and he explained to Hopwood what a narrow escape -he had had, and how he was trying to find out whether there really was -any one else in the cabin. - -“You should have asked me to bring you here,” Hopwood scolded. “Then you -would not have run such a risk.” - -“I’ll let somebody bring me next time,” Scott answered with a grin. “I -have done about all the exploring I want to do around here alone.” - -He had completely recovered now, and he got up to have a peek into the -cabin. So strong had been his impression that there was somebody in -there that he now peeped cautiously around the corner of the doorframe. -The little mouse scurried across a rafter and down the opposite wall. -There was no other sign of life. - -In the center of the opposite wall of the cabin was a crude clay -fireplace and in it there was a large copper retort shaped like an -immense pear. From the top of it a long goose-neck extended far out into -the room. Three barrels were sitting along the wall at the end of the -cabin. In another barrel, on which there was a tin lid, there was a sack -of corn. - -Scott looked the things over curiously. It was the first moonshine -outfit he had ever seen. When his curiosity was satisfied he turned -suddenly to Hopwood. “Will you swear that Foster Wait runs this thing?” -he asked. - -Hopwood started at the question. “Why?” he asked in some confusion. -“What are you going to do?” - -Scott thought that he had asked too much of Hopwood in asking him to -give evidence against his relative, much as he knew he hated him. But it -was too late to back out now. - -“Because I am going to get the United States marshal and have him -arrested,” Scott answered doggedly. - -“But that is just what I was going to do myself,” Hopwood answered with -disappointment. “You better let me do it. I know more about it than you -do,” he pleaded. - -“No, Hopwood,” Scott replied firmly, “this is my problem and I must -settle it myself.” - -“Why do you call it your problem when I have been working on it for -years before you ever heard of it?” Hopwood remonstrated with some -spirit. - -Scott saw that line of argument would not work and changed his tactics. -“But, Hopwood, I need you here. There is no use in my staying here if -you go away. I can’t find anything about what is going on if you are not -here to tell me. I could not tell whether Foster was getting ready to -burn down the camps or murder us all. If you stay here while I am away -and will keep MacAndrews posted, he can take care of things all right.” - -Hopwood scratched his head doubtfully for a minute and frowned his -disappointment. - -“I am not the only one who depends on you, you know,” Scott urged. “All -the people on the other mountain over there depend on you for the news.” - -That was the deciding argument. Hopwood had told Jarred that he was -going to put Foster out of the way and he wanted the glory of doing it, -but he had been doing things for other people all his life and he knew -that there was some truth in what Scott said. - -“Very well,” he said quietly. “I suppose I’d better stay, but I do wish -that I could go. Some day I am going to do something I want to.” - -It seemed so pathetic to any one who knew the history of Hopwood’s life -that Scott was almost tempted to let him go. But he was afraid that -Hopwood might fail in the mission through his limited knowledge of the -world. - -“Then if you will take a message to Mac Andrews that I am going and for -him to put the crew to work in the morning as usual, I am going to start -right away,” Scott said resolutely. The sooner he accomplished his -purpose the safer he would be. - -Hopwood agreed without a word of protest and led the way into the -tunnel. They were halfway through it when they were startled by a -crashing in the brush ahead. Hopwood crouched and listened an instant -and then motioned frantically for Scott to go back. Scott needed no -second warning. The scare Hopwood had given him had shaken his nerves a -little and he ran back through the tunnel like a rabbit. Hopwood was -close on his heels. - -“What is it?” Scott asked anxiously. - -“Foster coming back.” Hopwood replied briefly. “Come.” He ran lightly to -the wall of laurel beside the cabin and slowly pushed his way into it. -Scott followed as close as he could but found himself no match for -Hopwood at this game. Hopwood did not go far. He did not have to. A few -feet in that thicket and they were completely hidden, but they could see -out fairly well. - -They were scarcely settled in their retreat when Foster lunged out of -the tunnel into the little clearing. He was apparently in a towering -rage and was mumbling savagely to himself. He looked keenly around the -clearing and strode over to the cabin. From the length of time he was -inside he must have made a very thorough examination. When he came out -he was examining the ground for tracks. Scott thanked his stars that he -was wearing tennis shoes. - -Whatever the tracks were that Foster was following so carefully they led -him out to the tunnel again. The two refugees breathed more freely when -he was gone, but their troubles were not over. Foster was not making the -noise he did when he came in and they could not tell where he was. Had -he gone away or was he still in the tunnel? - -They had waited five minutes and no sound came from the tunnel. The -suspense was beginning to tell on them. - -“I’ll sneak out and see,” Scott whispered. - -“No,” Hopwood remonstrated. “Let me go. He would shoot you on sight. He -would not shoot me.” - -“He tried to kill you a while ago, didn’t he?” Scott asked indignantly. -“He will not shoot me on sight because he is not going to see me, not if -I can help it,” he mumbled to himself. - -He did not wait for Hopwood to answer, but slipped as quickly and -silently as he could out into the clearing. He listened intently but -could hear no sound. Slowly he crawled to the tunnel and peeped into it. -There was no one in sight. With one more attempt to pick up a sound he -crawled cautiously in. - -It was far more nerve racking than it had been when he crawled in. Then -he did not have much fear of any one being there. Now he knew that some -one had been there and was not at all certain that he had left. His -progress was painfully slow. He listened after every step. He remembered -where he had been hiding a minute before and glanced nervously at the -wall of rhododendron on either side. He was almost tempted to run the -rest of the way and have it over with. - -It was well that he did not act on that impulse. A few feet more brought -him in sight of the outer end of the tunnel, and there was Foster -sitting in the entrance with his long rifle across his lap and his eyes -glued on the mountain trail. - -Noiselessly Scott backed out of sight and beat a cautious but rapid -retreat. He made his way back to Hopwood in the rhododendron and told -him what he had seen. “Looks as though he was posted there for the -night,” Scott growled. - -“He probably is,” Hopwood replied