The Call of the Cumberlands

The boy flashed a challenge about the group, which was now drawing

rein at Spicer South's yard fence. His eyes were sullen, but he made no

answer.

One of the men who had listened in silence now spoke: "In the fust place, Samson, we hain't a-sayin' ye done hit. In the

nex' place, ef ye did do hit, we hain't a-blamin' ye--much. But I

reckon them dawgs don't lie, an', ef they trails in hyar, ye'll need

us. Thet's why we've done come."

The boy slipped down from his mule, and helped Lescott to dismount. He

deliberately unloaded the saddlebags and kit, and laid them on the top

step of the stile, and, while he held his peace, neither denying nor

affirming, his kinsmen sat their horses and waited.

Even to Lescott, it was palpable that some of them believed the young

heir to clan leadership responsible for the shooting of Jesse Purvy,

and that others believed him innocent, yet none the less in danger of

the enemy's vengeance. But, regardless of divided opinion, all were

alike ready to stand at his back, and all alike awaited his final

utterance.

Then, in the thickening gloom, Samson turned at the foot of the stile,

and faced the gathering. He stood rigid, and his eyes flashed with deep

passion. His hands, hanging at the seams of his jeans breeches,

clenched, and his voice came in a slow utterance through which throbbed

the tensity of a soul-absorbing bitterness.

"I knowed all 'bout Jesse Purvy's bein' shot.... When my pap lay a-dyin'

over thar at his house, I was a little shaver ten years old ... Jesse

Purvy hired somebody ter kill him ... an' I promised my pap that I'd

find out who thet man was, an' thet I'd git 'em both--some day. So help

me, God Almighty, I'm a-goin' ter git 'em both--some day!" The boy

paused and lifted one hand as though taking an oath.

"I'm a-tellin' you-all the truth.... But I didn't shoot them shoots

this mornin'. I hain't no truce-buster. I gives ye my hand on hit....

Ef them dawgs comes hyar, they'll find me hyar, an' ef they hain't

liars, they'll go right on by hyar. I don't 'low ter run away, an' I

don't 'low ter hide out. I'm agoin' ter stay right hyar. Thet's all

I've got ter say ter ye."

For a moment, there was no reply. Then, the older man nodded with a

gesture of relieved anxiety.

"Thet's all we wants ter know, Samson," he said, slowly. "Light, men,

an' come in."