Other Main-Travelled Roads

nd also because of the number of teachers that had been "ousted" by the boys. In fact, it was one of those places still to be found occasionally in the West, far from rai

and wife, and six sons, all man-grown, great, gaunt, sinewy fellows, with no education, but superstitious as savages. If anything went wrong in "Hell's Corners" e

s he drove Pill to the sc

n boys, Elder, I'll give you

solemnity on his face, belied, indeed, by a twinkle in his smal

d stood for a moment in a study of the scene before him. It was a characteristically Western scene. The women sat on one side

on their brown foreheads. Not a few were in their shirt-sleeves. The older men sat immediately between the youths and boys, talking in hoarse whispers across the aisles about the state o

imperious voice of the

genuinely eloquent as his desires embraced the "ends of the earth and the utterm'st parts of the seas thereof." But i

n come in-an unheard-of thing! And with a clean shirt, too! Bacon, to tell the truth, was feeling as much out of place as a cat in a bath-tub, and looked uncomfortable, even shamefaced, as he sidled in, his shapeless hat gripped nerv

straight up and

h pleased Bettie so much that she grew quite purple with efforts

re bent on fun. The physique of the minister being carefully studied, the boys began whispering among themselves, and at last, just as the sermon opened, they began to push the line of young men on the long seat over toward the girls' side, squeezin

t keep quiet, they'll have more fun than they can hold." (At this poi

able before him, and, amid a wondering sile

l without my coat, and I can throw rowdies out

liam Bacon was there, they would have kept quiet; but it was not long before they began to push again, an

It is small, but it grows steadily, absorbing its like from t

ed to expand like those of an eagle in battle, steady, remorseless, unwavering, at the same time that his brows shut down over them-a glance that hushed every breath. The awed and astonished ruffians sat as if paralyzed

r with the exact, resistless precision of the tiger's paw, and the ruffian was snatched from his seat to the floor sprawling. Bef

in reach of Dick, the fellow struck savagely out at the preacher, only to have his blow avoided by a lithe, lightning-swi

rom their stupor, and, with wild curses, leaped

hty voice of William Bacon, known far and wide as a terrible antagonist, a man who had neve

em and the preacher. "You know me. Lay another hand on tha

ded together, the children began to scream with terror, while

ad the air and action of the tiger, Bacon looked the grisly bear-his eyebrows working up and do

d. "You've run things here je

s of two of the boys and he wa

at a time; he'll take care o' himself. Out with ye," he ended, kick

the whole transaction, and began to laugh; but they were

in of wheat planted in good earth, that bringe