quietly. “I reckon it’s up to us to -get out through the rhododendron.” - -That possibility had entirely slipped Scott’s mind. It had never -occurred to him that you could go through that rhododendron. He had been -too fascinated by the tunnel and that mumbling man at the end of it with -a long rifle. - -“Then let’s go,” he said. - -Hopwood glanced about him to get his bearings and glided through the -dense brush like a snake, and as silently. Scott was put to it to keep -up with him, and try as he would he could not move as silently. It was -slow going at the best, for the course Hopwood had chosen led them down -into a draw and up on to the next ridge. - -They had almost reached the edge of the rhododendron when they stumbled -on to a covey of ruffed grouse. The frightened birds went up with a -tremendous rush and crashed through the brush out into the open. - -“It is a good thing we did not strike them down by the clearing,” -Hopwood whispered. “We would have had Foster on us in an instant. Here -we are safe because he can’t very well follow us fast enough through -there to do him any good.” - -They came out of the brush on to the open ridge and it seemed almost -like coming out of a cave. Scott climbed up on a point of rock to get -his bearings. - -Scarcely had he straightened up when his hat flew from his head and the -ping of a rifle sounded from the opposite ridge. Scott fell from the -rock in a heap. - -Hopwood ran to him. “Did he get you?” he asked anxiously. - -Scott felt his head and there was blood on his fingers. “Must have -grazed me,” he said, “but it does not amount to anything.” - -Hopwood examined it and found a half-inch cut in his scalp. “That’s what -those partridges did for us,” Hopwood said. “I am sorry he saw us but it -can’t be helped now. Now, we’ll have to get out of here.” - -Scott scrambled to his feet and recovered his punctured hat. He examined -it with a little shudder and started up the ridge. - -“Not that way,” Hopwood exclaimed. “That’s the way he will come.” - -So Hopwood led the way once more across a brush-filled draw on to the -next ridge. Up this they made their way very cautiously, taking good -care to keep out of sight. They were almost up to the main ridge when -Hopwood hid behind a ledge of rock and motioned Scott to do the same. - -“We can see the other ridge from here,” he whispered, “and we better -wait till we see Foster go down. We might meet him up there on the -ridge.” - -After what seemed like an age they caught a glimpse of Foster making his -way cautiously down the opposite ridge. He had seen Scott fall from the -ledge and was on his way down to make sure of him. When he was out of -sight they crawled out of their hiding place and struck for the main -ridge. - -“I wonder what aroused his suspicion,” Hopwood said. - -“I don’t know,” Scott said, “and it does not make any difference. He -can’t head us off now.” - -Hopwood shook his head doubtfully. “Maybe not, but I wish he did not -know anything about it. He may guess what we are going to do, and if he -does it may drive him to something desperate.” - -They were on the open trail now and stopped for a moment. “Well,” Scott -said, “don’t let’s worry about it. You take the message to Mac and keep -your eye on Foster the best you can. I’ll take the trail over the -mountain.” - -They had hardly disappeared when Foster ran back on to the trail. He was -raging like a madman. He knew that something, he could not tell just -what, was in the wind, and it was driving him mad. - -A squirrel chattered at him from a big oak tree, and he shot it with an -oath. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - SCOTT GOES AFTER THE MARSHAL - - -Scott did not lose any time on the trail to the town where the United -States marshal made his headquarters, but it was a long day’s hike and -he had not started much before the middle of the afternoon. Night caught -him while he was still on the mountain trails. The sky was cloudy, and -down in the dense woods it was black as a pocket. He knew that he would -save time and effort by camping out for the night and getting an early -start in the morning. He was not gaining anything by feeling his way -along inch by inch in the dark. He stumbled into an ice-cold trout -stream and gave it up. - -The nights were cold there in the mountains, and he was feeling around -for some firewood when he saw a light glimmering through the trees far -down the trail. As his feet were already wet he waded across the stream -and made his way slowly toward the light. - -It proved to be a lamp in a small logging camp. It was a comparatively -small cabin with the cook stove and dining table in one end of it. The -walls of the rest of the room were lined with double-decked bunks. Every -one seemed to be in bed except an old woman who was reading at the -dining table. She looked up indifferently when Scott knocked at the -door. - -“Good evening,” he said. “Night caught me up here on the trail. Is there -any place here where I can get a bed?” - -The woman looked at him suspiciously for a minute and seemed to be -undecided whether or not to call her husband. Then she pointed to an -empty bed in the corner. - -“I don’t want to crowd you here,” Scott apologized. - -“You won’t bother nobody,” the woman replied without looking up from her -book. - -Scott did not think much of his reception. He had not had anything to -eat since morning, but the looks of the place did not encourage him to -ask for anything. It would be better than sleeping out in the cold -without blankets even if he were hungry. He walked over to the bunk and -crawled in without any further ceremony than taking off his shoes. - -For a few minutes he lay there and marveled at the tremendous chorus of -snores which seemed to be coming from all parts of the little cabin, but -he soon fell asleep in spite of the music and his hunger. In the morning -Scott was astonished to see the number of people who rolled out of those -bunks—men, women and children. It was evidently a big family, but he was -not sure he had seen them all. - -After the way he had been received the night before, Scott intended to -thank them for the lodging and depart without breakfast, but the man -would not have it so. - -“Where did you get supper?” he asked. - -“I did not have any,” Scott replied a little spitefully. - -The man was very much put out and insisted on Scott’s staying to -breakfast. Scott accepted, but before he was through he was sorry he had -not stuck to his original purpose of going away hungry. When the man -learned he was running the logging job on the other side of the -mountain, he became so interested that Scott had a hard time getting -away from him. If he had seen one of the boys slip around the house and -run off up the trail in the direction from which he had come the night -before, he might have been suspicious of so many questions. - -It was seven o’clock before he got away from these people and started -for the town. Even at that the marshal was not up when