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Show "SI. ranker trom tho no tn.'-"Sartin'r" tn.'-"Sartin'r" "I'm shore." "Will he buck with ye stand to your back in case of trouble?" "Haven't mentioned, but 1 reckon." "Well, then, t'licy'utis is coming up to-ii to-ii j-jl 1 1 to put on tho hickory." "Ilu! Who said itV" "Heard it at tho corners. It's shore. Ba'sctt is Kwius to lead 'em. Are ye prepared, pre-pared, Jim'.-" "Reckon." "And Mary?" 'S'ie'tm is prepared." "Well, then, that's all I've got to Fay. I Hope you'll hurt they 'tins till they'll be- have themselves. Uootl-bv, John good-by. good-by. Mary." I She was off with that. I had a dim ! suspicion of what was meant, but the , coolness of tho trio puzzled me. When transaction. There was only oneway by which his cabin could be approached. It was arranged that I should secrete myself in the cowshed (tn the one hand, and his wife it-, the Miioke house on tho I other, and ut the proper moment thin I flank tire would have its effect, j It'.mgerforl was to hold the house, and he was the only one who was to shoot to J kill. As he slid it v-nsn't my fuss, but i it wasn't human nature to leave him to I fight a mob al me. When all had been , ! arranged we vent, into supper, and after i the meal a double, barreled shotgun was ! got down and loaded for the wife. The :: husband had Lis army musket, which he j loaded wiih buckshot, and I had my ro-I ro-I volvor as a weapon. As we finished our f preparations and sat down on tlte door i slop the wile carelessly inquired of her husband: i "liwine to shoot to kill, John?" j "Keckon I orter," he replied. ' "And me?" j "That's according. Mehbe vou'll have to." j "And the stranger?" "Oh, he'll fire high." 'Tap, can't I shoot?" asked the eldest, ' gil l of li). "Suet. Tilly:" The children wet of ir-'o a coniej ;:'.. '. .i-joiccd tuat lh.ro v.aa going to be "a font," but by mid by grew sleepy and went off to bed. p to 10 o'ctock we talked of everything bin the coming event. At that hour Hnngerford said: "Reckon it's time. They'll be here l.y 1 1." Tlte wife tied a shawl over her head, picked up and examined tho gun and walked off to her station with never a j word. 1 went over to the sited, took the ' crowd, and in a few minutes all were assembled. Then 1 gleaned from their whispers that John Hnngerford was to be whipped to death, and that his wife was to receivo less merciful treatment. They even planned to tire the house, and wipe out the whole family root and branch. At a, signal all advanced, and j five or six men jumped against the door, i It was barred. Then a voice called: j- "Open, John Hnngerford! We've como for ye, and wo are bound to have ye!" The words were answered by a shot from thn house, and then the shotgun roared from tho smoke house. I ele-vatetT ele-vatetT tho muzdo of my revolver and fired sis shots over the confused and flying crowd, and next moment all who could get away were gone. Hnngerford came out with h lantern, and by its light we saw two d'd men und three wounded. The wife had also shot to kill. One of tint wounded was past speaking. Tho other two, who were strangers to the family and belonged in a distant village, begged for nn-rey and promised all sorts of reformation in the future. In tho morning, as I was ready to go! on, there were three dead outside the . door and the two wounded were groan- ' ing with pain. The nearest doctor was !ivo miles away, und 1 was to stop and leave word for him. As I left the house i Mrs. Hnngerford said: "Thankee, stranger, and we won't for- j git it." j And the husband said: i "It wasn't jour fuss, of course, but what a shame to have wasted all them , bullets! i "Good -by, and God bless yel" M. Quad in Detroit Flee Press. AKEXTUCKY "WAITING." Late one afternoon in September I readied the cabin of John Hnngerford, in a cove of the Kent ueky mountains. Tho family consisted of father, mother and three small children, and there were .many comforts about tho place. Hun-purford Hun-purford was an industrious, hard working work-ing man, and cno of umisnal intelligence for a mountaineer, and tha wife and children were far above the average. They extended a right royal welcome, and we had been vi.uting away for two hours when a woman rode up on a mule. The beast was badly blown and wet with perspiration, and the woman must have i come with important news. Now was j develojied a trait peculiar to all the southern mountaineers. They aro game to a man and woman. They aro the coolest people in the face of danger one ever saw. "Howdy, John?" nueried the woman as she drew rein at the door, and as Mrs. Hungerlord appeared she aided. "And lmwdj, M.iry?" Both answered that they were well, and John inqitai'd: "How aro all you'uns, Sarah?" "All able to dig. thankee, John." "Corn an' tutors turnin' out well?" : "Keckon they be, what little we've got, but barks and roots pays better. Chillii-g any this fall, Mary?" "Not a bit, Sarah." "Haven't heard from them'tms, I reckon?" queried Ilung.-rford after u long pauro, during which the woman tried to size me up. "ilebbe. Who nutv ho'nn bsr" I bhe was out of sight 1 asked: "Is it trouble?" "Stranger," replied Hnngerford, as he pulled a twig off a bush and bit at it, "I'vo been warned away!" "How why?" ! "Took sides with the Oldhams against j the Bassetts, and tho Basset ts have warned mo to leave." j j "And as you have refused to go they i aro coming to t ike yon out and switch ; you?" ! "Kxactly-if they kin!" " Kw are they coming to-night?" j "I reckon." ! "And you?" "I shed be ready." We sat in silence for a moment. 1 looked up at Mrs. Hnngerford, but she was sewing; away find trotting her foot as placidly as if danger was at the other end of the world. The children soon ; began a gamo of tag, and the husband softly whistled as ho switched the twig over tha ground. "Great heavens! but you take it coolly," cool-ly," I exclaimed as I noted everything. "Stranger," answered Hungerford as he turned to me, "1 need somebody to back with mo to-night. This ain't your 1 fuss. You don't know tho Oldhams ! from the Bassetts.- 'Deed yon may have stayed with an Oldham last night. Yon don't want to mix in, and yet" "I don't want to kill or bo killed, but : can't I help you some other way?" j "You kin. Ile'nu is all right, Mary, I I knew he'un was.'" "Glad on't," she briefly replied, not even looking up from her knitting. ; Hnngerford took the whole matter as i -v.llv us if it was an ordinary business j place picked out for me and five minutes lateral) was darkness and silence. It was just about II that I heard the low hum of voices and the footfalls of men. and ten minutes later four or five of the gang of twenty came directly up to the shed and leaned again-t it as they inspected in-spected tho lions". "All sound asleep," whispered one. "Wo are dead shore of him," added a second. "There's , . le no let up, boys!" cautioned cau-tioned a third. "We must switch him till ho gives in. We've had enotv'h fooling." "What, of the wife?" whispered the first. "Blast her! ' She's as bad as he is! Let's give her a taste of the gad, too!" "Agreed!" One of them Went awav to call ud tho J |
