Christmas Eve on Lonesome and Other Stories

Captain Wells refused to believe it, and still made heroic effort to keep his shattered command together. Looking for recruits o

was essential to the general well-being-but Hence laughed in his face,

sank his teeth into Mayhall's thigh while Mayhall's hands grasped his opponent's throat. The captain had only to squeeze, as every rough-and-tumble fighter knew, and endure his pain until Hence would have to give i

gh! '

crushed by his chin against his breast. For the last time, next morning he rode down to Flitter Bill's store. On the way he met Parson Kilburn and

have you been?" The parson was returning from Cumberland

ch Flitter Bill asked me to give you. He said

anew in his heart. The parson handed him

e said, handing it back, "I

he Army of the Callahan, he should be arrested and court-martialled for the same, or be given the privi

t you know about th

bod

o nary a living soul-as fer me and my ole gray hoss and my household furn

Bill. Bill was sitting on the stoop in his favorite posture. And in a moment there stoo

said, "I have come

ry kind heart. When he saw Mayhall's old manner and heard the old respectful way of

ty crimes, of which he was undoubtedly guilty, but for which Bill knew he himself was responsible-Mayhall on his way into exile and still persuading himself and, at that

reaching down into his pocket and pulling out a roll of bills, "I tender you in payment for that same protection the regular pay of a officer in the Confederate service"-and he handed out the army pay for three mo

th his hands folded on the pommel of his saddle-his dim blue eyes misty, the jaunty forage cap a

Bill muttere

low over, I'm going to bring him back and give him

dwriting of the order that lifted Mayhall like magic into power, the handw

DON OF

ild and it gave the face, with all its strength and high purpose, a peculiar pathos that no soul in that little mountain town had the power to see or feel. A yellow mule was hitched to the rickety fence in front of her and she stood on the stoop of a little white fr

That night, the rain-clear forks of the Kentucky got yellow and rose high, and now they crashed together a

ere and there, men dodging into doorways, fire flashing in the street and from every house-and not a sound but the crack of pistol and Winchester; for the mountain men deal death in all the terrible silence of death. And now a preacher with a long scar across his forehead had come to the one little church in the place and the fervor of religion was struggling with feudal hate for possession of the town. To the girl, who saw a symbol in every mood of the earth, the passions of these primitive people were like the trea

had wounded each other only the day before, and who that day would lead the factions, if the old feud broke loose again. One

idow of the Marcum whose death from a bullet one month before had broken the long truce of the feud. A groaning curse was growled from the w

she knew-as she well did-the trouble between the houses, and the widow stared in she

such as her," she said, sul

girl, with a flu

yi

front of the log-hut across the way. In the doorway she turned as though she would speak to the wom

ur-how is

this mornin

and heavy fluids and covered with tarpaulin, for Becky's "man" was a teamster. With a few touches of the girl's quick hands, the covers of the bed were smooth, and the woman's eyes rested on the girl's own cloak. With

. Every time the girl passed the window she saw the widow across the way staring

o see Becky-s

good r

he gate, her eyes ablaze with all the courage that the mountain woman knew and yet with another courage to which the p

ome and ask Beck

stared a

ould not look up into the girl's eyes; but she pulled a pipe from under

eaned acro

raised her eyes, swerved them once, and t

u want a dying

rstitious heart and a spasm of terror crossed

oned and stood waiting, while the woman started slowly and helplessly from the steps, still wringing her hands. Inside, be

e in-not while

, the teamster, in the kitchen door, and

hen with a dignity that surprised her, the te

, and he never looked at the widow who

she stopped again, leaning against the lintel. Across the way, the wounded Marcum, with a scowl of won

though she felt some hated presence, but her eyes stayed fa

yes flashed wide and fire broke throu

ter fergive

For two days she had not spoken, but her

new why her enemy was there, and her hour of triumph was come. The girl moved swiftly to

I ever d

, Becky,

You can tell the truth-c

ve me,

ured with pain, was t

and the man lifted his heavy eyes, droppe

k Jim f

nd the Marcum at the window-brother to Jim,

' 'bout me-didn't ye? Didn't ye?" she repeated, fiercel

Becky

Becky, turning her

could, believe that I was-was bad" Her breath

led me. An' now you want me to fergive you-you!" She raised her right hand as though with it she would hurl the curse behind her lips

ky, don't-d

nto sight and dropped again below the sill. Turning, the girl saw Dave's bushy

n, who had learned, at last, the bottom truth of the feud; and

ed confusedly at her and let her upraised hand sink back to the bed. The widow stared swiftl

pect forgiveness in another wor

d in a heaven of never-ending happiness; that somewhere beneath the earth a personal devil gloated over souls in eternal torture; that whether she went above, or below, hung solely on her l