he arrived. He -had recovered from his logging camp breakfast sufficiently to eat -another at the little hotel while he was waiting for the marshal. - -Scott had never heard anything but curses for the United States marshal -from the mountaineers and had formed a picture of him that was rudely -shattered when he saw the reality. Instead of the shiftless, cringing -old man he expected to see, he found a keen, alert, energetic man of -about forty-five. He had been a sharpshooter in the Spanish War and was -every inch a man. - -“Now what can I do for you?” he asked briskly, when Scott had introduced -himself. - -“I am running a logging job on the other side of the mountain,” Scott -explained, “and there is a moonshine still over there that is causing me -all kinds of trouble. I thought maybe I could get you to clean it up for -me. The man who is running it is an incendiary and a murderer as well as -a moonshiner.” - -“Sounds as though it might be Foster Wait,” the marshal said with a -frown. - -“It is,” Scott said. - -“Then you may be able to get him in the courts for arson or murder if -you can produce the evidence, but I am afraid I can’t help you much. I -have put in days looking for that still, have searched every square inch -of his place, but have never been able to find a trace of it. That has -been a sore spot with me for several years.” - -“But the still isn’t on his place,” Scott said. - -“Do you mean to say that you know where it is?” the marshal cried -eagerly. - -“Yes,” Scott said, “I stumbled on to it in the woods one day.” - -“But if it is not on his place, can you prove that it is his?” the -marshal asked doubtfully. - -“Yes,” Scott said. “I know a man who is familiar with it and will swear -to it.” - -“Good!” the marshal exclaimed, jumping enthusiastically to his feet. -“Come on over to the judge and we’ll swear out a warrant for this bird. -Didn’t see anybody on the way over here, did you?” - -“Yes,” Scott said. “Foster saw me just before I started,” and he -explained his experience. - -“Still that was a long way from here and he may not have guessed where -you were going. See anybody else?” - -“I spent the night at a little logging camp up here on the mountain a -ways,” Scott admitted, “but they seemed too dumb to know anything.” - -“Yes, they seem dumb enough, but they have notified Foster long ago that -you came this way. I doubt if we can get him now, but I’ll fix that -still for you.” - -The judge was as interested as the marshal. “I’d like to get that -fellow,” he exclaimed. “There was a crazy man in a big iron hat down -here some weeks ago who wanted me to arrest him for something he had not -yet done, but we have never been able to get any real charge against him -that any one would support.” - -“I’ll support this one,” Scott said doggedly. “He’s the key man in that -feud over there and I am going to put him in the penitentiary if it -takes me all summer.” - -“All right, then, let’s go,” the marshal exclaimed. “Did you hoof it -over here?” - -“Yes,” Scott said. “I didn’t have a horse handy, and, anyway, I thought -I could make better time over these mountain trails on foot.” - -“Well, you couldn’t if you had my horse, but I’ll walk with you this -time. We’ll be off the trail a good deal and I don’t want to be too -conspicuous.” - -They went back by another trail which the marshal knew to avoid the -logging camp and any one who might be looking for them. When the marshal -started out anywhere, it was usually well heralded all over the -mountain. - -They were walking rapidly up a steep mountain trail when the marshal -suddenly stopped and held up his hand. Scott peeped through the bushes -and was surprised to see that they were in sight of the trail on the -main ridge just above the still. He followed the direction of the -marshal’s pointing finger and saw one of Foster’s boys earnestly -watching the trail Scott had gone down the day before. - -They made a detour and crossed the main ridge trail back of the boy. -Just as they started down the slope toward the still, three rifle shots -rang out in the valley below. - -“There is something doing down there,” the marshal whispered. “Sounds as -though we ought to have brought the sheriff and a bunch of deputies.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - - HOPWOOD SENDS FOSTER A MESSAGE - - -Hopwood did not go immediately back to camp to carry the message to -MacAndrews. There would be plenty of time for that after dark. He -thought it better to hang around and try to find out something of -Foster’s plans. Instead of going down the trail he hid in the brush and -watched, for he felt sure that Foster would come back that way when he -found he had missed his mark. - -He saw Foster come out of the woods and judged his state of mind pretty -well from his looks. When he saw him shoot the squirrel he was convinced -of his savage rage. In such a condition as that he might do anything. He -thought of old Jarred and little Vic up there on the opposite mountain -and wondered what form his rage would take. - -Just then Foster could not have told him himself. He only knew that he -had lost his opportunity in a game that he did not very clearly -understand. Why had Scott gone to the still and not touched it? If he -had destroyed the still and the supply of whisky in those barrels he -could have understood that. He would have been trying to protect himself -and his crew. But he had not destroyed it. - -Then a new thought occurred to him. Perhaps Scott had gone there to -destroy things but had been interrupted before he had a chance to carry -out his purpose. Perhaps he had destroyed it after he himself had been -there. There had been quite an interval between the time he had looked -in the cabin and the time he discovered Scott on the opposite ridge. He -decided to see; it would at least give him something to do. - -He started toward the still again and Hopwood, who had been able almost -to read his thoughts, followed as close as he dared. Foster went -straight to the still and Hopwood waited outside the tunnel. Foster was -not reasoning, he was just grasping wildly for some clue in this blind -puzzle. He hurried to the cabin. Everything was just as he had left it. - -He came out and examined the edge of the clearing. He easily found the -trail leading into the laurel. He really did not see the tracks of -Scott’s tennis shoes, but he had not seen Hopwood and mistook his boots -for Scott’s. He realized now that he had trapped Scott in there when he -came back, and ground his teeth in his disappointment. As much puzzled -as ever he paced nervously up and down the little clearing. Then he -determined to go home and send his boy to find out where Scott had gone. - -Hopwood followed Foster home and saw the boy start down the road toward -the village. He did not think it likely that Foster would leave the -house again that night and decided to overtake the boy. Possibly he -could pump some of Foster’s plans out of him. He was a favorite with all -the young