The Call of the Cumberlands

The Honorable Asa Smithers was not the regular Judge of the Circuit

which numbered Hixon among its county-seats. The elected incumbent was

ill, and Smithers had been named as his pro-tem. successor. Callomb

climbed to the second story of the frame bank building, and pounded

loudly on a door, which bore the boldly typed shingle: "ASA SMITHERS, ATTORNEY-AT-LAW."

The temporary Judge admitted a visitor in uniform, whose countenance

was stormy with indignant protest. The Judge himself was placid and

smiling. The lawyer, who was for the time being exalted to the bench,

hoped to ascend it more permanently by the votes of the Hollman

faction, since only Hollman votes were counted. He was a young man of

powerful physique with a face ruggedly strong and honest.

It was such an honest and fearless face that it was extremely valuable

to its owner in concealing a crookedness as resourceful as that of a

fox, and a moral cowardice which made him a spineless tool in evil

hands. A shock of tumbled red hair over a fighting face added to the

appearance of combative strength. The Honorable Asa was conventionally

dressed, and his linen was white, but his collar was innocent of a

necktie. Callomb stood for a moment inside the door, and, when he

spoke, it was to demand crisply: "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

"About what, Captain?" inquired the other, mildly.

"Is it possible you haven't heard? Since yesterday noon, two more

murders have been added to the holocaust. You represent the courts of

law. I represent the military arm of the State. Are we going to stand

by and see this go on?"

The Judge shook his head, and his visage was sternly thoughtful and

hypocritical. He did not mention that he had just come from conference

with the Hollman leaders. He did not explain that the venire he had

drawn from the jury drum had borne a singularly solid Hollman compaction.

"Until the Grand Jury acts, I don't see that we can take any steps."

"And," stormed Captain Callomb, "the Grand Jury will, like former

Grand Juries, lie down in terror and inactivity. Either there are no

courageous men in your county, or these panels are selected to avoid

including them."

Judge Smithers' face darkened. If he was a moral coward, he was at

least a coward crouching behind a seeming of fearlessness.

"Captain," he said, coolly, but with a dangerous hint of warning, "I

don't see that your duties include contempt of court."

"No!" Callomb was now thoroughly angered, and his voice rose. "I am

sent down here subject to your orders, and it seems you are also

subject to orders. Here are two murders in a day, capping a climax of

twenty years of bloodshed. You have information as to the arrival of a

man known as a desperado with a grudge against the two dead men, yet

you know of no steps to take. Give me the word, and I'll go out and

bring that man, and any others you name, to your bar of justice--if it

is a bar of justice! For God's sake, give me something else to do than

to bring in prisoners to be shot down in cold blood."