A Cumberland Vendetta | Page 6

first a month since,
paddling along the other shore, erect, and with bonnet off and hair
down; she had taken the Lewallen path up the mountain. Afterward, he
saw her going at a gallop on young Jasper's gray horse, bareheaded
again, and with her hair loose to the wind, and he knew she was one of
his enemies. He thought her the girl people said young Jasper was
going to marry, and he had watched her the more closely. From the
canoe she seemed never to notice him; but he guessed, from the
quickened sweep of her paddle, that she knew he was looking at her,
and once, when he halted on his way home up the mountain, she half
turned in her saddle and looked across at him. This happened again,
and then she waved her bonnet at him. It was bad enough, any Stetson
seeking any Lewallen for a wife, and for him to court young Jasper's
sweetheart-it was a thought to laugh at. But the mischief was done. The
gesture thrilled him, whether it meant defiance or good-will, and the
mere deviltry of such a courtship made him long for it at every sight of
her with the river between them. At once he began to plan how he
should get near her, but, through some freak, she had paid no further
heed to him. He saw her less often-for a week, in-deed, he had not seen
her at all till this day-and the forces that hindrance generates in an
imperious nature had been at work within him. The chance now was
one of gold, and with his life in his hand he turned into the stream.
Across, he could see something white on her shoulder-an empty bag. It
was grinding~day, and she was going to the mill-the Lewallen mill. She
stopped as he galloped up, and turned, pushing back her bonnet with
one hand; and he drew rein. But the friendly, expectant light in her face
kindled to such a blaze of anger in her eyes that he struck his horse
violently, as though the beast had stopped of its own accord, and,
cursing himself, kept on. A little farther, he halted again. Three
horsemen, armed with Winchesters, were jogging along toward town
ahead of him, and he wheeled about sharply. The girl, climbing rapidly

toward Steve Bray-ton's cabin, was out of the way, but he was too late
to reach the ford again. Down the road two more Lewallens with guns
were in sight, and he lashed his horse into the stream where the water
was deep. Old Gabe, looking from the door of his mill, quit laughing to
himself; and under cover of the woods, the girl watched man and horse
fighting the tide. Twice young Stetson turned his head. But his enemies
apparently had not seen him, and horse and rider scrambled up the
steep bank and under shelter of the trees. The girl had evidently learned
who he was. Her sudden anger was significant, as was the sight of the
Lewallens going armed to court, and Rome rode on, uneasy.
When he reached Troubled Fork, in sight of Hazlan, he threw a
cartridge into place and shifted the slide to see that it was ready for use.
Passing old Jasper's store on the edge of the town, he saw the old man's
bushy head through the open door, and Lewallens and Braytons
crowded out on the steps and looked after him. All were armed. Twenty
paces farther he met young Jasper on his gray, and the look on his
enemy's face made him grip his rifle. With a flashing cross-fire from
eye to eye, the two passed, each with his thumb on the hammer of his
Winchester. The groups on the court-house steps stopped talking as he
rode by, and turned to look at him. He saw none of his own friends, and
he went on at a gallop to Rufe Stetson's store. His uncle was not in
sight. Steve Marcum and old Sam Day stood in the porch, and inside a
woman was crying. Several Stetsons were near, and all with grave faces
gathered about him.
He knew what the matter was before Steve spoke. His uncle had been
driven from town. A last warning had come to him on the day before.
The hand of a friend was in the caution, and Rufe rode away at dusk.
That night his house was searched by men masked and armed. The
Lewallens were in town, and were ready to fight. The crisis had come.
IV
BACK at the mill old Gabe was troubled. Usually he sat in a
cane-bottomed chair near the hopper, whittling, while the lad tended
the mill, and took pay in an oaken toll-dish smooth with the use of half