people on both sides of the mountain. For some reason they -seemed to look on him as an old man, although in reality he was little -older than they were, except in mental capacity. - -He kept to the woods till he was out of sight from the house. But he was -so used to the woods that he lost little time by that and once in the -road he soon overtook the boy. - -“Hello, Bill!” he called. “Dad out of chewing tobacco?” - -“No,” Bill growled. “He ain’t even got that excuse.” The boy did not -seem to be any too pleased with his errand, whatever it was and spoke -sullenly. - -“What then?” Hopwood persisted. “Just out for your health?” - -“Out for his health, I reckon,” the boy replied spitefully. “He wants me -to find out where that logging boss is.” - -“Who, MacAndrews?” Hopwood asked innocently. - -“No, Burton,” Bill growled. - -“That ought to be easy,” Hopwood said teasingly. “MacAndrews can -probably tell you where he is.” - -“Might if I asked him,” the boy replied doggedly, “but MacAndrews isn’t -going to see me.” - -“What’s the matter? Been stealing stuff from the cook shack?” Hopwood -went on. - -“No,” Bill protested, “but he pretty near caught me this morning when I -went over to take some whisky to the men.” - -Hopwood whistled. “No wonder you don’t want him to see you. Then how are -you going to find out?” - -“Ask Mr. Roberts, I reckon.” - -For some reason or other the station agent had never lost his title with -these people. He was still “Mr.” Roberts after years of residence in -close touch with them. - -Hopwood thought a moment. Mr. Roberts might know where Scott had gone, -and if he did, he might tell Bill, and that would not do at all. - -“Maybe I can find out for you from MacAndrews,” he volunteered. - -Bill cheered up at once. “Gee, will you, Hop? Dad seems to want to know -awful bad, and if I don’t find out I’ll be afraid to go home.” - -“All right,” Hopwood agreed. “I’ll ask MacAndrews for you.” - -They walked on for a while in silence. Bill’s troubles had been -unexpectedly lifted from his shoulders and Hopwood had found out what he -wanted to know. Foster did not know where Scott had gone, and he would -not find out from this boy if Hopwood could help it. And he thought that -he could. - -When they came within sight of the camp it was growing dark, but they -could still see dusky figures moving about. - -“I’ll wait here,” Bill said, and the tone of his voice indicated that -nothing on earth could persuade him to go any nearer. - -“All right,” Hopwood agreed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” - -He strolled on down to the bunk house. The men had just straggled out -from supper and they were a sorry-looking lot. Some had gone straight to -bed. Others were lolling around a bonfire outside. They looked at -Hopwood curiously but none of them had ever seen him before, and they -were too woebegone even to speak to him. - -He was just going into the bunk house when he saw MacAndrews coming out -of the cook shack. Hopwood walked straight up to him and came out -frankly with his message. “Mr. MacAndrews, Mr. Burton asked me to tell -you to put the men to work in the morning as usual and that he would be -back to-morrow.” - -Mac had been staring hard at him trying to recognize him in the dusk. -“Who are you?” he asked gruffly. - -“My name is Hopwood,” Hopwood replied wisely leaving off his last name. - -“Come into the cook shack,” Mac growled, “where I can have a good look -at you. I am suspicious of visitors since this morning.” - -Hopwood followed him obediently into the cook shack and looked him -squarely in the eye. “He also told me that I was to keep in touch with -you while he was away and let you know what Foster Wait was doing.” - -“He did, did he?” Mac grunted, as he looked him over suspiciously from -head to foot. “Where has he gone?” - -Hopwood looked around and lowered his voice. “He went over the mountain -to see the United States marshal.” - -Mac grunted his satisfaction but his suspicion was not completely -allayed. “Who the deuce are you?” he asked again. “You look like one of -these pesky mountaineers to me.” - -“I am,” Hopwood replied bluntly, “but I am a friend of Mr. Burton’s and -I don’t like Foster Wait as well as you do. That ought to be enough to -satisfy you.” - -“Well,” Mac said grudgingly, “if you are a liar you are a mighty slick -one. I’ll take a chance on you, anyway. What’s that man Wait up to now?” - -“He was in the house when I came by there a while ago. He’s not likely -to come out again to-night, and I’ll watch him in the morning and let -you know if he’s up to anything.” - -“Very well,” Mac replied. “I’ll be watching for you, and—for him,” he -added grimly. - -Hopwood started for the door. “Don’t you want a handout?” Mac called -after him hospitably. - -As Hopwood had not had anything to eat since morning, he gladly accepted -the invitation. While he was eating Mac plied him with all kinds of -questions about Foster Wait. It was evident that it would be a bad day -for Foster if he ever fell into Mac’s hands. - -When he had finished the generous meal which Ben had given him he walked -out to find Bill. The boy was sitting on the stump waiting patiently. -Waiting was one of the best things Bill did. - -“You ought to have come with me,” Hopwood said. “The cook gave me a -great handout.” - -“You can have mine in there,” Bill replied with a wry face. “What did he -say about his boss?” - -“He said he was out on the works to-day and would be back in camp -to-night,” Hopwood lied glibly. - -It was enough for the boy to have a satisfactory answer to take home. He -did not question the truth of it. “Thanks,” he said, and started back up -the mountain. - -“Wait a while and I’ll walk up with you,” Hopwood volunteered. - -“I gotta be getting home,” the boy said. “He’ll be mad enough now -without keeping him waiting any longer.” - -Hopwood watched him out of sight in the darkness. “Well, give him that -information,” he mumbled maliciously to himself. “It may quiet his -nerves.