n," she said. And

until Jim married her. I didn't keer after that." Then she got

everybody that you knew I was good when

ky looked at the gir

peace behind you? Dave and Jim's brother are here-make them shake h

n were

repeated, looking

t she"-he did not call his brother's wife by name

rned. "Won'

to hear whu

t she was asked to make i between mortal hate and a love that was more than mortal, but the Plea that has s

y no

er, an' I want 'e

d that the widow held gave back no answering pressure. The faces at the windo

he girl came back, but her lips

whar J

n turned her head as though she were reminded of something s

Becky's lips-a faint, terrible smile of triumph. The

l-git-th

ast breath, but the smile was th

S FOR T

times drowned. The tutor's gray mule fell over a bank with him, and he would have gone back had he not feared what was behind more than anything that was possible ahead. He was mud-bespattered, sore, tired and dispirited when he reached the Gap, but still plucky and full of business. He wanted to see his pupils at once and arrange his schedule. They came in after supper, and I had to laugh when I saw his mild eyes open. The boys were only fifteen and seventeen, but each had around him a huge revolver and a belt of cartridges, which he unbuckled and laid on the table after shaking hands. The tutor's shining glasses were raised to me for light. I gave it: my brothers had just come in from a little police duty, I explained. Everybody was a

cross the hallway. I explained to the tutor that there was much lawlessness in the region; that we "foreigners" were trying to bu

struck the floor when four pairs of heavy boots thundered down the stairs just outside the door, and I heard

a-what'

rd a whistle, I explained; for nobody in town was permitted to blow one except a policeman. I guesse

irs again and one shouted through the door, "All

ly crowd, and it would be a crucial day for the Guard. So, next morning, I suggested to the tutor that it would be unwise for him to begin work with his pupils that day, for the reason that he was likely to

an owed him money, he said, and the only way he could get his money was to take the horse as security. But the sergeant did not know this, and he and the colonel rode after him, and the colonel, having the swifter horse, but not having had time to get his own pistol, took the sergeant's and went ahead. He fired quite close to the running butcher twice, and the butc

he d-n little fool

whom he was to lead into the classic h

el

of saddle-bags. I told him that he must watch the old nag or she would run away with him, particularly when he started homeward. The tutor was not much of a centaur. The horse started as he was throwing the wrong leg over his saddle, and the tutor clamped his rod under one arm, clutching for the reins with both hands and

a fit of laughter and catch h

t he had in thos

N

he shouted; and

the modest Puritan bare his body to the mirror

tub-bath and a shave he stepped, spic and span, into the street with his head steadily held high, except when he bent it to look at the shine of his boots, which was the work of his own hands, and of which he was p

called to Gordon to follow. Gordon ran in the grass along the road to keep those boots out of the dust. Somebody had fired off his pistol for fun and was making tracks for the river. As they pushed the miscreant

d the runaway to halt, which he did in the middle of the stream. It was Richards, the tough from "the Pocket," and, as he paid his fine promptly, they had to let him go. Gordon went back, put on

Neck and Thunderstruck Knob; Valley people from Little Stone-Gap, from the furnace site and Bum Hollow and Wildca

h of Satan and did not like the Guard, for good reasons, and whose particular pleasure was to persuade some customer to stir up a hornet's nest of trouble. From

uch flurried, rose, ran his hand through his

n the smilin' valley and in the everlastin' hills. Therefore, fellow citizens-THEREFORE, fellow citizens, allow me to introduce to you the future Governor of these U

y fiddles and go about making up "ballets" that involve local history. S

h of the

t trouble i

to leave th

the par

ion, sti

er, nev

hat I cou

once more

of a stone, for the ripple of mischief started in every direction. It caught two mountaineers on the edge of the crowd, who for no particular reason thumped each other with their huge fists, and were swiftly led away by that silent Guard. The operation of a mysterious force was in the air and it puzzled the crowd. Somewhere a whistle would blow, and, from this point and that, a quiet, well-dressed young man would start swiftly toward it. The crowd got restless and uneasy, and, by and by, experimental and defiant. For in that crowd was the

signal of distress from the Infant of the Guard, who stood before the door of Jack Woods's saloon with his pistol levelled on

end of the farmer who had not yet reaped the crop of wild oats sown in his youth. Whiskey ran all into one mould. The farm-hand drank with the tough, the wild son with the farm-hand, and the three drank together, and got the farmer's unregenerate friend to drink with them; and he and the l

n't blow i

to arrest him he laughed and resisted, and the wild son and the farm-hand and Jack Woods showed an inclination to