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - - FOSTER REVIVES THE FEUD - - -No one knew where Hopwood spent the night. He did not accept Mac’s -invitation to stay at the camp, but early morning found him on the road -again on his way up to scout around Foster’s cabin. He had an uneasy -feeling that something would happen if Foster found out where Scott had -gone. He chuckled to think that he probably would not find it out now. -He had sounded out Mr. Roberts and found that he did not know. - -It was an hour after he had taken up his watch in a little patch of -woods across the road from the house before he noticed any signs of -life. A thin wisp of smoke curled up from the kitchen chimney. Every now -and then he caught a roar from the rear of the house but no other sound -of voices, a pretty good indication that Foster was in no better mood -than he had been the night before. - -A half hour later Bill came running around the house with head ducked -low. Once safe around the corner he dropped down to a slow shuffle. He -had been crying, and he looked longingly up at the mountain before he -turned reluctantly down toward the village. - -“He either suspects where Scott has gone or he is planning some new -devilment as soon as he gets back,” Hopwood mused, as he watched Bill -crawling slowly on his snail-like way. “Well, Foster is not likely to go -out till Bill gets back and that can’t be for two hours at the rate he -is moving.” - -He had almost decided to go on another errand while he was waiting for -Bill to come back when a movement caught his eye and he saw a barefoot -boy turn in at Foster’s gate. Hopwood groaned with disappointment and -apprehension, for he knew that boy was bearing one of two messages: -either that Scott had passed the logging camp on the way down, or that -the marshal had left town on the way up. Probably it was the former, -because the marshal would know enough to avoid that camp. Hopwood blamed -himself for not having warned Scott to keep away from it. Well, it could -not be helped now. - -“There will be something doing pretty soon now,” he thought. - -He was not mistaken. The arrival of the boy at the Wait cabin was like -the spark on a fuse running into a powder magazine. Foster roared like a -wounded lion, and everything seemed to be in great commotion. A little -girl darted out of the house and tore down the road toward the village. - -“After Bill,” Hopwood mused. “I wonder what the game is?” - -The commotion in the back of the house continued. - -In a few minutes the girl and Bill came trotting back together. His -reluctance to go had made his recall easy. Hopwood kept a close lookout -now. He did not want anything to escape him, for much might depend on -what he saw now. He saw Bill slip out of the side gate and take a short -cut up the mountain carrying a long rifle. - -Hopwood knew what that meant. The boy was to keep watch and fire his -rifle as a signal if he saw the marshal coming that way. That was an old -trick that he had seen worked many times before, but he had never had -the interest in it that he had now. The boy from the logging camp -followed close behind Bill. - -These things did not worry Hopwood. A warning of the marshal’s approach -would not do any harm. He had expected that. But when he saw two of the -younger children scamper off on the trails which led to the cabins of -other members of the family, and saw Foster run hurriedly to the barn to -get his white horse, he began to get excited. - -If this were Sewall, he would know that he was assembling the clan to -resist the marshal. But he knew that they would not protect Foster, and -Foster knew it himself. - -“There is only one way,” Hopwood thought, “that Foster could get the -support of the others, and that would be to start a fight with the -Morgans.” If that were the plan he did not have much time to do it. No -wonder he was in a hurry, with the marshal probably already on his way -over the mountain. - -So firmly did this idea take hold of Hopwood that he could stand it no -longer. Foster galloped away furiously in the direction of the village, -and Hopwood, breaking cover like a rabbit, darted across the road and -straight through the woods on a bee line for the opposite mountain. - -A little farther down he came into a trail and ducked out of it again -just in time to miss another Wait who was hurrying toward the village. -As soon as the rider was out of sight he broke into the trail again and -ran panting on his way. - -He crossed the railroad track below the village and ran gasping up the -steep slope with his eyes glued on a little clearing far up on the -mountainside. Every instant he dreaded that he would see Foster’s white -horse flash across that clearing. Would he be in time? - -It was this thought that drove him on and urged him to almost superhuman -efforts, while every breath he drew tore at his lungs like a rusty -knife. Stumbling like a drunken man he tottered out into the road in -front of Jarred’s cabin. - -The white horse was nowhere in sight. He had won the race. No matter how -fast they came now Jarred would have his warning. He did not have the -breath to shout at the gate. He ran across the yard and into the cabin -without ceremony. - -The minutes dragged slowly by and Hopwood did not come out. An unnatural -silence seemed to surround the place. Not a single bird note broke the -weird stillness, and even the little brook which usually tinkled so -musically over the stones by the house seemed to be gliding softly now. -Only the ticking of the old cuckoo clock within the cabin boomed out -like the blows of a hammer. - -The slow minutes passed: ten, fifteen, twenty, and Hopwood came slowly -out. He looked weary and disheartened. Even the sound of a rifle shot -from the valley below did not arouse him. He stood with his arms folded -on top of the fence and looked listlessly across at the opposite -mountain. There was another shot fired in the valley and a scattering -volley answered it, but he did not seem to hear them. - -Vic appeared in the doorway and called to him. “You must find out what -that is, Hopwood. Are they fighting us or the logging camp?” - -Hopwood started as though he had been awakened from a dream. With a wave -of the hand to Vic he vaulted the fence and ran down the slope. When he -came to the railroad track he hesitated a moment and then turned up the -track toward the village. - -He found Mr. Roberts sitting on the end of the station platform watching -the fight as calmly as though watching a game from a grand stand. - -“Just what happened?” Hopwood asked. - -Shots were still being fired spasmodically from both sides of the -street. - -“Foster rode up to the store like a madman and shot across at Morgan’s -wife without any warning,” Mr. Roberts replied, without taking his eyes -off the fight. - -“Did he hit her?” Hopwood asked with a hard unnatural ring in his voice. - -“Couldn’t miss her, just across the street,” Mr. Roberts replied. - -A cold steely glint came into Hopwood’s soft blue eyes and his jaw set -tight. “Kill her?” he persisted. - -“Couldn’t tell,” Mr. Roberts replied calmly. “They hauled her inside.” - -Hopwood did not wait to hear any more. With a growl of rage he jumped -across the railroad track and ran up the western slope with all the -speed his tired legs could muster. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII - - SCOTT ARRIVES AT THE VILLAGE - - -Scott and the marshal started down the mountain in the direction of the -firing. “Where is that still?” the marshal asked. “We might as well have -a look at it if it is up this way.” - -“It won’t be much out of the way,” Scott said. “We are about there now.” -He was so anxious to get to the village that he would not have consented -to stop at all except that he thought he might find Hopwood at the -still, and he was crazy to know what was going on. He led the marshal -down the mountain at a run. - -“Here’s the trail to it,” he exclaimed. - -When they came to the tunnel the marshal slipped ahead with his revolver -in his hand. “Let me pack this gun in there ahead,” he whispered. “Not -likely to be any one there, but if there should be, he might be -peevish.” - -They made their way cautiously through the rhododendron and paused at -the other end to watch and listen. There was no evidence of any one and -the marshal ran quickly across the clearing to the cabin. Scott was -close at his heels. There was no one there. - -“This is a fine outfit,” the marshal exclaimed enthusiastically. “Big -enough to supply the county. No wonder I could not find it. They are a -foxy bunch. Put it on government land, too.” - -One glance had shown Scott that Hopwood was not there and he was anxious -to be off. “Come on,” he exclaimed, “you can destroy this thing any -time. I’ve got to see what is happening down there. That may be my crew -fighting.” - -“Just the same, I am going to fix this thing before I go,” the marshal -replied coolly. “Any one who is slick enough to put this thing in here -might be pretty clever in getting it out. I’ll take no chances.” - -With a few blows of his hatchet he cut the copper retort to ribbons and -knocked the heads out of the barrels. “Now they can have it,” he cried -with a chuckle of satisfaction. - -Scott was already halfway out of the tunnel. As soon as he emerged on -the open trail he saw Hopwood coming, exhausted but determined. - -“What is going on, Hopwood?” he called anxiously. - -“They’re at it,” Hopwood panted as he sank on a log. - -“What started it?” Scott asked. - -“The boy from the logging camp reported that you had gone over the -mountain,” Hopwood gasped. “And Foster shot Vic’s mother in cold blood.” - -Scott was horror struck. “Why, that is what Sewall predicted,” he said, -“but I didn’t believe it possible.” - -“It was murder,” Hopwood replied coldly. - -“Jarred isn’t hurt, is he?” Scott persisted. - -Hopwood’s answer was so low that Scott had to lean over him to hear it -at all. A look of keen disappointment passed over Scott’s face. - -“How did that happen?” he asked. - -Again Hopwood’s answer was so low that he could hardly hear it. - -Scott straightened suddenly. His anger was choking him, and the hot -blood leaping through his veins almost blinded him. - -Hopwood, still panting from his exertions, jumped from the log and -started straight down through the woods. - -“Where are you going?” Scott called sharply. - -“Down to fight on the side of the Morgans,” he answered without even -turning his head. - -“So am I,” Scott exclaimed savagely, “and so is all my logging crew -unless this feud is dropped now and forever.” - -“What’s going on?” the marshal asked. - -But Scott did not seem to hear him. He strode down the mountain slope in -the direction Hopwood had taken. His eyes were searching the woods for -any signs of the Waits, and his ears were straining to catch any -significant sounds from the valley below, but his mind was far away in -the little cabin up on the opposite mountain. - -When they came to a little clearing on a knoll which overlooked the -village they stopped to reconnoiter. At first they could see nothing out -of the ordinary. The village seemed as quiet and deserted as ever. Mr. -Roberts was still sitting calmly on the end of the station platform and -two women were peeping from an upstairs window of the hotel. - -They were almost directly in the rear of the Waits’ position, and -gradually they began to distinguish them. First, one here, crouching -behind the corner of the store, then another one behind the lumber pile. -Twenty-two they counted and all armed. - -One man seemed to be holding himself in reserve for an emergency. He -stood apart from the others, his arms folded across the end of the -barrel of his long rifle, and his chin resting on his arms. He did not -seem to be taking any active part. He must have been in plain sight of -both parties but none of them seemed to molest him. - -Every now and then the vicious ping of a high-power rifle rang out from -the Morgan store and was answered by a scattering volley from the men in -hiding before them. - -They saw Hopwood slip across the railroad back of the hotel and glide -around through the woods to the back of the Morgan store. - -The marshal had been examining the scene minutely through his field -glasses. Suddenly he grasped Scott’s elbow. - -“There’s my man,” he whispered. - -Scott followed the direction of the pointing finger. Farthest away from -the store and securely hidden behind a long pile of cordwood was Foster -Wait. - -“The farthest away and the best hidden of them all,” Scott sneered. “The -coward!” - -Over in the other direction, opposite the hotel, on a knoll very similar -to their own, was the whole logging crew. - -“I’m going over there to give a message to my foreman,” Scott said. -“Then I am going down to put an end to this row.” - -“Better keep out of it,” the marshal advised. “Let the sheriff take care -of it. The peacemaker always gets the worst of it.” - -But Scott shook his head and started toward his crew. Mac had seen him -coming and met him halfway. - -“Some show,” Mac exclaimed cheerfully. “They have not bothered us yet -and I reckon maybe they know enough to let us alone.” - -“I am going down there to try to stop it, Mac. If anything interferes -with me it will be these fellows on this side. If they do, clean them -up.” - -“We’ll do that,” Mac exclaimed enthusiastically. “But why not let us -clean them up first? It would be safer?” - -“No,” Scott replied firmly, “that would not do. I don’t think they will -bother me and I don’t want you to mix in the thing at all unless they -do.” - -A fresh burst of shots rattled around the buildings on both sides of the -street. “They haven’t hit anybody yet,” Mac growled sarcastically, “but -they may hurt somebody if they keep on.” - -When Scott got back to the knoll, the marshal was nowhere in sight. He -did not stop to look for him. He had made up his mind what he was going -to do and he was anxious to be about it. He picked his way diagonally -across the slope, back of the Waits’ position to where the station agent -was sitting on the platform. - -He talked earnestly to Mr. Roberts for a moment and started up the road -toward the village. - -“Better keep out of it,” Mr. Roberts called after him pleadingly. - -But Scott neither turned back nor answered him. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII - - THE END OF THE FEUD - - -Scott walked rapidly up the road toward the store. He felt a shiver run -up his back as he passed the woodpile where Foster was hiding, but he -held his course steadily and looked neither to the right nor the left. - -Astonishment and wonder held the men on both sides motionless. It seemed -to Scott as though he were walking all alone through a great desert with -a row of mines on either side of him. He could almost hear the -sputtering of the fuses. He had never felt so lonely in all his life. - -He heard a voice on the Morgan side shouting to him to keep back, and he -recognized it as Hopwood’s. - -Only when he came to a spot squarely between the two stores did he stop. -There he held his hand solemnly up over his head and called out in a -voice that all could hear. - -“I have a message for all of you and I call upon you all as men to come -out here and listen to it.” - -He called in a loud voice, but so tense was the stillness that a whisper -could have been heard as well. And the silence continued after he had -spoken. He did not repeat it but stood there with hand uplifted. The -suspense was nerve racking. At last it was broken. - -“Say what you have to say and get out of the road,” called a sullen -voice from the Morgan store. - -“Very well,” Scott agreed solemnly, “if it must be that way, listen.” - -He saw Sewall standing up there apart from the others and rightly -guessed that he was not in sympathy with what was being done. He glanced -at him occasionally for reassurance, for he did not feel at all sure -that his plan would be a success. - -“If you knew why you were fighting here to-day, you would never have -come,” he began. - -“If that’s all you have to say, we’ve heard enough,” the same sullen -voice interrupted. - -Scott paid no attention to it, but continued in an impressive voice. -“You think you are fighting for the old feud which has kept you -neighbors enemies for forty years, but you are not. You are fighting -because there is a coward in your midst who felt his influence slipping -and shot an innocent woman to make it appear that you were being -attacked. It worked, and you are fighting here to protect a murderer.” - -There was a dead silence as they strove to realize the significance of -what he had said. He had seen Sewall bring his rifle into a more -convenient position when he began to talk. Now he suddenly threw it up -to his shoulder and aimed at the woodpile. - -There were two shots almost at the same instant, and a bullet plowed up -the ground at Scott’s feet and covered him with dust. - -“There is the proof of what I say,” Scott shouted. “He is attempting -another murder to cover up the first.” He pointed scornfully toward the -woodpile and was as much astonished as the others at what he saw. - -Foster was crouching on the ground with his hands held high above his -head while the marshal stood over him with his smoking revolver in his -hand. It was his shot that had spoiled Foster’s aim just in the nick of -time. Sewall had been too late. - -There was a murmur of resentment among the Waits at the sight of the -marshal, whom they all regarded as their common enemy, arresting one of -their members in their very midst. Scott saw that he was in danger of -losing out. - -“I brought the marshal here after that man because I could not get the -sheriff. He is wanted for the cold-blooded murder of two women. Do you -want to support such a man as that?” - -There was silence again. Scott saw that he had them with him. - -“Let me talk to your real leaders,” he shouted. “Come down here, -Sewall.” - -Sewall walked slowly forward, and men on both sides stepped out of their -hiding places to see him come, and crowded slowly in around the two. - -“Where is Jarred Morgan?” Scott asked, when Sewall stepped out into the -road. - -“Probably in the store there,” one of the Waits suggested. - -“He is not,” Scott replied loudly enough for all to hear. “He is up at -his cabin dying of pneumonia.” - -There was a murmur of surprise and incredulity. Sewall’s face showed -genuine regret. - -“And do you want to know what gave him the pneumonia?” Scott persisted, -addressing himself directly to Sewall. “Because he jumped into the pool -to save your child from drowning.” - -“What?” Sewall gasped. “Did Jarred do that? She said it was a strange -girl.” - -“Vic took care of her,” Scott replied quietly, “but Jarred got her out -and this morning he was dying as the result of it.” - -There was a hushed silence over the whole village. - -Scott was determined to hold his advantage. “Jarred promised that he -would drop the feud if Foster was out of the way, and Foster is going to -a place from which he will not return. Are you willing to drop it?” - -“I am more than willing,” Sewall said, “and have been for some time. -Certainly, I personally can never fight with Jarred’s people again,” and -his voice shook with emotion. - -“How about the rest of you?” Scott asked looking at the rest of the -assembled family. - -They all agreed eagerly. They were afraid of Jarred and if he would stop -fighting they were willing enough. - -“Are you willing to stand by Jarred’s promise?” Scott asked, turning to -the Morgans. - -They were as eager as the Waits. - -“Then shake hands on it,” Scott said, and he pulled Sewall and Ben -Morgan towards each other. - -They shook hands solemnly and in five minutes both families had almost -forgotten that a feud had ever existed. They had all completely -forgotten Foster. - -Scott suddenly remembered him and hurried over to the woodpile, but the -marshal had taken advantage of his opportunity and spirited him away. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX - - JARRED AND SEWALL MEET - - -As soon as Scott was sure that the marshal had made good his get-away -with Foster he looked for Hopwood, but Hopwood had also disappeared. He -could see nothing further that he could do there and turned down the -road away from the village. He had not gone far when he heard some one -walking fast behind him. It was Sewall. - -“Where are you going?” Sewall asked. - -“Up to Jarred’s” Scott replied. - -“So am I,” Sewall said. - -They walked in silence, each occupied with his own thoughts. Scott was -wondering where the marshal had gone with his prisoner and whether they -would have any trouble in convicting him. Sewall was deeply moved by his -walk up that road which was to him almost like a foreign country. His -thoughts finally took the form of words. - -“Do you know that I have been over this road only once before in thirty -years, and that at night?” - -Scott looked at him in astonishment. “Do you know Jarred?” he asked -suddenly. - -“Only by sight. I’ve seen him in the village once or twice, and once -three years ago when he came up on our mountain,” Sewall said -thoughtfully. - -“What did they have, a conference?” Scott asked. - -“No, one of Foster’s boys threw a stone across the street and hurt Vic. -Jarred rode straight up here after him and horsewhipped him in his own -yard.” - -“I should not think he would have dared,” Scott exclaimed. “Where was -Foster?” - -“In the house,” Sewall chuckled, “and he stayed there. Jarred did not -even look to see if he was in sight. He just licked the kid, turned his -back on the house and rode away. From all I have heard, Jarred was never -much afraid of anything.” - -“I have always admired him,” Scott said. - -“So have I,” Sewall confessed simply. - -Again they walked in silence. When they came to Jarred’s gate, Scott -called softly and Hopwood appeared in the doorway. - -“How did you get here?” Scott asked in surprise. He never got used to -Hopwood’s