s by his side. He would have stormed a battery if the captain had led him, and the captain would have led him-alone-i

ng to the tough whom the colonel held co

hand drew

don't!" h

n quietly; and he was seize

Sturgeon, the w

jail," he shouted with an oa

waved his ha

eant's pistol went back almost to the turning-point, and then, as he pulled the trigger again, Macfarlan, first lieutenant, who once played lacrosse at Yale, rushed, parting the crowd right and left, and dropped his billy lightly three times-right, left and right-on Sturgeon's head. The bl

tain, whose face had paled a little

and pistols began to flash now everywhere, and loud threats and curses rose on all sides-the men should not be taken to jail. The sergeant, dragging Sturgeon, looked up into the blazing eyes of a girl on the sidewalk, Sturgeon's sister-the maid from Lee. The sergeant groaned. Logan gave some order ju

rent the air down the street where the huddled crowd was rushing right and left in wild confusion, and, through the parting crowd, the tutor flew into sight on horseback, bareheaded, barefooted, clad in a gaudily striped bathing suit, with his saddle-pockets flapping behind him like wings. Some mischievous mountaineers, seeing him in his bathing suit on the point of a rock up the river, had joyously taken a pot-shot or two at him, and the tutor had mounted his horse and fled. But he came as welcome and as effective as an emissary straight from the God of Battles, though he came against his will, for his old nag was frantic and was running away. Men, women and children parted before him, and gaping mouths widened as he passed. The impulse of the crowd ran faster than his horse, and even the enraged mountaineers in amazed wonder spran

, and Sturgeon, after he had paid his fine, said he would prefer being shot to being clubbed to death, and he bore dangerous malice for a long time, until he learned

the sergeant, in the road. "Gordon," he said,

ant to fight?

ai

ice badge inside. Jack Woods, seeing this, followed, and the Infant, seeing Woods, followed too. The law was law, but this affair was personal, and would be settled without

im like a young bull that feels the first swelling of his horns. It was not a fair, stand-up, knock-down English fight, but a Scotch tussle, in which either could strike, kick, bite or gouge. After a few bl

him!" shouted

'Enough,' then,"

ng him!" sh

him off, then," said the In

lly couldn't shout "Enough." But he was content, and the day

e of the Guard he could call him out of the town limits and get satisfaction, after the way of his fathers. There was nothing personal at al

of the Puritan at work, I supposed, and, that night, when I came in with a new supply of "billies

od of keeping it down"; but before he had said three words the colonel looked as though he were goi

extra one of

I said, w

oin the Guard myself," said

S NIGHT

y a woolly little black dog, and surely no dog was ever more absurdl

ly, "did you get him?" And Dinnie laughed merrily, for s

come f'um t

e could hardly tell Satan and his little mistress apart. He rarely saw them apart, and as both had black tangled hair and bright black eyes; as one awoke every morning with a happy smile and the other with a jolly bark; as they played all day like wind-shaken shadows and each won every heart at first sight-the likeness was really rather curious. I have always be

it to Uncle Billy, the butler, and straightway Satan would launch himself at

snatch the carpet with his teeth, throw the coin across the room and rush for it like mad, until he got tired. If you put a penny on his nose, he would wait until you counted, one-two-three! Then he

Dinnie gave him a nickel or a dime, when they went down-town, Satan would rush into a store, rear up on the counter where the rubber balls were kept, drop the coin, and get a ball for himself. Thus, Satan learned finance. He began to hoard, his pennies, and one day Uncle Carey found a pile of seventeen under a corner

n reared against the door as he a

what was unusual, he failed to bark. Now Dinnie had got a new

" Satan never moved. He looke

have an excellent reason for what must seem to you very bad manners-"

r, put his forepaws on it, and dropped from his mouth a dime. Satan had found that coin on the street. He didn't bark for change, nor beg for two balls, but he

him at the gate. If Uncle Carey, after supper and when Dinnie was in bed, started out of the house, still in his business clothes, Satan would leap out before him, knowing that he too might be allowed to go; but if Uncle Carey had put on black clothes that showed a big, dazzling shirt-front, and picked

ed, if he wanted to get out of the door, he would beg-beg prettily on his haunches, his little red tongue out and his funny little paws hanging loosely. Indeed, it was just because Satan was so little less than human, I supp

ed, except one strange-looking dog that appeared every morning at precisely nine o'clock and took his stand on the corner. There he would lie patiently until a funeral came along, and then Satan would see him take his place at the head of the procession; and then he would march out to the cemetery and back again. Nobody knew where he came from nor where he went, a

had not come in, Uncle Billy told Uncle Carey that it was "powerful slippery and he reckoned they'd better send de kerridge after him"-an innoc