unexpected movements. - -“I hurried up here to tell Vic that her mother was not seriously hurt,” -Hopwood exclaimed. - -“How is Jarred?” Scott asked anxiously. - -Hopwood’s face brightened. “He seems much better. I believe he is going -to get well.” - -“Can we see him?” Scott asked eagerly. - -“If you don’t make him talk too much,” Hopwood consented reluctantly. He -felt that it would be better not, but he could not refuse this man who -had successfully accomplished what he had been trying in vain for years -to do. He stepped aside to let them enter. - -They walked into the little cabin stepping softly. Vic was hovering -protectingly around the bed. The old man was very weak, but his pride -kept him from looking ill even now. A pleased light came into his eyes -when he saw Scott. He started slightly at the unexpected sight of -Sewall. Scott noticed it. - -“Sewall could not wait for Foster and the marshal to get out of sight to -come up to thank you for saving his child,” he explained. - -Sewall knelt appealingly beside the bed. - -Jarred smiled and feebly stretched out his hand. “I can easily be -friends with Sewall,” he whispered. - -“I have always been your friend,” Sewall replied earnestly, “and I am -coming to see you often if I may.” - -“With Foster in the penitentiary and you for my friend I can die in -peace, but”—Jarred added with a faint smile—“I am not going to do it -yet.” - -At a sign from Vic they left him as softly as they had come. Hopwood was -waiting for them outside the door. - -“He is lots better,” Hopwood exclaimed, “but Vic wants to keep him -quiet.” - -“She is right,” Scott said. “Are you going down with us?” - -Hopwood blushed a little. “No, I am going to stay here and see if I can -be of any help to Vic.” - -“Do you want me to send for a doctor?” Scott asked. “I would be glad to -get one from Asheville for Jarred.” - -Hopwood shook his head. “Jarred would not like it.” - -So they left Hopwood standing contentedly on call beside the door, and -started slowly for the village. - -“Tell me,” Scott exclaimed, “why did Hopwood wear that iron hat? I have -been wondering about it ever since I came and he has always told me he -would tell me later.” - -“He wanted to make his family think he was crazy,” Sewall explained. -“Did he fool you?” - -“At first,” Scott admitted, “but not for long.” - -Sewall laughed. “He has more brains than anybody else in the family. He -was crazy for a while after Foster struck him that time, and he began -wearing the iron hat for protection. He soon got all right, but he was -shrewd enough to see that he could hear a lot more and go wherever he -pleased if they thought he was crazy. - -“Of course you know how crazy he is about Vic and Jarred. Well, he kept -right on pretending to be crazy, and he did it so well that he fooled -them all completely. All the time, he was working tooth and nail to help -Jarred.” - -“And you knew that all the time?” Scott asked. - -“Certainly. Jarred was in the right, and Foster has been wrong always,” -Sewall exclaimed. - -As they approached old man Sanders’ cabin they saw him waiting for them -at the gate. - -“How is Jarred?” he called, as soon as they were near enough to hear -him. - -“Lots better,” Scott said. - -“And is it true that Foster has gone to the penitentiary for life?” he -asked eagerly. - -“He’s gone to the penitentiary, all right,” Scott said, “and we hope it -will be for life.” - -“Good!” the old man exclaimed enthusiastically. “I congratulate you, -young man, on the way you kept neutral,” he added with a grin. - -“Well, it worked, anyway,” Scott retorted. He had noticed that Mr. -Sanders had hardly spoken to Sewall, and he had thought that he would be -surprised to see him. - -“You surely know Mr. Sewall Wait, don’t you, Mr. Sanders?” he asked. - -“Reckon I do,” Mr. Sanders laughed. “He licked me at cribbage here last -night.” - -Scott looked at Sewall indignantly. “I thought you told me that you had -not been up this road for thirty years.” - -“That was above here,” Sewall laughed. “I sneak over here in the evening -every once in a while to play cribbage with Mr. Sanders.” - -Scott was beginning to see what a hollow thing that feud really was, and -yet it had killed several people, wounded many more and ruined the -community for years. - -“Did Jarred know it?” he asked. - -Sewall nodded. “Sure. I have sat on the fence there and talked over the -feud with Vic by the hour.” - -“Do you think Vic will give it up?” he asked again. - -“Sure she will,” Sewall replied confidently. “She’ll marry Hopwood some -day and forget there ever was a feud unless Foster comes back. She’ll -never forgive him, and she’ll never forgive her father.” - -They left Mr. Sanders and went down to the logging camp. There Scott -gave directions to MacAndrews to go on with the logging in the morning -as usual, and told him that if he were short of help he could hire -anybody around there. - -At the station he sent a telegram to his old boss in the forest service: - -“Feud ended. Place now foolproof for supervisors.” - -And when Mr. Roberts came home to supper that evening he brought the -reply: - -“Good work. We are going to appoint you the next fool.” - -But Scott did not want that job till he had finished the one he had. He -was deaf to the letters from Washington. A few days later, Mr. Johns -arrived on the scene to plead with him in person. He listened with -interest to Scott’s account of the struggle. - -“Well,” he said admiringly when Scott had finished his story, “you -certainly turned the trick, all right. You pulled the Service out of a -nasty hole and everybody appreciates it. Now we want you back as -supervisor. It ought to be a peaceful enough job now, thanks to you.” - -But Scott still shook his head. “Not till the last log is in here,” he -said, waving his hand toward the mountain slope. - -“Pshaw,” Mr. Johns exclaimed impatiently, “anybody can run this logging -outfit now.” - -“That’s just it,” Scott replied quietly. “It has been hard enough work -to get it to run smoothly, and now I am going to have the benefit of it. -I am going to make a bunch of money off that contract, low as the bid -was. When it is all over I will take back the job if you want me to; but -I would rather go back to my old horse in Arizona.” - -“Well, we might even arrange that in time,” Mr. Johns said, “or maybe we -could bring the horse here.” - -“That would be better,” came a quiet voice behind them, and they both -started to find Hopwood looking at Scott reproachfully. - -“You are right, Hopwood,” Scott replied gently. “I had forgotten you. I -will at least come back when you and Vic are married. Let’s all go up to -see Jarred and tell him the news.” - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCOTT BURTON IN THE BLUE RIDGE*** - - -******* This file should be named 61908-0.txt or 61908-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/1/9/0/61908 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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