admission; for no priest ever preached the brotherhood of man better than Satan live

racks. At a little yellow house on the edge of town he saw half a dozen strange dogs in a kennel, and every now and then a negro would lead a new one up to the house and deliver him to a big man at the door, who, in return, would drop something into the negro's hand. While Satan waited, the old drunkard came along with his little dog at his heels, paused before the door, looked a moment at his faithful follower, and went slowly on. Satan little knew the old drunkard's temptation, for in that yellow house kind-hearted peop

said the old butler, "keepin' me fr

ide. At the gate Hugo stopped, and raising one huge paw, playfully struck it. The gate flew open, and with a happy yelp Satan leaped into the street. The noble mastiff hesitated as though this were not quite regular. He did not belong to the club, and he didn't know that Satan had ever been away from home after dark in his life. For a moment he seemed to wait for Dinnie to call him back as she always did, but this time there was no sound, and Hugo walked majestically on, with absurd little Satan running in a circle about him. On the way they met the "funeral dog," who glanced inquiringly at Satan, shied from the mastiff, and trotted on. On the next block the old drunkard's yellow cur ran across the street, and after interchanging the compliments of the season, ran back after his staggering master. As they approached the railroad track a strange dog joined them, to whom Hugo paid no attention. At the crossing another new acquaintance bounded toward them. T

ilently trotted after him. With a mystified yelp, Satan ran after them. The cur did not take the turnpike, but jumped the fence into a field, making his way by the rear of houses, from which now and then another dog would slink out and silently join the band. Every one of them Satan nosed most friendlily, and to his great joy the funeral dog, on the edge of the town, leaped into their midst. Ten minutes later the cur stopped in the midst of some woods, as though he would inspect

the cur stopped, sniffed the air once or twice, and with those same low growls, led the marauders through a rail fence into the woods, and lay quietly down. How Satan loved that soft, thick grass, all snowy that it was! It was almost as good as his own bed at home. And there they lay-how long, Satan never knew, for he went to sleep and dreamed that he was after a rat in the barn at home; and he yelped in his sleep, which made the cur lift his big yellow head and show his fangs. The moving of the half-breed shepherd and the funeral dog waked him at last, and Satan got up. Half crouching, the cur was leading the way toward the dark, still woods on to

growl, the big brute dashed forward. Oh, there was fun in them after all! Satan barked joyfully. Those were some new playmates-those fat, white, hairy things up there; and Satan was amazed when, with frightened snorts, they fled in every direction. But this was a new game, perhaps, of which he knew nothing, and as did the rest, so did Satan. He picked out one of the white things and fled barking after it. It was a little fellow that he was after, but little as he was, Satan might never have caught up

apes lay still before him. There was a great steaming red splotch on the snow, and a strange odor in the air that made him dizzy; but only for a moment. Another white shape rushed by. A tawny streak followed, and then, in a patch of moonlight, Satan saw the yellow cur with his teeth fastened in the throat of his moaning playmate. Like lightning Satan spra

o the barn-yar

in on the trembling brutes that slunk together and crept on; for it is said, every sheep-killing dog knows his fate if caught, and will make little effort

em!" he s

n several farms in that neighborhood, and for several nights he had had a lantern hung out on the edge

' sebenteen dead sheep

l boy who looked like the overseer;

ou a Christmas present I got for you yesterday." With a glad whoop the boy dash

he tall boy raised his gun. There was a jet of smoke, a sharp, clean crack, and the funeral dog started on the right way at last toward his dead master. Another crack, and the yellow cur leaped from the ground and fell kicking. Another crack and another, and with each crack a dog tumbled, until little Satan sat on his haunches amid the writhing pack, alone. His time was now come. As the rifle was raised, he heard up at the big house the cries of

, but when the gun was lifted again,

tan would not down, but sat begg

the stern old overseer's heart. Perhaps he remembered su

let h

d toward the tall boy, friskin

ome,

yard, and, as he swept under the front gate, a little girl ran out of

oss the crisp fields, leaped the fence and struck the road, li

e was the kennel of the kind-hearted people who were giving painless death to Satan's four-footed kind, and where they saw him stop and turn from the road. There was divine providence in Satan's flight for one little dog that Christmas morning; for Uncle Carey saw the

the big man who came to the door was puttin

man pointed to the old drunkard's figure

so. He sold him to you fo

an wh

ut. I'll pay

her why he was taking the little cur along. With her own hands she put Satan's old collar on the li

severely, "didn't I tell

nnie," said t

was goin' to whoop yo

Miss D

s treasures a toy riding-whip and the old

lly, but I des got t

innie," said Uncle Care

Dinnie, and she

cent as a cherub, Satan sat on the